You Can’t Take It With You ranks among the most popular comedies in American theater. The play was written by the team of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman and opened on Broadway on Dec. 14, 1936. It won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for drama, a rare honor for a pure comedy. A 1938 motion-picture version directed by Frank Capra won the Academy Award as best picture, and Capra got the Oscar as best director.
The play’s action takes place in the New York City home of the Sycamore family. The household is filled with cheerful eccentrics happily leading nonconformist lives. Martin Vanderhof, the patriarch of the family, collects snakes and attends graduation ceremonies as a hobby. Another character writes plays that will never be staged. Others practice ballet or experiment with fireworks in the cellar.
The story turns on a romance between Alice Sycamore, the “normal” member of the family, and Tony Kirby. The young man is the boss’s son in the firm where Alice works. The play contrasts the carefree lifestyle of Alice’s eccentric family with the stuffy and materialistic lives of Tony’s wealthy parents.
You Can’t Take It With You ran for 837 performances. Some of its popularity came from its cheerful outlook on life during the grim days of the Great Depression in the United States. In spite of its light-hearted tone, the comedy ranks among the best statements about individualism in American theater. Its craftsmanship, gentle humor, and abundance of entertaining characters and incidents have made it one of the most enduring comedies written in the 1900’s.
The play was adapted into a popular motion picture that won the 1938 Academy Award as best film. Frank Capra won an Academy Award as best director for his work on the movie. The film starred James Stewart, Jean Arthur, and Lionel Barrymore.
