Sly Fox is a comedic play by Larry Gelbart

Larry Gelbart

Larry Simon Gelbart was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...

, based on Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...

's Volpone

Volpone

Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...

(The Fox), updating the setting from Renaissance Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 to 19th century San Francisco, and changing the tone from satire to farce.

It premiered on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 December 14, 1976 at the Broadhurst Theatre

Broadhurst Theatre

The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...

. Directed by Arthur Penn

Arthur Penn

Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...

, the play featured George C. Scott

George C. Scott

George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...

, Bob Dishy

Bob Dishy

Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film and television. He is married to former actress Judy Graubart .He appeared on Broadway in:...

, Hector Elizondo

Hector Elizondo

Héctor Elizondo is an American actor. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in the play Steambath, for which he won an Obie Award...

, Jack Gilford

Jack Gilford

Jack Gilford was an American actor on Broadway, films and television.-Early life:Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...

, and Gretchen Wyler

Gretchen Wyler

Gretchen Wyler was an American actress and founder of the Genesis Awards for animal protection.-Early life:...

. Scott was succeeded by Robert Preston

Robert Preston

Robert Preston may refer to:*Robert Preston , American actor*Robert Preston *Robert E. Preston , Director of the U.S. Mint 1893-98*Robert K...

.

According to his biography at tcm.com, Jackie Gleason

Jackie Gleason

Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...

 was touring in the lead role of Sly Fox in 1978 when he suffered a heart attack and had to permanently leave the show, undergoing a triple bypass.

The play was revived on April 1, 2004 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....

, again directed by Arthur Penn, featuring Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...

, Bob Dishy

Bob Dishy

Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film and television. He is married to former actress Judy Graubart .He appeared on Broadway in:...

, Eric Stoltz

Eric Stoltz

Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...

, René Auberjonois, Professor Irwin Corey, Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley

Elizabeth Berkley is an American television, film, and theatre actress. Berkley's most notable roles were in the television series Saved by the Bell, as brainy feminist Jessie Spano, and the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls, as exotic dancer Nomi Malone.-Early life:Berkley was born and raised...

, Rachel York

Rachel York

Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in City of Angels, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, Victor Victoria, Kiss Me, Kate, Sly Fox, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels...

, Peter Scolari

Peter Scolari

Peter Scolari is an American television, film and stage actor best known for his roles in the television shows Newhart, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Bosom Buddies.-Career:...

, and Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Pinchot

Bronson Alcott Pinchot is an American actor. He has appeared in several feature films, including Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop , The First Wives Club, True Romance, Courage Under Fire and It's My Party...

.

The 1967 film The Honey Pot

The Honey Pot

The Honey Pot, also known as The Honeypot, is a 1967 crime comedy film made by Famous Artists Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film stars Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson, Capucine, Edie Adams, and Maggie Smith. It was written for the screen and directed by Joseph L....

also was inspired by the original Volpone.

Like Volpone, and Puccini

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

's opera Gianni Schicchi

Gianni Schicchi

Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...

, this is a story of a con-man who convinces others that he is near death, and turns their greed against them for his own gain.

Plot

Foxwell J. Sly has his assistant Simon Able spread the word that he is wealthy, dying, making a will, and might be moved to make a bequest if showered with gifts.

Able, though, would rather have the money for himself, and the intricate plotting of the two, and the schemes of those who would fleece Sly himself produce a farcical plot on which Gelbart's hangs his witticisms.

Quotes

• "Ah! Gold! "God" with an 'L'!"

• "Never think too little of people; there’s always a little less to be thought."