''Rollo's Wild Oat'' is a 1920 comedic play by Clare Kummer.

Background

The play first had some tryout runs, including in upstate New York(23 January 1920)
"Rollo's Wild Oats" (sic)
''Fayetteville Bulletin''(5 February 1920)
Stage and Screen Personalities
''The Argus'' (Albany, New York) and Philadelphia in January-February 1920,New Kummer Play Has Sparkling Lines
'' Evening Public Ledger'', p. 13 col 2. but a middling reception delayed a planned Broadway debut. Originally slated for the Selwyns, they lost confidence in it and gave it up, and Kummer decided to finance it herself. Mantle, Burns (5 December 1920)
Add "Rollo's Wild Oat" to List of Kummer Successes
''Omaha Daily Bee'' The play debuted at the smaller venue 300 seat Punch and Judy Theatre on Broadway on November 23, 1920. It was a decent success and ran into June 1921 for a total run of 228 performances.Rollo's Wild Oat
''Hearst's'' (May? 1921) Critic

Burns Mantle Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''Theatre History Stu ...

's annual review of plays called it "a smartly written and splendidly entertaining little comedy ... in which

Roland Young Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

's performance was highly commended." Mantle, Burns, ed
The Best Plays of 1920-21
p. 7 (1921)

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 ...

deemed it "a kind of airy and capricious nonsense which was familiar enough in the best of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

."Bordman, Gerald and Thomas S. Hischak
The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre, 3d ed.
p. 537(2004) Writing for ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'',

Heywood Broun Heywood Campbell Broun Jr. (; December 7, 1888 – December 18, 1939) was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, later known as The Newspape ...

wrote "the best of it seems to us to be the finest work which Miss Kummer has yet done for the theatre, which means that it is far and away beyond the capacity of any other American writer of light comedy, with the possible exception of

Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitzer ...

. Mingled with this is other materials which is distinctly dull."(24 November 1920)
Keen Delight in The Newest Play Of Miss Kummer
''New York Tribune'' But while Broun believed plot was almost superfluous to Kummer's best writing, the ''New York Herald'' found that despite "flashes of that whimsical wit," the play "was suggestive in more ways that one last night of entertaining amateur theatricals" and the "dramatic crisis" of the play was "quite flat." Charles Darnton of the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publ ...

'' was much kinder, writing that the play "reaped whirlwinds of laughter and won new laurels" for Kummer, and praised

's performance.Darnton, Charles (24 November 1920)
The New Plays: "Rollo's Wild Oat" A Rare Comedy Treat
'' Evening World'' The play was popular in stock productions into the 1940s. The

Metropolitan Playhouse The Metropolitan Playhouse is a resident producing theater in New York City's East Village. Founded in 1992, the theater is devoted to presenting plays that explore American culture and history, including seldom-produced, "lost" American plays an ...

put on a revival of the play in 2014.Soloski, Alexis (2 December 2014)
Rich Guy Buys Stage Role
''

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 ...

Plot

Rollo Webster is heir to an air-brake fortune, but his real interest is to play Hamlet, so he funds his own production of it. Comely Goldie MacDuff is given the role of

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

, and is acting to earn her living. Her inability to stay up late had already cost her a role in '' The Midnight Frolics''. On opening night, Goldie has to interject to Rollo that her grandfather is dying, and he rushes off the stage. Rollo's dresser is pressed into service as a substitute Hamlet, but it turns out the costumes are not properly made. Back at home Rollo finds out his grandfather is not sick at all but feigned illness to save Rollo embarrassment. Rollo eventually proposes to Goldie.

Original Broadway cast

In order of appearance * Ivan Simpson as Hewston * Marjorie Kummer as Lydia *

as Rollo Webster * Dore Davidson as Mr. Stein * Lotus Robb as Goldie MacDuff * Edythe Tressider as Mrs. Park Gales * J. Palmer Collins as Whortley Camperdown * Manuel A. Alexander as Thomas Skitterling * Stanley Howlett as George Lucus * Grace Peters as Aunt Lane * J.M. Kerrigan as Horatio Webster * Elinor Cox as Bella Kummer's daughter Marjorie was in the cast, in her stage debut.(24 November 1920)
Rollo's Wild Oat Has Suggestions of Amateur Play
''New York Herald'' She married her castmate

in 1921.(7 February 1921)
Roland Young and Clare Kummer's Daughter Married
''New York Herald''

References

External links

*
Rollo's Wild Oat: A Comedy In Three Acts
(1922 Samuel French, via Google Books) *{{Librivox book , title=Rollo's Wild Oat, author=Clare Kummer 1920 plays Broadway plays