The Man Who Came to Dinner

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The Man Who Came to Dinner
The-Man-Who-Came-to-Dinner-1939-FE.jpg
First edition (1939)
Written by George S. Kaufman
Moss Hart
Date premieredOctober 16, 1939 (1939-10-16)
Place premiered Music Box Theatre
New York City
Original languageEnglish
Genre Comedy

The Man Who Came to Dinner is a comedy play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of New York and London revivals. The first London production was staged at The Savoy Theatre starring Robert Morley and Coral Browne. In 1990, Browne stated in a televised biographical interview, broadcast on UK Channel 4 (entitled Caviar to the General), that she bought the rights to the play, borrowing money from her dentist to do so. When she died, her will revealed that she had received royalties for all later productions and adaptations of the play. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Monty Woolley created the role of Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner Monty Wooley 1949.JPG
Monty Woolley created the role of Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner

The play is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s. The famously outlandish New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside ('Sherry' to his friends) is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest W. Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanleys' front door and injures his hip. Confined to the Stanleys' home, Whiteside is looked after by several professionals: Dr. Bradley, the absent-minded town physician, Miss Preen, his frantic nurse, and Maggie Cutler, his faithful secretary.

Confined to the house for a month, Whiteside drives his hosts mad by viciously insulting them, monopolizing their house and staff, running up large phone bills, and receiving many bizarre guests, including paroled convicts, and the eccentric Professor Metz, who brings him a glass-encased cockroach colony. Although he earns the intense dislike of Mr. Stanley, Whiteside manages to befriend his adult children, June and Richard, as well as his wildly eccentric older sister, Harriet Stanley.

He also befriends local newspaperman and aspiring playwright Bert Jefferson but soon learns that Maggie has fallen in love with Bert, and plans to leave her job to marry him. Unable to bear the thought of losing his secretary, Whiteside invites his friend, the glamorous and loose-living actress Lorraine Sheldon, to Mesalia to look at Bert's new play, hoping she can break up the marriage plans. Dr. Bradley tells Whiteside he was mistaken in his diagnosis, and Whiteside is well enough to leave. Whiteside buys the doctor's silence by pretending to want to work on a book with him, and for the rest of the play keeps brushing him off.

Whiteside encourages June Stanley to elope with a young union organizer whom her father disapproves of, and Richard to run away and pursue his dream of becoming a photographer. Lorraine arrives, and Maggie instantly suspects Whiteside's efforts to interfere with her and Bert. Whiteside and Maggie then receive a visit from their friend, noted British actor and playwright Beverly Carlton. Maggie learns Beverly can do a great impression of Lord Bottomley, an English lord whom Lorraine is desperate to marry. She gets Beverly to call Lorraine from the train station and pretend to be Lord Bottomley proposing, to get Lorraine to leave. However, Whiteside soon sees through the ruse and when Lorraine realizes Maggie's involvement, she starts to seduce Bert as revenge.

The next day, Christmas, Bert is enthralled with Lorraine, and Maggie, hurt by Whiteside's betrayal, tells him she is quitting. Feeling guilty, Sherry tries to think of a way to get Lorraine out of Mesalia. He gets help from an unexpected visit by his friend, movie comedian Banjo. Mr. Stanley, however, furious at Whiteside's interference with his family, has now ordered Sherry's eviction from the house and gives him fifteen minutes to leave. All looks hopeless until an Egyptian mummy case is delivered to Whiteside (a Christmas gift from the Khedive of Egypt). Whiteside and Banjo manage to trick Lorraine into the mummy case and shut her inside. Sherry then sees a photo of Harriet Stanley when she was younger, and recognizes her as a famous axe murderer. Using this information, he blackmails Mr. Stanley into helping them get the case onto Banjo's plane.

Whiteside now stands, telling Maggie she is free to marry Bert and prepares to return to New York by train. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.

Influence of Alexander Woollcott

Kaufman and Hart wrote the play as a vehicle for their friend Alexander Woollcott, the model for the lead character Sheridan Whiteside. [2] At the time the play was written Woollcott was famous both as the theater critic who helped re-launch the career of the Marx Brothers and as the star of the national radio show The Town Crier. He was well liked by both Kaufman and Hart, but that did not stop him from displaying the obnoxious characteristics displayed by Whiteside in the play. Kaufman and Hart had promised a vehicle for Woollcott but had been unable to find a plot that suited them until one day Woollcott showed up, unannounced, at Hart's Bucks County estate, and proceeded to take over the house. He slept in the master bedroom, terrorized Hart's staff, and generally acted like Sheridan Whiteside. On his way out he wrote in Hart's guest book, "This is to certify that I had one of the most unpleasant times I ever spent." Hart related the story to Kaufman soon afterwards. As they were both laughing about it, Hart remarked that he was lucky that Woollcott had not broken his leg and become stuck there. Kaufman looked at Hart and the idea was born.

A plot point mentions actress and Broadway producer Katharine Cornell. The character Bert Jefferson writes a play, and Whiteside promises to give it to Cornell for her to star in. The character of Professor Metz is after Gustav Eckstein, MD, a physician writer from Cincinnati who studied animal behavior and was a long-time friend of Alexander Woollcott.

Woollcott was delighted with The Man Who Came to Dinner and was offered the role for its Broadway debut. With his busy schedule of radio broadcasts and lectures, he declined, and Monty Woolley played the part on stage and in the subsequent film adaptation. Woollcott did subsequently play Whiteside in a West Coast touring production of the play.[ citation needed ]

The printed edition of the play starts with the inscription "To Alexander Woollcott, for reasons that are nobody's business."

Casts

Original Broadway (1939)Broadway Revival (1980)Second Broadway Revival (2000)
Sheridan Whiteside Monty Woolley Ellis Rabb Nathan Lane
Maggie Cutler Edith Atwater Maureen Anderman Harriet Harris
Bert Jefferson Theodore Newton Peter Coffield Hank Stratton
Lorraine Sheldon Carol Goodner Carrie Nye Jean Smart
Beverly Carlton John Hoysradt Roderick Cook Byron Jennings
Banjo David Burns Leonard Frey Lewis J. Stadlen
Mr. Stanley George Lessey Richard WoodsTerry Beaver
Mrs. Stanley Virginia Hammond Patricia O'Connell Linda Stephens
Richard Stanley Gordon Merrick Josh Clark Zach Shaffer
June Stanley Barbara Woodell Amanda Carlin Mary Catherine Garrison
Miss Preen Mary Wickes Anita DanglerMary Catherine Wright
Dr. BradleyDudley Clements Robert Nichols William Duell
Harriet StanleyRuth Vivian Kate Wilkinson Ruby Holbrook
JohnGeorge Probert Bill McCutcheon Jeff Hayenga
SarahPriestley MorrisonYolanda ChildressJulie Boyd
Professor MetzLeRoi OpertiNicholas Martin Stephen DeRosa
SandyMichael Harvey Jamey Sheridan Ryan Shively
Mrs. McCutcheonEdmonia NolleyDorothy Stinnette Julie Halston
Mrs. DexterBarbara AdamsN/AKit Flanagan
Mr. BakerCarl JohnsonRobert O'RourkeHans Hoffman
Mr. WestcottEdward FisherNicholas MartinIan Blackman
Plainclothes Man William Postance Charles Hardin

Character notes

Adaptations

Film

The production was adapted for a 1942 feature film, scripted by Philip G. Epstein and Julius J. Epstein and directed by William Keighley. The film featured Monty Woolley, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Billie Burke, Jimmy Durante, Mary Wickes and Richard Travis. It had its world premiere at the Capitol Theater in Paragould, Arkansas.

Radio

The Man Who Came to Dinner was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse July 10, 1942. Monty Woolley starred in the adaptation. [6] It was broadcast again by Theatre Guild on the Air on ABC Radio November 17, 1946 starring Fred Allen. In 1949, The Man Who Came to Dinner was produced for CBS Radio for The Hotpoint Holiday Hour. The production starred Charles Boyer, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Rosalind Russell. It was also adapted for the Lux Radio Theater on March 27, 1950, starring Clifton Webb as Sheridan Whiteside and Lucille Ball as Maggie Cutler. The show was hosted by William Keighley, who directed the 1942 film adaptation.

For Christmas Day, 2000, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a Marcy Kahan adaptation of The Man Who Came to Dinner approved by the Hart and Kaufman estates which starred Simon Callow as Whiteside, Elizabeth McGovern as Maggie, with Conleth Hill as Bert Jefferson, Cheryl Campbell as Lorraine Sheldon, John Sessions as Banjo and Professor Metz, Colin Stinton as Mr. Stanley, and Malcolm Sinclair as Beverly Carlton. Moira Petty, writing in The Stage , said, "Director Ned Chaillet elicited from his cast ... a smart, gag-telling pace, which gave it a sensational period flavour."

Musical

The play and subsequent film served as the basis for the 1967 musical Sherry! , with a book and lyrics by James Lipton and music by Laurence Rosenthal. Clive Revill starred as Sheridan Whiteside. The show ran on Broadway for 72 performances. [7] Years later, the musical was recorded with a studio cast led by Nathan Lane as Sheridan.[ citation needed ]

Television

Broadway revivals

A 1980 revival directed by Stephen Porter ran for 19 previews and 85 performances at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The cast included Ellis Rabb, Roderick Cook, Leonard Frey, Carrie Nye, and Jamey Sheridan. Drama Desk Award nominations went to Cook for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and Nye for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

A 2000 revival, which ran for 85 performances, was produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company and directed by Jerry Zaks. The cast included Nathan Lane (Sheridan Whiteside), Jean Smart (Lorraine Sheldon), Harriet Sansom Harris (Maggie Cutler), and Lewis J. Stadlen (Banjo). In an interview prior to the opening, Lane said, "There's a danger in playing Whiteside. In the movie, Monty Woolley's portrayal at times came across as mean for mean's sake. It's when it gets nasty or bitchy that it goes off in the wrong direction." [2] He suggested that his performance was influenced by Woollcott's repressed sexuality, stating, "He had a lot of...things he didn't want to deal with." [2] The production received mixed reviews. Variety , The Advocate and Talkin' Broadway reviewed it positively, [10] [11] [12] and Entertainment Weekly gave the production a B+, calling it "as fresh a send-up as an SNL sketch and [with] an even more inspired plot" and singling out Smart's "swanning demonstration of ultimate showbiz phoniness" for praise. [13] In The New York Times, however, Ben Brantley disliked the production, writing that "What should be a buoyant balloon of an evening [is] more often an exercise in deflation." Brantley praised Stadlen but found most of the acting to be "a series of flourishes that sell individual jokes and epigrams without being anchored to character." [14]

Smart was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and Stadlen was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, though neither won. The production was filmed and televised by Great Performances on PBS.

Alternative rock singer Morrissey quoted the play's "All those people, all those lives, where are they now" monologue in The Smiths' 1986 song "Cemetry Gates", and used the pseudonym "Sheridan Whiteside" when writing record reviews before his musical career began. [15] [16] It is mentioned in an episode of The West Wing season 2

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography. Price, Victoria. ISBN   978-0-312-26789-6. St. Martin's Griffin (October 15, 2000)
  2. 1 2 3 Batistick, Mike. "The Man Who Came to Bubby's: Nathan Lane Takes on Critics", The New York Observer , 2000-07-23.
  3. 1 2 3 Teichmann, Howard. Smart Aleck: The Wit, World and Life of Alexander Woollcott, p. 257. William Morrow and Company, 1976.
  4. ↑ "Kaufman, Hart, Marx Star at Bucks Playhouse". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 29, 1941. p. 18.
  5. ↑ Sprague, Ricky (10 December 2010). "Project Child Murdering Robot: The Man Who Came to Dinner: The worst Christmas movie of all time".
  6. ↑ "Johnny Presents". Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg Telegraph. July 10, 1942. p. 11. Retrieved August 6, 2015– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Sherry" on IBDB.com
  8. ↑ Shivas, Mark (26 November 1972). "Guess Who Coming to Dinner Now?". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ O'Connor, John J. (31 December 1972). "Television". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ "Variety review".
  11. ↑ Don Shewey (Oct 10, 2000). "Nathan victorious. - American Airlines Theatre, New York City - Review". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007 – via Find Articles.
  12. ↑ "Talkin' Broadway Review: The Man Who Came To Dinner". www.talkinbroadway.com.
  13. ↑ "Stage Review: 'The Man Who Came to Dinner'". Entertainment Weekly .
  14. ↑ "Theater". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ Goddard, Simon (2013). Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of The Smiths 1982-87. Titan. p. 121. ISBN   9781781162590.
  16. ↑ Eoin Devereux; Aileen Dillane; Martin Power, eds. (2011-08-24). Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities. Intellect Books. p. 121. ISBN   9781841505800.
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