''Ladies' Night'' (sometimes marketed as ''Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath'') is a three-act play originally written by
Charlton Andrews
Charlton Andrews (February 1, 1878 – August 13, 1939) was an American educator and writer whose works include the hit Broadway theatre, Broadway play ''Ladies' Night (play), Ladies' Night''.
Early life
Andrews was born on February 1, 1878 in Con ...
and later reworked by
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.
Early life
Hopwood was born to James and Jule Pendergast Hopwood on May 28, 1882 ...
. The play was a
sex farce with part of the action set in a
Turkish bath
A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...
instead of a bedroom.
A. H. Woods
Albert Herman Woods (born Aladore Herman; January 3, 1870 – April 24, 1951) was a Hungarian-born theatrical producer who spent much of his life in the USA. He produced over 140 plays on Broadway, including some of the most successful sho ...
staged it on
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 ...
, where opened under the direction of Bertram Harrison on August 9, 1920 at the
Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre
The Empire Theatre (originally the Eltinge Theatre) is a former Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1912, the theater was designed by Thomas W. Lamb for the Hungarian-b ...
. ''Ladies' Night'' had a run of 375 performances with the final curtain falling in June 1921. It was revived on Broadway in adapted forms in 1945 and 1950.
Plot
Jimmy Walters is a married man who avoids many social events because of his strong reaction to women who wear modern fashions that expose their bodies. His wife, Dulcy, is annoyed by his behavior. Their friends – the couples Alicia and Fred, and Mimi and Cort – make fun of him. Fred and Cort believe they can cure his anxieties by taking him to a
masquerade ball
A masquerade ball (or ''bal masqué'') is an event in which many participants attend in costume wearing a mask. (Compare the word "masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal "costume parties" may be a descendant of this tra ...
where he will see many women in scanty attire. On the same evening, Alicia and Mimi will take Dulcy to the Larchmont Baths, which is hosting a
ladies night event for women only.
The second act begins with the group of men dressed in
drag for the masquerade, which has been raided by the police. They flee through the first open window they find, which puts them inside the Larchmont Baths. The men pretend to be women to avoid being discovered, a pretense that is made more difficult by Jimmy's reactions to the many barely-clothed women in the baths. In the final act, the couples return to the Walters' apartment, where the men must explain their presence in the baths. As a result of his adventure, Jimmy is cured of his exaggerated response to women's bodies.
Cast
The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:
Reception
The Broadway production received negative reviews from many critics. In a review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio p ...
called the play "a somewhat laborious farce" that the manager and playwrights intended to explore "how far they can go without being arrested". In ''Theatre Magazine'', Arthur Hornblow called the play "hackneyed" and not worthy of the authors' talents. A review in ''The Forum'' said the material "often approaches the obscene. However, it is ridiculously funny, and one cannot help but laugh."
Adaptations
Edward F. Cline directed the 1928
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized 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) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
''
Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath
''Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath'' is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline. It is based on the 1920 play ''Ladies' Night'' by Charlton Andrews and Avery Hopwood. It was released on April 1, 1928 by First National Pictu ...
'' based on the play.
A version of the play revised by Cyrus Wood was staged under the title ''Good Night Ladies'' on Broadway, where it opened at the
Royale Theatre
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the thea ...
on January 17, 1945.
An adaption entitled ''Ladies' Night at the Turkish Bath'' was produced by George W. Brandt in 1950. The play was shortened to under an hour and presented five times a day before showings of the unrelated adventure film ''
Jungle Jim
Jungle Jim is the fictional hero of a series of jungle adventures in various media. The series began on January 7, 1934, as an American newspaper comic strip chronicling the adventures of Asia-based hunter Jim Bradley, who was nicknamed Jungle ...
''. The production opened on February 17 at the
Selwyn Theater and closed on March 11.
Notes
References
Works cited
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External links
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{{Avery Hopwood
1920 plays
Broadway plays
American plays adapted into films
Plays by Avery Hopwood
Comedy plays