#grace george

[danydoc]

Made for each other ❤️🐝

[thefugitivesaint]

Art Snyder, 'Grace George as Marie Antoinette', ''Theatre Magazine'', Jan. 1922 Source

[outoftowninac]

THE HUSBAND HABIT

1929

The Husband Habit is a three-act comedy by English playwright Frederick Witney. It was originally produced by William A. Brady, staged by Melvin Burke, starring Grace George (aka Mrs. William A. Brady), with Walter Connolly, Edward H. Weaver, Ellis Baker, Percy Warum, Emily Hammil, and Melvyn Douglas. 

Set in England and on the Riviera, the play is the story of a flirty ‘thirty-something’ American widow who cannot live without her ‘husband habit’. She sets her sights on an elderly widower as her second spouse, but ditches him for a temperamental poet. 

News of the play hit at the end of February 1929. 

Grace George started her career on Broadway at age 19, and by 1929 had starred in 35 plays. George married producer William A. Brady in 1899. She also was credited as producer, director, writer, and script adapter in many of his productions. In 1935, she gave an acclaimed performance in Kind Lady at the Booth Theatre. She appeared in the film, Johnny Come Lately in 1943 with James Cagney. In 1950, she was awarded the Delia Austrian Medal. George died on May 19, 1961. 

Melvyn Douglas began acting on Broadway in 1928 at the age of 27. In 1960 he received a Tony Award for his work in The Best Man, his penultimate Broadway play. His career also soared in Hollywood, where he won two Oscars: in 1964 for Hud, and in 1980 for Being There. Along with his Tony, his 1968 Emmy made him a ‘triple crown’ winner of all three of acting’s top honors.

The play had its world premiere in Atlantic City at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre on March 18, 1929. 

“Marriage is the triumph of curiosity over conviction.” ~ THE HUSBAND HABIT

Critics praised George, but dinged the play for “lacking...plausibility”. 

But despite mixed reviews, this cryptic note suggests that the play did not satisfy the star or her producer husband. 

Aggrieved, Miss George went home. Well, actually the play moved up the coastline to Brooklyn, where she was born on Christmas Day 1879, and played the Majestic Theatre from March 25th. 

“Miss George has as large a following as any actress on the American stage to-day, its run on Broadway should prove a long and prosperous one.” ~ THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN

But not everyone was so kind. 

“William A. Brady, who said the other day that the theater will have gone bye-bye in three years, is the producer. It looks as if he could kill It single-handed In half the time If he put his mind to it.” ~ BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE

Newspapers were still saying the play was Broadway bound, but postponing its arrival until April 15th.  Fittingly, The Husband Habit was broken on April Fool’s Day, when it closed at the Majestic. 

A week later, this was the last heard of The Husband Habit. It seems that a humorous line in the play had proved to be oddly prescient: 

“Marriage is the dress rehearsal of a play which is not going to run!” ~ THE HUSBAND HABIT

By the end of December, the Brady bunch (Bill, Grace and her favorite actors) had mounted another British comedy about marriage, The First Mrs. Fraser. This time George starred and directed the play, and it was an unqualified hit, running 11 months during the depths of the Great Depression.

There seemed to be no end to Grace George’s talents, or so her husband believed, as her next visit to Atlantic City was as an adapter, of a French-language hit called Domino. Would Domino triumph, or tumble? To find out, click here! 

[outoftowninac]

DOMINO

1932

Domino is a three act play written by Marcel Archard, translated into English and adapted by Grace George. 

The original production was produced by William A. Brady and staged by Stanley Logan. Grace George was the wife of producer Brady. In its original French, the play was a hit in Paris and other European cities.   The play takes place in an apartment in Paris, and a villa in Saint Cloud. The story concerns Lorette Heller, wife of a wealthy French manufacturer, who engages a young man named Domlnck, or Domino, to pose as a paramour so that her husband doesn’t discover the true identity of her actual admirer. Mr. Heller uncovers a love letter signed "Francois" among his wife's papers, and he angrily seeks the truth the mysterious affair. Domino is hired by Lorette and Francois to impersonate the mystery lover.

The cast was headed by (from top to bottom) Ron La Rocque as Dominick aka Domino, Jessie Royce Landis as Lorette, and Robert Loraine as Heller. It also featured Geoffrey Kerr, Walter Kingsford, Joan Carr, and Geraldine Wall.

The premiere of the English-language version took place on August 1, 1932 at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  But there was more than just a new play to celebrate that night.

The play was chosen to re-open Nixon’s Apollo after more than a year of being dark. (Technically, the theatre was not fully dark as it presented a season of children’s theatre.) The Mayor declared it “Atlantic City Night” and hoped that the re-opening might return Atlantic City to its glory days of being a theatrical incubator for Broadway. Author Archard came from Paris for the premiere. After the final curtain, he was introduced to the sold-out audience by Producer Brady. The Chamber of Commerce of Atlantic City had a deft hand in bringing live theatre back to Atlantic City at the Apollo, but it didn’t last long. By 1936, the Apollo began showing movies and never looked back. It closed and was demolished in the 1970’s.

After Atlantic City, Domino confidently moved up the Jersey coast for an engagement at the Savoy in Asbury Park - at popular prices! 

It opened on Broadway on August 16, 1932 at the Playhouse Theatre. Sadly, the dominos fell after just seven performances. This left the Brady-controlled Playhouse free to host yet another French translation by his wife, Mademoiselle, in which she also starred, along with their daughter Alice. It lasted more than 100 performances, likely due to the largesse of its producer / husband / father. Coincidentally, Domino was on Broadway at the same time as Of Thee I Sing, which was set partly in Atlantic City. 

Brady had originally planned to withdraw Robert Loraine from the cast of Domino after a few months so that he could star in a revival of Shaw’s Man and Superman in the role he created on Broadway in 1905 and 1912. Alas, there was no need - and there was no Man or Superman. Instead, Loraine was relegated to playing second narrator in a production of Lucrece starring Katharine Cornell.  

While Domino never made it to American screens, it was filmed in the original French in 1943 starring Ferdinand Gravey (yum!). It also was seen on the small screen in France; in 1967 and 1976. Archard died in 1974, so never saw either television Domino. If an American version had been filmed, film star Rod La Rocque would certainly have been on the short list to recreate his stage role:

“It may sound trite to say so, but despite the fact that I made my biggest success in pictures, I've always had a secret hankering for the stage. I guess that urge sent me out on tour the season before last in 'Cherries Are Ripe.' You'll probably recall we didn't come into New York. The outlying country was so good to us that we played till warm weather. Did It seem good to get back? I'll say It did. To actually feel an audience once more there's no stimulus like it."

La Rocque never did another Broadway show. Instead, he returned to Hollywood to continue his film career. 

William Brady and Grace George were together until his death in 1950. Ten years earlier, she starred in his final Broadway production, Kind Lady. 

C’est finis, mes amis!  

[too-tired-to-function]

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(I have no idea if this will actually work or nah)

So I was tagged by pikachusthef (thx and hi)

I APOLOGIZE FOR MY VOICE ITS WEIRD 

• Your name and username. • Where you’re from. • Pronounce the following words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Alabama, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Pajamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, GIF, Tumblr, Crackerjack, Doorknob, Envelope, GPOY. • What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? • What is a bubbly carbonated drink called? • The bug that when you touch it it curls into a ball? • What do you say to address a group of people? • A wizard or a vampire? • How old are you? • Is it cold where you are? • Favourite colour. • Colour of your eyes? • Do you have freckles? • When is your birthday? • Last thing you drank. • Taco or quesadilla? • A million dollars or a million friends? • Shark or elephant? • What do you call gym shoes? • What do you call your grandparents? • What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket? • What is the thing you change the TV channel with? • Choose a book and read a passage from it. • Do you think you have an accent? • Do you know anyone on Tumblr in real life? • End audio post by saying any THREE words you want.

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