Mr. Pim Passes By
The play centres on the turbulence in a respectable English household when the fallible memory of an elderly visitor leads a husband and wife to believe that they may inadvertently be bigamously married.
While Olivia is optimistic about their future, George is heavily set against it, citing Brian's young, slow career as a "futuristic" artist as evidence that he and Dinah will be unable to support each other.
George stumbles and struggles to find answers for her questions while still justifying his decision regarding Brian and Dinah, while also becoming more and more impatient and uncomfortable with the black-and-orange curtains Olivia is sewing and planning to hang up.
Olivia reminds George of the first man she fell in love with, and how her father had arranged for her to marry someone else, which resulted in a miserable marriage until her husband died.
While talking to George and Olivia, Mr Pim tells them that he had just returned from a trip to Australia, and while on his way back, he had seen a man whom he had thought dead.
George then laments over having married Olivia while she was still another's wife, and expresses his desire to get their marriage annulled for the sake of the law and their publicity.
[4] Olivia and George marvel over this new revelation, while Mr Pim regrets having delivered shocking news to the same family twice in one day.
George hastily shows a still apologetic Mr Pim out, after which he expresses his relief and joy over Olivia's first husband still having died.
Olivia puts a damper on the celebration when she reminds George that she was still technically married to her first husband up until a few days ago, when he was said to have perished by Mr Pim.
George, however, has changed his attitude of anxiousness to one of optimism, remarking to Olivia that they can just remarry quietly at the registry office in London the following day.
It is evident that he wishes to take Olivia to London to be married again from his suggesting that they buy new carpet and furnishings to match the curtains.
Erskine Sanford played Mr Pim, Dudley Digges George and Laura Hope Crews Olivia.
[6] The Australian premiere was given in July 1921 by a touring company headed by Marie Tempest and W. Graham Brown as Olivia and George, with Ashton Jarry in the title role.
[7] In London, the play was revived at the Globe Theatre for a limited season in 1922; C. Aubrey Smith replaced Webster as George; Vanbrugh and Boucicault reprised their roles from the premiere.
[9] A 1928 London revival at the St Martin's Theatre starred Tempest and Brown, with Horace Hodges as Mr Pim.
[10] A 1968 revival at the Hampstead Theatre starred Thorley Walters as Mr Pim, Alan Barry as George and Adrienne Corri as Olivia.
The BBC's only television adaptation (1952) was broadcast twice, in live performances, with Arthur Wontner in the title role and Mary Ellis and D. A. Clarke-Smith as Olivia and George.
[12] A silent film adaptation was made in 1921, with Peggy Hyland, Hubert Harben and Campbell Gullan in the lead roles.
