Excursion: A Play in Three Acts

New York: Random House. Very Good+. (c.1937). "Revised Acting Version". Softcover. [light external wear, some toning/light soiling to edges of text block, faint darkening to spine]. (stage diagrams) From the front-cover synopsis, better than anything I could write: "After thirty years on the great trade route from Harlem to Coney Island, Captain Obadiah Rich's excursion steamship Happiness is about to be takien out of service and made over into a garbage scow. The compassionate captain rebels at the idea and on the final cruise heads his antique tub straight for the Caribbean and a magic island south of Trinidad where his oddly assorted passengers can begin life anew under luxuriant tropical auspices." The entire play is set aboard the boat; the original Broadway production, featuring Shirley Booth (who had the wonderful character name "Daisy Loschavio"), ran for 116 performances. The play was later adapted into a musical, "Dreamboat" (music by Alec Templeton, lyrics by Stella Unger, book by Unger and Wolfson), which unfortunately never made it to the Great White Way. .