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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is one of the best selling theater tickets in the USA right now, but the story began life back in 1952 as a book, written by Shepherd Mead. “How to Succeed” was Mead’s best known book, but he produced a number of other works of interest. The writer, originally from St. Louis, wrote about many things, including science fiction novels based in the future (1993, in the case of “The Big Ball of Wax: A Story of Tomorrow’s Happy World”). “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” the book was written as a parody of an instruction manual, and satirized life in an American corporate office. The story is largely autobiographical; Mead himself began working for the Benton & Bowles advertising agency when he was around the age of 22 in 1936 as a mail-room worker. He climbed up the corporate structure to become the vice-president of the company. As he worked his way up the ladder, Mead wrote the book in his spare time. It went on to become a huge seller.

In the mid-50s, a curious partnership between a playwright and a neurosurgeon (Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock) came up with a stage adaptation that remained unrealized until 1960. Broadway producers recognized “How to Succeed”‘s potential as a musical, and the same team who’d written Damon Runyon’s “Guys and Dolls” five years earlier took on the task of properly adapting “How To Succeed” for the Broadway stage. The co-authors, writer Abe Burrows and composer Frank Loesser directed and co-produced, respectively, and in 1961 rehearsals finally began for Shepherd Mead’s excellent story. The production opened in October of that year and ran for over 1,400 performances, winning numerous Tony Awards. It is fair to say that 1961 was the perfect year for the show to launch; a relatively calm trough between the social changes of the 50s and 60s, in which America basked in an untouchable post-war glow and ex-servicemen were enjoying vacuous corporate careers like so many million happy drones. The unforgettable characters of J. Pierrepont Finch, JB Biggley and Rosemary Pilkington were made for the time. It’s easy to envisage the crisp suits, retro-looking foyers and clinking xylophonic vibe of the suave and slippery souls as they navigated the corporate landscape to their own ends.

Now, this latest version is doing a roaring trade. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying tickets are selling out on Broadway all over again, and this time in a new age of celebrity. It’s difficult to imagine Harry Potter playing J. Pierrepont Finch, but it is happening, and it is a smash!