Adam and Eva

Adam and Eva, (1919) a comedy by Guy Bolton, George Middleton. [ Longacre Theatre, 312 perf.] James King (Berton Churchill), who has made a fortune in rubber, is fed up with his extravagant family, who live beyond even his very ample means, and he longs to escape. When Adam Smith (Otto Kruger), manager of King's Brazilian estates, visits and says he longs for noise, people, and outstretched arms of family, King hits upon the expedient of changing places for a year with Adam, although he warns the younger man he'll find not outstretched arms but outstretched hands. Taking over with authority, Adam quickly requires the Kings to live within their allowances. Furious, they threaten to hock their jewelry to pay for their high life, so Adam arranges to have all their jewels “stolen.” Sensing that the two men who are courting King's unmarried daughter, Eva (Ruth Shepley), are fortune hunters, Adam goes a step further. He announces that King has lost his entire fortune and that the family will have to roll up its sleeves and find gainful employment. To his surprise, they do, even running a successful chicken farm in New Jersey. Eva realizes she is falling in love with Adam; and when King returns to find a changed family, Adam and Eva prepare to wed, but not before Eva has offered Adam a token of her love—an apple. Coming after the hiatus created by the bitter Actors' Equity strike, the comedy produced by F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest was eagerly embraced by Broadway. Burns Mantle called it “a characteristic comedy of American home life.” For years it remained a stock and little theatre favorite.