She stopped an army with cake and wine. Yes, really. Yes, there's singing.
This live TV adaptation of the Broadway musical "Dearest Enemy" from 1925 is based on an American Revolutionary War incident in September 1776 when Mary Lindley Murray, under orders from General George Washington, detained General William Howe and his British troops by serving them cake, wine and conversation in her Kips Bay, Manhattan home long enough for some 4,000 American soldiers, fleeing their loss in the Battle of Brooklyn, to reassemble in Washington Heights and join reinforcements to make a successful counterattack.
Acting
Cyril Ritchard's deliciously theatrical British general steals every scene.
Production
Live 1955 broadcast constraints become accidental avant-garde staging.
Director
Max Liebman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1925 Broadway original ran 286 performances and made Rodgers & Hart famous—this TV version came thirty years later when the songwriters were already legends.
This aired on NBC's 'Max Liebman Presents,' part of 1950s TV's obsession with adapting stage musicals live—a format that died with videotape but spawned everything from 'Smash' to 'Hamilton' on Disney+.
US
