Looking for a musical ("little tin box")

May 13, 2005 12:12 PM

Some time ago, my girlfriend and I saw, or heard on NPR (we are debating that) a commercial for a musical. It was a lesser known show by a more famous composer. If I recall correctly, the subject was corruption in a city hall, possible chicago. All we really remember for sure was a catchy refrain we have both been singing ever since. "Its a little tin box, a little tin box, that a little tin key unlocks. There is nothing unorthodox about a little tin box..."

Does this ring a bell with anyone?

posted by Manjusri to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

This search turns up Fiorello.
posted by alan at 12:21 PM on May 13, 2005

Fiorello! about Fiorello La Guardia who broke the Tammany Hall grip on NYC. Opened on Broadway in November 1950, and won a four Tonys and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1960. Ran for nearly 800 performances, starring Tom Bosley as the title character.

It was an early collaboration between Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (who hit it really big with Fiddler on the Roof).
posted by jlkr at 12:30 PM on May 13, 2005

It's a great musical. Two other songs I've loved for years are
Politics and Poker, and
I Love a Cop
Of course, I grew up in NYC, so I suppose I have a bias for it.
posted by judybxxx at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2005

Yeah, rings no personal bells here, but Google says:

"...1959 Bock/Harnick musical Fiorello! ... The great thing about that show is, it puts the emphasis and time into LaGuardia's first, unsuccessful, 1929 run against Gentleman Jimmy Walker, when LaGuardia was a scrappy activist lawyer and junior Congressman from Greenwich Village challenging the elegant incumbent machine mayor of New York City."

And it sounds like the song itself is called "Little Tin Box".
posted by blueberry at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2005

Wow! That was surprisingly easy. Thanks! I'd tried googling but without using quotes.
posted by Manjusri at 12:32 PM on May 13, 2005

Yep, it's Fiorello!, about Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York. during the Depression. Great political lyrics. Thanks for the reminder; I've got the cd, and I'll play it this evening.
posted by theora55 at 12:35 PM on May 13, 2005

Ack! Bad j! no biscuit. It opened in 1959, not 1950. (amazing how that can make it through a couple of previews.)
posted by jlkr at 6:49 PM on May 13, 2005