THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN
Kaufman, the American theater’s greatest comic playwright and director, is famous for saying, “Satire is what closes Saturday night.” But The Butter and Egg Man, his sardonically screwball satire of the New York theater industry in which he flourished, was one of his most successful efforts: a long-running Broadway hit, a popular touring production, an international triumph (it was the first American play published in book form in France), and the inspiration for five movie versions (including one starring Ronald Reagan). Viewed today, it’s clear that The Butter and Egg Man’s influence was long-lasting: its story of an innocent lamb making his way among the wolves of show business is now part of American mythology. The Butter and Egg Man is all the more interesting because Kaufman was writing from direct experience–he modeled the character of fly-by-night producer Joe Lehman on one Rufus LeMaire, a somewhat shady fellow who contracted with Kaufman and Marc Connelly to write the musical comedy Helen of Troy, New York.
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In smaller roles, Joan Schwenk plays the part of an aging ingenue like Lucille Ball imitating Gloria Swanson; Lisa Tejero goes on an instant high-fiber diet, chewing up the scenery as a haughty chorine; and Colleen Kane, one of the most innately funny actresses in town, is totally wasted as the telephone operator who delivers Kaufman’s shrewd comment on show business’s bottom line: “You see, the people here are funny, sort of. If they like a show, they’ll go to see it, but if they don’t like it–they won’t.”
