Of Thee I Sing - Adaptations

Adaptations

Of Thee I Sing has never been filmed. A television version was produced in 1972 by CBS, mostly starring actors then appearing in CBS series, including Carroll O'Connor as President Wintergreen. A National Radio Theater version starring John Cullum was broadcast by NPR in 1984 and the BBC in 1984 and 1992.

In the 1930s, the Marx Brothers had intended to produce a film adaptation of the musical, but they decided to make Duck Soup instead. Many scholars draw parallels between Of Thee I Sing and Duck Soup, even going so far as to suggest that the musical helped provide inspiration for that Marx Brothers classic.

A musical sequel to Of Thee I Sing was written by the same team, entitled Let 'Em Eat Cake, and was produced on Broadway in 1933. It reused some of the music from Of Thee I Sing. However, it was a critical and box office failure. Let "Em Eat Cake was the last Broadway musical that the Gershwins wrote (if one counts Porgy and Bess as an opera rather than a musical).