A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

James Skipworth and the Catfish Colonel

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  1w, 2m

A playwright has vowed to shoot himself unless someone agrees to option his play immediately. He appears at the office of producer Helen Osborne, an attractive and highly theatrical woman who is the reigning queen on a long running soap opera. Anxious to be off to an important meeting at Sardi's, th…

James Skipworth and the Catfish Colonel

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for all audiences

Details

Summary
A playwright has vowed to shoot himself unless someone agrees to option his play immediately. He appears at the office of producer Helen Osborne, an attractive and highly theatrical woman who is the reigning queen on a long running soap opera. Anxious to be off to an important meeting at Sardi's, the producer doesn't take the increasingly anxious writer seriously until he nails her door shut. Helen uses all of her feminine wiles to escape as the action escalates into a zany free for all in which writer ties producer to a chair and, with the help of an actor friend in the hall outside, reads the play to her with side splitting results. The producer finally turns the tables on the hapless writer as the action explodes into a fast paced farce uniting all three in an hilarious and madcap finale. .
  • Time Period 1960s
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features Physical Comedy
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

Victor Gluck, writing in Backstage in 1985, noted: "Cy Young's play, 'James Skipworth', opened last night at the Riverwest Theater in lower Manhattan.  The dimunitive Young appeared in the title role which began with an act of frustration and quicky jettisoned into a full-throtle race to a wild and side-splitting finish.  Although reading more like his first play than his second, (Gluck reviewed "Jump, I'll Catch You!", Young's romantic comedy, the previous year), 'Skipworth' was carefully plotted and nuanced to bring out the maximum humor of the urgent situation Young carefully sketched out."

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Cy Young

CY YOUNG Mr. Young began his professional career as a member of the Meryl Abbot Dancers at the Empire Room of Chicago's Palmer House. After a year on the road dancing the “Steam Heat” number in Pajama Game, he repeated the performance in the New York City Center production ...
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