Inspiration


The plot of 13 Daughters is semibiographical. Author Eaton (Bob) Magoon, Jr., was a native of the Hawaiian Islands and descended from one of Hawaii;s wealthiest families. He was the grandson of one of the thirteen title characters.

Productions


13 Daughters was first produced at the Honolulu Community Theatre in 1956, with score and book by Eaton (Bob) Magoon, a pop songwriter.

Several years later, 13 Daughters was retooled. It had a pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert Theater in Philadelphia from January 28, 1961, through February 25, 1961.

Following the Philadelphia run, 13 Daughters was brought into the 54th Street Theatre, where it had one preview on March 1, 1961, and opened on March 2, 1961. The show closed on March 25, 1961, after 28 performances. The opening night cast featured Don Ameche as Chun and Monica Boyar as Emmy.

The improved, Broadway version was then remounted in Honolulu in 1965 with a local cast. Several non-Magoon-written songs were added into the Broadway version in the hopes of boosting the chance of success; these songs were cut when 13 Daughters returned to Hawaii.

Cultural Influence

• A film titled Bob and his 13 Daughters played in the Chinese-American Film Festival in 2009. It followed Eaton Magoon, at age 87, as he tried to bring 13 Daughters back to Hawaii for a new production. According to notes on the film, he hoped to prepare the musical so that it might be made into a movie.

• A cast album of the 1965 Honolulu production of 13 Daughters was recorded on LP.

• The manuscript of 13 Daughters was published in 1962.

Trivia

• Tamara Long, the Oklahoma-born actress who created major roles in Dames at Sea and Lorelei, starred in the 1965 Honolulu production of 13 Daughters.

• ABC Records had announced the original cast album, but it was cancelled when the show flopped on Broadway.

• The theatre where 13 Daughters premiered on Broadway, the 54th Street Theatre, was thought of as Broadway's least-desirable jinx-house (it has also been known as the Adelphi and the George Abbott).

• One of the songs added to the Broadway production and not written by Magoon, was written by pop songwriter Sherman Edwards, who returned to Broadway in 1969 with 1776.