Ladies' Night (play)

Ladies' Night
Printed advertisement shows pictures of cast members with surrounding name and management of the theater, with the play's title in the center
Advertisement for the Broadway production
Written by Charlton Andrews, Avery Hopwood
Date premiered August 9, 1920 (1920-08-09)
Place premiered Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre
Original language English
Genre Farce

Ladies' Night (sometimes marketed as Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath) was a three-act play originally written by Charlton Andrews and later reworked by Avery Hopwood. The play was a sex farce with part of the action set in a Turkish bath instead of a bedroom. A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway, where opened under the direction of Bertram Harrison on August 9, 1920 at the Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre. Ladies' Night had a run of 360 performances with the final curtain falling in June 1921. An adaption of Ladies' Night entitled Ladies' Night at the Turkish Bath was produced by George W. Brandt nearly thirty years later at the Selwyn Theater in New York.[1][2][3]

Plot

Burns Mantle Yearbook, 1921

  • Act I. —Jimmy Walters' Apartment. Time — 8 P. M.
  • Act II. — The Larchmont Baths. Time — Midnight.
  • Act III. — Same as Act I. Time — 1.15 A. M.

Jimmy Walters is a bashful man. Because of his unfortunate reaction to the sight of bare shoulders Jimmy is in danger of becoming a recluse. Also a prude. Therefore, his friends decide he should be cured. They take him to a certain fancy-dress ball where he will see so much flesh he will never again be frightened by a little. The ball is raided and in escaping, Jimmy, dressed as a lady, climbs through the window of a Turkish-bath parlor next door. Fearing arrest, he has a brisk time of it avoiding the attendants, and later, being discovered, it is a little difficult for him to explain to his wife that he did not deliberately plan the masquerade.[4]

Cast

"Ladies' Night" scene with Evelyn Gosnell and John Cumberland - Theatre Magazine, 1920

The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:[5]

  • Helen Barnes: Tillie
  • John Cumberland: Jimmy Walters
  • Eleanor Dawn: Miss Murphy
  • Vincent Dennie: Bob Stanhope
  • Edward Douglas: Cort Craymer
  • Nellie Filmore: Lollie
  • Claiborne Foster: Dulcy Walters
  • Evelyn Gosnell: Mimi Tarlton
  • Pearl Jardinere: Mrs. Green
  • Grace Kaber: Josie
  • Allyn King: Alicia Bonner
  • Eda Ann Luke: Babette
  • Julia Ralph: A Policewoman
  • Mrs. Stuart Robson: Mrs. Shultz
  • Adele Rolland: Suzon
  • Charles Ruggles: Fred Bonner
  • Fred Sutton: A Fireman
  • Judith Vosselli: Rhoda Begova

Reception

A review in The Forum said the material "often approaches the obscene. However, it is ridiculously funny, and one cannot help but laugh."[6]

References

  1. ↑ The New Plays-The New York Times; August 8, 1920, pg. 70
  2. ↑ Ladies’ Night – Internet Broadway Database
  3. ↑ Ladies' Night at the Turkish Bath Internet Broadway Database
  4. ↑ Burns Mantle Yearbook, Volume 2 - Louis Kronenberger 1921, pg. 365 (Google Books)
  5. ↑ Ladies’ Night – Internet Broadway Database
  6. ↑ The Forum, July 1920, p. 232
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