  guys and dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by frank loesser and book by jo swerling and abe burrows. it is based on "the idyll of miss sarah brown" and "blood pressure"two short stories by damon runyon,and also borrows characters and plot elements from other runyon storiesmost notably "pick the winner".stempel, 435 the premiere on broadway was in 1950. it ran for 1200 performances and won the tony award for best musical. the musical has had several broadway and london revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring marlon brando, jean simmons, frank sinatra and vivian blaine. guys and dolls was selected as the winner of the 1951 pulitzer prize for drama. however, because of writer abe burrows' troubles with the house un-american activities committee (huac), the trustees of columbia university vetoed the selection, and no pulitzer for drama was awarded that year.suskin, 275 ==background== guys and dolls was conceived by producers cy feuer and ernest martin as an adaptation of damon runyon's short stories.zolotow, maurice. "guys, dolls and runyon". the new york times, nov. 12, 1950, section 2, p. 1,3. these stories, written in the 1920s and 1930s, concerned gangsters, gambl
1950_musicals Broadway_musicals Grammy_Hall_of_Fame_Award_recipients Laurence_Olivier_Award_winning_musicals Musicals_based_on_short_fiction Musicals_by_Frank_Loesser Plays_set_in_New_York_City United_States_National_Recording_Registry_recordings West_End_musicals