Paddy the Next Best Thing
Early edition
AuthorGertrude Page
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreRomance
PublisherHurst and Blackett
Publication date
1908
Media typePrint

Paddy the Next Best Thing (also written as Paddy-The-Next-Best-Thing) is a 1908 romantic comedy novel by the British writer Gertrude Page.[1]

The heroine of the story is Paddy Adair, the daughter of an impoverished Irish landowner near Carlingford. Her father, General Adair, had hoped she would be a boy, but is delighted by the high-spirited Paddy who dubs herself as "the next best thing" to a boy. Paddy falls in love with another landowner, who had once been involved with her elder sister.

Adaptations

Gayer Mackay and Robert Ord adapted the novel into a successful 1920 West End play of the same title.[2] The cast was:

  • General Adair – J. H. Barnes
  • Dr Davy Adair – Clive Currie
  • Eileen Adair – Betty Faire
  • Mary O'Hara – Margaret Nicholls
  • Jack O'Hara – Anew McMaster
  • Laurence Blake – Ion Swinley
  • Doreen Blake – Eithne McChee
  • Gwendoline Carew – Winifred Evans
  • Lord Sellahy – H. V. Tollemache
  • Micky – Hyland T. O'Shea
  • Webb – Ethel Callanan
  • Mrs Bingley – Christine Jensen
  • Mrs Putter – Rose Edouin
  • Paddy – Peggy O'Neill.[2]

The play opened at the Savoy Theatre on 5 April 1920, transferred briefly to the Strand Theatre in February 1922, and moved back to the Savoy in March, completing its run of 867 performances on 22 April 1922.[3]

The novel has been made into films on two occasions: a 1923 British silent film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Mae Marsh and a 1933 American sound film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Janet Gaynor[4]

References

  1. ↑ Block p.108
  2. 1 2 "London Theatres", The Stage, 8 April 1920, p. 16
  3. ↑ Wearing, p. 18
  4. ↑ Goble p.357

Sources

  • Block, Andrew. Key Books of British Authors, 1600-1932. D. Archer, 1933.
  • Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
  • Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1920–1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8108-9302-3.


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