Arsenic and Old Lace -- About Our Play, its Plot and its Characters

Arsenic and Old Lace -- The Classic Comedy, Its Plot and Its Characters



By Joseph Kesselring




Arsenic & Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the play moved to the Hudson Theater. It closed there on 17 June 1944 having played 1,444 performances. Of the twelve plays written by Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace was the most successful, and, according to the opening night review in the New York Times, the play was "so funny that none of us will ever forget it."  It has many proven humorous lines and is a fun play with many plot twists.

Plot

The play is a farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (a character based on real-life gangland surgeon Joseph Moran) to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff (a self-referential joke, as the part was originally played by Karloff). The film adaptation follows the same basic plot, with a few minor changes. It is customary, after the cast takes several curtain calls, for the final one to finish with the "murder victims" (often well-known local personalities) entering from the basement and joining the cast for the final bow.

The Broadway Cast

The opening night cast on Broadway consisted of:

• Jean Adair (Martha Brewster)
• John Alexander (Teddy Brewster)
• Wyrley Birch (The Rev. Dr. Harper)
• Helen Brooks (Elaine Harper)
• Bruce Gordon (Officer Klein)
• Henry Herbert (Mr. Gibbs)
• Josephine Hull (Abby Brewster)
• Allyn Joslyn (Mortimer Brewster)
• Boris Karloff (Jonathan Brewster)
• William Parke (Mr. Witherspoon)
• John Quigg (Officer Brophy)
• Anthony Ross (Officer O'Hara)
• Edgar Stehli (Dr. Einstein)
• Victor Sutherland (Lieutenant Rooney)

When Kesselring taught at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas, he lived in a boarding house called the Goerz House, and many of the features of its living room are reflected in the Brewster sisters' living room, where the action of the play is set. The Goerz House is now the home of the college president.

The 'murderous old lady' plot line may also have been inspired by actual events that occurred in a house in Windsor, Connecticut, where a woman, Amy Archer-Gilligan, took in boarders and allegedly poisoned them for their pensions. Kesselring originally conceived the play as a heavy drama, but a friend, reading the half-finished play, convinced him it would be much more effective as a comedy.

Characters: Arsenic and Old Lace

Abby Brewster: A darling lady in her sixties who poisons elderly men. Abby is the sister of Martha and an aunt to Teddy, Jonathan, and Mortimer.

The Rev. Dr. Harper: Minister and father of Elaine

Teddy Brewster: Nephew of Abby and Martha Brewster, Teddy is a man in his forties who thinks that he is Theodore Roosevelt.

Officer Brophy: A police officer

Officer Klein: A police officer

Martha Brewster: A sweet elderly woman with Victorian charm who poisons elderly men, Martha is the sister of Abby and an aunt to Teddy, Jonathan, and Mortimer.

Elaine Harper: An attractive girl in her twenties and Mortimer’s fiancee, Elaine is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Harper. She is surprisingly wise in the ways of the world for a minister's daughter.

Mortimer Brewster: Nephew of Abby and Martha, Mortimer is a drama critic who is engaged to Elaine. He is a nice man who cares for his aunts.

Mr. Gibbs: A man who wishes to rent a room from the Brewster sisters

Jonathan Brewster: Nephew of Abby and Martha Brewster, Jonathan is a psychopath who has had plastic surgery and now looks like Boris Karloff.

Dr. Einstein: A plastic surgeon and an alcoholic who is in his fifties, Dr. Einstein has changed Jonathan's face three times.

Officer O'Hara: A police officer, O’Hara is a would-be playwright who pesters Mortimer to read his play.

Lieutenant Roony: A tough and dominating police officer

Mr. Witherspoon: The superintendent of Happy Dale Sanitarium

NOTE -- Playbooks for the play "Arsenic and Old Lace" will be available for purchase next week (May 10-13) at the Farmers and Traders Savings Bank in Bancroft, Iowa, 108 West Ramsey, PO Box 107, Bancroft, Iowa 50517; Phone (515) 885-2341.  Probable cost of playbooks is $8.