7-1/2 Cents

by Richard Pike Bissell

"A gay, impudent, amorous novel" about a strike at the Sleep Tite pajama factory in Junction City, Iowa, told from the viewpoint of Sid Sorokin, the factory superintendent. Basis of the Broadway musical "The Pajama Game."

Genres: Fiction

245 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Richard Pike Bissell (June 27, 1913-May 4, 1977) was an author of short stories and novels, playwright, business executive and riverboat pilot/master. He was best known for his river books, and for his novel 7½ Cents, based on his experience in the garment industry, which he helped convert into Pajama Game, one of the most popular Broadway musical comedies of the 1950's and made into a movie musical. He wrote a book about the experience called Say, Darling, which chronicled the ins and outs of a broadway musical production; this book was also turned into a musical of the same name.

Bissell was born and died in Dubuque, Iowa. The scion of a wealthy family he graduated from Harvard University, about which he wrote You Can Always Tell a Harvard Man. After college Bissell had a brief adventure in the Venezuelan oil fields and then signed on as a seaman on an American Export Lines freighter. In 1938 he married Marian Van Patten Grilk and returned to Dubuque, where they lived on a houseboat on the Mississippi River. Bissell became a vice president in the H. B. Glover Company, a clothing manufacturer. Turned down when he tried to enlist in the Navy during World War II, Bissell worked on towboats on the Ohio, Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, and Monongahela rivers. Returning to Dubuque and Glover's after the war, he published articles on his riverboat experiences in such prestigious national magazines as Atlantic Monthly, Collier's, and Esquire.

In 1950 Bissell published his first novel, A Stretch on the River, a largely autobiographical story whose nonstop dialogue portrayed the excitement, humor, and independence of a hard-working steamboat crew on the upper Mississippi. It was published to significant critical acclaim; several commentators compared Bissell to Twain. Both flattered and embarrassed by the frequent comparisons to Twain, Bissell addressed the issue with self-deprecating humor in 1973 with the publication of My Life on the Mississippi, or Why I Am Not Mark Twain.

I learned three-quarters of what I know about writing from reading Richard Bissell, God bless him.
—-Elmore Leonard

Reviews

[Sam Bissell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's difficult for me to offer an unbiased view of this great book since it was written by my Dad. That said, it actually is a very fun read on the doings and goings-on of a men's sleepwear factory in the Midwest in the late 1940s/early '50s. Our hero is new in town and has stepped into the Superintendent's shoes, which appear to have been filled recently by a continuous passage of frustrated supers who couldn't manage to keep the ship righted. Sid's love life is a key factor in the book and while he is adamant about their relationship, Babe isn't quite sure...mostly because she thinks he can't carry on a bit of loving while also being impartial about the 7 1/2 Cent per hour raise the workers are ready to strike for. Throw in a company president who won't budge on giving the workers what they want, add a "time study" man who is serious about his job and running the workers on time, which they refuse to do, then add a touch of silliness from the Sleep Tite bulletin, and a few trips to the tavern on one side of the river and a nightclub on the other and you're in for a thrill ride that won't disappoint. I DO recommend this book............and without the bias!
SIDE NOTE: 7 1/2 Cents went on to become the musical comedy Pajama Game, which played on Broadway in New York City for 2 1/2 years (1954-56, 1063 performances), garnering 3 Tony Awards in 1955 for Best Musical, Best Choreography (Bob Fosse's first effort), and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Carol Haney). It then went on to become a movie of the same name in 1957, starring John Raitt (Bonnie's Dad) and Doris Day.

[🐴 🍖]

unusual to read a book centered around a u.s. labor dispute that doesn't end in a buncha heads bouncing off the pavement... but then the near-strike @ sleep-tite is really a plot device in svc to the sid & babe romance, which in turn is just window dressing for a lot of (quite gorgeous) reportage re midwestern factory town life: the crummy steaks at the local dance spot; the stickiness of iowa heat; the pravda-like boosterism of the in-house sales newsletter. threads an awfully difficult needle (that's not a pajama reference) by ventriloquizing small-town chatter & gossip w/o belittling. comfy, if not crisply tailored (that IS a pajama reference).

[T.S. Folke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cross between Raymond Chandler and Studs Terkel. A steamy and gray account of a small Midwestern garment factory, the labor strife and the blow hard management. Mixed in is romance and booze and Mississippi River thematic ebbs and you e got a truly fun read.

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sought out this book because it's about a strike in a pajama factory in Iowa, and I recently visited a bar (and former pajama factory) called Textile in Iowa which supposedly was the source of the story. Anyway . . . I found it to be really dated and not as amusing as it was trying to be. The novel became a Broadway play, and a movie, called The Pajama Game. I'll be watching the movie, a musical starring Doris Day and John Raitt (Bonnie Raitt's father), just to see what Hollywood did with it. Great songs, by the way, which I noticed in the movie trailer. The novel, not that great.

[Umar Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as Stage Manager for The Pajama Game. Great character insights which helped to inform presence and behavior.

This was a fun light-hearted novel depicting real working class issues in the 1950s. Really highlights the plight of people working in an often overlooked segment of the post-war era American supply chain.

[Mary Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would definitely describe this as "a fun read". It is the book that the musical "The Pajama Game" is based on. If I can find a copy of the movie I am definitely going to watch it in the near future.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the supporting characters more than the main character. References and quotes at the beginning of each chapter didn't always tie in the greatest. Great character description.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didnt know the movie was based on a book. Saw the movie years ago and liked it. Enjoyed the book.

[Creolecat]

The Pajama Game (1957)

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, wisecracking satire from the 1950s of trying to climb out of the union rank and file into management.

The musical based on this book, as you might expect, takes the first 50 pages or so and runs off in a different direction. In Bissell's book the garment workers' strike for a 7-1/2 cent increase on piecework is settled in a completely different way, much less dramatically.

A word of caution: anti-Semitic epithets were run of the mill in the period in which the book takes place.

[Alan Hoffman]

Read this because I thought it would help understand "Pajama Game" and the lead character, Sid Sorokin. It didn't. Very dry book - he cheats on her, and unlike the movie, they leave the pajama industry at the end when he gets fed up.