The Late Christopher Bean is a comedy drama adapted from Prenez garde à la peinture by René Fauchois.
The family maid, Abby in Howard's version, becomes Gwenny, a Welsh woman of mature years, and the ingénue's young admirer Warren Creamer becomes the Scottish Bruce McRae in Williams's adaptation.
[1] A film version of the play, titled Christopher Bean starring Marie Dressler and Lionel Barrymore, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933.
[5] During the Second World War Edith Evans headed the cast in a revival under the auspices of ENSA which toured India entertaining the troops.
[7] The play depicts the effect on a respectable but not well-off family of the discovery that paintings bequeathed to them by a neglected artist are now highly regarded and very valuable.
The ensuing outbreak of avarice affects most of the household, but the family's maid, Abby/Gwenny, remains uncorrupted and virtue is finally triumphant.
He then receives a telegram that an "admirer of the late Christopher Bean" will visit him that day at noon, signed by an art critic from New York named Maxwell Davenport.
Putting it out of his mind, he is forced to cope with the petty quarrels of his family, including the desire of his older daughter Ada and Mrs Haggett for their traditional annual pilgrimage to Florida, a trip that seems unlikely thanks to their dwindling finances.
Outraged, Ada calls the rest of the family back in, evoking a tidal wave of fury from Mrs Haggett, who throws Warren out of the house.
Dr Haggett comes downstairs, and Tallant begins to explain that he has come to pay off the debt to the doctor left behind by his late friend, Chris Bean.
Realizing his need to fool Abby as well lest she blow his cover, Tallant quickly returns to the Haggett home in the hopes of having a private conversation with her.
Pretending to be sympathetic, Tallant gently coaxes her into revealing that she still possesses a life-size portrait of herself, painted by Chris and whose existence is unknown to the world at large.
Dr Haggett, finally realizing the meaning of the day's prior events, confesses that a third man simply took away the paintings of which he knew.
Dr Haggett's anger and stress are exacerbated by numerous phone calls from New York requesting that he sell the Beans that he has.
Susie explains to Davenport her plans to elope and asks his opinion of Warren's paintings, afraid that, if she marries him, they will run into financial trouble.
Dr Haggett agrees to join Tallant's scheme, but Rosen then arrives looking to purchase real Christopher Bean works.
Her strong protests make him feel ashamed, but when she now reveals that she had saved the paintings that Mrs Haggett thought she had burned, he demands that she show them to him.