Baby Mine

   Margaret Mayo's farce opened on 23 August 1910, ran for 287 performances at Daly's Theatre in New York, had as many as six road companies at once, and was translated into several languages. William A. Brady produced the play with a cast that included Marguerite Clark, Ernest Glendenning, Humphrey Bogart,* and Fatty Arbuckle. Zoie is a childishly wheedling wife whose businessman husband Alfred leaves her to make his own life in another city. Her friend suggests that she lure him back by adopting a baby and letting Alfred believe it is his. On the evening of Alfred's return, Zoie and her friends circulate as many as three newborn babies while the complications multiply. The play's popularity was manifested in "Baby Mine" dolls, hats, and cocktails as well as a Hippodrome elephant named "Baby Mine."