The Doughgirls is a three-act play written by Joseph Fields. Producer Max Gordon staged it on Broadway, where it debuted at the Lyceum Theatre on December 30, 1942. The play is a comedy about three unmarried women sharing a room in an overcrowded hotel in Washington, D.C. during World War II. The Broadway production was a hit that ran for 671 performances and closed on July 29, 1944.[1][2] It was adapted as a film of the same name in 1944.
| The Doughgirls | |
|---|---|
 Playbill cover for The Doughgirls on Broadway | |
| Written by | Joseph Fields |
| Date premiered | December 30, 1942 |
| Place premiered | Lyceum Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | A hotel in Washington, D.C. |
Cast and characters
editThe characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:[3]
| Character | Broadway cast |
|---|---|
| Edna | Virginia Field |
| Julian Cadman | King Calder |
| Mr. Jordan | Sydney Grant |
| Col. Harry Hallstead | Reed Brown, Jr. |
| A bellboy | George Calvert |
| Maid | Mary Cooper |
| Maid | Mildred Haines |
| Vivian | Arleen Whelan |
| Another bellboy | Jerome Thor |
| A porter | Hugh Williamson |
| Another porter | Kermit Kegley |
| Waiter | Walter Beck |
| Nan | Doris Nolan |
| Brigadier General Slade | William J. Kelly |
| Tom Dillon | Vinton Hayworth |
| Judge Honoria Blake | Ethel Wilson |
| Natalia Chodorov | Arlene Francis |
| A stranger | Harold Grau |
| Orderly | Joseph Olney |
| Warren Buckley | Edward H. Robins |
| Sylvia | Natalie Schafer |
| Chaplain Stevens | Reynolds Evans |
| Admiral Owens | Thomas F. Tracey |
| Timothy Walsh | James MacDonald |
| Stephen Forbes | Maurice Burke |
| Father Nicholai | Maxim Panteleieff |
Film adaptation
editWarner Bros. paid $250,000 for the right to adapt the play as a movie. James V. Kern and Sam Hellman wrote the screenplay, which had to remove the play's implications of extramarital sex to be accepted by the censors at the Breen Office. Kern directed the film, which was titled The Doughgirls.[4]
References
edit- ^ Wertheim, Albert (2004). Staging the War: American Drama and World War II. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 107. ISBN 0-253-34310-0.
- ^ Bordman, Gerald (1996). American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930–1969. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 220. ISBN 0-19-535808-2.
- ^ Nichols, Lewis (December 31, 1942). "The Play". The New York Times. p. 19.
- ^ Dick, Bernard F. (2014). The President's Ladies: Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. University Press of Mississippi. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-61703-980-5.
