Polly with a Past (play)

Polly with a Past is a play by George Middleton and Guy Bolton. A comedy in three acts, it depicts the efforts of two young men to help a shy friend, Rex, win the attention of the aloof woman he loves; they arrange for their young housekeeper, Polly, to pose as a glamorous French rival for Rex's affections, but this leads to romantic complications.

The play opened on Broadway in 1917 with a cast headed by Ina Claire as Polly, Herbert Yost as Rex, and Winifred Fraser, H. Reeves-Smith, Thomas Reynolds and Cyril Scott in other roles. It ran for nearly a year at the Belasco Theatre. The piece was presented in London in 1921 starring Edna Best and Donald Calthrop, with a supporting cast including Noël Coward, Edith Evans, Henry Kendall, Claude Rains and C. Aubrey Smith, running for three months. It was adapted for film in 1920 and a musical version played on Broadway in 1929.