Strictly dishonorable

   Much of Preston Sturgess reputation is based on his motion picture directing and screenplays, but he also wrote several plays. Strictly Dishonorable was his only success, a three-act comedy produced by Brock Pemberton on 18 September 1929 for 557 performances at the Avon Theatre. A young Southern woman, Isabelle Parry, is abandoned at a New York speakeasy by her date, Henry Greene. She meets two men, opera star Count Di Ruvo and Judge Dempsey, who resides in a nearby apartment. Isabelle spends the evening with the count, known as Gus, even though he confesses that his intentions are "strictly dishonorable." Despite this, by the end of the evening she and Gus are in love and when Henry returns for her, the judge informs him that he is too late. Strictly Dishonorable was filmed twice, in 1931 and 1951.