{{Short description|Hungarian-language play by Paul Vulpius}} {{italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|This is a poster for the 1936 play''Help Yourself'' which was produced on Broadway by the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression. '''''Youth at the Helm''''' ({{langx|hu|Helyet az ifjúságnak}}) is a Hungarian-language play by Paul Vulpius, the joint pen name of Ladislas Fodor and {{ill|László Lakatos|hu|Lakatos László (író)}}, which premiered in Budapest in 1933.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2mYAwAAQBAJ&dq=Ladislas+Fodor+YOuth+At+The+Helm&pg=PA394|title=The London Stage 1930–1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|author=J. P. Wearing|year=2014|page=394|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780810893047 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Foreign Show News: Robert's Fodor Play|journal=Variety|volume=118|issue=4|date=April 10, 1935|page=57}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Times Square: CHATTER – Budapest|author= E P. Jacobi|journal=Variety|volume=112|issue=14|date=December 12, 1933|page=60}}</ref> The play was also staged in Vienna, Austria in 1933 under the title '''''Hau-ruck''''' using a German language translation of Fodor and Lakatos's play by Hans Adler who also adopted the pen name Paul Vulpius.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sd4TMJJBRDoC|title=Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections:An Author and Title Index to Plays Appearing in Collections Published Since 1900|author=John Henry Ottemiller, Denise L. Montgomery|year=2011|page=281|publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810877207 }}</ref> Adler's German language translation was the source material for two different English language translations of the play: ''Youth At the Helm'' by Hubert Griffith (1896–1953), used frequently in the United Kingdom during the 1930s, and '''''Help Yourself''''' by John J. Coman for the work's Broadway production in 1936.<ref name="nyt">{{cite journal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/07/15/archives/help-yourself-is-given-by-wpa-popularprice-unit-presents-farce.html|title=HELP YOURSELF!' IS GIVEN BY WPA; Popular-Price Unit Presents Farce Adapted From the Viennese Original. CURT BOIS IN LEADING ROLE John J. Coman Has Written Play From German of Paul Vulpius for Manhattan Theatre.|journal=The New York Times|author=J. K. H.|date=July 15, 1936}}</ref><ref name="variety youth">{{cite news|title=Legitimate: Plays Abroad – YOUTH AT THE HELM|work=Variety|volume= 116|issue=10|date=November 20, 1934|page=54}}</ref> The play has also been staged using the titles ''Jugend voran'' (Germany) and ''L'affare Kubinsky'' (Italy). The play served as the basis for the 1936 film ''Jack of All Trades'' starring Jack Hulbert.<ref>Goble p.484</ref>

==Griffith's English-language adaptation== The play was first performed in the English language under the title ''Youth at the Helm'' in an adaptation of Adler's play made by Herbert Griffith at the Westminster Theatre in London from November 5, 1934 to November 19, 1934.<ref name=" variety youth"/><ref name="Stage">{{cite news|title=LONDON THEATRES: THE WESTMINSTER, "Youth At the Helm"|work=The Stage|issue=2,797|date=Nov 8, 1934|page=10}}</ref> Produced by Harold French and Community Theaters, Ltd., the cast included Jack Melford as Randolph Warrender, David Bird as Fitch, Townsend Whitling as William, Vera Lennox as Dorothy Wilson, Marcus Barron as the Old Gentleman, O. B. Clarence as the Chairman, Alastair Sim as Ponsonby, Margery Morris as Yvonne, Walter Horsbrugh as Nicholson, Hamlyn Benson as Hollman, C. M. Hallard as Lord Farley, George Weir as Roberts, and Fred Royal as the Office Boy.<ref name="Stage"/>

A critical success, Griffith's adaptation was staged several more times in the United Kingdom in the 1930s. It was performed for two weeks of tryout performances at the New Theatre Oxford before transferring to the Globe Theatre in London on February 28, 1935.<ref>{{cite journal|title=PROVINCIAL PRODUCTIONS: New, Oxford, "Youth At the Helm"|journal=The Stage|issue=2,811|date=February 14, 1935|page=10}}</ref><ref name="Globe">{{cite journal|title=LONDON THEATRES: THE GLOBE, "Youth At the Helm"|journal=The Stage|issue=2,813|date=February 28, 1935|page= 12}}</ref> This production was produced by Howard & Wyndham Ltd with Owen Nares as Randolph Warrender, Walter Hudd as Fitch, Kay Hammond as Dorothy Wilson, Adele Dixon as Yvonne, and with O. B. Clarence, Alastair Sim, and Fred Royal reprising their roles.<ref name="Globe"/> The production ran at the Globe for three months, ending its run on May 25, 1935.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Times Square: CHATTER – London|journal=Variety|issue=12|volume=118|date=June 5, 1935|page=52}}</ref> The production then went on tour the following June for performances at the Golders Green Hippodrome<ref>{{cite journal|title=ON TOUR|journal=The Stage|issue=2,826|date=May 30, 1935|page=1}}</ref> and thee Streatham Hill Theatre.<ref>{{cite news|title=ON TOUR|work=The Stage|issue=2,828 |date=June 13, 1935|page=1}}</ref> The Liverpool Playhouse staged the work in August–September 1935 with Michael Redgrave as Randolph Warrender and Jane Baxter as Dorothy Wilson.<ref>{{cite journal|title=LIVERPOOL REPERTORY|journal=The Stage|issue=2,840|date=September 5, 1935|page=9}}</ref>

Other UK theatres to stage Griffith's version included the Devonshire Park Theatre (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=EASTBOURNE|journal=The Stage|issue=2,842|date=September 19, 1935|page=7}}</ref>), the Brighton Palace Pier (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=BRIGHTON|journal=The Stage|issue=2,844|date=October 3, 1935|page=10}}</ref>), the Edinburgh Festival Theatre (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=EDINBURGH|journal=The Stage|issue=2,846|date=October 17, 1935|page=10}}</ref>), the Tyne Theatre and Opera House (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=THE PROVINCES|journal=The Stage|issue=2,848|date=October 31, 1935|pages=15–16}}</ref>), the Grand Theatre, Leeds (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=LEEDS|journal=The Stage|issue=2,849|date=November 7, 1935|page=12}}</ref>), the Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham (1935<ref>{{cite journal|title=BIRMINGHAM|journal=The Stage|issue=2,850|date=November 14, 1935|page=9}}</ref>), the Royal Theatre, Northampton (1936<ref>{{cite journal|title=LONDON THEATRES: NORTHAMPTON PLAYERS|journal=The Stage|issue=2,858|date=Jan 9, 1936|page=10}}</ref>), the Royal Theatre, Huddersfield (1936<ref>{{cite journal|title=THE- PROVINCES|issue=2,866|date=January 23, 1936|page=12|journal=The Stage}}</ref>), the Morecambe Winter Gardens (1936<ref>{{cite journal|title=THE PROVINCES|journal=The Stage|issue=2,874|date=Apr 30, 1936|page=7}}</ref>), the Little Theatre, Bristol (1936,<ref>{{cite journal|title=LONDON THEATRES: BRISTOL|journal=The Stage|issue=2,888|date=August 6, 1936|page=10}}</ref> 1939<ref>{{cite journal|title=BRISTOL, Youth At the Healm|journal= The Stage |issue= 3,048|date=August 31, 1939|page= 2}}</ref>), The Prince's Theatre, Bradford (1939<ref>{{cite journal|title=BRADFORD, Youth At the Healm|journal=The Stage|issue=3,026|date=March 30, 1939|page=2}}</ref>), and the Oxford Playhouse (1939<ref>{{cite journal|title=OXFORD, Youth At the Healm|journal=The Stage|issue=3,061|date=November 30, 1939|page=12}}</ref>). The United States premiere of Griffith's version was presented at the Surry Theatre in Maine from August 10–14, 1937.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Co-Op Group in Surry|magazine=Billboard|volume=49|issue=27|date=July 3, 1937|page=23}}</ref>

Griffith's version was adapted into a film entitled ''Jack of All Trades'' by screenwriter J. O. C. Orton.<ref name="film"/> The film premiered in London on February 18, 1936.<ref name="film">{{cite journal|title=Film review: JACK OF ALL TRADES|journal=Variety|volume=121|issue=12|date=March 4, 1936|page=31}}</ref> The film renamed the main character Randolph to Jack Warrender who was portrayed by Jack Hulbert.<ref name="film"/>

==1936 Broadway production: ''Help Yourself''== In 1936 the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) of the Works Progress Administration of the United States government produced the play on Broadway using a new English-language adaptation by John J. Coman based on Adler's German-language adaptation from the Vienna production.<ref name="nyt"/> Staged by Lucius Moore Cook and designed by Tom Adrian Cracraft, the production premiered at the Manhattan Theater on July 14, 1936 with a cast that included Curt Bois as Christopher Stringer, Walter Burke as Frederick Bittlesby, Doan Borup as Nicholas B. Bradley, and Camelia Campbell as Peggy Danforth.<ref name="nyt"/> The play moved to Maxine Elliott's Theatre and then the Adelphi Theatre.<ref>{{cite journal|title= NEWS OF THE STAGE; Federal Theatre to Transfer 'Help Yourself' to the Maxine Elliott July 28|journal=The New York Times|date= July 18, 1936}}</ref> In 1937 the FTP took the play on a national tour, with performances given at the Hollywood Playhouse, the Musart Theatre in Los Angeles, the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs, the Copley Theatre in Boston, Mountain Park in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the Empire Theatre in Salem, Massachusetts, the San Jose Civic Auditorium, the Santa Maria High School Auditorium, the University of California, Berkeley’s Campus Theatre, Minski's Columbia Theatre in San Francisco, the President Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Warburton Theatre in Yonkers, New York.<ref>{{cite book|title=By the People, For the People, Posters of the WPA}}</ref>

==Film versions== *1935: ''Lärm um Weidemann'', directed by Johann Alexander Hübler-Kahla *1936: ''Jack of All Trades'', directed by Robert Stevenson and Jack Hulbert *1940: ''{{Interlanguage link|La danza dei milioni|it|3=La danza dei milioni (film 1940)|lt=La danza dei milioni}}'', directed by Camillo Mastrocinque *1953: ''{{ill|Drei, von denen man spricht|de|3 von denen man spricht}}'', directed by Axel von Ambesser

==''Inside Trading''== In 1996 Malcolm Bradbury wrote the play ''Inside Trading'', a modern version of ''Youth at the Helm''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book | last=Goble | first=Alan |date=1999 | title=The complete index to literary sources in film |publisher=Walter de Gruyter | publication-place=London | isbn=978-3-11-095194-3 | oclc=868959494}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1933 plays Category:British plays adapted into films Category:Plays set in England Category:Broadway plays Category:West End plays Category:Hungarian plays