It Pays to Advertise: A Farcical Fact in Three Acts

In 1915, when Broadway still had the courage to mock the machinery of commerce, Roi Cooper Megrue served up a comedy that bit the hand that fed it. Rodney Martin, privileged son of soap magnate Cyrus Martin, has a secret: he's launched his own soap company, the absurdly named 'Thirteen Soap,' to prove he can succeed on his own terms and win the heart of his capable secretary, Mary Grayson. The farcical complications pile up as Rodney tries to hide his entrepreneurial venture from his father while a Countess arrives seeking French distribution rights, potentially exposing everything. Megrue's play skewers the burgeoning advertising industry with sharp wit and rapid-fire dialogue, exploring what it means to earn rather than inherit, and whether love and business can ever be honest pursuits. The play was a genuine Broadway hit, running for over 300 performances, which makes its satire of commercial America all the more delicious: a popular entertainment that quietly mocked the very audience buying its tickets. Vintage comedy with real teeth beneath its frothy surface.