Pursuit of Happiness, The

Pursuit of Happiness, The (1933), a comedy by Alan Child and Isabelle Louden (pen names for Lawrence Langner and Armina Marshall). [Avon Theatre, 252 perf.] When Max Christmann ( Tonio Selwart), a Hessian soldier in hiding, takes refuge on the Connecticut farm of Captain Aaron Kirkland ( Charles Waldron), he falls in love with Kirkland's daughter, Prudence ( Peggy Conklin), who is engaged to Thaddeus Jennings ( Raymond Walburn), the local sheriff. A Puritan precept states, “Since in a bed a man and maid may bundle and be chaste, it does no good to burn our wood,” so it does not seem untoward for Prudence to invite Max to bundle with her. Jennings catches them and demands the local minister denounce the practice of bundling. He agrees, forcing Max and Prudence to wed. Max happily realizes he has enjoyed the American right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The only successful collaboration by Langner and Marshall, who was actually Mrs. Langner, the play served as the source for the musical ARMS AND THE GIRL (1950) with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields. Nanette Fabray and Georges Guetary played the lovers, but the show was stolen by Pearl Bailey as the ex‐slave Connecticut who sang “There Must Be Something Better Than Love” and “Nothin' for Nothin'.” The charming score was by Morton Gould (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics), and the Theatre Guild production ran in the 46th Street Theatre for 134 performances.