SYNOPSIS

Based on three different works, the 1934 Howard Hawks film Twentieth Century; the original 1932 play of the same name by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; and Charles Bruce Millholland’s unproduced play about his experiences working for theater producer David Belasco, On the Twentieth Century takes audiences on a madcap train ride that is an express to hilarity. On the Twentieth Century offers us Oscar Jaffe, a struggling, downtrodden, and desperate Broadway producer, who fights to convince Lily Garland, a successful film actress who is also his former lover and muse, to come back to the Great White Way in an monumental drama. However, the drama, which takes as its subject Mary Magdalene, does not actually exist. As he fights to get Garland to commit to the new show, Jaffe must also deal with a range of miscues, surprises, and off-the-wall characters, including Lily Garland’s jealous new lover and a religious fanatic. It is all set aboard the luxury train that has been christened The Twentieth Century.