Marry the Girl is a farce by George Arthurs and Arthur Miller. It was one of the series of Aldwych farces that ran at the Aldwych Theatre in London nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. The play centres on a breach of promise case brought before a British court of justice.
The piece opened on 24 November 1930 and ran until 16 May 1931, a total of 195 performances. The actor-manager Tom Walls, who presented the farces and co-starred in most of them, gathered a regular company of players for the series. All the chief members of the company took part in Marry the Girl. A film adaptation of the play was made in 1935 under the same title.
Background
Marry the Girl was the eighth of the twelve Aldwych farces, and only the second not written by Ben Travers. The first four in the series, It Pays to Advertise, A Cuckoo in the Nest, Rookery Nook and Thark had long runs, averaging more than 400 performances each. The next three were less outstandingly successful, with progressively shorter runs: Plunder (1928) ran for 344 performances, A Cup of Kindness (1929) for 291, and A Night Like This (1930), 267.
Like its predecessors, the play was directed by Tom Walls, who co-starred with Ralph Lynn, a specialist in playing "silly ass" characters. The regular company of supporting actors included Robertson Hare, who played a figure of harassed respectability; Mary Brough in eccentric old lady roles; Ethel Coleridge as the severe voice of authority; Winifred Shotter as the sprightly young female lead; and the saturnine Gordon James.
Original cast
Banks – George Barrett
Jane Elliott – Doreen Bendix
Mrs Elliott – Ethel Coleridge
Walford Gibbs – Ralph Lynn
Mrs Chattaway – Mary Brough
Cyril Chattaway – Denis O'Neil
Hugh Delafield – Tom Walls
Doris Chattaway – Winifred Shotter
Sergeant Burrows – Philip Carlton
Sir Anthony Plumstead – Gordon James
Mr Justice Sparrowhawk – Robertson Hare
Mervyn Parkes – Archibald Batty
Synopsis
Act I – Wally Gibbs's rooms in Staple Inn. Afternoon
Wally hopes to marry Jane Elliott. He seeks Mrs Elliott's approval, which she gives, though shrewdly assessing his playboy character. When Wally is alone, Mrs Chattaway is shown in. She accuses him of playing fast and loose with the affections of her daughter Doris. He admits that they have been on romantic terms, but denies that he ever asked Doris to marry him. Mrs Chattaway departs, threatening him with an action for breach of promise. Wally's best friend, Hugh, arrives. He is a barrister, but not a prosperous one, preferring to go to the races than appear in court. Unlike the equally idle Wally he has no private income. He too loves Jane, but magnanimously congratulates his friend on being the victor in the contest for her love.
Wally tells Hugh about Mrs Chattaway's threats. The solution, he feels, is for Hugh to charm Doris and lure her affections away from Wally. He emphasises that Doris is a very attractive and genuinely nice young woman. Hugh reluctantly agrees. They spin Doris a yarn that he is desolate after a broken engagement and in need of consolation. He borrows Wally's car to take her for a drive in the country.
Act II – The same, the next morning
Mrs Chattaway intrudes again, accompanied by her son. Doris has not been home overnight, and they accuse of Wally of abducting her. He allows them to search his rooms, and they depart, threatening to call in the police. Hugh and Doris enter. While they were having dinner in a country pub Wally's car was stolen. It was too late to come back to London by train, and they took a room each at the pub. Wally is greatly agitated, expressing concern for Doris's reputation. It is clear that she will suffer at the hands of her bullying mother if it emerges that she has been out overnight with a man she has just met. Mrs Chattaway returns; they try to bluff things out, but a police inspector arrives to report the finding of Wally's car. He hands over a vanity bag found in the vehicle, which Mrs Chattaway recognises as Doris's. She assumes it was Wally, not Hugh, who took Doris for a ride. Jane enters, encounters Doris, and leaps to the same conclusion as Mrs Chattaway. She breaks off the engagement and leaves.
Hugh's brother-in-law, a prosperous solicitor to whom he owes money, arrives in search of him. He insists that Hugh should accept a lucrative brief to appear for the plaintiff in a breach of promise case. Hugh looks at the brief and announces in dismay that the plaintiff's name is Doris Chattaway.