''Michael and Mary'' is a play by the British author A.A. Milne. It was staged at the Charles Hopkins Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, running for 246 performances between December 1929 and July 1930. It had by then transferred to the

St James's Theatre The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succ ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

's West End where it ran for 159 performances between 1 February and 21 June 1930. The original West End cast included

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Uni ...

Edna Best Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress. Early life Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at ...

Elizabeth Allan Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English stage and film actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, where she appeared in 50 films. Life and career Allan was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 and educated in ...

Frank Lawton Frank Lawton Mokeley (30 September 1904 – 10 June 1969) was an English actor. His parents were stage players Daisy May Collier and Frank Lawton (I). His first major screen credit was ''Young Woodley'' (1930). In the mid-1930s, Lawton appe ...

, D.A. Clarke-Smith,

Reginald Bach Reginald Bach (3 September 1886 – 6 January 1941) was a British actor and theatrical producer. Early life and career Born in Shepperton, Middlesex, England, Bach was educated at Dean Close School, in Cheltenham Spa, the family having moved to ...

Oliver Wakefield Oliver Wakefield (29 May 1909 – 30 June 1956) was a popular British actor and comedian, born in South Africa, who was active from the 1930s until his death in 1956. Often billed as "The Voice of Inexperience", Wakefield is best known for h ...

, J. Fisher White,

Torin Thatcher Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains. Personal life Thatcher was born in Bombay, British India, to British parents, Torin James Blair T ...

Olwen Brookes Olwen Brookes (26 November 1901 – 17 September 1976) was an English actress, known for '' An Inspector Calls'', '' The Happiest Days of Your Life'' and ''The First Night of Pygmalion''. Her career spanned over a quarter of a century, and as wel ...

and

Margaret Scudamore Margaret Scudamore (13 November 1881 – 5 October 1958) was an English theatre and film actress who began in '' ingenue'' roles before achieving a prolonged career in stage and screen support roles. She and her first husband, Roy Redgrave ...

Film adaptation

In 1931 it was adapted into a British film of the same title directed by

Victor Saville Victor Saville (25 September 1895 – 8 May 1979) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962. Biography Saville produced his first f ...

and starring Marshall and Best, with many of the other West End performers reprising their role.Goble p.327 Produced by

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

and a commercial success at the British box office, it was released in America the following year by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 1929 plays Broadway plays West End plays British plays British plays adapted into films Plays by A. A. Milne {{1920s-play-stub