Room Service (play)

Poster for the Federal Theatre Project production of Room Service in San Francisco (1938)

Room Service is a farce written by Allen Boretz and John Murray. It was originally produced by George Abbott and debuted at the Cort Theatre in New York City on May 19, 1937. Its initial production ran for 500 performances, closing on July 16, 1938.[1] The play, starring Jack Lemmon in the role of Leo Davis, was revived on Broadway for a short run of 16 performances in 1953.

RKO Pictures purchased the film rights for a then-record $225,000 and used it as the basis for the Marx Brothers film of the same title.[2] In 1944 RKO released a further film adaptation, a musical entitled Step Lively starring Frank Sinatra.

The 1937 original Broadway production starred Sam Levene as Gordon Miller, Eddie Albert as Leo Davis and Phillip Loeb as Harry Binion.[3]

  1. ^ "Room Service" (1937) at the Internet Broadway Database
  2. ^ Mitchell, Glenn (2003). The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia. London: Reynolds & Hearn. pp. 247–248. ISBN 1-905287-11-9.
  3. ^ "Room Service" (1953) at the Internet Broadway Database