This year’s nominees for the Tony for Best Musical include a love story, a comedy, a revenge story and an adaptation of a graphic novel. Theater critics’ predictions lean heavily in favor of the last on that list, a musical based on Alison Bechdel’s memoir Fun Home. Back in 1962, the contest for Best Musical also had a front-runner, and that show took home nearly all the awards available for the taking. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, based on the book of the same name, won not only Best Musical, but also Best Producer, Author, Leading Actor, Featured Actor, Direction and Musical Direction.
The face of that musical’s success was Robert Morse. He’s probably better known to today’s audiences as MadMen‘s Bert Cooper, but of all the roles he’s taken on, during a career spanning six decades, his most remembered is How to Succeed’s ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who rises to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company. Morse, LIFE wrote, “makes unfair play so outrageously funny that he should be hanged in effigy by the Boy Scouts.”
A glimpse at Gjon Mili’s photos of the musical leaves little doubt as to why it collected so many awards. More than half a century later, the energy is still palpable, and Morse’s expressions chock full of, as his character would put it, impetuous youth.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Caption from LIFE. Dreaming of glory, Finch lolls in his boss's office chair and gloats, "Someday…someday" as he plots the way to usurp the old tycoon's throne.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesRobert Morse and Rudy Vallee in a scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In publicity gag dreamed up by Finch, a treasure hunt is announced in TV show with boss's sweetheart (Virginia Martin) dolled up as a pirate. She has to swear before a preacher on the Bible that hunt is not rigged.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a young go-getter named Finch (Robert Morse) sings an idiotic football song with his boss (Rudy Vallee) in order to win his favor and get ahead in his firm.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. In one of How to Succeed's comic gems, Robert Morse, the wonder boy, sings hymn of praise to himself called I Believe in You, as he peers in mirror of company washroom and shaves with electric razor.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesRobert Morse in a scene from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images