Hello, Dolly
A matchmaker named Dolly Levi takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see the “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,” Horace Vandergelder…
- Director: Gene Kelly
- Genre:Comedy / Family / Musical / Romance
- Runtime:142 minutes
Cast
Barbra Streisand: Dolly Levi
Walter Matthau : Horace Vandergelder
Michael Crawford: Cornelius Hackl
Marianne McAndrew: Irene Molloy
Danny Lockin : Barnaby Tucker
In 1890, all of New York City is excited because widowed, brassy Dolly Levi (Streisand) is in town (“Call On Dolly”). Dolly makes a living through matchmaking and numerous sidelines (“Just Leave Everything To Me”). She is currently seeking a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder (Matthau), the well-known “half-a-millionaire,” but it becomes clear that Dolly intends to marry Horace herself. Dolly travels to Yonkers, New York to visit Horace. Ambrose Kemper (Tune), a young artist, wants to marry Horace’s weepy niece Ermengarde (Ames), but Horace opposes this because Ambrose’s vocation does not guarantee a steady living. Horace, who is the owner of Vandergelder’s Hay and Feed, explains to his two clerks, Cornelius Hackl (Crawford) and Barnaby Tucker (Lockin), that he is going to get married because “It Takes a Woman” to cheerfully do all the household chores. He plans to travel to New York City to propose to Irene Molloy (McAndrew), who owns a hat shop there. Dolly arrives in Yonkers and sends Horace ahead to the city. Before leaving he tells Cornelius and Barnaby to mind the store.
Cornelius decides that he and Barnaby need to get out of Yonkers. Dolly knows two ladies in New York they should call on: Irene Molloy and her shop assistant, Minnie Fay (Peaker). She enters Ermengarde and Ambrose in the upcoming polka competition at the fancy Harmonia Gardens Restaurant in New York City, so Ambrose can demonstrate his ability to be a bread winner to Uncle Horace. Cornelius, Barnaby, Ambrose, Ermengarde and Dolly take the train to New York (“Put on Your Sunday Clothes”). Irene and Minnie open their hat shop for the afternoon. Irene does not love Horace Vandergelder and declares that she will wear an elaborate hat to impress a gentleman (“Ribbons Down My Back”). Cornelius and Barnaby arrive at the shop and pretend to be rich. Horace and Dolly arrive and Cornelius and Barnaby hide. Minnie screams when she finds Cornelius hiding in an armoire. Horace is about to open the armoire himself, but Dolly “searches” it and pronounces it empty. After hearing Cornelius sneeze, Horace storms out upon realizing there are men hiding in the shop, although he is unaware that they are his clerks.
Dolly arranges for Cornelius and Barnaby, who are still pretending to be rich, to take the ladies out to dinner to the Harmonia Gardens to make up for their humiliation. She teaches Cornelius and Barnaby how to dance since they always have dancing at such establishments (“Dancing”). The clerks and the ladies go to watch the Fourteenth Street Association Parade together. Alone, Dolly asks her first husband Ephram’s permission to marry Horace, requesting a sign. She resolves to move on with life (“Before the Parade Passes By”). After meeting an old friend, Gussie Granger (Judy Knaiz), on a float in the parade, Dolly catches up with the annoyed Vandergelder as he is marching in the parade. She tells him the heiress Ernestina Simple would be perfect for him and asks him to meet her at the Harmonia Gardens that evening.
Cornelius is determined to get a kiss before the night is over. Since the clerks have no money to hire a carriage, they tell the girls that walking to the restaurant shows that they’ve got “Elegance”. In a quiet flat, Dolly prepares for the evening (“Love Is Only Love”). At the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, Rudolph (David Hurst), the head waiter, whips his crew into shape for Dolly Levi’s return. Horace arrives to meet his date, who is really Dolly’s friend Gussie. As it turns out, she is not rich or elegant as Dolly implied, and she soon leaves after being bored by Horace, just as she and Dolly planned. Read more
