[NEohioPAL]Last Weekend -- "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at BST

FSternfeld at aol.com FSternfeld at aol.com
Tue Aug 13 17:18:11 PDT 2002


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ONLY FOUR MORE PERFORMANCES !!
Wednesday - Saturday, August 14-17, 2002 at 8:00pm

<A HREF="http://www.bw.edu/resources/bst/">Berea Summer Theatre</A>
John Nolan, Executive Director
presents
The Man Who Came to Dinner
  by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman

"Director Fred Sternfeld has assembled an amazing cast for this comedy 
extravaganza"   "fresh and vibrant and funny"    "When I tell you that the 
production is better than the one I played in 50 years ago ... you know it 
has to be the greatest compliment every paid by a critic"   "A group of 
children in the front row were having a ball with it, while the gray-haired 
crowd was lapping it up like a cat at a saucer of tuna fish"  "outstanding 
performances"  "tremendous roles, each of them perfectly cast"   "as funny 
and entertaining as they come" 
        Ellen Darling, Berea News Sun, 2002

Director -  Fred Sternfeld
Music Director - Charles Eversole
Set Design - Laura Tarantowski
Costume Design - Jeff Smart
Light Design - Jan Bruml
Sound Design - Joe Tarantowski
Props - Sarah Klecha
Technical Director - Dylan Fujimura
Stage Manager - Amanda Harland

The Cast
Sheridan Whiteside -- Dudley Swetland*
Maggie Cutler -- Meg Chamberlain
Miss Preen -- Jean Colerider
Mrs. Ernest W. Stanley -- Sherri Britton
Mr. Stanley -- Douglas Farren
Richard Stanley -- Colin James Cook
June Stanley -- Betsy Kahl
John -- Tim Hnat
Sarah -- Rose Leininger
Beverly Carlton -- Kevin Joseph Kelly
Banjo, Mr. Westcott, Expressman -- Nick Koesters
Lorraine Sheldon -- Barbara Corlette
Bert Jefferson -- Kip Thomas
Harriet Stanley -- Mary Faktor
Dr. Bradley, Convict -- Jim McCormack
Mrs. Dexter -- Maxine Turkington
Mrs. McCutcheon -- Sue Overton
Professor Metz, Plainclothes Man -- Syd Turkington
Sandy, Radio Technician, Mr. Baker, Deputy Expressman -- Thomas R. Cummings
Convict / Radio Tech / Deputy / Expressman #2 -- Robert Binzley
Children's Choir -- Devon Turchan, Joy Viceroy, 
Nicole DeAnna, Emily Herwerden, Kyle Branzel
*member -- Actors Equity Association

Production Dates
Previewing Tuesday, July 30, Opening Wednesday, July 31 and running through 
Saturday, August 17, 2002. Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm; Sunday, August 4 
at 2:00pm; Sunday, August 11 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm.

Tickets and Location 
call 440-826-2240
Berea Summer Theatre is located at the Kleist Center for Art & Drama on the 
campus of Baldwin-Wallace College.  for more information, please go to the 
Berea Summer Theatre website by clicking <A HREF="http://www.bw.edu/resources/bst/">here</A>
   
As the play opens, Mr Sheridan Whiteside - world-renowned journalist, 
lecturer and radio broadcaster - has been laid up with a fractured hip while 
a guest in a small-town Ohio home. Still threatening lawsuits over the injury 
he received by slipping on the front porch, Whiteside antagonizes the 
household with his many demands, and commandeers the library, kitchen, and 
living and dining rooms for his own private use. 
Soon Whiteside's gang of glitterati descend upon the house, bringing all 
kinds of eccentric gifts along with their Hollywood personalities. Whiteside, 
meanwhile, is pestered by a local doctor (turned author) and a local 
newspaperman who has written a play. When Whiteside learns that his treasured 
secretary has fallen in love with the newspaperman, he hatches a devious 
scheme to break up the budding romance. 

The Man Who Came to Dinner is both a satire of and a love-letter to the 
literary and pop-culture celebrities of its day. Whiteside is modeled on 
Alexander Woollcott, a friend of the authors and one-time drama critic at the 
New York Times, who parlayed his success as a reviewer into a career as a 
lecturer, writer and broadcaster. The play's first audiences would have 
recognized many other allusions to celebrities in the play, including 
thinly-disguised portrayals of Noel Coward and Harpo Marx.

The Man Who Came to Dinner premiered at New York's Music Box Theatre in 
October 1939, and ran for an amazing 739 performances. It was made into a 
successful film in 1942, with Monty Woolley again playing Whiteside and Bette 
Davis as his secretary. (Woolley played him again in a television version in 
1952.) Far from being resentful over the somewhat unflattering portrait, 
Woollcott himself acted the part of Whiteside in one of the play's many 
touring productions. An unsuccessful musical version appeared on Broadway in 
1967.

Between 1930 and 1940, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart collaborated on eight 
successful plays and musicals, and won a Pulitzer Prize for You Can't Take It 
With You (1936). In their long careers they wrote dozens of plays, libretti 
and screenplays, both separately and together. Both also won Tony awards as 
directors, Kaufman with Guys and Dolls (1950) and Hart with My Fair Lady 
(1956).

Moss Hart's rags-to-riches story is recounted in his wonderful autobiography 
Act One (1959). Biographies of Kaufman include Howard Teichmann's George S. 
Kaufman: An Intimate Portrait (1972) and Malcolm Goldstein's George S. 
Kaufman: His Life, His Theater (1979). Howard Teichmann also published an 
homage to Alexander Woollcott, Smart Aleck: The Wit, World and Life of 
Alexander Woollcott (1976). Often books like these are out of print, but can 
be found in libraries or antiquarian bookstores. 







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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT  COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B><I>ONLY FOUR MORE PERFORMANCES !!<BR>
Wednesday - Saturday, August 14-17, 2002 at 8:00pm<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><A HREF="http://www.bw.edu/resources/bst/">Berea Summer Theatre</A><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">John Nolan, Executive Director</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></I><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><I>presents</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#008000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=6 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">The Man Who Came to Dinner</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></I><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#ff0000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><I>  by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B></I>"Director Fred Sternfeld has assembled an amazing cast for this comedy extravaganza"   "fresh and vibrant and funny"    "When I tell you that the production is better than the one I played in 50 years ago ... you know it has to be the greatest compliment every paid by a critic"   "A group of children in the front row were having a ball with it, while the gray-haired crowd was lapping it up like a cat at a saucer of tuna fish"  "outstanding performances"  "tremendous roles, each of them perfectly cast"   "as funny and entertaining as they come" <BR>
<B><I>        Ellen Darling, Berea News Sun, 2002<BR>
<BR>
Director -  </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Fred Sternfeld</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Music Director - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Charles Eversole</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Set Design - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Laura Tarantowski</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Costume Design - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Jeff Smart</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Light Design - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Jan Bruml</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Sound Design - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Joe Tarantowski</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Props - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Sarah Klecha</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Technical Director - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Dylan Fujimura</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Stage Manager - </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Amanda Harland</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B></I><BR>
<B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#ff0000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><I>The Cast</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></I><BR>
<I>Sheridan Whiteside -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Dudley Swetland*<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Maggie Cutler -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Meg Chamberlain<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Miss Preen -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Jean Colerider</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Mrs. Ernest W. Stanley --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Sherri Britton<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Mr. Stanley --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Douglas Farren</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Richard Stanley --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Colin James Cook</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>June Stanley -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Betsy Kahl<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">John -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Tim Hnat</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Sarah --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Rose Leininger</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Beverly Carlton --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Kevin Joseph Kelly</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Banjo, Mr. Westcott, Expressman -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Nick Koesters</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Lorraine Sheldon -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Barbara Corlette<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Bert Jefferson -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Kip Thomas</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Harriet Stanley --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Mary Faktor<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Dr. Bradley, Convict -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Jim McCormack<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Mrs. Dexter --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Maxine Turkington</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Mrs. McCutcheon --</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> Sue Overton</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Professor Metz, Plainclothes Man -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Syd Turkington</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Sandy, Radio Technician, Mr. Baker, Deputy Expressman -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Thomas R. Cummings</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Convict / Radio Tech / Deputy / Expressman #2 -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Robert Binzley<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Children's Choir -- </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#0000ff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Devon Turchan, Joy Viceroy, <BR>
Nicole DeAnna, Emily Herwerden, Kyle Branzel</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B></I><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B><I>*member -- Actors Equity Association</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#ff0000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Production Dates<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></I>Previewing Tuesday, July 30, Opening Wednesday, July 31 and running through Saturday, August 17, 2002. Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm; Sunday, August 4 at 2:00pm; Sunday, August 11 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#ff0000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><I>Tickets and Location </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></I><BR>
call 440-826-2240<BR>
Berea Summer Theatre is located at the Kleist Center for Art & Drama on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College.  for more information, please go to the Berea Summer Theatre website by clicking <A HREF="http://www.bw.edu/resources/bst/">here</A><I><I><BR>
   </B></I><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">As the play opens, Mr Sheridan Whiteside - world-renowned journalist, lecturer and radio broadcaster - has been laid up with a fractured hip while a guest in a small-town Ohio home. Still threatening lawsuits over the injury he received by slipping on the front porch, Whiteside antagonizes the household with his many demands, and commandeers the library, kitchen, and living and dining rooms for his own private use. </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Soon Whiteside's gang of glitterati descend upon the house, bringing all kinds of eccentric gifts along with their Hollywood personalities. Whiteside, meanwhile, is pestered by a local doctor (turned author) and a local newspaperman who has written a play. When Whiteside learns that his treasured secretary has fallen in love with the newspaperman, he hatches a devious scheme to break up the budding romance. <BR>
<BR>
The Man Who Came to Dinner is both a satire of and a love-letter to the literary and pop-culture celebrities of its day. Whiteside is modeled on Alexander Woollcott, a friend of the authors and one-time drama critic at the New York Times, who parlayed his success as a reviewer into a career as a lecturer, writer and broadcaster. The play's first audiences would have recognized many other allusions to celebrities in the play, including thinly-disguised portrayals of Noel Coward and Harpo Marx.<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">The Man Who Came to Dinner premiered at New York's Music Box Theatre in October 1939, and ran for an amazing 739 performances. It was made into a successful film in 1942, with Monty Woolley again playing Whiteside and Bette Davis as his secretary. (Woolley played him again in a television version in 1952.) Far from being resentful over the somewhat unflattering portrait, Woollcott himself acted the part of Whiteside in one of the play's many touring productions. An unsuccessful musical version appeared on Broadway in 1967.<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Between 1930 and 1940, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart collaborated on eight successful plays and musicals, and won a Pulitzer Prize for You Can't Take It With You (1936). In their long careers they wrote dozens of plays, libretti and screenplays, both separately and together. Both also won Tony awards as directors, Kaufman with Guys and Dolls (1950) and Hart with My Fair Lady (1956).<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Moss Hart's rags-to-riches story is recounted in his wonderful autobiography Act One (1959). Biographies of Kaufman include Howard Teichmann's George S. Kaufman: An Intimate Portrait (1972) and Malcolm Goldstein's George S. Kaufman: His Life, His Theater (1979). Howard Teichmann also published an homage to Alexander Woollcott, Smart Aleck: The Wit, World and Life of Alexander Woollcott (1976). Often books like these are out of print, but can be found in libraries or antiquarian bookstores. </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
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