Marc Connelly is a central but not pivotal figure of twentieth-century American theatre: a man of enormous popularity but little lasting influence, of considerable instinctive talent but scant genius, of grand ideas but slight thought. Like Oscar Wilde, his unquestioned gifts are those associated with fine companionship: charm, gentility, a wealth of insightful stories, and abundant wit. Yet these qualities are unable by themselves to make his plays come alive for audiences today. If his plays (skits, screenplays, stories, and sketches) spoke with immediacy to audiences of the 1920s and 1930s, their voice is either lost within that time or obscured by that of his great collaborator, George S. Kaufman. Still, if Connelly's texts seem vapid or saccharine to the taste of the later twentieth century, they should be considered in terms of the innovations they represent. For Connelly's most enduring contribution may be that in plays like...