Trivia / Bye Bye Birdie

• Creator Backlash: Dick Van Dyke doesn't think highly of the movie version, because of the script becoming dramatically Retooled to make Ann-Margret the indisputable star.
• Cut Song: Five songs and two dance sequences from the play didn't make it into the movie, because of the script's retool.
• Dawson Casting: Many versions cast actresses in their 20s as Kim.
• Fake Nationality: Neither the 1963 movie nor the 1995 TV special feature an actual Hispanic actress as Rosie, instead respectively featuring Janet Leigh^note who at least didn't have to sing, "Spanish Rose" and Vanessa Williams in the role.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The trailer for the movie shows Ann-Margret singing the title song against a background made up of newspapers announcing Birdie's drafting. Since the director did not have enough money to perfect this effect, the movie was ultimately released with the blue screen behind Ann-Margret still visible in blue.
• Movie Bonus Song: The songwriters were asked to write a title song for the movie, where it was introduced by Ann-Margret.
• Role Reprise: For the 1963 movie, Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde again played Albert Peterson and Harry MacAfee, whom they both originated on Broadway.
• Star-Making Role: For Dick Van Dyke after doing odd television jobs in The '50s.
• Throw It In!: According to Charles Strouse's autobiography, Paul Lynde ad-libbed "Ed, I love you!" during rehearsals of "Hymn For a Sunday Evening," and it made the creative team laugh so much that they put it in the show.
• What Could Have Been:
  • During tryouts, "Put on a Happy Face" took place in the second act and was a big production number for Albert and the Ed Sullivan Show crew. The number bombed with audiences and the song was about to be cut entirely until Marge Champion, the wife and dancing partner of the musical's director Gower Champion, suggested moving it to the first act and having Albert sing it to cheer up one of Conrad's fans. To the surprise of Charles Strouse, who thought the idea sounded corny, this version stopped the show and "Put On a Happy Face" became a hit song.
  • NBC announced in 2016 that they would air a live performance of Bye Bye Birdie in December 2017, starring Jennifer Lopez as Rosie. Harvey Fierstein began updating the script, a duty he previously held for NBC's critically-acclaimed, Emmy-winning productions of The Wiz and Hairspray; changes he confirmed include making Rosie the one who discovered Conrad Birdie, and moving Birdie's appearance on Ed Sullivan closer to the end of the show (like in the movie). However, J. Lo's busy schedule resulted in NBC pushing Bye Bye Birdie Live! all the way to December 2019, but the 2018 death of co-producer Craig Zadan ultimately prevented it from airing at all.
  • Charles Strouse wanted the movie producers to cast Rita Moreno as Rosie, and claimed that Moreno wasn't even considered before the role of a Spicy Latina inexplicably went to Janet Leigh. Other sources claim that Moreno was asked, but was unavailable.

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