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Abie's Irish Rose

Abie's Irish Rose
Abiesirish.jpg
Both the Broadway play and the radio series were highlighted in this poster for the 1946 film.
Written by Anne Nichols
Date premiered May 23, 1922
Place premiered Fulton Theatre
New York City
Original language English
Genre Comedy
Setting New York

Abie's Irish Rose is a popular comedy by Anne Nichols familiar from stage productions, films and radio programs. The basic premise involves an Irish Catholic girl and a young Jewish man who marry despite the objections of their families.

Although initially receiving poor reviews, the Broadway play was a commercial hit, running for 2,327 performances between May 23, 1922 and October 1, 1927, at the time the longest run in Broadway theater history, surpassing the record 1291 performances set by the Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon 1918 play, Lightnin'. The show's touring company had a similarly long run and held the record for longest running touring company for nearly 40 years until the record was broken by Hello, Dolly! in the 1960s. The touring company's male lead was played by a young George Brent, the future Hollywood actor's first major role, and the female lead was played by Peggy Parry.

The play has been filmed twice—in 1928 with Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Nancy Carroll, directed by Victor Fleming, and in 1946 with Richard Norris and Joanne Dru, directed by A. Edward Sutherland. The 1946 version was produced by Bing Crosby, who was himself a devout Catholic.

It inspired the weekly NBC radio series, Abie's Irish Rose, which replaced Knickerbocker Playhouse and ran from January 24, 1942 through September 2, 1944. Nichols wrote the scripts. Axel Gruenbert and Joe Rines directed the cast that starred Richard Bond, Sydney Smith, Richard Coogan and Clayton "Bud" Collyer as Abie Levy. Betty Winkler, Mercedes McCambridge, Julie Stevens, Bernard Gorcey, and Marion Shockley portrayed Rosemary Levy. Solomon Levy was played by Alfred White, Charlie Cantor and Alan Reed.


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