''A Pair of Sixes'', originally titled ''The Party of the Second Part'', is a farce in three acts by Edward Peple that made its

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut at the

Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and was named for Longacre Square, now known a ...

on March 17, 1914. The piece was produced by

Harry Frazee Harry Herbert Frazee (June 29, 1880 – June 4, 1929) was an American theatrical agent, producer, and director, and owner of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923. He is well known for selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yanke ...

and achieved a run of two hundred and twenty-seven performances at the Longacre before closing in the third week of September 1914. Over the following months ''A Pair of Sixes,'' reappeared at the Majestic Theatre in Brooklyn and Manhattan’s Standard Theatre. A national tour followed, as did runs at London’s

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

and

Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne Her Majesty's Theatre is a 1,700-seat theatre in Melbourne's East End Theatre District, Australia. Built in 1886, it is located at 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. It is classified by the National Trust of Australia and is listed on the Vict ...

. Peple's farce spawned a novel b
Lilian Lauferty
a 1918

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

'' A Pair of Sixes'' with

Maude Eburne Maude Eburne (born Maud Eburne Riggs, November 10, 1875 – October 15, 1960) was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles. Early years Eburne was born the daughter of John and Mary Riggs, in Bront ...

and

Taylor Holmes Taylor Holmes (May 16, 1878 – September 30, 1959) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he is probably best remembered for his screen performances, which he began in silent films in ...

and the 1926 hit Broadway

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, ''Queen High,'' that in turn begat the 1930 Hollywood talkie ''

Queen High ''Queen High'' is the title of an American pre-Code musical comedy film, produced by Paramount Pictures in 1930. Based upon the 1926 stage musical ''Queen High'' that Buddy DeSylva, Lewis Gensler, and Laurence Schwab had adapted from Edward P ...

'' starring

Charles Ruggles Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...

Frank Morgan Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound ...

and

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

. In 1937 it was filmed as '' On Again-Off Again'' with the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey.

Cast

*Mr. Applegate ... Walter Allen *Sally Parker (the stenographer) ... Carree Clark *Tony Toler (salesman) ... Jack Devereaux *Coddles (English maid) ...

*Shipping Clerk ... Frank Gerbrach *T. Boggs Johns ...

Hale Hamilton Hale Rice Hamilton (February 28, 1880 – May 19, 1942) was an American actor, writer and producer. Biography Hamilton was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1880. (His birth year is sometimes listed as either 1879 or 1883.) Hamilton's Broadway debut w ...

*Office Boy ... John Merritt *Florence Cole ... Ann Murdock *George B. Nettleton ... George Parsons * Krome (book-keeper) ... Robert Smiley * Mrs. George B. Nettleton ... Ivy Troutman *Thomas J. Vanderholt (lawyer) ... Fritz Williams Source: Theatre Magazine, May 1914

Story

''“A Pair of Sixes" is a farce comedy about two part owners of the Eureka Digestive Pill Company who rarely get along. Both claim the credit alone for the success of their popular purple pills. When their quarreling began to threaten the well being of the company, the firm’s lawyer suggests a rather odd solution. He would deal each partner a poker hand, with the understanding that the loser would serve as the other’s butler for an entire year. The outcome of the wager supplies the fodder for the farce''.''The Nation,'' March 26, 1914, p. 341

Reception

''The new play by Edward Peple, which opened at Frazee's Longacre Theatre last week, has suffered perhaps from the enthusiastic encomiums of the daily press. It is an amusing farce, but it does not arouse the side-splitting merriment that we were led to expect by some of the critiques published after its premiere. The play cannot, however, be held responsible if it fails to match exactly the promise held out by critics who, after a succession of disastrous failures, were perhaps inclined to be over-indulgent in the presence of an undeniable success.''

''Mr. Peple has conceived of an excellent idea, the innate absurdity of which only commends it for farcical purposes. The two partners of a successful pill industry, failing to agree on any subject, call in the assistance of their lawyer. The partnership cannot be dissolved, for neither one will buy out the other; so the lawyer, in order that the farce may proceed to its appointed conclusion, hits on the device of deciding by a single hand of poker which partner shall continue to conduct the business for a year, and which shall serve the winner in a menial capacity during that period. A pair of sixes in the hand of George B. Nettleton gives him the advantage, and enables the author in the second act to present to us T. Boggs John in the capacity of his partner's butler.''

''The possibilities of the situation are obvious, and Mr. Peple has on the whole made good use of them. The play has one conspicuous merit in that the interest increases throughout and the last act is the best of the three. There are moments of dullness, notably in those scenes in which Nettleton‘s wife predominates, but there are a number of laughable situations and many good lines, and the climax, in which the subtle Boggs John, under the inspiration of his astute fiancée (well played by Miss Ann Murdock), delivers himself from servitude by his attentions to his master's wife, is ingenious. The play is well cast throughout, and George Parsons and Hale Hamilton are excellent as the two partners, while an individual success is made by Miss Maude Eburne as Coddles, the English maid-of-all-work. If we are prepared to grant that the natural destiny of our native farce is to be developed through a crescendo of noise, "A Pair of Sixes" thoroughly deserves the success that it promises to enjoy. We may, however, make the mental reservation that a certain amount of subtlety is not incompatible with the true spirit of farce.'' The Nation, 1914.

''‘A Pair of Sixes’ is the kind of farce which has no nationality, except as its rapid-fire development, its breezy humor, and its care for a certain surface reality brand it as American. The same may, perhaps, be said of ‘Seven Keys to Baldpate.’ Mr. Craven's play, however, and ‘Potash and Perlmutter’ are both products of actual conditions in the life about us, and are for that reason much more significant.'' The Literary Digest 1914''The Literary Digest,'' Volume 49, p. 64

Resources

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