#cardboard lover

[lifeofyello]

My cat is more excited than me when my packages are finally delivered.

#typicalcardboardlover

[outoftowninac]

HER CARDBOARD LOVER

1926

Her Cardboard Lover is a three-act play by Valerie Wyngate and P.G. Wodehouse, adapted from the French play Dans sa candeur naïve by Jacques Deval. It was originally produced by Charles Frohman Inc. and A.H. Woods. It was staged by Gilbert Miller. 

The Story: To make her handsome and popular lover Tony jealous, Simone enlists Andre to pretend to be her new love interest. She doesn’t count on the complications brought on by her doting cardboard lover.

The French play opened in Paris on January 13, 1926. The English translation  premiered on Long Island NY on September 23, 1926, then on to Stamford CT on the 24th and 25th. 

It arrived at at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City on September 27, 1926 starring Laurette Taylor as Simone and Leslie Howard as Andre. Plans were for an October 7th arrival on the Great White Way. But instead, October 4th found the troupe in Washington DC. Then a full week in Baltimore MD. 

A funny thing happened on the way to the Rialto. 

The show was shut down after Baltimore, before Broadway, giving the opportunity to makes some changes to the script.

Brady wanted to recast Taylor to suit the revised script, but the star had a ‘run of play’ contract and there was an impasse about her withdrawal. 

The matter was then referred to Equity and a lawsuit was initiated. 

With Taylor out, who would play Simone? 

Brady considered Katherine Cornell. Cornell considered it, but eventually passed on the project. 

Brady finally settled on Jeanne Eagels, who gave up her role in a little play named Chicago to take the role. 

In advance of its Broadway premiere, the new script tried out in Newark NJ where a critic noticed that the relationship between the characters had changed since Atlantic City. 

The leading character was previously described as a mistress, but now called a divorcee. 

The play finally opened on Broadway at the Empire Theatre (1430 Broadway) on March 21, 1927 where it ran for 152 performances. 

A 1928 London tour of the play starred Tallulah Bankhead, with Leslie Howard reprising the role, running for 173 performances. Five minutes of the play was released in UK cinemas as a silent short. After the West End, she toured the play in the UK for much of 1929. 

In 1941, the play enjoyed a US tour of regional theatres starring Bankhead reprising her role. One of the theatres was located in Maplewood NJ. It also played Ogunquit ME, White Plains NY, and other summer stock venues. 

As soon as the play closed in New York City, Marion Davies bought the screen rights for herself. The silent film adaptation played in Atlantic City at the Capitol Theatre on Atlantic Avenue in September 1928. The title had been slightly changed to THE Cardboard Lover. 

A second film version (totally rewritten) opened in Atlantic City at the Strand Theatre on Valentine’s Day 1932. The title was much more different, choosing instead The Passionate Plumber. It starred Polly Moran and Jimmy Durante. The film was also released in French, perhaps as a tribute to the play’s Parisian origins. 

The final film version returned to its original title: Her Cardboard Lover. It opened at the Apollo Theatre in June 1942, the same theatre that had hosted the play starring Laurette Taylor in 1926. Considered a bomb, it was the final film of Norma Shearer. 

[monochromaticthematic]

monochromaticthematic:

'Cardboard Lover' (1928) silent film with Marion Davies (L), Nils Asther and Jetta Goudal