The Pajama Game

The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven and a half cent raise are going unheeded. In the midst of this ordeal, love blossoms between Babe, the complaint committee head, and Sid, the new factory superintendent.

A strike is imminent at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory. The union is seeking a wage raise of seven and a half cents an hour. Sid and Babe are in opposite camps yet a romance is born between them. At first Babe rejects Sid and he is forced to confide his feelings to a dictaphone. During the picnic for the factory workers, he makes better progress, but their estrangement is reinforced when they return to the factory. A slow-down is staged by the union, strongly supported by Babe. Sid, as factory superintendent, demands an "honest day's work" and threatens to fire slackers. Babe is enraged by his attitude and kicks her foot into the machinery, causes a general breakdown and is immediately fired by Sid.

Hines, the popular efficiency expert, is in love with Gladys, the company president's secretary. Periodically, he brings a more optimistic outlook to the life of the factory. Becoming convinced that Babe's championship of the union is justified, Sid simulates an interest in Gladys by taking her out for the evening to the night club, Hernando's Hideaway. Through her help, he is eventually able to gain access to the firm's books and discovers that the boss Hasler has already tacked on the extra 71/2 cents to the overall cost, but has kept all the extra profits for himself.

Sid then brings about Hasler's consent to a pay raise and is able to bring peace to the factory and to his love life. Everyone goes out to celebrate—at Hernando's Hideaway.

Here are some photos from the Rotary Club of Pictou's production of the Pajama Game...