The Man Who Came to Dinner

The Man Who Came to Dinner, comedy in five acts written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart that debuted on October 16, 1939 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City.

Plot Synopsis

The story of The Man Who Came to Dinner is set in a small town in Ohio in December. Famous and outlandish orator Sheridan Whiteside has been invited to dinner at the house of the well-off Stanley family. As he is leaving, he slips on a patch of ice outside the house and is injured. Dr. Bradley, the town physician, is sent for and his diagnosis comes back as a broken leg that will require several days of rest. The Stanleys, intimidated by Whiteside's threats of legal prosecution, offer their living room up as a place for Mr. Whiteside to park his wheelchair.

Related Topics:
Ohio - December - Physician

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As Whiteside moves in, his secretary, Miss Maggie Cutler, falls in love with the local newspaper editor, Bert Jefferson, who had dropped by to interview Whiteside and to show off his own play idea to the Broadway mogul. Whiteside becomes insanely jealous over this, and plots to break it up. Meanwhile, the doctor returns with the news that he had misread Whiteside's X-Ray, and that he was in fact perfectly fine! Whiteside, attached to his scheme to separate Maggie and Bert, bribes the doctor to hide the "good" news by promising to publish his novel, Forty Years an Ohio Doctor.

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Whiteside sends for his old friend, actress Lorraine Sheldon, luring her to the sleepy town with the promise of a new play opportunity. The new play, of course, is the one that Bert had introduced earlier! Sheldon shows up and goes off with Bert, aggravating Maggie, who suspects Whiteside the whole time. Maggie threatens to quit, and Whiteside backs off, somehow tricking Lorraine into a mummy case and having it shipped out. With the assistance of his eccentric friend Banjo, who has shown up for Christmas, he helps patch up Maggie and Bert's relationship. The play ends with Whiteside walking out on his own power--and slipping once again!

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