| screenwriter | tv writer | playwright | songwriter |
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Synopsis
On March 29, 1933, as part of a round-the-world tour he took with his wife, playwright and social reformer George Bernard Shaw visited Hollywood for the first and only time in his life. For the Shaws, Hollywood was a three-hour whirlwind which included a luncheon on the MGM lot with Clark Gable, Louis B. Mayer and William Randolph. The hostess was Marion Davies, Hearst’s young mistress who was a prominent film actress and producer. With reporters following Shaw's every step, the events of that day were well documented, and they are re-created in Mark Saltzman’s comedy Mr Shaw Goes to Hollywood. |
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The Shaws’ day started off absurdly enough. Flying in Hearst’s private plane, an aviation mishap caused an emergency landing on Malibu Beach. Hitch-hiking along the coast highway, the Shaws accepted a ride with a UCLA sophomore -- Shaw in the rumble seat. Meanwhile, at MGM, Marion Davies is determined to star in a film of Shaw’s hit play Pygmalion and will stop at nothing to weasel the rights from the playwright. Unknown to Davies, studio head LB Mayer has plans to make that very movie with Marion's rival, Norma Shearer as Eliza Doolittle. But Marion is fortunate that Mr Mayer’s attention is elsewhere, on the scandal surrounding his biggest male star, Clark Gable, whose secret affair with an MGM star is about to become public knowledge All this is seen through the eyes of our guide, Charlotte Shaw, a sensible, intellectual and socially aware woman, who finds herself an Alice in this strange Wonderland of scheming, greed and glamour.
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Chicago Production, January 2014, Greenhouse Theater CHICAGO THEATER REVIEW |
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Laguna Playhouse – World Premier, 2003 LA TIMES - Don Shirley |
George Bernard Shaw dines at MGM, March 29, 1933
Left to right: Bernard Shaw, Marion Davies, Louis B. Mayer, Clark Gable