The Late Christopher Bean

The Late Christopher Bean is a comedy drama adapted from Prenez garde à la peinture by René Fauchois. It exists in two versions: an American adaptation by Sidney Howard (1932) and an English version by Emlyn Williams (1933). Williams's is an anglicisation of Howard's, with the action moved from near Boston to the English countryside. The events are unchanged, although two characters are renamed. The family maid, Abby in Howard's version, becomes Gwenny, a Welsh woman of mature years, and the 's young admirer Warren Creamer becomes the Scottish Bruce McRae in Williams's adaptation.

Howard's version was first published in 1932 under the title Muse of All Work. It was first performed at the Ford's Opera House in Baltimore on October 24, 1932. It opened a week later on Halloween at the Henry Miller's Theatre in New York. It was produced by Gilbert Miller. After the initial run it was neglected and was not revived in New York until 2009 by TACT/The Actors Company Theatre. A film version of the play, titled Christopher Bean starring Marie Dressler and Lionel Barrymore, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933.

Williams's version opened at the St James's Theatre, London on May 16, 1933; it ran for 488 performances. Like the American production, it was produced by Gilbert Miller. The play was revived at the Victoria Palace in 1936. During the Second World War Edith Evans headed the cast in a revival under the auspices of ENSA which toured India entertaining the troops. There was a London revival at the Embassy Theatre in 1951.

The play depicts the effect on a respectable but not well-off family of the discovery that paintings bequeathed to them by a neglected artist are now highly regarded and very valuable. The ensuing outbreak of avarice affects most of the household, but the family's maid, Abby/Gwenny, remains uncorrupted and virtue is finally triumphant.

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