|
''It Pays to Advertise'' is a farce by Roi Cooper Megrue and Walter Hackett. Described as "A Farcical Fact in Three Acts", the play depicts the idle son of a rich manufacturer setting up a spurious business in competition with his father.〔 It was first presented on the Broadway stage on 8 September 1914, at the Cohan Theatre〔Megrue and Hackett (1917), p. 3〕 and ran for nearly a year.〔Bordman, p. 8〕 The playwrights substantially rewrote the play for a new production in London by the actor-manager Tom Walls, at the Aldwych Theatre. This opened on 2 February 1924 and closed on 10 July 1925, a total of 598 performances.〔"New Play at the Aldwych, ''The Times'', 2 February 1924, p. 8; "Mr. Ralph Lynn", ''The Times'', 10 August 1962, p. 11; and "The Theatres", ''The Times'', 25 June 1925, p. 12〕 It was the first of a sequence of twelve "Aldwych farces" presented at the theatre until 1933, mostly original farces written by Ben Travers. By contrast with later plays in the series, in which Walls played worldly and sometimes shady characters, with Ralph Lynn as his naïve associate, in ''It Pays to Advertise'' Walls's character is upright and conventional, and Lynn is the manipulative schemer.〔 ==Roles and original casts== ;Broadway cast (1914)〔 *Mary Grayson – Ruth Shepley *Johnson, butler at the Martins' – George Schaeffer *Comtesse de Beaurien – Louise Drew *Rodney Martin – Grant Mitchell *Cyrus Martin – John Cope *Ambrose Peale – Will Deming *Marie, maid at the Martins' – Cecile Bretonne *William Smith – Harry Driscole *Miss Burke – Vivian Rogers *Donald McChesney – W J Brady *Ellery Clark – Kenneth Hills *George Bronson – Sydney Seaward ;London cast (1924)〔Megrue and Hackett (1928), p. 3; and "New Play at the Aldwych, ''The Times'', 2 February 1924, p. 8〕 *Mary Grayson – Doris Kendal *Johnson – Martin Sands *Comtesse de Beaurien – Cecilia Gold *Rodney Martin – Ralph Lynn *Sir Henry Martin – Tom Walls *Ambrose Peale – Will Deming *Marie – Alex Frizell *William Smith – Robertson Hare *Miss Burke – Jessica Jarvis *George McChesney – Sydney Lynn *Ellery Clark – Kenneth Kove *George Bronson – Sydney Seaward 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「It Pays to Advertise」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|