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''Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?'' is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes by George Axelrod. After a try-out run at the Plymouth Theatre in Boston from 26 September 1955, it opened at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on 13 October, starring Jayne Mansfield, Walter Matthau and Orson Bean. Directed by the author and produced by Jule Styne, it closed on 3 November 1956 after 444 performances. The play is a Faustian comedy about a fan magazine writer who sells his soul to the Devil (in the guise of a literary agent) to become a successful screenwriter. The character of Rita Marlowe (played by Jayne Mansfield) is a vapid blonde sex symbol, an exaggerated lampoon of Marilyn Monroe (who had starred the previous year in the film version of Axelrod's play ''The Seven Year Itch''). The surname Marlowe is an homage to 16th century playwright Christopher Marlowe, who wrote the 1604 drama ''The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'', the plot of which served as the inspiration for Axelrod's play. The 1957 film ''Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?'' utilized the title of the play and the character of Rita Marlowe (with Mansfield repeating her stage role) but little else. The story was changed to a satire on television advertising and Tony Randall starred as Rockwell P Hunter, a character who never appears in the play. ==Production== George Axelrod's phenomenal success with the Broadway production of ''The Seven Year Itch'' had made him an overnight celebrity, a phenomenon he explored in his 1953 'comedy documentary' ''Confessions of a Nervous Man'', which was broadcast as part of the CBS-TV anthology series ''Studio One'', with Art Carney playing him. According to Axelrod's script, he was afraid to write a second play because its failure would make him an overnight has-been. But the Billy Wilder-directed film version of ''The Seven Year Itch'' had been so heavily rewritten in order to meet the standards of the Hollywood Production Code that Axelrod was inspired to write another play about an author's refusal to bow to Hollywood's low standards. Axelrod used the character of George MacCauley to illustrate the way many writers succumb to the lure of high pay and celebrity, while others like Michael Freeman (Axelrod's alter ego) remain true to themselves. Twentieth Century-Fox, the same studio that had altered his first play, then bought the film rights to ''Rock Hunter'' and threw out his entire story and all but one of his characters. Axelrod had originally intended to call his play ''Will Success Spoil Rock Hudson?'' but Hudson's agent, Henry Willson, threatened a lawsuit. After the play opened, Axelrod was vacationing in Jamaica and ran into Rock Hudson and his new wife, Phyllis Gates, on their honeymoon. The three became friends and, when the Hudsons returned to New York, they attended a performance of the show at which Hudson's name was substituted for the fictitious Rock Hunter.〔''The Evening Standard'' (Uniontown, PA), 22 November 1955, Leonard Lyons column〕 After a year in Hollywood, Jayne Mansfield had played only bit parts in four movies when her agent arranged for her to audition for the role of Rita Marlowe, an all-too-obvious send-up of Marilyn Monroe. Her 40"-21"-35½" measurements and her one-of-a-kind comic twist on the dumb blonde stereotype quickly won her the role,〔''Press-Telegram'' (Long Beach, CA), 21 September 1955, Jack Gaver column〕 and by opening night she found herself a fully fledged Broadway star, courted by many of the Hollywood studios that had previously ignored her. In February 1956, Orson Bean broke his arm in the fight scene with William Thourlby and returned to the role with a cast on his arm.〔''Lima News'' (Lima, OH), 15 February 1956, Earl Wilson column〕 When the play moved from the Belasco Theatre to the more centrally located Shubert Theatre on 9 July, Tom Poston took over Bean's role. Carol Grace, who had twice married and divorced playwright William Saroyan, played Miss Logan ('A Secretary') in the Broadway production and understudied Jayne Mansfield. In August 1959 she would marry her ''Rock Hunter'' co-star Walter Matthau. Tina Louise, who also understudied Mansfield, played the small role of 'A Swimmer', a part that was deleted from the published script. According to columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, "Jayne Mansfield, Tina Louise and Carol Saroyan are all imitating Marilyn Monroe, probably by direction. It gets a bit repetitious in that department."〔''Lowell Sun'' (Lowell, MA), 4 October 1955, Dorothy Kilgallen column〕 Mamie Van Doren, who had turned down the Rita role for Broadway, turned it down again when the play subsequently reached the West Coast. Rita was played instead by Merry Anders and the production opened at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles on 21 May 1956. The play was popular on tour too; Roxanne Arlen, for example, played Rita in several US cities in 1956/57. 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「Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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