If Love Were All (play)

If Love Were All
Written by	Cutler Hatch (pseudonym of Agnes Morgan)
Characters	Dr. Philip Bryce, Margaret Bryce; Janet Bryce; Frank Grayson; Alice Grayson; Ronald Grayson; George Manning; John; Emil; Fritz; A French waiter; An English tourist; A middle-aged German lad; A young French lady; A middle-aged German man; a youngish Frenchman;
Date premiered	November 13, 1931
Place premiered	Booth Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Comedy of manners
Setting	New York, Paris, Vermont

Last updated April 09, 2019

If Love Were All, subtitled "a gentle comedy," is a comedy in two acts and 10 scenes by Agnes Morgan under the pseudonym "Cutler Hatch." It was first produced at the Booth Theatre on Broadway by Actor-Managers, Inc. (the firm set up by Morgan and her partner Helen Arthur). Settings were created by Charles Stepanek. It is notable for being a play staged on Broadway written by a woman, and produced by women.

Agnes Morgan was a director, playwright, actress and theatrical producer. She is most known for her association with the Neighborhood Playhouse where she was a director and functioned in numerous other roles.

The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.

Helen Arthur was a theatre manager, known for managing the Neighborhood Playhouse for thirteen seasons (1915–1927). Arthur was the manager of several notable actors, including Ruth Draper.

Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, located approximately 33 miles (53 km) southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, 20 miles (32 km) south of Fall River, Massachusetts, 73 miles (117 km) south of Boston, and 180 miles (290 km) northeast of New York City. It is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. It was the location of the first U.S. Open tournaments in both tennis and golf, as well as every challenge to the America's Cup between 1930 and 1983. It is also the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport, which houses the United States Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and an important Navy training center. It was a major 18th-century port city and also contains a high number of buildings from the Colonial era.

Plot

Margaret Bryce has been happily married to Dr. Philip Bryce for many years.^[3] Dr. Bryce is a tolerant man but very devoted to his work and his patients. Even though in love with Margaret, he doesn't give enough attention to her. Janet Bryce, their child, is 18, admires her mother and is deeply devoted to her father.

During Easter vacation, Janet is home from college and discovers her mother has been seeing another man: Frank Grayson, a wealthy businessman with a wife and 19-year old son, Roland. Determined to prevent Dr. Bryce from finding out, Janet meets with Roland at the end of the school year in June and convinces him of the affair. Roland reveals that his mother is an invalid, and that knowledge of her husband's extra-marital affair would kill her. The two college-age children recognize that their generation has the understanding of how love can happen and the ability to accept it with tolerance. Janet is particularly sensitive, having just come out of a relationship. They also believe their parents' generation lacks the ability to understand and deal with such things. Seeing no way to break up their respective parents' affair, they decide to let them spend the summer with each other by vacationing with the unsuspecting spouses for three months.

On the French Riviera, Janet is with her father when she encounters George Manning, the person with whom she had an unsuccessful relationship. He is now married and unhappy. Even though Janet believes she could win him back, she recognizes the unhappiness that would befall his wife.

The French Riviera is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from Cassis or Toulon on the west to the France–Italy border in the east, where the Italian Riviera joins. The coast is entirely within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region of France. The principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile in the mountains of Vermont, Margaret Bryce and Frank Grayson have been having an enjoyable vacation. After discussing divorce from their respective spouses, they agree not to do it, recognizing the unhappiness it would bring along with the disruption of their families.

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders the U.S. states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Vermont is the second-smallest by population and the sixth-smallest by area of the 50 U.S. states. The state capital is Montpelier, the least populous state capital in the United States. The most populous city, Burlington, is the least populous city to be the most populous city in a state. As of 2015, Vermont was the leading producer of maple syrup in the United States. In crime statistics, it was ranked as the safest state in the country in 2016.

In October the families are reunited. Janet and Roland have grown fond of one another but realize their plan was a failure. Margaret Bryce and Frank Grayson seem just as much in love as ever. Janet and Roland agree to invite Margaret and Frank and themselves to dinner at a restaurant to have things out and come to a resolution.

At a German restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Janet and Roland reveal to Margaret and Frank that they know all about their extra-marital affair and plea on behalf of the absent parents. But Margaret and Frank reveal a surprise as well: Both of their spouses have known of the extra-marital affair from the start. Because of their acceptance, there had never been any deception. Janet and Roland, shamefaced, realize that their generation does not have a monopoly on understanding human relationships. The curtain falls as they drink a toast to the absent parents, recognizing the understanding that they have yet to develop.

The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park/Fifth Avenue, 59th Street, the East River, and 96th Street. The area incorporates several smaller neighborhoods, including Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it is now one of the most affluent neighborhoods in New York City.

Manhattan, often referred to locally as the City, is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City and its economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, and historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers; several small adjacent islands; and Marble Hill, a small neighborhood now on the U.S. mainland, physically connected to the Bronx and separated from the rest of Manhattan by the Harlem River. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each aligned with the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan.

Roles and original Broadway cast

Aline MacMahon as Margaret Bryce^[1]
Walter Kingsford as Dr. Philip Bryce, her husband
Margaret Sullavan as Janet Bryce, their daughter
Hugh Buckler as Frank Grayson
Mabel Moore as Alice Grayson, his wife
Donald Blackwell as Ronald Grayson, their son
Mark Loebell as George Manning
John M. Troughton as John
Jules Bennett as Emil, the head waiter
Emil Hurst as Fritz, a German waiter
Lewis McMichael as Henri, a French waiter
George Plinge as an English tourist
A middle-aged German lad
Virginia Cole as a young French lady
Joseph E. Henshaw as Herr Schwartz, a middle-aged German man
Josephin Wehn as Frau Schwartz, his middle-aged wife
Walter Spelvin as a youngish Frenchman

Reception

Reviews of the original Broadway production found If Love Were All lacking in a clear dramatic arc. Writing in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson found that the play's solution was too clearly worked out and that it lacked a sufficient build up. "The situation is farce; the theme appears to be tragic; the characters are cut out of pasteboard; the ideas come out of books. The result is a play accurately described by the lady in the row behind as cute." He concluded that the plot "never comes to life as a play or a tangible problem. At best it contrives to be cute."^[4]

Eugene Burr, writing in Billboard , came away with a different reaction, calling it "a thoroly [sic] delightful play." He felt the play was conveying the contrast between passionate love which tends to be brief and affectionate love that comes with marriage, and that the two can co-exist. Burr singled out Aline MacMahon's acting, "a lovely, lilting performance that caught up the audience completely in its glamorous net." Burr remarked on Margaret Sullavan's return to the Broadway stage after a stint in Hollywood, but found her southern accent annoying and her general manner too cute.^[5]

The unnamed reviewer in Variety found If Love Were All to be too mild and overlong. Observing the play is based on a generational divide, the review complained the play lacked a strong "punch" moment, suggesting correlation with the play's subtitle "a gentle comedy." Of the actors, Sullavan was the only one who was subjected to criticism, the reviewer describing her performance as needing "some toning down, being a bit flouncy and jumpy."^[6]

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References

1 2 "Theatrical Notes," New York Times (November 20, 1931), p. 28.
↑ Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra, Robert A. Schanke editors, The Gay & Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: a Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures in American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005), p.30-32.
↑ Plot summary based on a summary found in the script, Agnes Morgan, If Love Were All, call number RM 5782, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
↑ Brooks Atkinson, "The Play: Good Sports in Love," New York Times (November 14, 1931), p. 14.
↑ Eugene Burr, "If Love Were All," Billboard (November 28, 1931), p. 17-18.
↑ "Plays on Broadway: If Love Were All," Variety (November 17, 1931), p. 56.

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[nyt-1] 1 2 "Theatrical Notes," New York Times (November 20, 1931), p. 28.

[2] Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra, Robert A. Schanke editors, The Gay & Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: a Biographical Dictionary of Major Figures in American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005), p.30-32.

[3] Plot summary based on a summary found in the script, Agnes Morgan, If Love Were All, call number RM 5782, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

[4] Brooks Atkinson, "The Play: Good Sports in Love," New York Times (November 14, 1931), p. 14.

[5] Eugene Burr, "If Love Were All," Billboard (November 28, 1931), p. 17-18.

[6] "Plays on Broadway: If Love Were All," Variety (November 17, 1931), p. 56.