On I love Lucy, Ricky wouldn't let Lucy be in the show. In this film version of a fairly successful Broadway show, husband Bob Hope doesn't want wife Lucy to write for the stage. You see, he's that villain of the theater called the critic, an umpire with a pen instead of a mask, and equally able to tell the playwright, director and actors that they are out.
The film opens with Hope and Ball at a Broadway opening where he gives the play thumbs down and criticizes leading lady Marilyn Maxwell who happens to be his first wife and the mother of their caustic son. When Lucy decides that she's going to become a playwright, hubby Hope offers her no hope by trying to talk her out of it, criticizing her play after its been optioned for Broadway. Hope gets a few good digs in at the profession of theater critic, appropriately obnoxious and seemingly eager to destroy the dreams of everybody who ever picked up a pen and wrote, 'A play by..."
This doesn't just spoof the theatre, but takes a look at modern marriages where a woman desired a career and faced objections by her chauvinistic husband. Fine supporting parts played by Jessie Royce Landis as Lucy's mother, Rip Torn as her producer and Ricky Kessum as Hope's son, with smaller roles featuring Jim Backus, Richard Deacon and John Dehner. This is a pretty good adult comedy that doesn't fully reflect how Broadway works, but any film that pays tribute to the footlights of the theater deserves credit for honoring a medium it often betrayed.
The film opens with Hope and Ball at a Broadway opening where he gives the play thumbs down and criticizes leading lady Marilyn Maxwell who happens to be his first wife and the mother of their caustic son. When Lucy decides that she's going to become a playwright, hubby Hope offers her no hope by trying to talk her out of it, criticizing her play after its been optioned for Broadway. Hope gets a few good digs in at the profession of theater critic, appropriately obnoxious and seemingly eager to destroy the dreams of everybody who ever picked up a pen and wrote, 'A play by..."
This doesn't just spoof the theatre, but takes a look at modern marriages where a woman desired a career and faced objections by her chauvinistic husband. Fine supporting parts played by Jessie Royce Landis as Lucy's mother, Rip Torn as her producer and Ricky Kessum as Hope's son, with smaller roles featuring Jim Backus, Richard Deacon and John Dehner. This is a pretty good adult comedy that doesn't fully reflect how Broadway works, but any film that pays tribute to the footlights of the theater deserves credit for honoring a medium it often betrayed.