Talk:Arsenic and Old Lace (play)

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Historical inspiration[edit]

Article refers to the Windsor, CT serial killings of boarders widely considered to have been the basis of the plot. The woman convicted there, Amy Archer-Gilligan was only around 43 years old when apprehended and probably was in her 30s when the killings started. Should she be described as an "older woman?" The resemblance to the Brewster sisters was likely mainly that the killer appeared prim and proper to the world. A new book about the Gilligan case is due to be published in April 2010. It is called 'The Devil's Rooming House" and is written by M. William Phelps (Globe Pequot Press). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Conchubair (talk • contribs) 18:37, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Magdalen Players phenomen?[edit]

Removed the following from above the cast list: "The contemporary performance widely regarded best is that of the Magdalen Players of Magdalen College, Oxford (dir. Parth Soneji). It ran from 16th-20th May 2006, and took place in the President's Garden at Magdalen. It was a phenomenal success."

For several reasons:

1) It's positioning above the original cast list is confusing as it could be misinterpreted as the cast list for the modern production.

2) No sources or citations are given to support the view that this production was a 'phenomenal success' despite this view being 'widely regarded'.

3) Without any sources, it is not immediately obvious how a student production that ran for five evenings could be widely regarded as anything the day after the production closed - which was when this edit was made Epistolary Richard 17:13, 25 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Film/Broadway[edit]

I thought the film version was only to be put on general release when the Broadway run had ended (1944) not realising it was to become one of Broadway's longest running shows. M B-G 203.171.196.161 (talk) 11:48, 8 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Film[edit]

The article asserts that the play became best known through the movie. On what basis is this claim made? I never heard of the movie until just now reading the Wik article, but I have seen the play three different times in three different locales.211.225.34.139 (talk) 01:07, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just Wanted to Say! . . . .[edit]

O M G! I have spent the last two hours, At Least!, trying to find out how to leave a very simple, 'Thank You' comment to the founders of Wikipedia! I was So enjoying the old film, "Arsenic and Old Lace" and Also Thoroughly Enjoyed the information I got when I looked it up on your website! While I am not,(obviously, haha!), a big fan of all the latest forms of technology, I have yet to be disappointed by Wikipedia when I go look something, Anything!, up~! Thanks So Much!!

SINCERELY!!!

Dlynntutt (talk) 09:10, 1 January 2011 (UTC)DONNA L. TUTT Dlynntutt (talk) 09:10, 1 January 2011 (UTC)dlynntutt@yahoo.com[reply]

1996[edit]

Sybil Thorndike and Athene Seyler both died before 1996, so it's unlikely they appeared in any production then. 1966, maybe? AuntFlo (talk) 07:13, 11 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

TV Adaptations[edit]

Article only cites the 1955 version. There were three other versions.

1949, 1962, and 1969.

The first three versions all star Boris Karloff as Jonathon Brewster. Fred Gwynne played the role in the 1969 version.

Josephine Hull played Abbey Brewster in the 1949 version. Helen Hayes played the part in the 1955 and 1969 version.

[1]

References

  1. ^ IMDb

Adding sources and expanding the section on National tours[edit]

Dear fellow editors,
I am leaving the present message out of courtesy to other editors watching this article.
I have recently added the National tours section into the article, in an attempt to document these more clearly and in a bit more detail. This is because, during my development of the article on Jack Whiting, I became quite confused about this play as there have been several roadshows and not all of them are well sourced, particularly for 1941–1942 (in which Whiting played the role of Mortimer Brewster). On the other hand, Whiting's performances in the 1944 roadshow have been very well documented by Rhodes in his book on Lugosi (2006). For the 1941–1942 national tour, I have been able to identify: 1) some surviving theatre playbills available for sale at various auction websites, and 2) many newspaper articles available at the NewspaperArchive, thanks to my Wikipedia subscription. I am therefore in the process of collecting all these sources and consolidating the details in this sandbox. Since I am generally quite slow, all this will take time and I would therefore welcome other ideas and suggestions on the task at hand. If any other editor(s) would like to participate in this effort, then I will obviously be happy to work with them as a team. Thank you.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.(talk)(become old-fashioned!) 16:22, 30 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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