page_title: F. Ray Comstock
section_title: Princess Theatre musicals
hierarchical_section_title: F. Ray Comstock / Princess Theatre musicals
caption_attribution_description: English: Sheet music cover of the song "Not Yet", from the musical Oh, Lady! Lady!.
context_page_description: F. Ray Comstock was an American theatrical producer and theater operator.
  He pioneered the intimate musical comedy, staging several successful comedies at his Princess Theatre in Manhattan.
  He also produced spectacular musicals, variety shows and serious plays by authors such as Henrik Ibsen and Maxim Gorky.
context_section_description: Archibald Selwyn partnered with the Shubert Brothers and William A. Brady in building the Princess Theatre, a small 299-seat auditorium on 39th street that opened in 1913. 
  The theater was not successful at first, and Selwyn and Brady gave up their shares to Comstock.
  Comstock produced Jerome Kern's Nobody Home in 1915, presented in the Princess Theatre. 
  The reaction was generally favorable, and Comstock recognized that a small house like the Princess could provide a venue for a musical comedy that was more intimate and friendly than a larger theater.
  Comstock formed the Marbury-Comstock Company with Elizabeth Marbury, and commissioned a second musical comedy from Kern, Very Good Eddie. This opened on 23 December 1915 and ran for 341 performances. It then went on the road for another year.
  The show was deliberately informal and low key, with a more coherent story line than most such comedies and less dancing. 
  It established the genre of the "intimate" musical comedy.
  The Princess Theatre musicals revolved around modern people in situations that were comic but possible. 
  A cast of about thirty was supported by an eleven-piece orchestra. There were two sets, both relatively simple.
  This was a gamble, but it paid off.
  Elliot and Comstock co-produced Oh, Boy!, which opened at the Princess on 20 February 1917. The show, by Kern, Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, starred the young Marion Davies, Justine Johnstone, Tom Powers and Edna May Oliver.Oh, Boy! ran for 463 performances. Oh, Lady! Lady!! was another successful musical by the same team. It opened at the Princess on 1 February 1918 and ran for 219 performances. Stars included Vivienne Segal and Margaret Dale.
caption: Sheet music cover of the song "Not Yet", from the musical Oh, Lady! Lady!!
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