The Millionairess & Selected Correspondence Relating to the Play

The selected correspondence of Bernard Shaw relating to the play The Millionairess contains 37 letters, written between 1934 and 1949. The book represents a significant addition to present-day understanding of the play The Millionairess. It reveals views of Shaw on a wide variety of issues and his relationships with contemporaries. The play The Millionairess was written in 1935. The first English edition was published on 24 March 1936 by Constable and Company Ltd, London (The Simpleton, The Six, And The Millionairess: Being Three More Plays). This publication is a handmade reproduction from this edition, and remains as true to the original work as possible. The original edition was processed manually by means of a classic editing which ensures the quality of publications.

Here are some inspirational book quotes from Bernard Shaw: «The Millionairess is a play with a very strong part for a female star, and, if you can get the right woman, it will be a moneymaker and cover [your wife] Tina with diamonds. It is, however, a star play in respect of its dependence on a single actress with a very heavy part and a termagant personality. If they have found the right woman for Epifania, and she sticks faithfully to her part as I have written it, it will be a success; and you will make some money. Unless it is pure Shaw, it is doomed. If they alter a single word or incident in The Millionairess they shall never have another play of mine to murder. I have not written a potboiler since The Apple Cart; and I must make some money out of The Millionairess or drop the theatre. The successes in Vienna, Prague, and now in Milan and Rome are hopeful; and I ought to strike while the iron is lukewarm. I have a young and beautiful Epifania raging to play the part: Her name is Leonora Corbett. I have not had a potboiler since The Apple Cart; and as all my debentures and mortgages were paid off during the slump and my investments in crematoria have not yet fructified I am banking a little on The Millionairess to make me a millionaire. Eppy speech should be peculiar to herself; but she must not be a stage foreigner, as that lingo is always grossly incorrect. She is exotic and essentially tragic all through. In the original version I made the woman a boxer; but, on the stage, that was unconvincing and unladylike. So I have made her a Judo expert. The part requires just such a personality as Miss Hepburn.»

The book also includes an editor's note to German readers.