Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart

First published: 1930

First produced: 1930, at the Music Box Theatre, New York City

Type of plot: Comedy

Time of work: The late 1920’s

Locale: New York City and Hollywood

Principal Characters:

• Jerry Hyland,
• May Daniels, and
• George Lewis, vaudevillians who have fallen upon hard times
• Susan Walker, an aspiring actor
• Helen Hobart, a Hollywood gossip columnist
• Herman Glogauer, a studio executive

The Play

Once in a Lifetime opens in a rundown apartment in New York City in 1929, where George Lewis, whose passion is eating Indian nuts, is conversing with the witty May Daniels. Jerry Hyland, the third to enter, completes the team for their vaudeville act. The three have only $180 between them, and their prospects seem dim.

Jerry, an ambitious man in his early thirties, proclaims that the new “talkies” have made the theater extinct and that he has just sold their act for five hundred dollars. He has decided to take his chances in Hollywood, inspired by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). May, hiding her affection for Jerry, agrees to the move. She reasons that they could make their fortune by opening a school of elocution to teach silent stars the proper way of speaking. George, who appears to be more interested in his Indian nuts than in any of the action going on around him, is reluctant to commit himself to the move. Soon, however, he is persuaded of the possibilities in the land of “talkies.” The first scene ends with all three singing “California Here I Come!”

In act 1, scene 2, the setting is a Pullman car headed west. George eats his Indian nuts as May nervously looks through a book on elocution in order to be ready to teach it in Hollywood. She reads aloud to George, “We strongly urge the use of abdominal breathing as a fundamental principle in elocutionary training.” Irritated by his continual crunching, she asks whether “those things come without shells”; impatiently, she leaves the coach. In his first sign of affection for May, Jerry tells George that they must keep her spirits up.

Having seen Helen Hobart, a well-known gossip columnist from Hollywood, on another car, May returns to the coach. It seems that May and Hobart are old acquaintances. The travelers hatch a scheme to enlist Hobart’s support for their new school of elocution, taking advantage of the contacts and funds to which she has access. The threesome decide to impress her, going so far as to give George the fictitious title “Doctor.”

Hobart is easily convinced that such an enterprise would be worthwhile and offers financial support as a 50 percent owner of the school. She decides that it should be housed in the studios of Herman Glogauer. Since he passed up an opportunity to own the technique used in the making of “talkies,” the vitaphone, he would be a most likely help in this cause, if for no other reason than embarrassment. Hobart’s promise is made as the scene moves toward conclusion. Susan Walker then enters the car. It quickly becomes obvious that she and George are a perfect match—both naïve and blindly hopeful of success.

The main action of act 1, scene 3 is the closing of the deal to open the school of elocution at the Glogauer Studios. Hobart sets up a meeting with Glogauer at the Stilton Hotel. Susan and her mother are the first to arrive and are barraged by movie star look-alikes and those hopeful of being discovered. George, May, Jerry, and Hobart appear. The last to arrive is Glogauer with a police escort. He agrees after some discussion to take on the threesome to educate his actors to speak properly. Two of the stars from his studios, Phyllis Fontaine and Florabel Leigh, have terrible regional accents. As the scene comes to an end, viewers are introduced to Glogauer’s closest competition, the twelve Schlepkin brothers. George introduces Susan and asks her to recite “Boots,” by Rudyard Kipling, in order to impress Glogauer. She begins the recitation; simultaneously, the Schlepkin brothers make an offer for merging the two studios.

The second act takes place in the reception area of Glogauer’s Hollywood studios. It is a lavishly decorated room. Telephones ring, important-looking people rush in and out, and those of minor importance are doomed to wait at the leisure of the studio’s boss, Glogauer. Miss Leighton, the receptionist, is deftly handling the studio’s pages, who enter with signs announcing where Glogauer is. In the reception area, an underworked New York playwright, Lawrence Vail (a role initially played by Kaufman himself), is waiting in the hope of seeing Glogauer. Miss Leighton and the lot stars Phyllis and Florabel are boasting of the new elocution skills taught to them by May.

May enters and confidentially talks to Jerry, who she thinks is beginning to be swept up by the Hollywood scene too quickly and thoroughly. Jerry exits, pained by the suggestion, which has hit home. Helen Hobart enters looking for a story on lot star Dorothy Dodd but also informs May that Glogauer is very unhappy with the results of the school and is going to close it. She exits with a “Bon voyage!” To make matters worse for George, Susan is planning to return home to Columbus, upon the request of her father.

The plot twists quickly when Glogauer finds that his German-imported director, Kammerling, does not want to work with the actor he has been given, Dorothy Dodd, a known star. He refuses to do the picture unless a cast change is made. Glogauer agrees with him, but has no immediate suggestion as to whom to engage to replace Dodd. George quickly suggests that Susan would be perfect for the role of an innocent country girl.

When Glogauer scoffs at the suggestion, George, in a fit of insight, suggests that no one in the studio is competent, not even Glogauer himself, for he turned down the chance to be the first to use the vitaphone. Ashamed, and impressed with George’s forthright manner, Glogauer quickly agrees to use Susan. He then schemes to present Susan in New York City as a new discovery of his from England. He puts George in charge of the entire operation and accedes to George’s demand to rehire May and Jerry.

The last act is broken down into three fast-moving scenes that bring the action of the play to its climax while further emphasizing the power of the quick decision that is clearly the modus operandi of Hollywood. The first scene takes place on the set of Gingham and Orchids, George’s project, which stars Susan. It is the last day of shooting, and May is coaching Susan with her only line in a wedding scene: She must say “I do.” Glogauer is to visit the set, for he is amazed that the film has actually come in under the shooting schedule, something that has never occurred in the history of the studio.

At the ending, Glogauer becomes confused and realizes that George has filmed the wrong scenario. He is so furious at this waste of time and money that he again fires George, May, and Jerry; he tells Susan that the film will be the end of her career. Jerry tries to save his job by talking Glogauer out of his rash decision, but May seizes the opportunity to attack the studio executive with her sharp wit. As the scene ends and Glogauer exits, the three are served their notices.

Act 3, scene 2 takes place on the same Pullman car that brought the threesome to California. May is the only one of the three on the train. At the first stop, Vail climbs aboard, having left a sanatorium for underworked Hollywood playwrights. In this institution, as part of their cure scenario writers are allowed to stand in front of life-size reproductions of the executives of the studios to say whatever they like to them. The porter comes into the car with notices of Gingham and Orchids, and to May’s surprise the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Some of the remarks described the use of bonglike sound reminiscent of Eugene O’Neill’s tom-toms in The Emperor Jones (pr. 1920). That sound was actually George cracking his Indian nuts on the set during the filming. It seems that all George’s mistakes turn out to be innovations. A telegram is delivered to May from George, begging her to help him. She quickly changes her plans and decides to return to Hollywood.

The final scene of the play revolves around the reuniting of May with George and later with Jerry. There is a sense of closure; May and Jerry are together again, as are Susan and George. Just as all seems to be in harmony, Glogauer comes into the scene to fire them all for the third time. He has just been informed that George has bought two thousand airplanes so that he can get one free. In the nick of time, Glogauer receives a message that all the rival studios are clamoring to buy the airplanes from him: There is a new interest in making airplane pictures, but George has bought all the airplanes that were available. Again, Glogauer recants, perceiving George as a film genius. Miss Leighton then informs Glogauer that the studio is being torn down, on orders from George. When George explains that it is being torn down to build an even bigger studio, Glogauer exclaims, “Tell them to go ahead.”

Dramatic Devices

Once in a Lifetime relies on the audience’s empathy with the main characters, George, May, and Jerry. The play begins in a seedy New York City hotel, a setting that immediately suggests the characters’ hard luck and the unsettledness of their situation. The play’s two Pullman car scenes further help to express the idea of the great American frontier. Mobility and flexibility are essential if one is to pursue a better life.

The play’s structure is dependent on the comic technique of quick reversals. For example, when George berates Glogauer for incompetence, instead of being physically removed from the premises, he is given complete artistic control over a film. Later, when it is learned that he has bought two thousand airplanes in order to receive one free of charge, he is applauded rather than condemned, for Glogauer discovers that all the competing studios are interested in purchasing airplanes.

The character of Lawrence Vail, with his despair at being a playwright in Hollywood, as well as his trip to the sanatorium for writers, embodies the fear of many playwrights of the time that film would entirely displace live theater. The nature of theater as a critic of the forces of its demise helps to push the drama forward and creates many comic moments. Notably act 3, scene 1 takes place on a film set and so serves as a sort of play-within-the-play. In it, the actor Susan is being asked to memorize a line of dialogue, the lifeblood of drama, but she finds the chore difficult. However, the press eventually hails her as a fresh new talent.

Critical Context

Once in a Lifetime was the first commercial play written by Moss Hart. He is generally considered the creator of the play; it is thought that he later collaborated with George Kaufman so as to make it a commercial success. This venture was the first between Kaufman, by this time an established playwright, and Hart. Before their collaboration came to an end they had created such successes as Merrily We Roll Along (pr., pb. 1934), You Can’t Take It with You (pr. 1936), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (pr., pb. 1939). The fascination Kaufman felt with actors and backstage life is reflected in Once in a Lifetime. He used similar characters, people both mistrusted and adored by their public, in plays such as Merton of the Movies (pr. 1922, pb. 1925), Dinner at Eight (pr., pb. 1932), and Stage Door (pr., pb. 1936). Merton Gill, the prototype for George Lewis, is a naïve character who has boundless belief in his ability to succeed in the silent film industry. He reads all the glamour magazines, takes a correspondence course in acting, and refuses to believe in anything other than his possible success. In Stage Door the protagonists are actors who are seeking success in New York’s theater world. The main characters of Dinner at Eight are stars who have seen better days.

Kaufman and Hart’s characters are basically true-to-life people in outrageous situations. The best known of the two playwrights’ collaborations is You Can’t Take It with You, in which the American Dream is viewed through the Vanderhof family, an odd collection of individualists who pursue their respective hobbies passionately. The Vanderhofs symbolize the American value of individualism, which had already been reflected in the main characters of Once in a Lifetime.

The work of Kaufman is generally accepted as classic American comedy, and his work with Hart is viewed as some of his best. Their strength lay in their ability to draw character and to create situations that are simultaneously believable and outrageous. Kaufman’s success on Broadway was tremendous, and his collaborations with some of the best Broadway writers of the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s were a testament to his desire to create and explore new avenues of theatrical expression.

Sources for Further Study

Bach, Steven. Dazzle. Cambridge, England: DaCapo, 2000.

Goldstein, Malcolm. George S. Kaufman: His Life, His Theater. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Hart, Moss. Act One: An Autobiography. 3d ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

Mason, Jeffrey D. Wisecracks: The Farces of George S. Kaufman. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Research Press, 1988.

Meredith, Scott. George S. Kaufman and His Friends. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.

Pollack, Rhoda-Gale. George S. Kaufman. Boston: Twayne, 1988.

Teichmann, Howard. George S. Kaufman: An Intimate Portrait. New York: Atheneum, 1972.