A cherished project for Mel Ferrer in 1952 was this production of "Strike a Match," which differed from other La Jolla stagings in that Ferrer produced, directed and toured it independently once the La Jolla season ended
with an intended Broadway date set for January 1953. He personally
financed it along with help from Randolph Hale in San Francisco and
Charles R. Meeker at all later venues.
"Strike a Match" was a new play, written by Robert Smith and
starring Pat O'Brien, Eva Gabor and newcomer Richard Egan. After its
world premiere in La Jolla on August 20, 1952, Ferrer personally staged the production in Los Angeles and
arranged to have it open in San Francisco on December 9th at the Alcazar United Nations
Theater before moving on to St. Louis, San Antonio and Houston prior to
the planned New York City run.
Program notes indicate the play is about "all the
lonely people who come in out of the world to warm their hands at the
little fire that burns in a tavern - any tavern. It is a play about Kay,
who was once the happiest woman in the world; and about Val, who had a
great talent before it went through his fingers like quicksilver; and
about Ernie, who is the wittiest of bartenders because he truly hates
everybody - well, almost everybody."
It was one of the most successful plays of the La
Jolla season, and garnered much favorable publicity at its various venues, but
there's no indication it ever actually made the Broadway stage - either
in 1953 or later, though that was clearly Ferrer's intention. Mel Ferrer was with the production in San Francisco
and later joined up with it again in St. Louis before embarking on an
extensive trip to Europe to film two movies. That it was still much on
his mind is indicated in his remarks while in Sweden, where he pitched
the play to Sweden's top actress Anita Bjork, who wrote to him that she
would appear with it in
Stockholm.
