The Man Who Came to Dinner

On Friday night I went and saw the play the man who came to dinner.  So I didn't really enjoy the play too much this weekend, but I think it was because I was hoping to see The Boys Next Door.  It was really slow in the beginning I thought, but at the end it started to pick up.  So because I didn't really enjoy the play I don't want to just talk about it the play, so I decided to look up the background on this play.

It was written by George Kaufman and Moss Hart.  They wrote their play based off of their friend Alexander Wollcott.  He is supposed to be Sheridan Whiteside.  Alexander was a theater critic and a radio star which makes sense because Sheridan was all those.  Kaufman and Hart couldn't think of a plot for a play until one day Wollcott showed up at Hart's house and took over the whole house.  He treated the staff poorly and slept in the master bedroom.  And of course as you can tell this is where they first found their plot.  Hart while laughing with Kaufman about Wollcott's stay said that he was glad he didn't break his leg and have to stay and that is where the play was created. 

I don't know why the setting was in Ohio considering both the home where Woolcott visited was in Pennsylvania and George Kaufman is from Pennsylvania.  I don't mind though because I am from Ohio and I love it!  Anyways more about Woolcott and Sheridan they made Sheridans character look exactly like Woolcott.  Woolcott was born in an 85 bedroom home in New York City.  His family was poor and his father drifted from job to job while he stayed with his grandparents at the house.  He made his way through college with the nickname of putrid and became a drama critic.  At one point he was even banned from seeing broadway shows.