Morning's at Seven

Morning's at Seven (1939), a comedy by Paul Osborn. [Longacre Theatre, 44 perf.] The Swansons and the Boltons have lived side by side in a small American town for more than fifty years. Cora Swanson ( Jean Adair) and Ida Bolton ( Kate McComb) are sisters, so there is particular reason for excitement when the youngster of the clans, forty‐year‐old Homer Bolton ( John Alexander), decides to marry his thirty‐nine‐year‐old sweetheart, Myrtle Brown ( Enid Markey), to whom he has been engaged for many years. The excitement, however, is not all to the good. It makes old Carl Bolton ( Russell Collins) more aware of his “spells” of introspection; causes Esther Crampton ( Effie Shannon), Cora and Ida's sister, to have a falling out with her husband David ( Herbert Yost); and prompts Cora to ask yet another sister, Aaronetta Gibbs ( Dorothy Gish), a spinster who has been living with the Swansons, to move out. By the time Homer and Myrtle are ready to settle down, everything has been happily resolved: Aaronetta is to move across the yard and live with the Boltons. Although the play opened to excellent reviews, the Dwight Deere Wiman production found only a small public. Burns Mantle attributed the failure to the spate of fine comedies that had preceded it that season, most notably The Man Who Came to Dinner and Life with Father. A superb 1980 revival on Broadway confirmed the play's merits and ran over a year, making the old comedy a favorite in summer, community, and regional theatres. A 2002 mounting on Broadway was also well received.