Anniversary Waltz (play)

Leads • Bud Walters is a volatile husband and father, fond of his wife but not his in-laws, who loathes television. • Alice Walters is Bud's wife, who manages the family finances, and tries to walk the tightrope between her husband, parents, and kids. Supporting • Mrs. Gans: is Alice's mother, prim in outlook, and inclined to let people know their faults. • Mr. Gans, is Alice's father, a generous soul who is amazed at how the world keeps changing. • Okkie Walters, is Bud and Alice's 14-year-old son, easygoing, a would-be charmer, who teases his younger sister. • Debbie Walters is Bud and Alice's 13-year-old daughter, alert to adult hypocrisy, quite frank in speech, and prone to worry. • Millie is the Walters' maid, "part clown and part philosopher", prone to eavesdropping. • Chris Steelman is an older bachelor, Bud's business partner, a bit of a womanizer. • Janice Revere is a much-married woman, maudlin and mercenary, who admires Alice's marital longevity. Featured • Harry is an installer for Johnson TV Service, who delivers the TV sets gifted by Mr. Gans and Chris. • Sam is Harry's helper. • Handyman replaces a bedroom door twice broken by Bud during arguments with Alice. Voice only • Moderator of television program Juvenile Jury, heard but not seen. • Various voices for commercials heard on the television. ==Synopsis==

The Walters are celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary. Alice's parents are due for an evening get together, so she supervises Okkie and Debbie's choice of attire and Millie's preparation for the gathering. Harry and Sam deliver and install a TV set, a gift from Mr. Gans. Knowing Bud's violent dislike of television, everyone is a bit apprehensive. Bud arrives home with his business partner Chris Steelman, and Janice Revere, a new friend of Chris. All three are a bit merry with drink. Janice, who has married well and often, admires Alice's ability to pick a good partner on the first try. Chris and Janice leave, while Bud notices the TV and explodes. Alice calms him, asking his indulgence for that evening. He relents, just as Alice's parents arrive. Mrs. Gans is shocked when Debbie uses the word "prostitute" in response to Mr. Gans telling her what a "vamp" was. As the evening progresses, Bud, warmed with affection for Alice and primed with champagne, carelessly lets slip that he and Alice had premarital relations. The kids and Millie overhear the admission, and the resulting outrage from the grandparents. As Bud justifies it to his in-laws, they grow huffy and storm out of the apartment. Bud angrily kicks the TV, wrecking it. Alice is distraught over Bud's slip and the resulting fight with her parents. She locks herself into the bedroom. Bud then breaks the door and lock trying to enter. The next morning a handyman brings in a new door and lock for the bedroom. Bud and Alice reconcile, but Alice says Debbie asked if they were going to get divorced. Later, Janice shows up at the Walters apartment alone, to talk with Alice, who has gone out. Millie reluctantly admits her, and Janice sees the handyman repairing the door. Alice returns, and Janice is enlightened that even good marriages have their storms. Harry and Sam return to the apartment with another new TV, this one a gift from Chris. Okkie persuades Bud to watch a little television while they are relaxing. Bud likes the commercials, but then a program called Juvenile Jury comes on the set. They are all stunned to see Debbie on the program as a guest. She tells the moderator that her parents had a quarrel, they resent her trying to help heal the breach, and she's worried they may get divorced. Bud and Okkie are in an uproar. As a punctuation to the brouhaha, Bud kicks in the second TV set. As Millie sweeps up shattered remains, Debbie returns home to an ominous welcome from her father. Debbie is contrite, realizing she has gone too far. Alice whisks Debbie away while Bud fumes alone, until Chris shows up. Seeing the broken TV, he and Bud begin to quarrel. Bud finally leaves the apartment, with Chris following, trying to calm him down. Four days later, Alice and the kids breakfast alone; Bud has stayed away. Okkie assures Alice that Bud is simply cooling off. Chris arrives at the apartment to intervene for Bud, who is waiting outside the apartment. Bud apologizes for staying away, and asks forgiveness, but he had to get his head straight. Alice forgives him and further informs him she's expecting. They embrace and play ends. ==Original production==

Background The first public word of this production came when the producers put out a casting call for thirteen years old actresses. Despite the producer being her brother-in-law, the director her husband, and one of the writers (Fields) her husband's best friend, Kitty Carlisle auditioned along with other actresses at the Coronet Theater in December 1953, and had to wait two weeks before being told she had the part. MacDonald Carey, the male lead, was signed in late December 1953, weeks before Carlisle. Rehearsals began February 8, 1954 under Hart's direction; the setting was designed and lit by Frederick Fox, while costumes were by Robert Mackintosh. Cast Save for one featured role eliminated during a rewrite in Boston, the cast remained the same throughout all three tryout cities and the Broadway premiere. However, as the Broadway run lengthened, replacements began to occur, as shown below. Tryouts Anniversary Waltz had its first tryout at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut on March 3, 1954. Reviewer Cyrus Durgin sounded a doubtful note about what sort of play it was, "something between farce, drama, and animated comic strip". So the production went to Philadelphia next, opening at the Locust Theatre on March 23, 1954, as part of the Theatre Guild local subscription series. Reviewer Henry T. Murdock pointed out that the character of Bud Walters "wasn't really a very funny fellow at all, and that his antics were humorous only by the most tolerant definition of the term." Reception Critical opinion was cool to the play. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times was severe in his criticism of the writers, but gave a pass to the staging: "Taking the material as offered, Moss Hart has directed a suitable performance-- swift, taut and noisy". Like Atkinson, Schaeffer commended the directing and setting, but called Jean Carson and Andrew Duggan routine and claimed juvenile actor Mary Lee Dearring overacted. they are doing it a favor. Change of venue The production moved to the Booth Theatre, one block away from the Broadhurst, on December 6, 1954. Later in the month columnist Danton Walker reported that Anniversary Waltz had paid off its entire original investment and was up $45,000. Closing The original Broadway run closed on September 24, 1955, at the Booth Theatre after 615 performances. For the final three performances, the producers replaced some of the actors with their national tour counterparts, both for experience and to give them the cachet of a Broadway credit. ==National tour==

Joseph M. Hyman and Bernard Hart exercised their option to produce the road company, which would start in Cincinnati at the Shubert Theatre on September 26, 1955. Howard Smith was the only major actor from the Broadway run to commit to the tour. The tour also marked the performing debut of thirteen year-old Carol Lynley. Cast ==Adaptions==

Film Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields converted their stage play into a screenplay. The character names of Bud and Chris were switched around when David Niven was signed for the lead. The film was hampered by the then Motion Picture Production Code that emasculated many stage to film transfers. ==Notes==