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The
revival of an old favourite
A
special outing was arranged on St Valentine's Day this year for those
within easy reach of Paradise, Pa, in the United States. For $49,
patrons of the Rainbow Dinner Theatre were offered a buffet luncheon and
an opportunity to see a performance of Ladies' night in a Turkish bath,
a farce which was extremely popular in the 1920s.
Amazing
how long this has remained popular! The play was originally written by
Charlton Andrews in 1919 under the title Ladies' night,
revised by the author with Avery Hopwood the following year, and later
produced as Ladies' night in a Turkish bath by Hopwood. As a '
racy' play it fell foul of the censors (recently discussed by Angela
Latham in her book Posing a threat: flappers, chorus girls, and other
brazen performers of the American 1920s). The play was filmed in 1928
and an adaptation is still available in print as Good night ladies
by Cyrus Wood.
Still
frequently performed in the USA, the play is 'a comedy about a college
girl in love with a shy professor who's terrified of women. The women go
to a Turkish bath and the guys take the professor to a Pagan Revel party
that gets raided by the police. The guys end up at the Turkish bath in
disguise as women.'
We
should be interested to hear from anyone who has seen the play.
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