Correcting play's names and faces

Thanks for your review of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Lincoln Theatre. I just want to offer a clarification on names and dates associated with the play.

Written in 1939, the play opened on Broadway in 1941 and was a big hit. Boris Karloff played the murderous brother Jonathan, who in the play keeps getting told by other characters that he looks like Boris Karloff. When Frank Capra prepared to make the movie, he asked for the play’s cast members to be given temporary leave so they could repeat their performances on screen. This was granted, except that the producers would not release Karloff, who was a big draw, and this upset him a great deal. It was also agreed that the film would not be released until the play had ended its run (not knowing that it would run for over three years). The film was finally released in 1944 – with Raymond Massey, in very good Boris Karloff makeup, as Jonathan.

Richard Doerflinger

La Conner