1. “La commedia italiana più fortunata del dopoguerra,” cover copy on Teatro-scenario 18.1 (1954), repeated on 40 (facing Bonacci's script; cf. n. 14). My English translation of Bonacci's comedy, as The Fantasy Hour, is forthcoming in Italian Women's Theatre, 1930–1960: An Anthology of Plays (Intellect Books). All translations from Italian and French in this article are mine.

2. L'ora della fantasia was adapted into a musical in 1972 by Maurizio Costanzo. The comedy was also adapted to the Italian cinema in 1952 by director Mario Camerini with the title Moglie per una notte (Wife for a Night) and twice for French television: in 1971 with the title L'heure éblouissante, directed by Jeannette Hubert, and again in 1994 directed by Georges Lautner, with the title L' Homme de mes rêves (The Man of My Dreams). For a discussion of film adaptations of the play by Camerini and Wilder, see Gazzano, Marco Maria, “Un bacio e una commedia: Il cinema interpreta L'ora della fantasia di Anna Bonacci,” in Anna Bonacci e la drammaturgia sommersa degli anni '30–'50, ed. Ossani, Anna T. and Mattioli, Tiziana (Pesaro: Metauro Edizioni, 2003), 167–97Google Scholar.

3. Bonacci's comedy was staged with the title Baciami stupido! twice at the Manzoni Theatre in Rome: the 1995 production, directed by Silvio Giordani, was set in a provincial town of Fascist Italy of 1935, with the nobleman as a member of Mussolini's bureaucracy. The 2007 version, adapted by director Ennio Coltorti together with Tullia Alborghetti, followed Wilder's film rather than Bonacci's play. A new staging of the comedy with the same new title also took place in April 2011 in Florence, under the direction of Gian Luigi Pavani.

4. For more information on Bonacci's life and works, see Anna T. Ossani, “Anna Bonacci: Passaggi,” in Bonacci, Anna, La favolatrice: Novelle e racconti editi e inediti, ed. Ossani, Anna T., Martelli, Matteo, and Mattioli, Tiziana (Pesaro: Metauro Edizioni 2011), 11–63Google Scholar.

5. Hutcheon, Linda, A Theory of Adaptation (New York: Routledge, 2006), 149Google Scholar.

6. Ibid., xvi.

7. Suzanne Flon, who appeared in Moulin Rouge as Toulouse-Lautrec's last love, had the role of Mrs. Sedley in the Paris production of L' Heure éblouissante.

8. The cast also included Kent Smith, John Emery, and Mary Sinclair.

9. The postwar years saw the birth of a number of regional theatres, including the La Jolla Playhouse (founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer), where a number of plays opened with an eye to future Broadway performances. Aronson reports that often plays “were created and developed in a resident theatre and then brought to New York. If successful, the originating theatre would reap financial rewards, while the Broadway producer was spared at least part of the high cost of developing a risky property.” Aronson, Arnold, “American Theatre in Context: 1945–Present,” in The Cambridge History of American Theatre, ed. Wilmeth, Don B. and Bigsby, Christopher, 3 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 3: 87–162, at 126CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10. de Havilland, Olivia, Every Frenchman Has One (London: Elek Books, 1963), 13Google Scholar.

11. On Ferrer, see Kalfatovic, Mary C., “Ferrer, José,” American National Biography Online, 2000 (retrieved 15 June 2010)Google Scholar. For Frings, see Craig, Carolyn Casey, Women Pulitzer Playwrights: Biographical Profiles and Analyses of the Plays (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004)Google Scholar; and Londré, Felicia Hardison, “Frings, Ketti,” American National Biography Online, 2000 (retrieved 15 June 2010)Google Scholar.

12. The Ketti Frings Papers, 1921–1962, are housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research at the Wisconsin Historical Society, University of Wisconsin–Madison (hereafter, Ketti Frings Papers).

13. A review of the staging at the Argentina Theatre in 1944 suggests that at the end of this version of the play Mr. Sedley would learn of his wife's infidelity, as in the typescript in the Burcardo Theatre Library. See “‘L'ora della fantasia’ all'Argentina,” Il giornale d'Italia, 17 March 1944Google Scholar.

14. In this article I quote from the 1954 edition: Anna Bonacci, L'ora della fantasia, Teatro-scenario 18.1 (1954): 41–63.

15. Antonucci, Giovanni, Storia del teatro italiano del Novecento (Roma: Edizioni Studium, 1986), 115Google Scholar.

16. Not all the reviewers, however, considered the plot acceptable. The anonymous reviewer for Il giornale d'Italia (see n. 13), for example, opined that it was based on a “not very honorable cheat” that, had it been successful, would have meant that Mr. Sedley was to be seen as a cuckold and Mrs. Sedley as a prostitute.

17. “L'ora della fantasia di Anna Bonacci all'Argentina,” Il piccolo, 17 March 1944Google Scholar.

18. For a study of the main models of betrayed husbands in Western literature, see Millington, Mark I. and Sinclair, Alison S., “The Honourable Cuckold: Models of Masculine Defence,” Comparative Literature Studies 29.1 (1992): 1–19Google Scholar.

19. Anna T. Ossani, “L'ambigua favola del quotidiano: Note di lettura per L'ora della fantasia di Anna Bonacci,” in Bonacci, Anna, L'ora della fantasia (Pesaro: Metauro Edizioni, 2001), 7–61, at 16–17Google Scholar; and Ossani, Anna T., “Anna Bonacci: Il teatro della vita non vissuta,” in Anna Bonacci e la drammaturgia, 87–130, at 94–5Google Scholar.

20. Ludovica Radif, “Da L'ora della fantasia alla notte più lunga dell'Anfitrione,” Scenarionline, http://inscenaonline.altervista.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2727&Itemid=54 (retrieved 8 November 2010). By having the same hours of the night staged first in the Sedleys' home (act 1, part 2) and then at Geraldine's place (act 2), Bonacci also stretches the events of that night of conjugal infidelity to extraordinary length. (See n. 40 regarding the two parts of act 1.)

21. Quasimodo, Salvatore, Scritti sul teatro (Milan: Mondadori, 1961), 194–6, at 194Google Scholar.

22. Terron, Carlo, “Gioco delle parti con musica d'organo,” Corriere lombardo, 20–1 June 1952Google Scholar.

23. Chiaromonte, Nicola, “Commedia leggera,” Il mondo, 9 March 1954Google Scholar.

24. E. F., , “La Comédie crée L'heure éblouissante d'Anna Bonacci, dans l'adaptation de M. Albert Verly,” Journal de Genève, 24 December 1949Google Scholar.

25. Ibid.; R. G., , “L'heure éblouissante: Trois actes d'Anna Bonacci,” La Suisse, 23 December 1949Google Scholar.

26. Favalelli, Max, “L'heure éblouissante au théâtre Antoine,” Paris presse l'intransigeant, 21 January 1953Google Scholar.

27. Kemp, Robert, “L' Heure éblouissante,” Le Monde, 18 January 1953Google Scholar; “Eblouissements, L' Heure éblouissante au Théâtre Antoine,” Lettres Françaises, 22 January 1953Google Scholar.

28. Zegel, Sylvain, “Au Théâtre Antoine, L'heure éblouissante de Mme Anna Bonacci,” Libération, 19 January 1953Google Scholar.

29. “The Dazzling Hour,” unpublished typescript, adapted by Ketti Frings and José Ferrer, ca. 1953, Ketti Frings Papers.

30. Bonacci, Anna, L'Heure éblouissante, trans. Verly, Albert, Le Mois Théâtral 16.187 (1950): 1–38Google Scholar. In addition to being a playwright in his own right, Albert Verly (1905–66) adapted a number of Italian plays for the Swiss and French stages, including another play by Bonacci, Sulle soglie della storia. Bonacci's papers contain several letters Verly sent to Bonacci, in which he discusses the different international productions of L'ora della fantasia as well as possible adaptations of other plays. Anna Bonacci's papers, which include letters, reviews, drafts, unpublished works, notes, and so forth, are still in her home in Falconara Alta (Ancona) and have not been professionally archived. They are not available to the public, and only a few researchers have been granted access. One of these is Prof. Anna T. Ossani, who is reediting Bonacci's published and unpublished works and who introduced me to Salvatore D'Urso, current owner of the Bonacci villa and custodian of the Bonacci papers. He has given me informal access to a portion of Bonacci's papers.

31. See L' Heure éblouissante by Anna Bonacci, trans. Albert Verly, dialogues by Jeanson, Henri, Paris Théâtre 71 (1953): 11–58Google Scholar. Jeanson (1900–70) was a French journalist who also wrote for the theatre and the cinema. According to Richard Alwyn, he wrote “some of the most famous, most quoted dialogues of French cinema” in films such as Julien Duvivier's Pépé le Moko (1937) and Marcel Carné's Hôtel du nord (1938). Richard Alwyn, “Henri Jeanson,” http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ja-Kr/Jeanson-Henri.html (retrieved 5 May 2010). Ossani reveals that Bonacci was unhappy with some French and Italian critics who implied that the comedy's success in France was due more to Jeanson's dialogues than to the value of her play; Ossani, “Anna Bonacci: Il teatro della vita non vissuta,” 123.

32. Zegel; “Eblouissements, L' Heure éblouissante au Théâtre Antoine.”

33. L'heure éblouissante, Paris Théâtre 58.

34. “The Dazzling Hour,” unpublished translation of L'ora della fantasia, ca. 1953, Dallas Public Library. Ferrer was in Dallas at the time, starring in Kiss Me, Kate. Thus, The Dazzling Hour was rehearsed not at La Jolla but in Dallas. According to Gilbert Millstein, that was an extraordinarily busy time for Ferrer: “Ferrer's stay in Dallas was not confined to a mere eight performances a week in Kiss Me, Kate. He also took the opportunity to translate a play, The Dazzling Hour, from the French, and collaborate in its adaptation into English, with Ketti Frings, the playwright and screenwriter; rehearse the four principals in the cast for a two-week run at the playhouse in La Jolla, California; compose music for a song for The Dazzling Hour; study the script of The Caine Mutiny; keep in touch with everywhere by long-distance telephone; and get married to Rosemary Clooney in Durant, Oklahoma, 96 miles north of Dallas, shortly after being divorced by his second wife, Phyllis Hill, the actress. He missed neither a performance of Kiss Me, Kate nor a rehearsal of The Dazzling Hour.” Gilbert Millstein, “Fabulous Jose Ferrer,” Collier's, 25 December 1953, http://www.rosemaryclooney.com/jose/index.htm (retrieved 10 May 2010).

35. José Ferrer to John Rosenfield, 16 July 1953, letter accompanying “The Dazzling Hour,” unpublished translation of L'ora della fantasia, Dallas Public Library.

36. Frings and Ferrer's playscript changes the prostitute's last name to Hubbles.

37. Note attached to “The Dazzling Hour,” unpublished adaptation of L'ora della fantasia, ca. 1953, Ketti Frings Papers.

38. Gazzano, 175.

39. In Bonacci's version, the three old ladies return onstage in act 3 to present a petition to have Geraldine Hubbes prevented from attending church services. Their chorused indignation about Mr. Sedley's refusal to sign such a petition and their subsequent acceptance of an invitation to stay for cakes and possible male company would have been sources of laughter.

40. “The Dazzling Hour,” adapted by Frings and Ferrer, 1.1.2. Subsequent citations are given parenthetically in the text, with TDH followed by page numbers as they appear in the playscript: the act first, then the page number referring to that act. (Since act 1 has two scenes, the page number also specifies the scene. Thus, for example, 1.1.2 indicates act 1, scene 1, p. 2.)

41. Bonacci, L'ora della fantasia (1954), 41. Subsequent citations for this Teatro-scenario (T-s) edition are given parenthetically in the text.

42. Ossani, Anna T., L'avventura del desiderio: Il teatro di Anna Bonacci (Pesaro: Metauro Edizioni, 2009), 33Google Scholar.

43. In Frings and Ferrer's adaptation, Mary Sedley sings a stanza of Geraldine's song in act 2, but under different circumstances: not at the end of the act to signify her identification with Geraldine, as in Bonacci's play, but rather in the middle, to play (for the benefit of Sir Ronald) the role of a woman who is accustomed to receiving admiration and presents from visiting men and does not care for lasting relationships. Frings and Ferrer used Geraldine's song to frame the events of the play, which opens and closes on Jane's voice singing its melancholic lyrics. The song, “Love Is a Beautiful Stranger,” was later used in the 1954 film Twist of Fate (aka Beautiful Stranger), directed by David Miller. See Millstein for Frings's memories of the circumstances of the song's composition.

44. Anna Ossani argues that the action of picking up the shawl indicates that Mary has learned to accept herself as a more complex and complete person of opposite impulses—that is, not only the dutiful wife but also the sensual woman. Ossani, “L'ambigua favola del quotidiano,” 21–2.

45. The final line of act 1 sounded much more tentative in Bonacci's original: “It's as if . . . Oh George! Your wife! I'm your wife!” Bonacci, , L'ora della fantasia (1954), 51Google Scholar.

46. In Bonacci's play, George Sedley says, more simply, that Geraldine remained with him until morning. Bonacci, L'ora della fantasia (1954), 62.

47. Leitch, Thomas, Film Adaptation and Its Discontents (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), 100Google Scholar.

48. Edelstein, David, “‘Remade in America’: A Label to Avoid,” New York Times, 4 November 2001Google Scholar.

49. Black, Gregory D., The Catholic Crusade against the Movies, 1940–1975 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 13Google Scholar.

50. Cavell, Stanley, Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 2Google Scholar.

51. Shumway, David R., Modern Love: Romance, Intimacy, and the Marriage Crisis (New York: New York University Press, 2003), 87Google Scholar.

52. McConachie, Bruce, American Theater in the Culture of the Cold War (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003), 66Google Scholar.

53. Ibid., 66.

54. Ibid., 82.

55. Ibid., 72.

56. Mr. Sedley intended to have the three old ladies perform for Sir Ronalds. In Bonacci's play, Sir Ronalds arrives ten days earlier than expected and the women are not ready to perform. In Frings and Ferrer's adaptation, Mr. Sedley sends them away on the day Sir Ronald is expected to arrive, and thus it is partly his fault that a different way to impress Sir Ronald must be found.

57. McConachie, 67.

58. Hall, Sterling, “‘The Dazzling Hour’ Has Possibilities,” La Jolla Journal, 30 July 1953Google Scholar. Dorothy Kelly commented on its “Gallic manner”; “‘Dazzling Hour’ Opens at La Jolla Playhouse,” La Jolla Light, 30 July 1953Google Scholar. Edwin Schallert stated that the play's situation of interchange between sexual partners “may be described as typically French”; “‘Dazzling Hour’ Given Premiere at La Jolla,” Los Angeles Times, 30 July 1953Google Scholar.

59. Schallert.

60. Kelly.

61. Hall.

62. Kelly.

63. José Ferrer to Ketti Frings, 9 February 1954, Ketti Frings Papers.

64. Both British adaptations of L'ora della fantasia, Mitford's, NancyThe Dazzling Hour (1955)Google Scholar and Melville's, AlanChange of Tune (1959)Google Scholar, set the play in France, “for we are all ready to lend our own dubious traits to our neighbours,” commented Harold Clurman in his review of Melville's comedy; “The Neon Sickness,” The Observer, 17 May 1959Google Scholar. Nancy Mitford's The Dazzling Hour premiered at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing on 27 June 1955, where it received an “unmistakably cordial reception” (R. P. C., Review of The Dazzling Hour, Worthing Herald, 1 July 1955). Melville's Change of Tune premiered at the Lyceum in Edinburgh on 13 April 1959, and was later staged at the Strand in London 13–30 May 1959. Reviews of the London staging were not enthusiastic. Clurman complained about “the taint of lewdness” which marred the sexual innuendo. The reviewer from The Times also noted that the “English humour” concerning French characters and behaviors seemed “occasionally heavy handed” (“Change of Tune, Mr. Melville's New Comedy,” The Times, 14 May 1959Google Scholar). Although it appears listed among the “Plays by the same author” at the beginning of the book, Change of Tune receives no mention in Melville's autobiography (Melville, Alan, Merely Melville: An Autobiography. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970Google Scholar).

65. Ferrer's letter to Frings also reveals some interesting details about how their writing partnership worked: at the end of the letter, Ferrer invites Frings to continue the work on her own without needing to contact him. He wrote: “Let's just have you worry about [the play] till I get back, and do most of the work as usual, and then I'll come in with my brilliant strokes and take the credit.” Ferrer to Frings, 9 February 1954.

66. “The Dazzling Hour,” adapted by Frings and Ferrer, unpublished revised pages, ca. 1953, 1.1.4, Ketti Frings Papers. Subsequent citations are given parenthetically in the text, as TDH-rev.

67. Rocca, Guido, “L'ora di Anna Bonacci,” Settimo giorno, 18 February 1954Google Scholar. Several articles announced the arrival in the United States of Nancy Mitford's adaptation beginning in 1954; see “‘Fifth Season’ Coming after Long N.Y. Run,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 3 October 1954Google Scholar; and Zolotow, Sam, “Miss Holm May Do Play for Miller,” New York Times, 8 April 1955Google Scholar. In 1956, the New York Times further revealed that George S. Kaufman and his wife, Leueen MacGrath, had revised Mitford's adaptation for a production in London and later in New York; see Gelb, Arthur, “‘Glass Clock’ Set to Open Tonight,” New York Times, 26 March 1956Google Scholar. Neither of these productions appears to have been mounted.

68. Postproduction notes for “The Dazzling Hour,” adapted by Frings and Ferrer, ca. 1953, 4, Ketti Frings Papers.