Born Yesterday

Born Yesterday (1946), a comedy by Garson Kanin. [Lyceum Theatre, 1,642 perf.] Billie Dawn ( Judy Holliday) is the “dumb‐blonde” mistress of the crass but very rich junkman Harry Brock ( Paul Douglas) who always lives “at the top of his voice.” She is forever embarrassing him with her gaffes, so he hires a handsome young liberal writer, Paul Verrall ( Gary Merrill), to tutor her. Brock's reward is to have Billie's eyes opened and to have her turn against him, accusing him of being “not couth.” When he orders her to cosign some important papers she refuses, so he slaps her. Billie signs the papers, packs her bags, and heads for the door, quietly asking Harry for just one favor before she leaves. He growlingly wants to know what that favor might be, and she asks softly, “Drop dead?” When Billie later returns to get the rest of her things, she announces that she has turned over to Paul incriminating papers that can send Brock to jail. Since Brock has long since put most of his property in her name, however, she offers a compromise: Paul will not publish the papers and she will sign back his property to him—but only a bit each year, for as long as he behaves. Like so much Kanin‐family writing, the play was a sermon on the virtues of liberalism; but its bright lines, sharp character studies, and superb performances made the Max Gordon production capital theatre. Holliday's performance was all the more remarkable since she was a relative unknown who had been cast hastily when the original star, Jean Arthur, quit during the tryout. A commendable Broadway revival in 1989 with Madeline Kahn as Billie did disappointing business.