''Small Miracle'' is a 1934 play by

Norman Krasna Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned Screwball comedy film, screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films ...

, presented on Broadway with Joseph Calleia in the featured role. Directed by George Abbott with a single setting designed by Boris Aronson, the three-act melodrama opened September 26, 1934, at the John Golden Theatre, New York. It continued at the 48th Street Theatre November 11, 1934 – January 5, 1935. On February 7, 1935, the play began a run at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, with Calleia, Joseph King and Robert Middlemass reprising their Broadway roles. It was Krasna's second play, written in the evenings while he was working as a

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

contract writer during the day. He adapted the play for the

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

film '' Four Hours to Kill!'' (1935).

Cast

* Edward Crandall as Carl Barrett Jr. * Joseph Calleia as Tony Mako * Joseph King as Joseph Taft * Eva Condon as Ma * William Wadsworth as Herman * G. Albert Smith as William S. Johnson * Myron McCormick as Eddie * Elspeth Eric as Mae Danish * Wyrley Birch as Mac Mason * Fraye Gilbert as Helen * James Lane as Repair man *

Ilka Chase Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978) was an American actress, radio host, and novelist whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Born into a well-known New York family, she made her stage debut as a child and later became a ...

as Sylvia Temple * Lucille Strudwick as Anna * Jean Bellows as Kitty * Edna Hagan as Twelve-year-old girl * George Lambert as Stanley Madison * Violet Barney as Mrs. Madison * Hitour Gray as Donald Madison * Allan Hale as George Nelson * Robert Middlemass as Captain Seaver * Herbert Duffy as Healy * Owen Martin as Anderson * Helen Gardner as First Girl * Nancy Vane as Second Girl

Reception

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' called ''Small Miracle'' "a very satisfactory melodrama with Joseph Spurin-Calleia as the pleasantest murderer you ever saw." "George Abbott's talent for accuracy of detail has given this tabloid tale of Times Square passions an uncanny, cumulative fascination," wrote drama critic

Brooks Atkinson Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theater critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Praising Boris Aronson's set design and the performances of Ilka Chase, Myron McCormick, Elspeth Eric, Joseph King and Robert Middlemass, he reserved his highest praise for the featured actor: "Joseph Spurin-Calleia as the prisoner plays with such keen authenticity and such sensitive understatement of emotion that his scenes are enormously moving. Type casting becomes an art when an actor can draw so much pulsing truth out of a character." ''The Stage'' magazine wrote that "there have been few gangsters of the heartbreaking calibre of Joseph Spurin-Calleia's Tony Mako. To this excellent, rather quiet melodrama with its paucity of dead bodies, he gives a sure feeling of impending catastrophe."

Gallery

Photographs of the original Broadway production of ''Small Miracle'' appeared in the November 1934 issue of ''The Stage'' magazine. File:Small-Miracle-Stage-1.jpg, Set in the lounge of a Broadway theatre, the drama centers around a condemned prisoner (Joseph Calleia) and a cop ( Joseph King) who have missed their train and have four hours to kill. File:Small-Miracle-Stage-2.jpg, Nobody notices the handcuffs under the overcoat during the intermission at the 43rd Street Theatre. File:Small-Miracle-Stage-3.jpg, A hat-check boy ( Myron McCormick) is questioned about some missing jewelry belonging to a theatre patron (

). File:Small-Miracle-Stage-4.jpg, A squealer is grilled by the police captain ( Robert Middlemass), who suspects him of aiding the prisoner's escape. File:Small-Miracle-Stage-5.jpg, In the big scene the small miracle happens: The killer gets his man and his death.

Publication history

''Small Miracle'' was published in 1935 by Samuel French, Inc., with a preface by George Abbott.

Adaptations

Krasna adapted ''Small Miracle'' for the

film '' Four Hours to Kill!'', released in April 1935 and starring Richard Barthelmess. In 1944, Paramount Pictures announced it would film a new adaptation of ''Small Miracle'', starring Alan Ladd; the project was not made.

References

External links

* {{Norman Krasna 1934 plays Broadway plays American plays adapted into films Plays set in New York City Plays by Norman Krasna