This was not he first time the subject matter was performed.The screenplay by Howard Koch was based on W.Somerset Maugham""s mid-1920s London stage play (that featured Gladys Cooper in the lead role).Then, it was a Broadway play that opened in 1927 (with Katharine Cornell), followed by Paramount Studios"" talkie of the same name in 1929 with Academy-Award nominated Jeanne Eagels (in her sound film debut) as the female protagonist Leslie Crosbie.Cora: My husband tells me your name is Frank.Frank: That""s right.Cora: Well Frank, around here, you""ll kindly do your reading on your own time.Frank: Your husband, Nick told me I was through for the day and I hought he was boss around here.Cora: The best way to get my husband to fire you would be not doing what I tell you to do.Frank: Well, you haven""t asked me to do anything - yet.Cora: I want all these chairs painted.Frank: All right.I""ll look in the paper.Maybe I can find a sale on some cheap paint.Cora: You won""t find anythingcheaparound here! [An obvious double-entendre -- by film""s end, her price turns out to be very high] Look in the cupboard under the counter.In the Fitts home that evening, the passive and delusional Barbara and the Colonel watchedThis Is The Army (1943), an old Ronald Reagan military movie on television."Mommer" Sieppe (Sylvia Ashton) carries a large picnic basket; the twin brothers Max and Moritz (Oscar and Otto Gotell) and kid brother ""Owgooste"" (Austin Jewel) are dressed for the picnic outing and carry a butterfly net and a toy boat; and buck-toothed cousin Selina (Joan Standing).