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=== Cultural effect === [[File:Wash man from hair.jpg|thumb|alt=Martin, wearing a swimsuit, stands in an improvised shower stall as water pours down on her.|right|[[Mary Martin]] washed her hair onstage eight times a week.]] A mammoth hit, ''South Pacific'' sparked huge media and public attention. ''South Pacific'' was one of the first shows for which a variety of souvenirs were available: fans could buy ''South Pacific'' neckties, or for women, lipstick and scarves. Fake ticket stubs could be purchased for use as status symbols.<ref name="M153" /> There were ''South Pacific'' music boxes, dolls, fashion accessories, and even hairbrushes for use after washing men from hair.<ref>Hammerstein, p. 200</ref> Martin's on-stage shower prompted an immediate fashion craze for short hair that could be managed through once-a-day washing at home, rather than in a beauty salon, and for the products which would allow for such care.<ref>Beidler, pp. 116β117</ref> The songs of ''South Pacific'' could be heard on the radio, and they were popular among dance bands and in piano lounges.<ref name="M153" /> Mordden comments that ''South Pacific'' contained nothing but hit songs; Rodgers and Hammerstein's other successful works always included at least one song which did not become popular.<ref>Mordden 1992, p. 120</ref> The cast album, recorded ten days after the show's opening, was an immediate hit. Released by [[Columbia Records]], it spent 69 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard and a total of 400 weeks on the charts, becoming the best-selling record of the 1940s.<ref name="M153" /> It was one of the early [[LP record]]s, with a turntable speed of 33{{frac|1|3}} rpm, and helped to popularize that technology β previously, show albums and operas had been issued on sets of 78 rpm records, with high prices and much less music on a single disc. In the years to come, the LP would become the medium of choice for the "longhair" music niche of show, opera and classical performances.<ref>Beidler, p. 117</ref> An indirect effect of the success of the show was the career of James Michener. His one percent of the show as author of the source material, plus the income from a share which the duo allowed him to buy on credit, made him financially independent and allowed him to quit his job as an editor at Macmillan and to become a full-time writer.<ref>Michener 1992, p. 294</ref><ref>May, pp. 112β125</ref> Over the next five decades, his lengthy, detailed novels centering on different places would dominate the bestseller lists.<ref>May, pp. ixβx</ref>
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