In the musical "1776," the song "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men" depicts Revolutionary War era conservatives as power-hungry wheedlers focused on maintaining wealth. So it's not surprising that then-President Richard Nixon, who saw the show at a special White House performance in 1970, wasn't a big fan of the number.
What is surprising is that according to Jack L. Warner, the film's producer and a friend of the president, Nixon pressured him to cut the song from the 1972 film version of the show--which Warner did. Warner also wanted the original negative of the song shredded, but the film's editor secretly kept it intact.
In the spring of next year, Sony Pictures--which owns the rights to the film--will release DVD and video versions of a new director's cut of "1776," restoring the original version of "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men," prompting the director, writer and cast members to tell the strange tale of Nixon, Warner and the song.
Even in a politically charged era, "1776's" dramatic portrayal of the struggle for integrity and personal honor in the second Continental Congress struck a chord with audiences from both sides of the political spectrum. "1776" was a hit, and by the time it beat out "Hair" for best musical at the 1969 Tony Awards, it was hardly a surprise that enthusiastic Nixon staffers would ring up to request a White House performance.
"They were so excited, they were going to have the Marine Band learn all the music," says director Peter H. Hunt. The cast, however, had reservations about playing for Nixon. Actor Paul Hecht recalls a "very heavy discussion about whether we should even go."
The politically active cast included Hecht, who played John Dickinson and went on to become the New York president of the Screen Actors Guild; SAG's current president, William Daniels, who played John Adams; and Howard Da Silva, who played Ben Franklin. The last time Da Silva had received an invitation from Nixon, it was to testify before 1947's House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), the anti-communist star chamber that Nixon helped to revivify during his time in Congress. Da Silva refused to talk and was subsequently blacklisted from Hollywood for many years.
