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out that Mary is suggesting she should return at eight o'clock, the
Comtesse leaves. Rodney enters. He is in love with Mary; she insists that he should seek his father's consent to their marriage. Sir Henry enters, in a bad temper, supposedly from an attack of gout. He asks Mary to leave, and when Rodney tells him of his desire to marry Mary he reacts with fierce hostility. He says that Mary is seeking to marry Rodney solely for his money, and to prove the point he announces that if they marry, Rodney will be disinherited. The young couple defy him. Rodney declares that he will set up in business. He goes upstairs to pack a bag before leaving his father's house. When he has gone it emerges that Sir Henry and Mary are in cahoots, seeking to drive the idle Rodney into earning a living for himself. Sir Henry and a business rival have bet a large sum on which of their sons will outshine the other in commerce. Mary assures Sir Henry that she is not in love with Rodney, and proposes to break off the engagement once he has got himself established in business.
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considerable cost to himself. He is completely certain that no amount of advertising could make such excessively overpriced soap sellable. He is then greatly nonplussed to discover that Lewis's are keen to obtain the remaining 45,000 bars, as the advertising campaign has created a huge demand. While he is considering the implications of this, the
Comtesse calls on him. She is seeking to swindle him by pretending to have been swindled by Rodney and extracting redress from his father, but Peale arrives and exposes her. Sir Henry decides that Rodney's much sought-after brand of soap is a commercial winner. He buys out the company, after much hard bargaining. Rodney reveals that he and Mary were married earlier in the day.
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enthusiasm for publicity gives Rodney his plan to make money. He will set up as a soap manufacturer in competition with his father, using Peale's skill as a publicist to market "the most expensive soap in the world". Sir Henry has never gone in for advertising to any extent, and is inclined to pooh-pooh it. The problem is that Rodney has no capital to fund the necessary factory. The
Comtesse returns. She addresses Rodney as if he were Sir Henry. Rodney's French is adequate for him to understand that she wishes to acquire the rights to sell his father's soap in France ("mon père's soap – not
275:
aback when the
Comtesse turns out to be a fraud. She had intended to swindle Sir Henry but decided that Rodney was an easier target. Without the expected money for the French rights, Rodney faces ruin. Sir Henry enters. Rodney maintains the pretence that his business is flourishing, and is backed by his father's main commercial rival. Sir Henry is provoked into offering to buy out Rodney's company, but Mary inadvertently reveals the true state of the enterprise. Sir Henry reacts with anger that she and Rodney have tried to deceive and swindle him. After he has left, an order arrives from
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A press agent, Ambrose Peal, is shown in. He once did Rodney an important favour, and now wants him to reciprocate. As a publicity stunt for a show, Peale wants Rodney to stage a mock abduction of the leading lady in his private aeroplane. Rodney refuses, feeling that it would upset Mary, but Peale's
274:
Rodney, abetted by Mary and Peale, has set up his company. He is not yet in a position to manufacture his soap, but is finding ever more ways of publicising his non-existent product. The firm's debts heavily outweigh its meagre assets. Rodney bamboozles one creditor into co-operation, but is taken
232:
Mary
Grayson, secretary to the soap magnate, Sir Henry Martin, is awaiting the arrival of his son, Rodney. While she waits, the Comtesse de Beaurien is shown in, wishing to see Sir Henry. As she does not speak English, and Mary speaks no French, communication is difficult. Eventually having worked
296:
Rodney's attempt to buy and re-sell soap from Sir Henry's factories has quickly come to his father's notice. After the first 5,000 bars, the supply was cut off, leaving Rodney in default on his lucrative contract. Sir Henry reveals to Rodney that he had underwritten the
Liverpool order, at
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had the knack of spotting the few good farces among the many bad ones that they must have had to read. "It is hopelessly silly in idea, and it is written with a complete knowledge of all standard tricks and requirements. And it is not offensive to taste. And it is extremely amusing."
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253:"). Instead he sells her the French rights to his new soap. He then borrows £2,000 from a business friend of his father's (the money is in fact Sir Henry's, secretly channelled via his friend).
309:, one critic commented, "George M. Cohan is very clever at picking winners." A similar thought was expressed when the revised edition of the play was premiered in London.
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46:. Described as "A Farcical Fact in Three Acts", the play depicts the idle son of a rich manufacturer setting up a spurious business in competition with his father.
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for 50,000 bars of the exclusive soap. As they have no soap to sell, the conspirators start ringing round Sir Henry's factories to acquire some immediately.
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65:. This opened on 2 February 1924 and closed on 10 July 1925, a total of 598 performances. It was the first of a sequence of twelve "
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and ran for nearly a year. The playwrights substantially rewrote the play for a new production in London by the actor-manager
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73:. By contrast with later plays in the series, in which Walls played worldly and sometimes shady characters, with
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385:. A novelised version of the play adapted by Samuel Field was published in New York in 1915.
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The play has not been professionally revived in London. In the US it was produced by the
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Walls's character is upright and conventional, and Lynn is the manipulative schemer.
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69:" presented at the theatre until 1933, mostly original farces written by
25:(centre) with Cecilia Gold and Will Deming in the 1924 London production
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When the piece opened in New York in its original version, at the
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Luddy, Thomas E. "Theatre Review: The Yale
Repertory Theatre",
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Megrue and
Hackett (1928), p. 3; and "New Play at the Aldwych,
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American
Theatre – A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914–1930
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in 2002. A New York production was given in May 2009 by the
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Four versions of the play have been made for the cinema: a
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The library at Sir Henry Martin's house in
Grosvenor Square
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wondered how it was that Walls and his business partner
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Levett, Karl. "Critic's Pick: It Pays to Advertise",
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It Pays to Advertise – A Farcical Fact in Three Acts
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It Pays to Advertise – A Farcical Fact in Three Acts
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106:Johnson, butler at the Martins' – George Schaeffer
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219:From the revised (London) version of the play.
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454:, 10 August 1962, p. 11; and "The Theatres",
124:Marie, maid at the Martins' – Cecile Bretonne
621:Megrue, Roi Cooper; Walter Hackett (1928).
608:(first ed.). New York: Samuel French.
604:Megrue, Roi Cooper; Walter Hackett (1917).
450:, 2 February 1924, p. 8; "Mr. Ralph Lynn",
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625:(second ed.). London: Samuel French.
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240:Mary, the Comtesse, Ambrose and Rodney
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546:, WorldCat, accessed 16 February 2013
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416:Megrue and Hackett (1928), pp. 5–96
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160:Comtesse de Beaurien – Cecilia Gold
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109:Comtesse de Beaurien – Louise Drew
53:stage on 8 September 1914, at the
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861:American plays adapted into films
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534:, IMdB, accessed 16 February 2013
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292:The library at Sir Henry's house
127:William Smith – Harry Driscole
585:Bordman, Gerald Martin (1995).
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522:IMdB, accessed 16 February 2013
510:IMdB, accessed 16 February 2013
428:Megrue and Hackett (1917), p. 3
202:George Bronson – Sydney Seaward
871:Fiction about publicity stunts
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49:It was first presented on the
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532:"It Pays to Advertise (1936)"
520:"It Pays to Advertise (1931)"
508:"It Pays to Advertise (1919)"
270:Rodney and sandwich-board men
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136:Ellery Clark – Kenneth Hills
133:Donald McChesney – W J Brady
7:
666:public domain audiobook at
589:. Oxford University Press.
557:New England Theatre Journal
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187:Miss Burke – Jessica Jarvis
175:Ambrose Peale – Will Deming
154:Mary Grayson – Doris Kendal
121:Ambrose Peale – Will Deming
77:as his naïve associate, in
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866:Plays by Walter C. Hackett
652:HathiTrust Digital Library
446:"New Play at the Aldwych,
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130:Miss Burke – Vivian Rogers
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485:, Volume 20, 1914, p. 159
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498:, 3 February 1924, p. 11
494:"It Pays to Advertise",
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324:Adaptations and revivals
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118:Cyrus Martin – John Cope
85:Roles and original casts
559:13 (2002), pp. 167–170.
471:, 2 February 1924, p. 8
375:; and the Swedish film
544:"It Pays to Advertise"
458:, 25 June 1925, p. 12
394:Metropolitan Playhouse
390:Yale Repertory Theatre
361:Criez-le sur les toits
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262:Rodney Martin's office
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157:Johnson – Martin Sands
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381:(1936), directed by
378:It Pays to Advertise
335:It Pays to Advertise
178:Marie – Alex Frizell
95:Broadway cast (1914)
79:It Pays to Advertise
31:It Pays to Advertise
344:silent film in 1919
190:George McChesney –
169:Sir Henry Martin –
358:; the French film
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149:London cast (1924)
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759:A Cup of Kindness
644:The full text of
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364: [
192:Sydney Lynn
71:Ben Travers
846:1924 plays
841:1914 plays
835:Categories
802:Dirty Work
596:0195090780
579:References
570:Back Stage
373:Karl Anton
371:(1932) by
165:Ralph Lynn
75:Ralph Lynn
23:Ralph Lynn
614:660348594
469:The Times
456:The Times
452:The Times
448:The Times
396:company.
301:Reception
281:Liverpool
279:store in
171:Tom Walls
61:, at the
59:Tom Walls
668:LibriVox
631:59733196
251:father's
215:Synopsis
51:Broadway
751:Plunder
287:Act III
277:Lewis's
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338:(1931)
257:Act II
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770:1930s
743:Thark
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400:Notes
368:]
247:Pears
223:Act I
36:farce
34:is a
627:OCLC
610:OCLC
591:ISBN
42:and
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249:',
38:by
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366:fr
350:;
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