In this essay Kreger places Kaufman and Hart's play within the context of the Great Depression, noting that the work served as a welcome escape from the trials of 1930s America.

In the 1930s, Americans needed to laugh. The United States was suffering through the harsh economic times of the Great Depression and people went to theaters and movie houses to forget their troubles. So it is not surprising that in 1936 George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's You Can't Take Itwith You was a commercial success. This screwball farce filled the stage with eccentric characters who did silly things and made witty remarks while fireworks literally went off in the background. Both frantic and funny, the play gave audiences just the sort of escapist entertainment they wanted.

You Can't Take It with You not only pleased Depression-era theater-goers, it went on in the decades which followed to...