My Sister Eileen | |
---|---|
Written by | Joseph A. Fields Jerome Chodorov |
Date premiered | 26 December 1940 |
Place premiered | Biltmore Theatre New York City |
Original language | English |
Subject | Two sisters from Ohio seek fame and fortune in Manhattan |
Genre | Comedy |
Setting | A basement studio apartment in Greenwich Village |
My Sister Eileen is an American comedy stage production, written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, based on autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney. The stories were originally published in The New Yorker and then collected and published as the book My Sister Eileen in 1938.
The plot focuses on Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, sisters from Ohio who relocate to New York City in search of fame and fortune. Witty Ruth aspires to be a published writer, while pretty Eileen dreams of success as an actress. Their financial circumstances force them to rent a dingy basement studio apartment in a Greenwich Village building owned by Mr. Appopoulos, one of many colorful characters who cross their path.
The Broadway production, produced by Max Gordon and directed by George S. Kaufman, opened 26 December 1940 at the Biltmore Theatre. [1] It transferred three times during its run of 864 performances: to the Martin Beck Theatre, opening 4 August 1942; to the Ritz Theatre, opening 23 November 1942; and to The Broadway Theatre, opening 13 December 1942.
The original cast included Shirley Booth as Ruth Sherwood, Jo Ann Sayers as Eileen Sherwood, Morris Carnovsky as Mr. Appopoulos, and Richard Quine as Frank Lippencott, a drugstore soda jerk with an eye for Eileen. Peggy Knudsen replaced Sayers in June 1942 (when she left to be married), and Quine was replaced by Henry Jones, who in turn was replaced by Max Showalter.
Eileen McKenney, an executive assistant to Walt Disney and the inspiration for the play's title character, and her husband, novelist and screenwriter Nathanael West, were killed in an automobile accident in El Centro, California on December 22, 1940, four days before the Broadway opening, while they were driving to the Los Angeles Airport to board a plane for New York to attend the play's premiere. Her sister Ruth consequently did not attend the premiere and never saw the play. [2]
Fields and Chodorov adapted their play for the 1942 film that opened while the play was still running on Broadway, as well as the 1953 musical Wonderful Town . It also served as the basis for the 1960–1961 television sitcom of the same title.
Catherine Rosalind Russell was an American actress, model, comedian, screenwriter, and singer, known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940), opposite Cary Grant, as well as for her portrayals of Mame Dennis in the 1956 stage and 1958 film adaptations of Auntie Mame, and Rose in Gypsy (1962). A noted comedienne, she won all five Golden Globes for which she was nominated. Russell won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1953 for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress four times during her career before being awarded a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1973.
My Sister Eileen is a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney, originally published in The New Yorker, which eventually inspired many other works: her 1938 book My Sister Eileen, a play, a musical, a radio play, two motion pictures, and a CBS television series in the 1960–1961 season.
Wonderful Town is a 1953 musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The musical tells the story of two sisters who aspire to be a writer and actress respectively, seeking success from their basement apartment in New York City's Greenwich Village. It is based on Fields and Chodorov's 1940 play My Sister Eileen, which in turn originated from autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney first published in The New Yorker in the late 1930s and later published in book form as My Sister Eileen. Only the last two stories in McKenney's book were used, and they were heavily modified.
Betty Garrett was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She originally performed on Broadway, and was then signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She appeared in several musical films, then returned to Broadway and made guest appearances on several television series.
Jerome Chodorov was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the book with Joseph A. Fields for the original Broadway musical Wonderful Town starring Rosalind Russell. The musical was based on short stories by Ruth McKenney.
Richard Quine was an American director, actor, and singer.
Garson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films.
Ruth Marguerite McKenney was an American author and journalist, best remembered for My Sister Eileen, a memoir of her experiences growing up in Ohio and moving to Greenwich Village with her sister Eileen McKenney.
Max Gordon was an American theater and film producer. His credits included My Sister Eileen, which he produced both on stage and on film.
Joseph Albert Fields was an American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Charles Halton was an American character actor who appeared in over 180 films.
Minor Watson was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included Boys Town (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Kings Row (1942), Guadalcanal Diary (1943), Bewitched (1945), The Virginian (1946), and The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
Junior Miss is a collection of semi-autobiographical stories by Sally Benson first published in The New Yorker. Between 1939 and the end of 1941, the prolific Benson published 99 stories in The New Yorker, some under her pseudonym of Esther Evarts. She had a bestseller when Random House published her Junior Miss collection in 1941.
My Sister Eileen is a 1955 American CinemaScope comedy musical film directed by Richard Quine. It stars Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Jack Lemmon.
My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne and Janet Blair. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New Yorker. The supporting cast features George Tobias, Allyn Joslyn, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Jones and, in a cameo appearance at the end, The Three Stooges.
My Sister Eileen is an American sitcom broadcast during the 1960–1961 television season. It depicts the lives of two sisters, one a writer and the other an actress, who move to New York City to further their careers.
Andrew Tombes was an American comedian and character actor.
Florence E. "Flo" Sundstrom was an American actress who had an active career in theatre, television, and film. A prominent character actress on Broadway from 1936-1959, she notably created the roles of Bella in the world premiere of Anita Loos's Happy Birthday in 1946, Bessie in the world premiere of Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo in 1951, and Mrs. Marie "Fatty" Pert in Ketti Frings's Look Homeward, Angel in 1957. She made her film debut as Flora in the film adaptation of The Rose Tattoo in 1955, and thereafter remained active as a character actress in American television and film into the 1990s. She was a main cast member in the 1955–1956 season of The Life of Riley, portraying a new neighbor of the Riley family.
Under This Roof is a 1940 play in 2 Acts and 7 scenes by Boston lawyer, activist and writer Herbert B. Ehrmann, who had earlier achieved fame as the defense attorney in the Sacco and Vanzetti trial in 1920. Set inside an old New England household outside of Boston, the play is a historical drama revolving around the lives of three generations of a single American family from 1864 to 1917. The central character is Cornelia Thayer who marries the wealthy and snobbish Boston financier Ezra Warren after rejecting a proposal from his brother Gibeon Warren; a man leaving to seek his fortune as a pioneer in the Western United States. The play had its world premiere at the Red Barn Theatre in Westboro, Massachusetts on July 23, 1940 with a cast that included Alice Wiley as Cornelia Warren, Wendell Corey as Ezra Warren, Michael St. Angel as Gibeon Warren, Helen Walker as Eileen O'Shaughnessy, John Taylor as Senator Flower, and Conway Washburn as Mr. Gassaway.
Two Girls Named Smith is an American television situation comedy that was broadcast on ABC from January 20, 1951, through October 13, 1951.