The Show-Off

Show‐Off, The (1924), a play by George Kelly. [Playhouse, 571 perf.] The Fishers, a lower‐middle‐class Philadelphia family, are dismayed that their daughter Amy (Regina Wallace) is in love with the likes of Aubrey Piper (Louis John Bartels), a nut who, with his patent leather shoes, his cheap, slick toupee, and a carnation in his buttonhole, is convinced he is “The pride of old West Philly!” When Amy marries him despite the grumbling of her father (C. W. Goodrich) and the barbed warnings of her mother (Helen Lowell), she learns quickly that he is not the good provider he boasted of being. Matters come to a head when Aubrey, in a borrowed car, hits both a trolley and a policeman. His brother‐in‐law, Frank (Guy d'Ennery), is forced to bail him out and later pay his fine. At the same time Mr. Fisher dies of a stroke. Just as the future looks bleak, Amy's brother, Joe (Lee Tracy), is awarded $100,000 for a rust‐proofing invention. He acknowledges that Aubrey inadvertently gave him the lead that made the invention possible. Moreover, the family is amazed to learn that Aubrey secretly confronted the people with whom Joe was dealing and bulldozed them into doubling their offer. To his awed wife, Aubrey remarks, “A little bluff goes a long way sometimes.” Mrs. Fisher, however, is not awed. She can only exclaim, “God help me, from now on.” Expanded from a vaudeville sketch that Kelly had created, the play was the biggest hit of its season and was hailed by Heywood Broun as “the best comedy which has yet been written by an American.” The Pulitzer Prize jury selected it for its annual award but, to virtually everyone's surprise, was overridden by Columbia University officials who gave the award to Hell‐Bent for Heaven. Of the many revivals of the comedy, a 1967 mounting with Helen Hayes as Mrs. Fisher was the most memorable.