Dulcy (play)

Last updated
Dulcy
Lynn Fontanne by Neysa McMein 1921.jpg
Written by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly
Based onCharacter created by Franklin P. Adams
Directed by Howard Lindsay
Date premieredAugust 13, 1921
Place premiered Frazee Theatre
Original languageEnglish
SubjectCharming chatterbox leaves mayhem in her wake
GenreComedy
SettingDulcy's living room, Westchester County, New York.

Dulcy is a 1920 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. It is a fast-paced three-act comedy with one setting and eleven characters. The story concerns a warm-hearted and wrong-headed woman who is a compulsive meddler and bromide; she cheerfully arranges other people's lives to their dismay. The action takes place within the living room of a house in Westchester County, New York, from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. The authors based the play on the character Dulcinea, created by Franklin P. Adams for his newspaper column The Conning Tower.

Contents

The play was first produced by George C. Tyler and H. H. Frazee, staged by Howard Lindsay, and starred Lynn Fontanne with Gregory Kelly, John Westley, and Wallis Clark in support. After a tryout in Indianapolis and an opening engagement in Chicago during February 1921, the play made its Broadway premiere in August 1921, and ran through March 1922, for over 250 performances.

The play was never revived on Broadway, but did give rise to a 1923 silent film, and a 1940 movie.

Characters

Characters are listed in order of appearance within their scope.

Lead

Supporting

Featured

Synopsis

The humor of the play is lost in summery, for it consists of Dulcy speaking in bromides while her brother Bill offers dry counterpoint. Gordon Smith is contemplating joining a combine Forbes is proposing, yielding his factory in exchange for 16% of the shares in the new firm. Smith has invited Forbes to spend the weekend to discuss business, while Bill Parker has invited himself to his sister's house.

Dulcy (1921) Act I.jpg

Act I (The Smith's living room, in Westchester County, New York. Friday afternoon.) Bill Parker is there when Gordon Smith comes in from his commute. Henry informs them Dulcy is at a social event. They warily discuss Dulcy's new reform project: Henry. Tom Sterrett has arrived to see Mr. Forbes, while Van Dyck and Leach join the living room party, each having been invited by Dulcy. Sterrett and Leach are both interesed in Angela Forbes, with Mr. Forbes taking Sterrett's part and Dulcy in favor of Leach. Angela disdains Sterrett for his preoccupation with business. Dulcy traps Forbes into agreeing to play golf with Van Dyck the next morning, and into riding horseback in the afternoon. She also tells Forbes that her husband has many business interests to manage, hoping to get him to increase his offer of 16%. However, Forbes reacts by telling Gordon his offer was predicated on a full-time commitment to the combine, and so may be lowered. Gordon tries to remonstrate with Dulcy about mixing in his business affairs, but as she sits in his lap can only admit how much he adores her. Dulcy then encouarges Leach to take Angela around the garden, while setting Van Dyck at Mrs. Forbes, since she writes scenarios and he owns film interests. She traps Forbes, Gordon, and Sterrett into playing bridge with her, after displaying an inadequate knowledge of the game. (Curtain)

Dulcy (1921) Act II.jpg

Act II (Same, Friday evening, after dinner.) Forbes is delighted when Dulcy suggests he play billiards with Gordon, only to find she has misplaced the balls. Forbes is increasingly uncomfortable about Van Dyck and Mrs. Forbes, while Sterrett has given up on getting Angela alone. Bill plays the piano in a desultory manner, until Dulcy shoos him away in favor of Van Dyck. She then encourages Leach to talk about his latest work. Leach begins to recite his scenario for Sin, accompanied by Van Dyck on piano. (Three second curtain, to signal passage of thirty minutes.) Leach finishes his scenario recitation as Forbes fumes over his pursuit of Angela. Van Dyck suggests to Gordon that he provide financing to save and expand Gordon's business. Thus encouraged, Gordon tells Forbes he'll reject the combine offer. Dulcy encourages Leach and Angela to elope, and recruits Mrs. Forbes to bring Angela's luggage to the car. Bill offers to drive the couple to a minister, confounding Leach who was hoping to avoid formalities, while Angela is amused. Blair Patterson is brought in by Henry. Patterson informs an aghast Gordon that Van Dyck is really his cousin Hoarce Patterson, who has a mild eccentricity for impersonating the millionaire Van Dyck. (Curtain)

Dulcy (1921) Act III opening.jpg

Act III (Same, Saturday morning.) Dulcy is subdued, as Gordon gently scolds her for interfering with business. She tearfully promises to try harder but immediately jumps in to offer Forbes a car so he can leave. Dulcy accidentally implicates Mrs. Forbes in the elopement, souring Mr. Forbes, who dreads having a "celluoid son-in-law". Gordon is surprised that Forbes still believes in the Van Dyck offer. Forbes knows Blair Patterson represents the Van Dyck interests, but doesn't realize Hoarce Patterson isn't Van Dyck. Patterson tries to hustle Hoarce away, but is unable to stop him offering to finance Sterrett in his own ad agency. Overhearing this, Forbes is more convinced than ever of the genuine nature of Van Dyck's proposition to Gordon. Meanwhile, Angela and Bill come in; they are now married, Leech having been decoyed out of the car and abandoned on the road just after they left last night. Forbes is so relieved, he offers Gordon 25% of the new combine shares to turn down Van Dyck. Gordon and Dulcy are reconciled. (Curtain)

Original production

Background

Dulcinea was a fictional bromide, created by newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams for use in his column The Conning Tower, which ran in the New-York Tribune . His contribution was acknowledged in programs and on the title page of the published play, and more substantially with 10% of the author royalties. [1]

Producer George C. Tyler had given drama critic George S. Kaufman his start in playwriting, with an assignment to add a part for Lynn Fontanne to a play called Someone in the House, by Larry Evans and Walter Percival. Kaufman, who had been Adams' protege, gave Fontanne's character a personality based on Dulcinea. The play didn't last long, but Tyler was impressed by Kaufman's work. He asked him to write a whole play for Fontanne. Kaufman was willing, but wanted Marc Connelly as collaborator. [2] Tyler agreed, but when the play was ready, he couldn't find a theater in New York or Chicago with an open schedule. He then persuaded H. H. Frazee to present it at his Cort Theatre in Chicago and Frazee Theatre in New York, in return for 50% of Tyler's interest in the play. [1]

Tyler and Frazee announced the play on January 10, 1921, with an initial presentation scheduled for Chicago during February, but no New York performance until the following season. [3] By January 19, 1921, casting was completed and rehearsals scheduled to begin January 24, 1921. [4]

Cast

Principal cast during the tryout, opening engagement, and the Broadway run. The production was on hiatus from May 8 to August 12, 1921.
RoleActorDatesNotes and sources
Dulcy Smith Lynn Fontanne Feb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Gordon Smith John Westley Feb 14, 1921 - Oct 29, 1921Westley left to direct and play the male lead in The Straw by Eugene O'Neill. [5]
Reginald MasonOct 31, 1921 - Nov 19, 1922
John WestleyNov 21, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922Westley returned to his former role. [fn 2] [8]
C. Rogers Forbes Wallis Clark Feb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
William Parker Gregory Kelly Feb 14, 1921 - Mar 31, 1921Kelly left to run his own summer stock company in Indianapolis. [9]
TBDApr 01, 1921 - May 7, 1921
Gregory KellyAug 13, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Angela ForbesNorma LeeFeb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
HenryHarry LillfordFeb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Tom Sterrett Elliott Nugent Feb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Vincent Leach Howard Lindsay Feb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922Besides his own performance, Lindsay also staged the play for the producers.
Schuyler Van DyckGilbert DouglasFeb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Mrs. ForbesConstance PelissierFeb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922
Blair PattersonGeorge AlisonFeb 14, 1921 - Mar 11, 1922

Tryout and opening engagement

The play had a week-long tryout in Indianapolis at English's Opera House, starting February 14, 1921. [10] Immensely popular in Indianapolis because of Seventeen , Gregory Kelly was forced to make many curtain calls at the opening, which the theatre manager had designated "Gregory Kelly Night". It was a trying situation for Lynn Fontanne, who was the star. [11]

The production opened at the Cort Theatre in Chicago on February 20, 1921. [12] Percy Hammond at the Chicago Tribune wrote "Lynn Fontanne is an impish beauty with the gift of disguising the broadest of fun in a veil of subtlety". He was also impressed with Howard Lindsay as the scenario writer Leach, calling his recitation of the scenario for Sin "one of the funniest of the season's episodes". The performances of John Westley, Gregory Kelly, Wallis Clark, and Elliott Nugent all received commendation. [12]

So nervous were the authors at their first opening night in a big city (the tryout didn't count), that they couldn't sit still in the theater, but instead paced up and down in the lobby and the street outside. Tyler said he could see it was a success after the second act, "but Kaufman and Connelly, poor innocents, suffered right on-- lord, how they did suffer!" Tyler later had Kaufman write up a description of their agony, which he did in the character of Connelly. [fn 3] Tyler sent it to Percy Hammond as a Sunday story, but Hammond "pinched it outright and ran it under his own name", [13] as "The Pessimistic Playwrights". [14]

After three months, the play closed in Chicago on May 7, 1921. [15]

Broadway premiere and reception

Dulcy (1921) Act III finale.jpg

Dulcy had its Broadway premiere at the Frazee Theatre on August 13, 1921. [16] Fontanne "reduces the impersonation of Dulcinea to a consummate art", while Kelly delivers the most commonplace lines in subtle ways, according to McElliott in the Daily News . [16] Arthur Pollock in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle disagreed, saying Kelly was "ineffective by virtue of trying to be too effective", and that Kelly and Fontanne "have quite terrible voices". [17] The critic for The New York Herald thought the play "proved fresh and diverting" and showed "a promising talent for stage-writing". They identified Lynn Fontanne's performance as the source of the play's success: "she had all the indispensable nervousness and fidgets, the unending volubility and air of complete confidence" to portray the bromide. [18]

Bide Dudley in The Evening World confidently predicted "Dulcy will positively prove one of the biggest hits of the new season". He reported there were dozens of curtain calls at the premiere, and "genuine applause born of sheer delight." [19] Two months after the premiere, Elliott Nugent, who played Tom Sterrett, and Norma Lee, who played Angela Forbes, were married in the Notre Dame chapel. They had met at the first rehearsal for Dulcy, which was the first Broadway performance for either of them. [20] Dulcy reached its 100th performance on Broadway on November 8, 1921. [21] In December, Lynn Fontanne announced her engagement to Alfred Lunt, who was then playing opposite Billie Burke in The Intimate Strangers . [22]

Broadway closing

Dulcy closed on Broadway at the Frazee Theater on March 11, 1922, then crossed the East River to start touring in Brooklyn. [23]

Adaptations

Film

Notes

  1. This is a topical reference to actor Gregory Kelly, who created the role. He had earlier starred as William Baxter in Seventeen , in which his character also had a sister that called him "Willie".
  2. Westley, who had staged The Straw and was to play the male lead, abruptly resigned from the cast, causing its opening to be delayed. Otto Kruger took his place. [6] Both Dulcy and The Straw were produced by George C. Tyler. The latter play closed after just two weeks, on November 26, 1921. [7]
  3. The humor in Kaufman's article is far more accessible to the modern reader than that of the play.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Connelly</span> American playwright (1890–1980)

Marcus Cook Connelly was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booth Tarkington</span> American novelist (1869–1946)

Newton Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, along with William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead. In the 1910s and 1920s he was considered the United States' greatest living author. Several of his stories were adapted to film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn Fontanne</span> English actress (1887–1983)

Lynn Fontanne was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and West End productions over the next four decades. They became known as "The Lunts", and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.

<i>No, No, Nanette</i> Musical by Otto Harbach and Vincent Youmans

No, No, Nanette is a musical with a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends; lyrics by Irving Caesar and Harbach; and music by Vincent Youmans. The farcical story centers on three couples who find themselves together at a cottage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the midst of a blackmail scheme focusing on a fun-loving Manhattan heiress who has run off, leaving an unhappy fiancé. Its songs include the well-known "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston</span> American baseball club owner

Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston was an American civil engineer and businessman. He co-owned the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball with Jacob Ruppert from 1915 to 1923, turning them from one of the worst franchises in baseball into a World Series contender.

<i>Not So Dumb</i> 1930 film by King Vidor

Not So Dumb is a 1930 pre-Code comedy motion picture starring Marion Davies, directed by King Vidor, and produced for Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Dulcy</i> (1923 film) 1923 film by Sidney Franklin, Jack Wagner

Dulcy is a 1923 American silent comedy film directed by Sidney A. Franklin and starring Constance Talmadge. The film was adapted from the Broadway production of the same name written by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. The play opened in New York in August 1921 and ran for 241 performances.

First Lady is a 1935 play written by Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman. It is a three-act comedy, with three settings and a large cast. There are four scenes, which occur at monthly intervals starting with the December prior to a presidential election year. The story concerns a Washington, D.C. socialite who almost lets her rivalry with another social maven impede her husband's political future. The title is a play on the usual term accorded to a President's wife, suggesting it really belongs to the leading society hostess in the capitol.

Henry H. Van Dyck was an American newspaper publisher, financier and politician from New York.

<i>Ladies Night</i> (play) 1920 comedy play

Ladies' Night is a three-act play originally written by Charlton Andrews and later reworked by Avery Hopwood. The play was a sex farce with part of the action set in a Turkish bath instead of a bedroom. A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway, where it opened under the direction of Bertram Harrison on August 9, 1920 at the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre. Ladies' Night had a run of 375 performances with the final curtain falling in June 1921. It was revived on Broadway in adapted forms in 1945 and 1950.

<i>Dulcy</i> (1940 film) 1940 film by S. Sylvan Simon

Dulcy is a 1940 American comedy film, based upon the 1921 play written by directed by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. It was directed by S. Sylvan Simon for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and stars Ann Sothern, Ian Hunter, and Roland Young.

The 1894 Rutgers Queensmen football team was an American football team that represented Rutgers University during the 1894 college football season. The team compiled a 4–6 record and was outscored by a total of 210 to 61. Rutgers was a member of the Middle States Intercollegiate Football League and won the conference championship by beating the other two member schools, Lafayette and Stevens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anco Cinema</span> Former Broadway theater and cinema

The Anco Cinema was a former Broadway theatre turned cinema at 254 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1904 and was originally named the Lew Fields Theatre. It continued to operate as a playhouse under various names until it was converted into a movie theatre in 1930. Its block was famous for its concentration of Broadway theatres turned cinemas. After World War II, the street declined and the Anco Cinema eventually became a pornography venue. It closed as a cinema in 1988 and was gutted for retail use. The building was demolished in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Ruben</span> French-born American actor

José Ruben was a French-born actor whose career from 1910 on was in the United States. He first rose to prominence in 1916-1917 with the Washington Square Players, and for the next ten years was a highly regarded lead player. He acted in over twenty silent films and was a fixture on Broadway stages, as both performer and director, for over forty years. He also taught drama at Barnard College and was a stage director for the New York City Opera.

<i>Merely Mary Ann</i> (play) 1903 play by Israel Zangwill

Merely Mary Ann is a 1903 play by British author Israel Zangwill. It is based on his own work of the same name, written in 1893 and later included in The Grey Wig (1903). It has four acts and three settings. The story explores the changing relationship between the younger son of a baronet, who has forsaken inheritance for composing, and an orphaned country girl, now working in a cheap London lodging house.

<i>Seventeen</i> (play) 1917 play by Hugh Stanislaus Stange and Stannard Mears

Seventeen is a 1917 play by writers Hugh Stanislaus Stange, Stannard Mears, and Stuart Walker, based on Booth Tarkington's 1916 novel. It is a four-act comedy with six scenes and two settings. The story concerns a seventeen-year-old boy in a small town who is smitten with a visiting beauty, enduring the pangs of a crush with the humiliation of not being accepted as adult by his family and friends.

<i>Clarence</i> (play) 1919 play by Booth Tarkington

Clarence is a 1919 play by Booth Tarkington. It is a four-act comedy with two settings and eleven characters. The story concerns an ailing recently discharged soldier who is given a handyman job by a financial tycoon because he has overheard family gossip in the tycoon's waiting room. Tarkington wrote the play with Alfred Lunt in mind, after having seen him perform in his earlier work, The Country Cousin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Kelly (actor)</span> American stage actor, 1904-1927

Gregory Kelly was an American stage actor, who began performing as a child. He was a Broadway attraction, starring in such long-running productions as Seventeen and The Butter and Egg Man. His early death precluded him from appearing in more than two films. He is remembered today as the first husband of Ruth Gordon, who credited him with teaching her acting.

<i>To the Ladies</i> (play) 1922 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly

To the Ladies is a 1922 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. The play's title occasionally appears with an exclamation point at the end. It is a fast-paced three-act comedy with four scenes, three settings, and fourteen characters. The story concerns the efforts of a newly married wife to help her scatter-brained husband rise in his career. It was written to order as a vehicle for Helen Hayes, to give her a domestic role rather than the flappers she had been playing.

<i>The Country Cousin</i> (play) 1917 play by Booth Tarkington and Julian Street

The Country Cousin is a 1917 play by Booth Tarkington and Julian Street, a revised version of their failed 1915 play The Ohio Lady. It is a four-act comedy that skirts melodrama, with three settings and thirteen characters. The action of the play takes place on a June 1916 morning, and during 24 hours in August 1916. The story concerns an intelligent young farmer, who saves her little cousin from being cheated while also causing a young man to realize there is a larger world that demands his participation.

References

Synopsis source

Citations

  1. 1 2 Hammond, Percy (April 3, 1921). "The Theaters". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 79 via Newspapers.com.
  2. Tyler and Furnas, p.282
  3. "The Stage Door". New York Tribune. New York, New York. January 11, 1921. p. 10 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Theatre Notes". The Brooklyn Daily Times. Brooklyn, New York. January 19, 1921. p. 4 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Joins "Dulcy" Cast". Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. October 26, 1921. p. 7 via Newspapers.com.
  6. ""The Straw" Postponed". The New York Times. New York, New York. November 7, 1921. p. 15 via NYTimes.com.
  7. "Greenwich Village Theatre (ad)". The New York Times. New York, New York. November 26, 1921. p. 18 via NYTimes.com.
  8. "The Stage Door". New York Tribune. New York, New York. November 21, 1921. p. 8 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "The Kellys Will Arrive Sunday". Indiana Daily Times. Indianapolis, Indiana. April 2, 1921. p. 7 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Gregory Kelly and a Promising Premiere". The Indianapolis News. Indianapolis, Indiana. February 15, 1921. p. 6 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Gee! How Indianapolis Loves Gregory Kelly". Indiana Daily Times. Indianapolis, Indiana. February 15, 1921. p. 5 via Newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 Hammond, Percy (February 21, 1921). ""Dulcy" A Happy Satire". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 17 via Newspapers.com.
  13. Tyler and Furnas, p.283
  14. Hammond, Percy (April 3, 1921). "The Pessimistic Playwrights". The Kansas City Star. Kansas City, Missouri. p. 24 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Cort (ad)". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. May 7, 1921. p. 11 via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 McElliott (August 13, 1921). "Bromide Lady Stirs Pretty Kettle Of Fish". Daily News. New York, New York. p. 15 via Newspapers.com.
  17. Pollock, Arthur (August 15, 1921). ""Dulcy"". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. p. 6 via Newspapers.com.
  18. ""Dulcy", Clever Burlesque Of Womand Who Utters Bromides". The New York Herald. New York, New York. August 15, 1921. p. 9 via Newspapers.com.
  19. Dudley, Bide (August 15, 1921). "The New Plays". The Evening World. New York, New York. p. 17 via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Sweethearts In Play, Now They Are Married". The New York Herald. New York, New York. October 16, 1921. p. 15 via Newspapers.com.
  21. ""Dulcy" At The Frazee". Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. November 6, 1921. p. 17 via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Miss Lynn Fontanne Of 'Dulcy' And Alfred Lunt Are To Be Married". The New York Herald. New York, New York. December 10, 1921. p. 6 via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Theatre Notes". The Brooklyn Daily Times. Brooklyn, New York. March 8, 1922. p. 8 via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography