[2] In the play, a playwright named Sandor Turai comes up with a plan to save the engagement between his nephew Albert and an actress named Ilona after Albert overhears a flirtatious conversation between Ilona and an obnoxious actor.
[3] Sandor Turai, who has been a playwright for thirty years, and Mansky, a fellow playwright and Turai's life-long collaborator, are spending a couple of weeks at a castle, along with Sandor's young nephew, composer Albert Adam.
To make this believable, Turai spent the previous two hours writing the play, which includes the overheard lines.
Turai insists the two actors must learn their lines and perform the play that night, to explain why they had to rehearse at 3 a.m. that morning.
Following Turai's directions, Ilona notifies Mr. Mell, who is running the concert, about the change, and claims the play they will be performing was written by Sardou.
[4] P. G. Wodehouse was commissioned by Gilbert Miller to adapt Ferenc Molnár's play in the summer of 1926.
[6] The play premiered at Henry Miller's Theatre, New York, on 3 November 1926, and ran for 313 performances.
[2] The play was produced at the Empire Theatre, New York, opening on 9 April 1928 and running for 24 performances.
The production moved to the Bijou Theater, New York, where it opened 7 May 1973 and ran for 23 performances and 14 previews.
Directed by Frank Dunlop, the play starred René Auberjonois and Carole Shelley.
It starred Leslie Randall, Elizabeth Estensen, Trevor Baxter, and Paul Imbusch.
The cast included Peter Frechette as Sandor Turai, J. Smith-Cameron as Ilona Szabo, Joe Grifasi as Mansky, Paul Benedict as Johann Dwornitschek, Jay Goede as Albert Adam, Keith Reddin as Mr. Mell, and Jeff Weiss as Almady.
In all three productions, László Marton was the director and Diego Matamoros starred as Sandor Turai.
[12] Wodehouse gave a possible nod to the play by naming a character "Princess Dwornitzchek" in his 1937 novel Summer Moonshine.