Five Star Final (play)
Five Star Final is a play written by Louis Weitzenkorn. The story is a melodrama about the evils of tabloid journalism. Producer A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway, where it was a hit, running for 175 performances.
Plot
An unscrupulous newspaper publisher decides to boost circulation by reviving an old scandal involving Nancy Voorhees, a woman who was accused of murdering her lover twenty years before. Although she was acquitted by a jury, Nancy fears the damage a revival of the story could cause her family. She is married and has a daughter who is about to have her own wedding to a wealthy young man whose family would not approve of Nancy's past. Nancy begs the assigned reporter not to pursue the story, but he refuses. When the story is published on their daughter's wedding day, Nancy and her husband commit suicide. The daughter seeks out the reporter to kill him for vengeance, but discovers that he is wracked with guilt over what he has done.Broadway production
Producer A. H. Woods acquired the rights to the play in 1930. At first his intention was to co-produce the play with William A. Brady and have it appear at Brady's Playhouse Theatre. However, this plan fell through and the production finally opened at the Cort Theatre on December 30, 1930, with just Woods producing. Worthington Miner directed. Arthur Byron played the reporter and Merle Maddern played Nancy.Weitzenkorn was busy revising the script up until the premier, and apparently after as well. Reviewers complained that the first performance was insufficiently rehearsed, and descriptions of the scenes on opening night differ from what was done later.
Cast and characters
The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:played Randall in the Broadway production.
| Character | Broadway cast |
| Mr. Arthur Loveland Weeks | Sydney Booth |
| Exchange Operator | Lillian Bronson |
| Randall | Arthur Byron |
| Philip Weeks | King Calder |
| Hinchecliffe | Berton Churchill |
| Brannegan | Frank Dae |
| Colby | Kenneth Dana |
| A Policeman | Mike D'Arcy |
| Pearl | Amy Dennis |
| Michael Townsend | Malcolm Duncan |
| Jenny Townsend | Frances Fuller |
| Minerva | Georgette Harvey |
| Undertaker | Fred House |
| Harold | Richard Huey |
| Luella Carmody | Laurie Jacques |
| Ziggie Feinstein | Allen Jenkins |
| Jerry | P. J. Kelly |
| Arthur | Alvin Kerr |
| Mrs. Arthur Loveland Weeks | Kathryn Keyes |
| Rooney | Bruce MacFarlane |
| Nancy Voorhees Townsend | Merle Maddern |
| Miss Edwards | Madeleine Marshall |
| Trixie | Dorothy McElhone |
| Rev. T. Vernon Isopod | Alexander Onslow |
| French | Henry Sherwood |
| Miss Taylor | Helene Sinnott |