HUMOR: George Bernard Shaw's - Closed For Remodeling

This is hilarious; if you don't agree you haven't yet developed a sense of humor. If you already know about this, go away ... who needs a know it all anyway.

The socialist and iconoclastic Shaw was experiencing what might be called "the lowest point" in his career during WWI. His blistering opposition to the war drew the attention of the government and nearly resulted in charges of treason.

Not surprisingly, Shaw responded to his critics with his pen, crafting the play now known as Heartbreak House, a devastating commentary on the "Great War" and a bitter and withering attack on the spiritually bankrupt generation responsible for it. [Odd choice of words for an atheist.]

Shaw's sardonic wit was not restricted to the text of the play, however. The drama ... was eagerly anticipated by a London theatre-going crowd finally freed from the horrors of the long and bloody war with Germany.

But Shaw, in a fit of churlishness brought on by anger over public criticism of his anti-war stance, mischievously titled his play Closed for Remodeling. Theatre owners who staged Shaw's new offering shook their heads in puzzled disbelief at the sparse crowds in attendance night after night.

Finally, when the play was into the third week of its initial run (and two of the four London theatres staging it had already shut down their productions), a stage manager at the Savoy Theatre finally realized the problem: the playbills advertising Closed for Remodeling that had been posted all over town were leading patrons to believe the theatre was temporarily shut down for renovation.

The Savoy re-launched the play under the title Heartbreak House, and it has been known by that name ever since. ... As always, G.B. had the last laugh.

Ain't that a hoot?


Credit due Snopes.com with apologies for lifting virtually their entire post.

TAGS: Anti-war activists, Closed for Remodeling,
George Bernard Shaw, Heartbreak House, Humor,
Illustrations, Playwrites, Socialists, Theatre, WWI