Annie is a classic Broadway show. The Broadway show was based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. This show was made into several movies. There will be a modern version of this timeless classic coming out at Christmas 2014 starring .Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. For this blog we chose the original 1982 movie version to talk about it.
For those who don’t this movie is about an orphan named Annie and takes place in the 1930's . She lives in an orphanage with her friends with a mean lady named Miss. Hannigan (Carol Burnett) that runs the orphanage. In the middle of the night Annie (Aileen Quinn) can’t sleep and she is sitting on the window sill looking wonder where her parents are. She is singing “Maybe.” She dreams of them coming back one day to take her home. Just then one of the littlest orphan named Molly (Toni Ann Gisondi) wakes up because of bad dream and screams for Annie. Pepper (Rosanne Sorrentino) and Duffy (Robin Ignico) are mad about this. Annie comforts Molly. Then Miss. Hannigan who has a hangover comes in screaming that they are all awake. She makes them all get up and clean the orphanage. The orphans are not mad that they have to get up and clean. They sing “It’s a Hard Knock Life” as they clean the entire place. Little Molly is in imitating Miss. Hannigan.
Annie decides she wants to escape from the orphanage. She gets into a laundry cart and the other girls cover her with sheets. They were almost caught by Miss. Hannigan when hiding Annie. Mr. Bundles (Irving Metzman) is calling out from the street to Miss. Hannigan that he is there to pick up the laundry. She runs out to him and starts flirting with him but he tells her no, that he is just there to pick up the laundry. They are interrupted by the orphans who bring out the cart that is hiding Annie. Mr. Bundles comments that this load is heavier but the girls tell to keep quiet so Miss. Hannigan doesn't notice. Mr. Bungles realizes that Annie is in the cart so he then grabs Miss. Hannigan and starts kissing her so the girls can load the cart in his truck. After they are done he drives away.
Mr. Bundles gets to his next stop and lets Annie out of his truck. Annie starts walking on the street but sees a police officer and starts walking away. The police officer, Lt. Ward spots her and she tries to out run him. She did get away for a little bit. First she spots this dog being chase by some boys who put a string of cans on the poor dog’s tail. She runs after them and corners them in an alley. She beats up one of them and another comes after her but she beats him up too and the others don’t want to mess with her. She then takes the cans off the dog and checks to see if he is okay. They are walking along when the Dog Pound Catcher (Larry Hankin) spots them. He puts a leash around Sandy getting ready to take him but Annie stops him and says that it is her dog. He doesn't believe her. She lies to the Dog Catcher that this dog help her blind father get to work every day. He still doesn't believe her. He asks her what is the dog’s name. She thinks for a second and tells him it is Sandy. He tells her to go across the street and call the dog. She does. After a few minutes and other people calling the dog other names Sandy comes to Annie. The Dog Catcher said it is okay for her to take the dog. Just then the Lt. Ward catches up to Annie. The Lt. Ward brings Annie back to Miss. Hannigan. The girls sneak in Sandy as Miss. Hannigan is flirting with Lt. Ward.
Back inside the orphans begin to wonder what is the dogs name. Annie tells them it is Sandy. When Miss. Hannigan is done with Lt. Ward she comes back in to give Annie her punishment and take Sandy away to the sausage factory.
A limo belonging to Mr. Oliver Warbucks pulls up to the orphanage with his assistant Miss. Grace Farrell (Ann Reinking). She rings the doorbell to the orphanage and meets Miss. Hannigan for the first time. Miss. Farrell tells her she is with the Orphanage Board. Miss. Hannigan thinks Miss. Farrell is there because she may get in trouble because Annie ran away. Miss. Farrell tells her no that she is there because her boss Mr. Warbucks would like an orphan to come spend a week with him at his house. Annie is in the closet of Miss. Hannigan’s office eavesdropping on the conversation. She peeks out and whispers and gives signs to Miss. Farrell about her description when they are discussing what kind of orphan they would like to have come spend the week at Mr. Warbucks’ house. Miss. Hannigan realizes that Miss. Farrell is describing Annie and she won’t let her go. Miss. Farrell insists on it and takes Annie. Annie says she has a dog Sandy and asks if he can come too. At first Miss. Farrell says no but when she hears that he might be taken to the sausage factory she says yes. The other orphans wave to her as Annie is leaving. Annie promises she will bring all her friends presents when she returns.
Annie arrives and Mr. Warbucks’s mansion. She is amazed at how big it is. Annie is greeted by the staff of the house. Miss. Farrell asks Annie what she would like to do first. Annie thinks she means cleaning the house. Everyone laughs. Miss. Farrell says no that she is a guest and doesn’t need to lift a finger. Anything she wants they will do for her. Annie sings “I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here.” After they are done showing her the house and where she will be sleeping Mr. Warbucks (Albert Finney) comes home. We hear him inquire about a painting. The painting is the Mona Lisa. At first he doesn’t like it but then says she has an interesting smile and tells the staff to hang it in his bathroom. Then the photographer (Wayne Cilento) takes Mr. Warbucks’ picture. He doesn’t like that and breaks the camera. Miss. Farrell tells him that he is there to take pictures of him for his image change. Then Mr. Warbucks apologizes and tells Punjab (Geoffrey Holder) to pick him up and get him a new camera. Then Mr. Warbucks begins to smell a wet dog and wonders why. Annie who was hiding comes out with Sandy. He asks who she is and Miss. Farrell tell him this is the orphan who will be staying with him for the week. Mr. Warbucks says that orphans are boys. He tells her to take Annie back. Annie begins to charms him and tells him about her day at his mansion and it is okay that he sends her back because she had enough fun to last her a life time. This wins him over and he allows her to stay.
Back at the orphanage, Miss. Hannigan is listen to her soap opera on the radio pretending it is her boyfriend. The orphans are watching and giggling. She is frustrated with that she is surrounded by them and sings “Little Girls” When she is done she realizes her brother Rooster (Tim Curry) and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Bernadette Peters) are sitting the room. While Rooster asking his sister for money, Lily is stealing from Miss. Hannigan’s jewelry box. While Miss. Hannigan is making Lily give it back the jewelry Rooster steals money from his sister’s purse but she doesn’t notice this till they leave. Later that night the orphans were singing “Maybe” wondering about their parents.
Annie is having trouble sleeping at Mr. Warbucks’ house. She goes downstairs to find anyone and goes to Mr. Warbucks’ office in the house where he is dictating to Miss. Farrell. Annie says that Sandy can’t sleep in a room alone. Sandy looks out the window and begins to bark. Mr. Warbucks tells Punjab to make the dog stop. The dog is barking at the stranger outside who throws a bomb in the house. Punjab grabs the bomb and throws it back out. Then gets the stranger in a headlock and removes him. All this time Mr. Warbucks doesn’t stop working. Annie wonders who the bad man is. Miss. Farrell says it is someone who doesn’t like Mr. Warbucks way of working. Mr. Warbucks does thank Sandy for helping with the bad man.
The next day Mr. Warbucks is swimming in his pool when Sandy jumps in. Annie apologizes to him saying that Sandy thought he was drowning so he jumped in to save his life. She shows him her new bathing suit that Miss. Farrell picked out for her. He says it is nice. Annie says you don’t even notice Miss. Farrell and says bets he doesn’t even know her first name. Mr. Warbucks says, “Yes, I do know it is Grace.” Annie tells him that Miss. Farrell likes him and thinks is like slice bread. Annie says, “That she knows it none of her business but you don’t notice anything.” Mr. Warbucks is sort of angry but then wonders about Miss. Farrell liking him.
Later that day in his office, there is chaos going on. Annie is watching Punjab make the model airplanes fly. The secretary is typing away. Mr. Warbucks is on many phone calls and he has enough of Annie making noise. Miss. Farrell suggest maybe she takes her out of the afternoon. He asks Annie what she wants to do. Annie says she wants to go to Washington to meet the President. Miss. Farrell suggests maybe a movie would be better. Annie says okay that she has never been but Pepper, one of the other orphans, had gone and told her it is fun. Annie asks if Mr. Warbucks was going with them. He says no because although Annie thinks Miss. Farrell does all the work it is actually him who does. Annie is sad and says maybe they won’t go that maybe Pepper was lying. Mr. Warbucks gives it a second thought and tells Punjab to buy out the 8 pm show at Radio City Music Hall so they can all go. This make Annie very happy.
At Radio City they are greeted by all of the ushers who show them to their seats. The Rockettes put on a show for them before the start of the movie. The movie they see is Camille. Miss. Farrell and Mr. Warbucks enjoy the movie but both Annie and Sandy fall asleep. Back at the house Miss. Farrell and Mr. Warbucks tuck Annie into her bed. Mr. Warbucks is amazed that Miss. Farrell knows how to do that. She tells him that he did that too. This surprises him that he did that.
The next morning, Miss. Farrell and Mr. Warbucks are talking over breakfast, in the garden, about how wonderful the night before was. Miss. Farrell suggests that they keep Annie. Mr. Warbucks says no at first that he says he like money and power but doesn’t like children. Miss. Farrell tells him it didn't look that way last night. That she can’t bear to send Annie back to the horrible orphanage. Mr. Warbucks tells her she need to get over herself. She promises him that she will take care of Annie. That Annie could be his Ward. This is when Mr. Warbucks looks at Miss. Farrell in a different way. He says to her that she looks pretty when she argues. She thanks him and tells him that money and power could never love him back. He then tells her that her teeth are crooked and that he likes them that way. He then agrees to take Annie. That he will sign the papers in the morning and she should get a present for Annie. Maybe a locket from Tiffany’s. She thanks him and says she could kiss him she is so happy. She warns him, “Be careful at that orphanage. That woman's got claws and fangs.” Miss. Farrell is so happy and she goes to tells the rest of the staff and sings “We Got Annie.”
Back at the orphanage, some of the orphans are out back marching in a circle for their daily exercise. They are marching to “A Hard Knocked Life.” There are other orphans who are planning to play a trick on Miss. Hannigan. When she come out to wonder why not everyone is marching. She asks them what they are hiding. They show her it’s a mouse. They throw the mouse down her dress. She yells for everyone to get inside.
Later, Mr. Warbuck’s limo pulls up to the orphanage. He gets out and tells Miss. Hannigan that he wants to keep Annie. She shuts the door and screams in shock. Mr. Warbucks gives her the paper to sign over Annie. This is where she becomes flirty with him. This is when they begins to sing “Sign” He wards off her advances as best as he can but then starts to get mad. He tells her that if she doesn’t sign he will call the police. She signs over Annie.
Back at Mr. Warbuck’s house he is waiting for Miss. Farrell to come back from Tiffany’s before he tells Annie the good news that he will be adopting her. She finally arrives then he asks where Annie is. Annie is taking karate lessons. Annie comes down and shows him what she learned and kicks him in his leg. Mr. Warbucks asks Punjab to bring to the couch. Punjab uses some magic to make Mr. Warbucks better. Miss. Farrell suggests they leave Mr. Warbucks and Annie alone so he can talk to her. They do. Mr. Warbucks is nervous and in his own way tells Annie that while he always loved money and power but, “It has occurred to me that no matter how much money I have unless I have someone to share it with, I might as well be broke.” This is when he gives Annie the locket. She says that it is a nice locket but she would rather keep her old one. He says it is broken and this new one says, "To Annie, With love from Daddy Warbucks." She said that when her parents left her at the orphanage 10 years that they left her with a note saying they would be back. That they kept half of her locket so she would know that it is them. She just wants to find them. Mr. Warbucks says he will help her find them. He starts to bark different orders. Then says, “Saunders, get me a drink!”
Mr. Warbucks, Miss. Farrell, Punjab and Annie go to the Bert Healy Show. Bert Healy (Peter Marshall) and his “Boylan Sisters” (Loni Ackerman, Murphy Cross and Nancy Sinclair) are singing “You Are Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” Bert announces that Mr. Warbucks is there on a nationwide search for Annie’s parents. Mr. Warbucks comes to the microphone and pleads for them contact him. Also, listen is Miss. Hannigan and the orphans. Miss. Hannigan who is in her bathroom listens drops to the floor when she hears that Mr. Warbucks says that he will give Annie’s parents $50,000 if they come forward. The orphans are singing along with the song. Miss. Hannigan comes in and is angry that there is fun going on in there.
Back at the mansion people come from all claiming they are Annie’s parents. Mr. Warbucks decides to take Annie away from it and take her to Washington to meet the President, at the time it was FDR. In Washington Mr. Warbucks argues politics with the President. They ask Annie how they can get people to like his way of thinking. She sing “Tomorrow.” That everything will be better tomorrow.
We are leaving off here. This is when you go watch the movie and see if Annie finds her real parents...
The 1982 Movie DVD
The Movie CD
The new Broadway Show Soundtrack
Original Broadway Soundtrack
Broadway Show
Here is a PBS special on the making of the 2012 revival of Annie.
The new movie coming this Christmas
What the orphans are doing now
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