It's rare for a 1950's movie to have four juicy roles for character actresses but THE PAJAMA GAME sure does. Carol Haney, Reta Shaw, Thelma Pelish, and Barbara Nichols are wonderful in this film, I think their various scenes are the best in the film although Doris Day is very good of course and the rest of the cast is as well.
shareI think the rest of the cast did a better job than Doris Day did but they needed her for a name. There would have been nothing wrong with keeping the cast from the play but as usual Hollywood was afraid to take the chance. Otherwise, they may have kept the company intact and Janice Paige would have played Babe.My house isn't messy. I've simply set up obstacles for any burglars
WB decided to cast a Hollywood name in either the male or female lead role as neither John Raitt nor Janis Paige were major film stars, and the other would be played by the original Broadway star. Luckily for John Raitt, they cast Day as Babe. I don't think there's anything wrong with Doris Day's performance in this film. In fact, she seems to be perfectly suited to the role and has great chemistry with Raitt.
shareJanis Paige has sad in interviews that she knew it came down to her and Sinatra, or Doris and John. Frank turned it down (he was in two other musicals that year), so they went with Doris who had appeared with Janis in her first film. Janis said she lucked out anyway, because she got Fred Astaire in "Silk Stockings". A few years later, Janis and Doris worked together again in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies".
"Great theater makes you smile. Outstanding theater may make you weep."