The Playwrights Database
SAM SPEWACK
(1899 - 1991)Nationality: n/a
email: n/a Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
Sam Spewack's plays including biography, theatres, agent, synopses, cast sizes, production and published dates
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below is a list of Sam Spewack's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Boy Meets Girl Clear All Wires Festival, The Golden State, The Kiss Me Kate Leave It To Me Miss Swan Expects My Three Angels My Three Angels Once there Was A Russian Play It By Ear (the Festival) Pleasures and Palaces Poppa Prince And Mr Jones Solitaire Man Spring Song Trousers To Match Two Blind Mice Under the Sycamore Tree War Song Woman Bites DogBoy Meets Girl
Synopsis:
Played against a Hollywood background, it tells of a studio waitress who, coming into the office of a big-shot producer, announces she is going to have a baby. Two clever writers get the idea of starring the as-yet-unborn infant with Larry Toms, cowboy film hero. the clever boys who had the idea in the first place are done out of a managing contract and bent on revenge, do their utmost to discredit the infant by hiring someone to claim to be his father. the mother, however, marries the son of an English lord. the writers, on the point of ruin, put over a slick deal in a scene of hilarious comedy by engineering a questionable arrangement between their studio and big foreign studio.
Notes:
written with BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York 27 Nov 1935
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 14 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageClear All Wires
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Times Square Theatre, New York 14 Sep 1932
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageFestival, The
Synopsis:
Tells of Sally Ann Peters, a young piano teacher whose knowledge of life is entirely academic. Sally Ann appears in the Los Angeles home of Max Granada, a sophisticated and charmingly unscrupulous impresario, in an effort to fire him with some of her own enthusiasm for a young pupil of hers, who she claims is a child prodigy. Granada will have none of her until he finds a way of using her for his own purposes. He is frantically trying to get his chief client, a famous Pianist, to go to Mexico to participate in a festival there, and Sally Ann finds herself involved in the plot to get the pianist off for his concert. At the end she has learned a great deal about herself, accomplished her mission, and has conquered the impresario. A highly amusing play for groups interested in producing sophisticated comedy.
Notes:
Written by Sam And BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Longacre Theatre, New York 18 Jan 1955
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageGolden State, The
Synopsis:
Tells of a number of people who have trekked to Los Angeles in the hope that they can do in California what they could not achieve in their home states. they now live in the house of Rosita Morenas, who calls her single rooms apartments, and who dreams of someday living in the manner of her "noble" ancestors. Her daughter, Carmen, is married to a young bank clerk, and Mrs. Morenas vainly seeks for affection in that quarter. When gold is discovered in her yard, Mrs. Morenas is sure that her son-in-law will accept her. Mrs. Morenas' boarders are a Philadelphia businessman who went to Los Angeles to write songs, a young veteran who is now selling mineral water while his wife works nights, and a promoter, who, like Mrs. Morenas, is native-born and is sold on the California dream to the point of embezzling for it. Gold is actually found, but it is only some ore specimens that Tim, an old prospector and friend of Mrs. Morenas, has brought from his latest mine. Though there is no gold, the dreamers make their dreams come true through a realization of themselves, rather than what they hoped to be.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Fulton Theatre, New York 25 Nov 1950
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 8 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageKiss Me Kate
the cast of a musical version of "the Taming Of the Shrew" celebrate the opening of their show. Leading lady, Lilli and her ex-husband and leading man, Fred, celebrate the first anniversary of their divorce. Lilli receives a wonderful boquet she thinks it is from Fred. But when she reads the card she realises it is from Fred but the boquet was for one of the other actresses, Lois. Lois is in love with one of the actors in the production, Bill. Bill has been gambling - but he has signed Fred's name to IOUs. the night of the performance. Fred and Lilli bicker and two mobsters turn up wanting money from Fred
Notes:
Music And lyrics by Cole Porter; book by BElla Spewack; Sam Spewack. Based on "the Taming Of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare
1st Produced:
New Century Theatre, New York 30 Dec 1948
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
E. Littler, London 1952 -
Music:
Original cast recording: Columbia (SK 60536) 1948
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageLeave It To Me
Alonzo "Stinky" Goodhue has been made US Ambassador to the Soviet Union. He did not want the job but got it because of his social climbing wife. He would much rather be back in Topeka, Kansas. He thinks that if he messes things up he will be recalled - however, every international incident he gets involved in he manages to resolve. Until that is he tries to get the Soviet Union and the US to be friends and he is recalled
Notes:
Music And lyrics by Cole Porter; book by BElla Spewack; Sam Sewack. In A dispute over who should have top billing - Ethel Merman or Jimmy Durante the crossed names was devised for the poster
1st Produced:
Imperial Theatre, New York 09 Nov 1938
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in: "Great Musicals of the American Stage volume Two" published by Chilton Books 1976 -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMiss Swan Expects
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Written by Sam And BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York 20 Feb 1939
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMy Three Angels
Synopsis:
the scene is French Guiana, a region where on Christmas day the temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees. Three convicts are employed as roofers by a family, whose roof is in desperate need of maintenance. On the way from France is an evil-minded cousin, to oust the Father of the family from his business, and his cold-blooded nephew, who is jilting the father's daughter for an heiress. the three convicts-two of them murderers, the third a swindler-take the visitors on. All three have warm hearts and are passionate believers in true justice. Possessing every criminal art and penal grace, they set matters right and in doing so redeem themselves as real life angels to the grateful family.
Notes:
Original Playwright - A Husson (Cuisine Des Anges). with BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Lyric Theatre, London 1955
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1956 -
Music:
-
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Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMy Three Angels
Synopsis:
they are no angels - they are escaped convicts
Notes:
Music by David Warrack; lyrics by David Warrack; book by Sam And BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 6 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageOnce there Was A Russian
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Music Box Theatre, New York 17 Feb 1961
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePlay It By Ear (the Festival)
Synopsis:
Tells of Sally Ann Peters, a young piano teacher whose knowledge of life is entirely academic. Sally Ann appears in the Los Angeles home of Max Granada, a sophisticated and charmingly unscrupulous impresario, in an effort to fire him with some of her own enthusiasm for a young pupil of hers, who she claims is a child prodigy. Granada will have none of her until he finds a way of using her for his own purposes. He is frantically trying to get his chief client, a famous Pianist, to go to Mexico to participate in a festival there, and Sally Ann finds herself involved in the plot to get the pianist off for his concert. At the end she has learned a great deal about herself, accomplished her mission, and has conquered the impresario. A highly amusing play for groups interested in producing sophisticated comedy.
Notes:
written with BElla Spewack. Aka Play It by Ear
1st Produced:
Coventry 1967
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePleasures and Palaces
John Paul Jones goes to Russia to assist Empress Catherine II regain Constantinople. the Empress is in love Grigori Potemkin. Potemkin is in love with Sura. Sura is in love with John Paul
Notes:
Music And lyrics by Frank Loesser; book by Frank Loesser; Sam Spewack. Based on the play "Once there Was A Russian" by Sam Spewack
1st Produced:
Fisher Theatre, Detroit 11 Mar 1965
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
Original cast recording: Blue Pear (1010) 1965
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePoppa
Synopsis:
Pincus Schwitsky has become an alderman. But when it turns out he is a reformer he is framed by the mayor. Pincus' son Herbert accidentally leaves a Dictaphone on and Pinkus is cleared
Notes:
Written by Sam And BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Biltmore Theatre, New York 24 Dec 1928
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 10 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePrince And Mr Jones
Synopsis:
(Produced in New York as Once there Was a Russian.) Based on the actual events involving John Paul Jones, Prince Potemkin and Catherine the Great of Russia, the play proves again, with crackling humor, how history invariably manages to repeat itself. ". . .it is the most entertaining whack at Russian, and early American, foibles in a long time." -Wall Street Journal. "the new play abounds in laughter. . ." - NY Telegraph. ". . .Sam Spewack has written an amusing, ultimately trenchant charade. . ." - Washington, D.C. Post. "the playwright has drawn a magnificent etching of Potemkin, his lust for power, his cynicism, his rascality, and his surface urbanity, and even his hypocritical effusions of affection." -NY Women's Wear Daily. "Sam Spewack, who owns one of the more amusing minds at work in the theatre, has set it to examining the Russians in his latest comedy." -Washington, D.C. Star.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 15 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSolitaire Man
Synopsis:
Everyone aboard a plane flying from Paris to London turns out to be a crook of some sort
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSpring Song
Synopsis:
A tender and tragic Drama of Jewish life
Notes:
written with BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Morosco Theatre, New York 01 Nov 1934
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 8 Female: 10 Other: extras
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageTrousers To Match
Synopsis:
Miss Swan works in a publisher's office. Her husband has been laboring two years on the biography of a tycoon, and his fee, it is hoped, will pay for the baby his wife expects. Unfortunately, the tycoon decides to postpone publication till after his death, but since the baby can't be postponed, the couple concoct a scheme for raising money which involves using an ex-general as a sandwich man. This precipitates further complications and a plot that is completely cockeyed.
Notes:
written with BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 8 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageTwo Blind Mice
Synopsis:
the Office of Medicinal Herbs of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, manages to persist because no one realizes that it was abolished years ago, but no official steps have been taken to close it. Two nice old ladies run this department, but never answer the phone for fear of discovery. the are really interested in helping people, and are too scrupulous to cash the salary checks which are automatically sent to them. they manage to exist by renting parts of their office to a pants presser and a dance teacher, and by collecting fees from a parking lot nearby. In the words of the Daily News, they are "taken over by a newspaper reporter who transforms their hideaway into a top-secret bureau, staffed with Army, Navy, and State Department people who never know exactly what they are doing but believe they are developing a new science of herbal warfare which is the deadliest yet. there's a love story about the reporter, his ex-wife and the ex-wife's new fiance-and if you know your theatre you know who wins." the journalist enjoys mystifying people, particularly literal-minded Government employees. This farcical play is not only an entertaining, but is full of caustic and amusing satire on bureaucracy, stupidity and red tape.
Notes:
Written by Bella and Samuel Spewack
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York 02 Mar 1949
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 14 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageUnder the Sycamore Tree
Synopsis:
If ants could speak, if they could love and hate and dream and philosophize like humans, how would they react to the present state of the world? Crist (NY Herald-Tribune) wrote: "We come upon the ant colony at a time when words have replaced numbers as language; radio, telephone and a secret war weapon (DDT) have established superiority over the enemy brown ants and the scientist is ready to go beyond man's machines to man himself, to discover the "X" that makes man's world go round. the mysterious ingredient is, of course, love-and before long the scientist has taught it to a boy and girl ant, and the queen. Contentment reigns. the humanizing process continues to the point where the ants have 'politics, confusion-everything' plus the utterly unhuman factor of happiness. they manage to get rid of that but then hit upon the equally unhuman notion of conducting a full-scale non-deadly war. the scientist sets out to give this secret to the President of the United States. His attempt to gain the Presidential ear is frustrated but at least he and his queen can, like humans, conclude that they 'have lived.'" A truly delightful piece which has proven to be enormously popular. the play book includes photos illustrating the set and costumes used in the London production.
Notes:
Written by Bella and Samuel Spewack
1st Produced:
- 1953
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Farcical fable Farce
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 3 Other: extras
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageWar Song
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
National Theatre, New York 24 Sep 1928
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageWoman Bites Dog
Synopsis:
This play is a riotous satire about an egotistic and fanatical newspaper owner who is determined to see bugbears in every direction.
Notes:
Written by Sam And BElla Spewack
1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York 17 Apr 1946
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 17 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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