I thought of this song because I recently experienced one of my own Once a Year Days.

“Everyone’s entitled to be wild, be a child, be a goof, raise the roof,” the lyrics assert, “once a year.” They bond despite their workplace adversity. Work is suspended for 24 hours, and the time in nature makes the heroine and hero feel freer. Sung by the two romantic leads, it takes place at the company’s annual picnic.

I was reminded of one of the songs, “Once a Year Day,” recently. I enjoy the show because it features strong dramatic conflict (and of course a happy resolution) as well as terrific songs, including “Hernando’s Hideaway” and “There Once Was a Man (Who Loved a Woman).” The fight is complicated when the head of the union finds herself falling in love with a new member of management. Jean-Luc Godard is said to have called the 1957 film version “the first left-wing operetta.”Īdapted from the novel “7-1/2 Cents” by Richard Bissell, this 1954 show revolves around the fight for an hourly pay raise on the part of the union members at a sleepwear-manufacturing company, the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory. As far as I know, it is the only musical that revolves around a labor dispute. The musical comedy The Pajama Game always appeals to me. Doris Day and John Raitt in the film version of The Pajama Game

Sitcom kitchens game