The original production of You Can't Take It With You was directed by co-writer George Kaufman. The show ran for two weeks in Philadelphia before moving to the Booth Theatre, where it officially opened on December 14, 1936. The show was written in and depicts life during the Great Depression. While the Depression isn't at the crux of this play, which shows a fairly isolated family, it was heavy on the minds of the audiences that poured into the Booth Theatre for a night at the theatre. In 1932, the former president Calvin Coolidge said of the depression:
"In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man."
The Sycamore family created by Kaufman and Hart are a kindly slap in the face to such protestations. These characters do see hope -- in fact, they refuse to despair. The audience entered the theatre from a world in which despair was rampant, and they left (hopefully) reevaluating how they might take what comes like the Sycamore family.
You Can't Take It With You was well-received in New York City and later had sister shows running in Chicago and London. Below are a selection of articles about the various forms of the original production, which ran on Broadway from December 1936 to October 1938. You can download the files to get a better look at the text.
You Can't Take It With You was well-received in New York City and later had sister shows running in Chicago and London. Below are a selection of articles about the various forms of the original production, which ran on Broadway from December 1936 to October 1938. You can download the files to get a better look at the text.