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Mr Smart Guy

Mr Smart Guy is a 1941 Australian play by Alec Coppel that was later filmed as Smart Alec (1951).

Mr Smart Guy
Daily Telegraph 4 May 1941
Written byAlec Coppel
Date premiered10 May 1941
Place premieredMinerva Theatre, Sydney
Original languageEnglish
Subjectmurder
Genrethriller

Coppel wrote the play in England at the beginning of the war.[1] They play had originally been called North Light.[2] Coppel then had it produced when he went to Australia.

He called it a sequel to his earlier I Killed the Count.[3]

Plot

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Rex Albion wishes to take possession of a particular flat which is opposite that of his rich uncle. He moves in and invites the chief commissioner of police, Sir Randolph Towe, over for tea.

While this happens, the uncle is shot dead while sitting on the balcony... but no bullet is found.[4]

World premiere

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ABC Weekly 31 May 1941

The play had its world premiere in Sydney in 1941. It was the first presentation from Whitehall Productions, a new theatrical company established by Coppel and Kathleen Robinson.[5][6] The profits from the season went to the Red Cross.[7]

Original cast

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  • Nigel Lovell as Rex Albion[8]
  • Harvey Adams as Detective Inspector Ashley
  • Catherine Duncan as Judith Dyer
  • Charles Zoli as Cossage, the porter
  • Richard Parry as Sir Randolph Towle, chief commissioner of police
  • Leslie Victor as the family lawyer Mr Gruppy
  • Grant McIntyre as Walter
  • Charles McCallum as Mr. Justice Abercorn
  • Frederick McMahon as Detective Farr
  • John MacDougall as Richards
  • Phil Smith as Mr Hymie

William Constable did the design.[9]

Reception

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ABC Weekly 31 May 1941

The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer said those who found I Killed the Count "such a soundly-constructed and Ingenious murder mystery will find much to entertain them in his latest offering, despite its weakness and its lack of sustained interest... The first act drags, and the second loses its necessary punch and development of tension because its course of drama is too often impeded by comic interference."[10]

The Daily Telegraph called it "delightful entertainment."[11]

The Bulletin called it "well cast and acted... a fairly good" detective mystery although "What mars it is the padding in the second act and the third act’s revelation of both a trick killing and a whacking coincidence : a bit too thick, so that the play as a whole becomes a bit too thin. Without any pretences to originality—a comic porter ; the old school tie ; clashes between the bull-roaring detective-inspector and the footling police commissioner ; the comic foreigner appearing as the comic refugee—the byplay that makes the bulk of the play is cheerfully done and gets its full quota of laughs. The murder situation is original."[12]

The play was a popular success.[13]

The play was revived at the Minerva in August 1941 for a three-week run with Ron Randell in the lead role and Muriel Steinbeck in the lone female part.[14]

The Sydney Morning Herald theatre critic said Randell "failed to explore the subtle aspects of the playwright's study of a criminal exhibitionist."[15]

Radio adaptation

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The play was performed on radio on the ABC in May 1941.[16][3]

Max Afford did the adaptation and the original cast reprised their roles.[17]

The play was performed on radio in Australia again in 1945.[18]

The play also inspired a song by Sefton Daly which was recorded by Coppel's then-fiancée Myra.[19]

English production: Strange as It May Seem

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The play was produced in England in 1947 under the title Strange as it May Seem.[20][21]

The Derby Evening Telegraph called it "an excellent play".[22]

Radio production

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The play was adapted for Australian radio under this title in 1949.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "In the Theatres". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 May 1941. p. 22. Retrieved 4 September 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "MORE STAGE PLAYS". The Age. No. 26, 852. Victoria, Australia. 10 May 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b "Mr Smart Guy on the air", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 36 (21), Sydney: Wireless Press, May 24, 1941, retrieved 1 November 2023 – via Trove
  4. ^ "MR SMART GUY". Truth. No. 2679. Sydney. 11 May 1941. p. 32. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ ""MR. SMART GUY."". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 May 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 4 September 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Living Up To The "Boom"". The Age. No. 26, 858. Victoria. 17 May 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "BACK-STAGE". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. VI, no. 41. Sydney. 9 May 1941. p. 16. Retrieved 26 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "MR. SMART GUY". The Age. No. 26846. Victoria. 3 May 1941. p. 20. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "PERMANENT DESIGNERS FOR THEATRE COMPANY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 247. 6 May 1941. p. 10 (Women's Supplement). Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "MR. SMART GUY". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 252. 12 May 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Smart guy well done". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. II, no. 26. New South Wales, Australia. 11 May 1941. p. 5. Retrieved 26 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Sundry Shows", The Bulletin, 62 (3196), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 14 May 1941, retrieved 1 November 2023 – via Trove
  13. ^ "IN THE THEATRES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 267. 29 May 1941. p. 18. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "MUSIC AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 335. 16 August 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ ""MR SMART GUY" AT MINERVA". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 340. 22 August 1941. p. 7. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "BROADCASTING". The Argus. Melbourne. 31 May 1941. p. 2. Retrieved 4 September 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Music AND DRAMA". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 269. 31 May 1941. p. 8. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS What's on This Week", ABC Weekly, 7 (42), Sydney, 20 October 1945, retrieved 1 November 2023 – via Trove
  19. ^ "IN THE THEATRES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 279. 12 June 1941. p. 18. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "Coppel's Success". The Sun. No. 11, 491 (LATE FINAL EXTRA ed.). Sydney. 21 November 1946. p. 9. Retrieved 22 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ "Sydney's Talking About—". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 January 1947. p. 14. Retrieved 4 September 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ "new Murder play is excellent". Derby Evening Telegraph. 26 November 1946. p. 2.
  23. ^ "The Week In Wireless". The Age. No. 29308. Victoria, Australia. 2 April 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 27 April 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
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