Ian Rich Said

As Ian Rich said in 1957: "It is significant that the most popular and most widely remembered lyric from the 1954 Extravaganza is the neatly ironic number "Botanical Garden Rakes." Old Extrav. diehards may have been a little puzzled at the success of this number; but for the fresher, just new to the chorus line, it fitted smoothly into what he thought was probably the only pattern of Extravaganza presentation. The music for the "Botanical Garden Rakes" was taken from a new American musical comedy "Guys and Dolls"; its theme was not political but more broadly satirical.