"Arsenic and Old Lace" 1944

“Arsenic and Old Lace”

Add Cary Grant to the list of actors I love. George Clooney has been called a modern day Grant, but cute as he is, no one is Cary Grant.

His best work is in comedies. I love him with Katharine Hepburn and Doris Day. But “Arsenic and Old Lace” is a classic.

As soon as you see Mortimer Brewster you know he is a little different from the rest of his family.
Mortimer is in love and ready to run away with a girl but first he has to get out of the house. But he has to take care of family business first.

Mortimer Brewster: Look I probably should have told you this before but you see... well... insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops.

He has two dottering old aunts with a penchant for homicide.

Mortimer Brewster: Look, Aunt Martha, men don't just get into window seats and die!
Abby Brewster: We know, dear. He died first.
Mortimer Brewster: Wait a minute! Stop all this. Now, look, darling, how did he die?
Abby Brewster: Oh, Mortimer, don't be so inquisitive. The gentleman died because he drank some wine with poison in it.
Mortimer Brewster: How did the poison get in the wine?
Martha Brewster: Well, we put it in wine, because it's less noticeable. When it's in tea, it has a distinct odor.
Mortimer Brewster: You mean, you... You put it in the wine!
Abby Brewster: Yes. And I put Mr. Hoskins in the window seat, because Reverend Harper was coming.
Mortimer Brewster: Now, look at me, darling. You mean, you mean you knew what you'd done and you didn't want the Reverend Harper to see the body?
Abby Brewster: Well, not at tea. That wouldn't have been very nice.
Mortimer Brewster: Oh, it's first-degree.
Abby Brewster: Now, Mortimer, you know all about it and just forget about it. I do think that Aunt Martha and I have the right to our own little secrets.

He has a cousin who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt and building the Panama Canal in the basement.

Teddy Brewster: [after charging up the stairs] Charge the blockhouse!
Reverend Harper: Blockhouse?
Aunt Abby: Yes. The stairs are always San Juan Hill.

And those are the good relatives. His brother looks like Boris Karloff and has his own agenda for the evening. He needs a hide out along with his partner in crime.

Jonathan Brewster: [to Dr. Einstein] This is the home of my youth... As a boy, I couldn't wait to escape from this house. Now, I'm glad to escape back into it.

There are multiple hijinks and a high body count. But the really bad guys get put away and Mortimer gets some good news at the end.

Mortimer Brewster: No, no. I'm not a Brewster. I'm the son of a sea-cook! Ha! Ha! Chaaaaarrrge!

I have seen a couple of amateur performances of this play. One was with two of my nephews. It was a high school production and really well done. Their theater teacher was incredible and did everything from dialect coaching for the Irish cops (oldest nephew was one of those) and building incredible sets. Including a great window seat complete with a dead body (played by my middle nephew).

The guy who played Mortimer went on to be an anchor on the local news. He was no Cary Grant, but he was like seventeen.

My nephew, the Irish cop, is a band director and my nephew that played the dead body has a career in theater.

So it goes to show no part is too small.