Looking for Mabel Normand

Look What Happened To Mabel

Music and Lyric by

Jerry Herman

Very Freely

Miss Waitress from Flatbush, get down from up there; don’t you know that you’re out of your class?

Miss Waitress from Flatbush, I hope you’re a- ware, you’re behaving like some little ass.  Hey, miss what’s this?

See that fascinating creature with perfection stamped on every feature; she was plain little Nellie, the kid from the deli, but Mother of God, look what happened to Mabel!  From now on this pile of flesh I‘ll be considered somthin’ pretty special, and Miss B. L. T. Down is the toast of the town; Mary and Joseph, what happened to Mabel!  Every gesture and position that she takes is smart and meticulous.  Talk about the magic that the camera makes, but this is ridiculous!  Hold your tongue and hold your snickers for the new enchantress of the flickers is that plain little Nellie, the kid from the deli, so rattle me beads, look what happened to Mabel! St. Aloysius! I know that you might think I’m balmy, but the queen of corned beef and salami is a glamorous goddess who’s busin her bodice, Oh jumpin’ St. Jude, look what happened to Mabel!

Some one who was plain as mutton on the screen is cuter than a button, and the girl with the pickles who hustled for nickels is somethin’ to see; look what happened to Mabel! Yesterday a tip collector, but today just turn on that projector and Miss Avenoo R is a regular, Holy Mother Machree, look what happened to Mabel! Up to now I never really knew that I could be so ambitious, but suddenly I know I have to say good bye to bagels and knishes, Oh!

Look What Happened To Mabel

(Yes, See What They Did To Her!!!)

Of all the lyrics that Jerry Herman wrote for this musical, this is the piece I dislike the most, not the music, I like the music it is the lyrics!.  I keep telling myself that Mack & Mabel is only another story and of course, liberties need to be taken to make the love story more accessible and fit into the story line that was written by Michael Stewart and isn’t meant to be a true story … BUT…the whole “Nellie from the Deli character” how could they!  My Mabel Normand was an artist’s model and a noted beauty, gracing the covers of national magazines before she began working with D. W. Griffith, where she met Mack.  So, please listen to this song as only another character that Mabel is playing, (it isn’t who she was just another redesigned Mabel) alas one of so many.