Laffing Room Only

A fast-paced, easy-to-produce, madcap comedy that kept its premiere audience weak with laughter and has been doing the same across the country ever since. Gloria Alexander is about to lose dilapidated Whispering Pines for back-taxes. She'd gladly sell the place, but there are no takers. Enter two state officials, with plans to make the hotel a base for a sting operation. They give out the word that the hotel will accept stolen goods, hoping to catch a number of petty criminals operating in the area. Soon the lobby is populated by a parade of cheerful weirdos like ultra-cool Rondo Muldoon, Irma the bag lady, jewel thieves, a bewildered society leader and frantic young lovers. They're all fairly normal compared to the clever handyman, Putney, who dreams of being a recluse. One hilarious complication collides with another up to the climax when each visitor turns out to have an unsuspected, rib-tickling reason for being at the hotel.