Boy Meets Girl (play)

Last updated
Boy Meets Girl
Written by Bella and Samuel Spewack
Directed by George Abbott
Date premieredNovember 27, 1935 (1935-11-27)
Place premiered Cort Theatre,
New York City
Original languageEnglish
SubjectFarce on events in a film studio
GenreComedy
SettingThe fictional Royal Studio in Hollywood, 1935.

Boy Meets Girl is a three-act, seven-scene play, written by Bella and Samuel Spewack, staged and produced by George Abbott. [1] It is a farce with a large cast, fast pacing, two settings and a film sequence. The action centers around two scenarists at the Royal Studios in Hollywood, their volatile producer, the fading western actor they write for, and a pregnant single waitress whose baby they turn into a film star. The play's title comes from a trope common to early film plots: Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl. Though not original to the play, the phrase received a boost in popular usage as a result.

Contents

The set designs were by Arne Lundborg. [2] The show was a critical and popular success, winning the Dramatists Guild award for Best Comedy of the Season. [3] It ran for twenty months on Broadway, closing after 669 performances. [4] It was adapted for film in 1938, but had only two minor revivals on Broadway in later decades.

Characters

Characters are listed in order of appearance within their scope.

Leads

Supporting

Voice-only

Film-only

Synopsis

"The story is too crack-brained to be intelligibly recorded here". --Brooks Atkinson [6]

Original production

Background

The Spewacks had worked on the screenplay for Rendezvous at MGM studios during 1934; Boy Meets Girl was based on experiences and personalities they had encountered there. [5] The first public announcement of it came when George Abbott put it on his production schedule during October 1935. [7] Rehearsals started October 27, 1935. [8] The first cast announcements came a day later, with Jerome Cowan, Joyce Arling, Charles McClelland, Royal Beal, and for a while Broderick Crawford, selected for the play. [9]

George Abbott revealed to Victor Knox of the Buffalo Evening News that Warner Brothers had helped finance the play, but he and the Spewacks controlled the production. [10] He further emphasized that the studio's stake amounted to only a quarter interest, and would play little part in determining film rights. [10]

Cast

Cast during the tryout in Philadelphia and the original Broadway run
RoleActorDatesNotes
Robert Law Allyn Joslyn Nov 18, 1935 - Feb 20, 1937After 524 performances, Joslyn left for Hollywood. [1] [11]
Roy RobertsFeb 22, 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
Larry TomsCharles McClellandNov 18, 1935 - Nov 28, 1936 [1] [12]
Don DouglasNov 30, 1936 - Jun 19, 1937 [12]
J. Carlyle Benson Jerome Cowan Nov 18, 1935 - May 30, 1936Cowan left to make movies in Hollywood. [1] [13]
Millard Mitchell Jun 01, 1936 - Jun 19, 1937 [13]
Mr. Friday (C.F.)Royal BealNov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937One night Beal suffered a burst appendix in Act I, but finished the performance after a shot of morphine. [1] [11]
SusieJoyce ArlingNov 18, 1935 - Apr 17, 1937This was Arling's first starring and fourth stage role, all for George Abbott productions. [14]
TBDApr 19, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937Took over role when Arling was sent to a new road company by George Abbott.
Rossetti Everett H. Sloane Nov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937 [1]
Miss CrewsLea PenmanNov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937 [1]
Rodney BevansJames MacCollNov 18, 1935 - Jun 1937Audiences were convinced MacColl was really English, but he was actually a NYC native. [1]
Richard WaringJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
Green Garson Kanin Nov 18, 1935 - Feb 22, 1936Kanin left to join the cast of Star Spangled only to see it flop. [1] [15]
Jerry SloaneFeb 24, 1936 - Apr 4, 1936Sloane was promised a role in the next road company for yielding the part to Kanin again. [16]
Garson KaninApr 6, 1936 - Jun 1937 [16]
Sidney AndrewsJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
Otto SladeMaurice SommersNov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937Sommers was the only cast member to never miss a performance during the entire run. [1]
PeggyPeggy HartNov 18, 1935 - Mar 14, 1936Hart left the play to get married. [17] [18]
Julie LawrenceMar 16, 1936 - May 2, 1936 [18]
Edith Van CleveMay 4, 1936 - Jun 1937She was a production assistant for George Abbott and simultaneously in the cast of Three Men on a Horse . [19]
Barbara LeedsJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
A Nurse Helen Gardner Nov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937 [17]
DoctorPerry IvinsNov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937 [17]
ChauffeurEdison RiceNov 18, 1935 - Dec 21, 1936Rice left to join the cast of the second company opening in Chicago. [17] [20]
Juan VarroDec 23, 1936 - Jun 1937Varro was also an assistant stage manager.
UnknownJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937This character was dropped from the theater program after May 1937
A Young ManPhilip FavershamNov 18, 1935 - Jun 1937He was the son of William Faversham and Julie Opp. [17]
Carl FrankJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
Studio OfficerGeorge W. SmithNov 18, 1935 - Jun 1937Besides acting, Smith also served as stage manager for the play. [17]
Juan VarroJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937
Cutter Robert Foulk Nov 18, 1935 - Jun 1937Foulk was also an assistant stage manager for this play. [17]
George W. SmithJun 1937 - Jun 1937
Another NurseMarjorie LytellNov 18, 1935 - Feb 22, 1936She was the wife of Philip Faversham, also in this play. [17] [21]
Georgette McKeeFeb 24, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937McKee took over when Lytell left to appear in Star Spangled . [21]
Barbara LeedsNov 18, 1935 - Jun 1937
UnknownJun 1937 - Jun 19, 1937This character was dropped from the theater program after May 1937
Major Thompson John Clarke Nov 18, 1935 - Jun 19, 1937Clarke was an English opera singer whom Abbott persuaded to take this straight dramatic role. [17]
HappyJudith Ann RoyThough the character was a boy, the second act film sequence was played by George Abbott's niece. [22]

Tryouts

Boy Meets Girl had its sole tryout at the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia, opening on November 18, 1935, for a week-long run. [1] Both local reviewers were positive about the play and cast, predicting Broadway success for it, and neither had any suggestions for improvement. One mentioned the rumor that the screenplay writer characters of Robert Law and J. Carlyle Benson were based on Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht. [14] The same reviewer labelled the farce as "a satire without the ire" and thought it a burlesque. [14]

The critics may have had no suggestions, but according to George Abbott audiences reacted negatively to one part of the film sequence, showing C.F. auditioning babies for the part of Happy. Viewers felt sorry for the infants who didn't get the job, so that first part of the film sequence was cut after Philadelphia.

Premiere

The Broadway debut for Boy Meets Girl occurred at the Cort Theatre on November 27, 1935. [2] Columnist Rowland Field spotted Ben Hecht, George M. Cohan, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Irving Berlin, Herbert Bayard Swope, Helen Lynd, Philip Dunning, and Max Gordon among the first-night crowd. [23] Burns Mantle noted the audience's laughter "frequently rose to shrieks and seldom dwindled to anything as non-committal as a giggle". [2]

Reception

Arthur Pollock in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said: "There are plays so bad that to dismiss them with a line is to overestimate them. And there are plays so good description seems superfluous. Boy Meets Girl is nothing more than a knockout". [17] He felt that Boy Meets Girl successfully stood comparison with Once in a Lifetime , an earlier satire on Hollywood, as well as with George Abbott's own Broadway . As for the play's two screenwriters being based on real-life figures, Pollock was dismissive: "Some say the two are meant to be Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, but the play proves that that rumor has no foundation. They are too funny." [17]

Both Burns Mantle in the Daily News and Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times attributed much of the play's success to George Abbott's casting and direction. [2] [6] Atkinson called it "an extraordinarily hilarious comedy" and stated: "George Abbott has cast it and directed it with uncommon exactitude and vitality". [6]

By March 22, 1936, the play had had over 145,000 viewers, with an average weekly gross of $18,000 and advance sales of $70,000, and was coming up to its 150th performance on April 1, 1936. [fn 1] [24]

Change of Venue

Boy Meets Girl gave its last performance at the Cort Theatre on May 15, 1937, opening at the Ambassador Theatre on May 17, 1937. [25] The move was to make way for George Abbott's new comedy, Room Service , and was accompanied by a 50% discount on ticket prices. [25]

Closing

The original Broadway run closed at the Ambassador Theatre on June 19, 1937, after 669 performances. [4]

Second Company

Three weeks after the Broadway premiere, the sale of advance tickets was such that George Abbott announced that a second company of the Broadway production would open in Chicago on January 19, 1936. [26] The second company would star Polly Walters, Eric Dressler, Harold Vermilyea, and Philip Van Zandt. [20] Before doing short tryout runs in Buffalo, New York and Cincinnati, Ohio, there was a morning preview of it before a picked audience of players and other stage folks at the Cort Theatre. [5]

The first tryout opened at the Erlanger Theatre in Buffalo on January 6, 1936. [27] The play's opening dialogue was punctured by an unexpected intruder, a yowling gray cat so vocal it drowned out lines in the first act. Stage crew members chased it up and down the aisles and across the orchestra pit to the delight of the audience, before it disappeared into the basement. [27]

The second tryout opened at the Cox Theatre in Cincinnati on January 12, 1936. [28] One local reviewer said: "What the poverty of the English language forces me to call the plot of Boy Meets Girl revolves about the antics of two pleasantly insane scenarists. From the curtain's rise there is not a dull, and scarcely a lucid, moment...". [28]

The second company's premiere opened at the Selwyn Theatre in Chicago on January 19, 1936. [29] Charles Collins of The Chicago Tribune was impressed: "The casting of the various types is adroit; the stage direction by George Abbott... is keen and brisk; and the acting is skilfull and merry". [29] The second company closed its run at the Selwyn Theater on May 2, 1936, after which it became the touring company for Boy Meets Girl, visiting cities in the Midwest. [30]

Adaptions and revivals

Stage Revivals

On June 22, 1943, a revival was mounted at the Windsor Theatre by Lucia Victor's New York Stock company, with Rodney Hale directing. [31] The production, for a limited engagement of two weeks, starred Joey Faye, Lewis Charles, Sara Lee Harris, and Norman MacKay. [31] Burns Mantle in the Daily News gave a brief review, saying it was adequate "so long as the audience is confined to patrons without memories of the original production". [32]

A second revival was mounted in April 1976 by the Phoenix Theatre repertory company at the Playhouse Theatre on 48th Street. [33] Directed by John Lithgow, it starred Lenny Baker, Charles Kimbrough, Mary Beth Hurt, and Frederick Coffin. [33] The production was panned by one reviewer, who said: "The humor of its jokes has gone flat over time", and suggested Lithgow should stick to acting. [33]

Film

Boy Meets Girl was adapted for Boy Meets Girl (1938 film) , directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Marie Wilson, Dick Foran, and Ralph Bellamy. Films and television shows with the same title from subsequent years are different stories.

Notes

  1. ↑ This was for the Cort Theatre in New York, and did not include figures from the second company at the Selwyn Theatre in Chicago.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ""Boy Meets Girl" Amuses At Broad". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 19, 1935. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Mantle, Burns (November 28, 1935). ""Boy Meets Girl" Is a Hit". Daily News. New York, New York. p. 604 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "'Boy Meets Girl' Gets $500 Prize". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. April 28, 1936. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 "News of the Stage". The New York Times. New York, New York. June 19, 1937. p. 20 – via NYTimes.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knox, Victor (January 6, 1936). ""Boy Meets Girl" Satire On Metro Studio, It Seems". Buffalo Evening News. Buffalo, New York. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 Atkinson, Brooks (November 28, 1936). "The Play". The New York Times. New York, New York. p. 38 – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ↑ Cohen, Harold V. (October 22, 1935). "The Drama Desk". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Abbott Ready With New Play By The Spewacks". Daily News. New York, New York. October 27, 1935. p. 450 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "The New York Stage". The Buffalo News. Buffalo, New York. October 28, 1935. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 Knox, Victor (January 10, 1936). "Film Financing No Menace To Dramatists, Says Abbott". Buffalo Evening News. Buffalo, New York. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 Chapman, John (February 22, 1937). "Mainly About Manhattan". Daily News. New York, New York. p. 187 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 "A Boy One Year Old". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. November 29, 1936. p. 57 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. 1 2 "Stage Notes". Daily News. New York, New York. June 2, 1936. p. 331 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 3 "The Call Boy's Chat". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 24, 1935. p. 65 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Field, Rowland (March 15, 1936). "Both Sides of the Curtain". Times Union. Brooklyn, New York. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 "Garson Kanin Back in "Boy Meets Girl"". The Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. April 8, 1936. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pollock, Arthur (November 29, 1935). "The Theater". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. 1 2 Harper, Ray (March 16, 1936). "Rialto Rambling". The Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "G. M. Cohan At It Again". Daily News. New York, New York. May 3, 1936. p. 61 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. 1 2 "Theatre Notes". Daily News. New York, New York. December 21, 1935. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. 1 2 "Drama News". Times Union. Brooklyn, New York. February 22, 1936. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Sheaffer, Lew (March 27, 1936). "Youngest Stage Star Is Queens Baby Girl". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. p. 29 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ Field, Rowland (December 1, 1935). "Both Sides of the Curtain". Times Union. Brooklyn, New York. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Theatre Notes". Daily News. New York, New York. March 23, 1936. p. 178 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. 1 2 "Price Cut on "Boy Meets Girl"; "Room Service" a Pickup". Daily News. New York, New York. May 16, 1937. p. 298 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ "Drama News". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. December 14, 1935. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. 1 2 "Cat Adds Gusto To Hilarity of Opening Night". Buffalo Evening News. Buffalo, New York. January 7, 1936. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. 1 2 Carberry, Edward (January 13, 1936). "Merry Farce Opens at Cox". The Cincinnati Post. Cincinnati, Ohio. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. 1 2 Collins, Charles (January 20, 1936). "'Boy Meets Girl', Daft and Droll, Smartly Ironic". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ "The Stage". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. April 23, 1936. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. 1 2 "The New York Stage". The Buffalo News. Buffalo, New York. June 23, 1943. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ↑ Mantle, Burns (June 23, 1943). ""Boy Meets Girl" Is Revived in 48th St". Daily News. New York, New York. p. 237 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. 1 2 3 le Sourd, Jacques (April 14, 1976). "'Boy Meets Girl' revival not a classic". The Reporter Dispatch. White Plains, New York. p. 41 – via Newspapers.com.
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