Johnny No-Trump; a play in two acts

New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc.. Near Fine. (c.1968, 1966). First Edition. Stapled wraps. (printed wrappers) [light external surface waar only] (B&W photo frontispiece of stage setting) One of the more notable (and unjustified) flops in Broadway history, this drama is set in the parlor of an old house in a small Long Island town, and centers around a 16-year-old boy (the title character), an aspiring poet, and his relationship with his family -- in particular his Uncle Harry, a 60-something guy who's a sort of prototypical Archie Bunker type. The original (1967) New York production starred James Broderick, Pat Hingle, and Sada Thompson -- and also marked the Broadway debut, in a small role, of 19-year-old Bernadette Peters (who had already been acting professionally for about ten years). The play rather infamously closed after a single performance -- not necessarily because of bad reviews (the notices were mixed), but as William Goldman later wrote in his book "The Season," it "had no power connected with it." (Goldman also dubbed it "the best new American play of the season.") The play's genesis and demise are discussed at some length in the 1973 book "Broadway's Beautiful Losers: The Strange History of Five Neglected Plays." Playwright Mercier, for her part, seems to have vanished from the theatrical scene (and who can blame her?): the only other work credited to her in the OCLC catalog is a book of poetry published in 2002. .