Mortimer Brewster (Tony Randall) is about to get married to Elaine Harper (Dody Heath.) he knew his family was a little eccentric; however, he had no idea how eccentric they could be. If the cute little Brewster sisters offer you their homemade elderberry wine, I suggest you decline or at least watch this movie first.
I have seen the movie with Cary Grant and Raymond Massey a gazillion times and can quote from most of the characters.
I have always wanted to see the play. The original stage production ran on Broadway for 1444 performances, from January 10, 1941, to June 17, 1944. As with many of the movies that are based on plays you can never tell whether the play will exceed the movie and it's just a reflection or the rebalance produced as a movie adds a dimension that the play cannot.
This is as close as I can come to the play as it has not been rendered in the area that I know of.
There've been several recorded versions; none of them are commercially available on media except for this 1962 made-for-the-television.
Director: George Schaefer
Writers: Robert Hartung (adaptation), Joseph Kesselring (play)
As a recorded version from the time, one will have to overlook the graininess and the audio distortions from the recording. However, once you get into the play all of this seems to mysteriously disappear.
My only personal problem was getting used to Tom Bosley (Happy Days) as Teddy Brewster.
