John Battles

John Battles (August 10, 1921 – September 22, 2009) was a musical and dramatic theater actor born Francis Tuohy in Manhattan and raised in Rutland, Vermont. His Broadway career spanned from 1944 to 1961 and included three notable productions: On the Town, Allegro, and 13 Daughters.

Before reaching Broadway, Battles gained early theatrical experience with the Woodstock Players in Woodstock, Vermont, the Germantown Theatre Guild in Philadelphia, and the Irvine Studio for the Theatre in New York. His first Broadway appearance came as a chorus member in Cole Porter's Something for the Boys, starring Ethel Merman, a role he developed into a small featured part as the M.P. He subsequently joined Follow the Girls, starring Jackie Gleason and featuring a young Danny Aiello as the Dancing Boy, where Battles played the Yokel Sailor and understudied one of the male leads. He left that production upon being offered the role of Gabey in On the Town.

On the Town opened at the Adelphi Theater on December 28, 1944, subsequently moving to the 44th Street Theater on June 4, 1945, and then to the Martin Beck Theater on July 30, 1945, before closing on February 2, 1946, after 462 performances. Battles remained with the production for its entire run, with two absences due to illness and vacation during which understudy Marten Sameth assumed the role. As Gabey, one of three sailors followed over a 24-hour leave in New York City, Battles performed six songs: "New York, New York," "Lonely Town," "Lucky to Be Me," "Subway Ride," "Imaginary Coney Island," and the closing reprise of "New York, New York." On the Town also marked the first Broadway success for composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and actor-writers Adolph Green and Betty Comden. MGM, which had paid a $100,000 deposit to secure the screen rights before the show's stage debut, produced a film version in 1949 with Gene Kelly in the role Battles had originated.

New York reviews for On the Town were mixed but largely favorable. Lewis Nichols in The New York Times described it as "the freshest and most engaging musical to come this way since the golden day of Oklahoma!" and Louis Kronenberger of PM called it "much the best musical of the year," while John Chapman of the New York Daily News dismissed it as "a dullish musical comedy." Critical notices of Battles specifically were brief but positive. Howard Barnes of the New York Herald Tribune cited his singing of "Lonely Town" and "Lucky to Be Me," Wilella Waldorf of the New York Post called him "an engaging youth," and Robert Garland of the New York Journal American also singled out those two songs among the production's merits.

Battles's next Broadway engagement placed him at the center of a production by composers and producers already firmly established as theatrical legends. He originated the male lead, Joseph Taylor, Jr., in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro, which opened at the Majestic Theatre on October 10, 1947. A July 4, 1947 report in The New York Times by Sam Zolotow noted that Battles and John Conte were at that point the only confirmed cast members. Agnes de Mille, who had previously choreographed the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel and had recently received a Tony for Brigadoon, served as both director and choreographer. Allegro ran until July 10, 1948, for a total of 315 performances, and Battles performed in the role throughout the entire run.

The show follows the first 35 years of the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr., a story several critics compared to Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Advance ticket sales were reported by Zolotow as unprecedented, and Richard Watts, Jr. of the New York Post described it as "the most strenuously anticipated musical show of the post-war era." Reviews were largely favorable, with Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times calling it "a work of great beauty and purity" and Ward Morehouse of The Sun ranking it alongside Oklahoma! and Carousel. Dissenting critics included Louis Kronenberger of PM, who called it "boring," and William Hawkins of the New York World Telegram, who termed it a vast disappointment. Critical response to Battles's performance was generally positive: Barnes of the Herald Tribune wrote that "John Battles is perfect as the hero," Morehouse described him as "an affecting Joe Taylor — forthright, bewildered, and believable," and even the dissatisfied Kronenberger acknowledged him as a likable Joe Taylor.

Battles's final Broadway credit was 13 Daughters in 1961, closing a stage career that had begun seventeen years earlier.