Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Arsenic and Old Lace (original 1939; edition 1939)

by Joseph Kesselring (Author)

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666	6	34,688	(3.96)	23
An easygoing drama critic discovers that his kind and gentle aunts have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar.

▾Book information

Member:	cs80
Title:	Arsenic and Old Lace
Authors:	Joseph Kesselring (Author)
Info:	Dramatists Play Service, Inc. (1944), 96 pages
Collections:	Your library, Drama
Rating:
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Work Information

Arsenic and Old Lace : A Play in Three Acts by Joseph Kesselring (1939)

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1930s (39)

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Essential/Recognized Stage Plays (12)

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▾Member reviews

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Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)

One of my favorite plays of all time - funny, just a little creepy and still fun even many years after it was written. (

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Catherinesque | Jan 25, 2023 |

Cute yarn, fun characters, saw the end coming. (

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memlhd | Jan 23, 2016 |

Cute yarn, fun characters, saw the end coming. (

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memlhd | Jan 23, 2016 |

Subtle dark humor. Hilarious play. (

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SephOfErebus | May 22, 2013 |

This entertaining play about a very strange family is sure to entertain the more educated students in high school. Mortimer brings his newlywed to his aunts’ house in Brooklyn and that is where the strangeness begins. He is a critic who throughout these well-written humorous scenes, realizes his aunts are killing old men and burying them in the basement of their house by their nephew who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt. I would only recommend this play to students who have background information about the Panama Canal and the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt; they will find it much more humorous. (

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cvlibrarian | May 2, 2008 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Kesselring, Joseph	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Channing, Stockard	Performer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Herrmann, Edward	Performer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
van der Horst, J. C.	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

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De schijnwerper

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Canonical title

Arsenic and Old Lace : A Play in Three Acts

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1939

1941 (performed)

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944 | IMDb)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1969 | IMDb)

Hallmark Hall of Fame: Arsenic and Old Lace (1962 | IMDb)

Epigraph

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Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

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Original language

English

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▾Book descriptions

An easygoing drama critic discovers that his kind and gentle aunts have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar.

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