Oh, Boy!

Oh, Boy! (1917), a musical comedy by Guy Bolton (book), P. G. Wodehouse (book, lyrics), Jerome Kern (music). [Princess Theatre, 463 perf.] Although George Budd ( Tom Powers) has just married Lou Ellen ( Marie Carroll), his problems have only begun: his guardian‐aunt Penelope ( Edna May Oliver), who holds the family purse strings, knows nothing of the marriage and will almost certainly disapprove. Moreover, a young lady named Jackie ( Anna Wheaton) has invaded his apartment and has been encouraged to remain there by his sporting friend, Jim Marvin ( Hal Forde). Before all the complications have been resolved Jackie has had to pose both as Mrs. Budd and as Penelope. Notable songs: Nesting Time; An Old‐Fashioned Wife; A Pal Like You; Till the Clouds Roll By. This was the best and most successful of William Elliot and F. Ray Comstock's Princess Theatre musicals. It had a solidly constructed, believable, and literate book, and both its humor and songs derived from situations and characters. The musical was adventuresome in making its heroine not totally likable and in assigning love songs to comics and comic numbers to the lovers. The critic for the Sun typified reviewers' reactions when he exclaimed, “If there be such things as masterpieces of musical comedy, one reached the Princess last night.”