He decides to invest in a musical comedy, The Garter Girl, starring Lilac Delaney, which he thinks will be a failure.

Zip is based on the 1902 novel Brewster's Millions by G. B. McCutcheon and a 1906 play adaptation of the same novel by Winchell Smith and Byron Ongly.

To build upon the fact that Zip is set in the United States, Littler cast two American performers: Warde Donovan as Buddy and Barbara Perry as Lilac.

[1] The production nearly did not open, as Perry had not "paid her 'Equity premium for foreign performers' (she belonged to the Variety Artistes' Federation, which she felt was sufficient) and all the actors were called out on strike by Equity."

[3] Zip then opened in the West End at the Palace Theatre, London, on 20 October 1951, where it was heralded as "a first-rate musical and a sturdy rival for any importation from across the sea.

[6] British comedian Roy Barbour starred as Percy, alongside Nina Cooke as Sally, Tony Fontane as Buddy, Kerry Vaughn as Paula Van Norden, and Margaret Brown as Lilac.

[7] Beginning in April 2001, the Theatre Museum in London staged a revival of Zip, playing for a limited run until May 2001.