Finian’s Rainbow

E. Y. Harburg got the idea for Finian’s Rainbow because he wanted to satirize an economic system that requires gold reserves to be buried at Fort Knox. He then began thinking of leprechauns and their legendary crock of gold that could grant three wishes. In the story that Harburg and Fred Saidy devised, Finian McLonergan (Albert Sharpe), an Irish immigrant, is in Rainbow Valley, Missitucky, to bury a crock of gold which, he is sure, will grow and make him rich. Also part of the fantasy are Og (David Wayne), the leprechaun whose crock has been stolen, Finian’s daughter Sharon (Ella Logan), who dreams wistfully of Glocca Morra, Woody Mahoney (Donald Richards), a labor organizer who blames “That Old Devil Moon” for the way he feels about Sharon, and a bigoted Southern Senator, Billboard Rawkins (Robert Pitkin), who — as one of the three wishes — turns black. At the end, everyone comes to understand that riches are found not in gold but in people trusting one another. A 1960 revival had a brief Broadway run. The 1968 movie version starred Fred Astaire, Petula Clarck, and Tommy Steele. Columbia OC; RCA OC (1960)/ Berkley Books (1968)/ TW.

Music

Burton Lane

Lyrics

E. Y. Harburg

Book

E. Y. Harburg & Fred Saidy