A parody of the silent film era when directors made quickie one-reelers overnight, it focuses on Maggie Harris, a musical comedy star retiring from show business in order to marry into high society, until producer-director Max Grady arrives to remind her she has a contract to star in his film Frontier Woman.

Following tryouts in Boston and Philadelphia,[1] the Broadway production, directed by Walter Kerr and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, opened on October 11, 1958, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and closed on February 28, 1959, after 161 performances.

The cast included Elaine Stritch (as Maggie), Don Ameche (as Max Grady), Russell Nype (as George Randolph Brown), Margaret Hamilton (as Bessie), Pat Stanley (as Lois Lee), and Patricia Birch (dancer).

[4][5] 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco, California presented the show in staged concert in 2001.

Jean Kerr later recounted the trials and tribulations of creating a new musical in her books Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The Snake Has All the Lines, and Penny Candy.