Child of Manhattan (play)

Child of Manhattan
Child of Manhattan
Written by	Preston Sturges
Characters	Madeleine McGonegal; Otto Paul Vanderkill; Panama C. Kelly; others
Date premiered	March 1, 1932
Place premiered	Fulton Theatre (Broadway); New York City, United States
Original language	English
Genre	Romantic comedy
Setting	Loveland Dance Hall, Madeleine's home, and a Penthouse

Child of Manhattan is a 1932 play by Preston Sturges, his fifth to be produced on Broadway and his last for almost twenty years as his career took him to Hollywood.^[1] It was adapted into a film of the same name, released in 1933 by Columbia Pictures, the second play of Sturges' to make it to the silver screen, after 1929's Strictly Dishonorable.

Broadway production

Sturges wrote Child of Manhattan in 16 days. The out-of-town tryout took place at the Broadstreet Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, where the play received very good audience response.^[2]

The Broadway production opened at the Fulton Theatre on March 1, 1932, and logged 87 performances, closing in May of that year.^[3] It was produced by Peggy Fears and A. C. Blumenthal and directed by Howard Lindsay.

Critical response was poor, and included such assessments as "Sheer trash," "deeply offensive," and commented on its "bathos and sweetish bosh." Time magazine said that the play was "as silly as it is trite."^[2]