The Theater: New Musical in Manhattan, Feb. 4, 1946

Nellie Bly (book by Joseph Quillan; music by James Van Heusen; lyrics by Johnny Burke; produced by Nat Karson & Eddie Cantor) is the eighth musical in which breezy William Gaxton and quavery, befuddled Victor Moore (Of Thee I Sing, Louisiana Purchase) have been starred together. It may also be the last: they are considering turning over their respective talents to Hollywood. As a farewell party, Nellie Bly proves a pretty dismal frost; it even casts something of a blight on the guests of honor.

Telling the story of the New York World’s lady reporter who in 1889 circled the globe in less than the 80 days it took Jules Verne’s Phineas Fogg, Nellie Bly catches none of Nellie’s speed or her story’s excitement, and too little of the period’s color. With its weak and whiskered gags, its dime-a-dozen tunes, and its plot that has a muddled Victor Moore competing for a rival paper, Nellie Bly is just musical globaloney.