To the Ladies

To the Ladies (1922), a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. [Liberty Theatre, 128 perf.] Leonard Beebe (Otto Kruger), a salesman for the Kincaid Piano Company, is something of a dreamy visionary, unlike his quiet, down‐to‐earth wife, Elsie (Helen Hayes). When Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid (George Howell and Isabel Irving) visit the Beebes, they are most impressed with Elsie, who arranges with Mrs. Kincaid to wangle Leonard a promotion. The plan is to have him speak at a company banquet, but when he becomes tongue‐tied, Elsie must make the speech for him. It wins him the promotion. Despite generally welcoming notices, the George C. Tyler and A. L. Erlanger production was only a modest success in New York and proved somehow too arcane to have any appeal on the road.