Beggar on Horseback

   George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly mixed elements of European expressionism with middle-American comedy at the behest of producer Winthrop Ames, who gave them a German play, Paul Apel's Hans Sonnenstösser 's Höllenfahrt, to adapt. Kaufman and Connelly tried, but instead Beggar on Horseback emerged as a wholly original work when it opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, under Ames's management, on 12 February 1924 for a 224-performance run.

   The central consciousness is that of aspiring composer Neil McRae, who cannot get his music performed and survives by doing orchestrations for others. Neil's kindly neighbor, Dr. Albert Rice, and Cynthia Mason, who has feelings for Neil, try to help as he contends with the manipulative Gladys Cady, daughter of a wealthy widget manufacturer, who is hell-bent to marry him, but only if he makes a million dollars as a songwriter. Neil, a nervous wreck, takes a sleeping pill and dreams that he marries Gladys (who carries a bouquet made of currency at the ceremony), that they live in a mansion with a huge staff, and that Gladys's grasping family demand that he fill out a requisition for a pencil with which to write a song. He finally cracks and murders his in-laws. At his trial, the judge reprimands him for daring to use his imagination. Neil is sentenced to work in an art factory, producing fake masterpieces. Awakened from his nightmare, Neil determines to marry the sweet-natured Cynthia instead of Gladys. A 1925 motion picture version starred Edward Everett Horton. Beggar on Horseback was given a major revival in 1970 at the Lincoln Center.*