Editing Design for Living (section)

==Background and first production==
Coward had known Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne since his first trip to New York in 1921, when he was penniless and they were scarcely better off. Dreaming of future stardom, they resolved that when all three were famous Coward would write a play for them all to star in.<ref name=lahr73>Lahr, p. 73</ref> In the following decade, Coward became one of the world's most famous playwrights, with a succession of popular hits.<ref>Lahr, p. 93</ref> These ranged from the [[operetta]] ''[[Bitter Sweet (operetta)|Bitter Sweet]]'' (1929) and the extravaganza ''[[Cavalcade (play)|Cavalcade]]'' (1931), to the intimate comedies ''[[Hay Fever (play)|Hay Fever]]'' (1924) and ''[[Private Lives]]'' (1930). Lunt and Fontanne too had achieved fame, and by the early 1930s the time was right for Coward to write their star vehicle.<ref name=Coward/>

The Lunts' marriage was devoted and long-lived, but there were triangular relationships in their private lives which Coward could draw on for his plot.<ref>Simon, John. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/books/when-icons-were-icons.html?searchResultPosition=1 "When Icons were Icons"], ''The New York Times'', 14 December 2003</ref> Coward recorded that while he was refining his original ideas for the play, "Alfred had suggested a few stage directions which if followed faithfully, would undoubtedly have landed all three of us in gaol".<ref name=Coward>Coward, unnumbered introductory page</ref> Of the three principal characters, Coward later commented,

{{blockquote|These glib, over-articulate and amoral creatures force their lives into fantastic shapes and problems because they cannot help themselves. Impelled chiefly by the impact of their personalities each upon the other, they are like moths in a pool of light, unable to tolerate the lonely outer darkness but equally unable to share the light without colliding constantly and bruising each other's wings.... The ending of the play is equivocal. The three of them... are left together as the curtain falls, laughing.... Some saw it as the lascivious anticipation of a sort of a carnal frolic. Others with less ribald imaginations regarded it as a meaningless and slightly inept excuse to bring the curtain down. I as author, however, prefer to think that Gilda and Otto and Leo were laughing at themselves.<ref name=Coward/>}}

''Design for Living'' previewed in [[Cleveland]], Ohio on 2 January 1933 and opened in New York on 24 January, at the [[Ethel Barrymore Theatre]] on Broadway to popular and critical acclaim. In ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Brooks Atkinson]] described it as a play of "skill, art and clairvoyance, performed by an incomparable trio of comedians. ... Miss Fontanne with her slow, languorous deliberation, Mr Lunt with his boyish enthusiasm, Mr Coward with his biting, nervous clarity. ... Skill, art, even erudition of a sort have gone into this gay bit of drollery."<ref>Lesley, p. 160</ref> The ''New York Sun'' called it "as happy a spectacle of surface skating as one might see," adding that the skaters were "sometimes on very thin ice."<ref>Coward, p. ix</ref> For the opening night, the price of tickets more than quintupled, and the three stars were reported to be receiving record salaries for a Broadway production.<ref>Hoare, p. 251</ref>

''Design for Living'' was such a success that Coward was prevailed upon to relax his usual rule against appearing in any production for more than three months, and he allowed the play to run for a total of five months. So great were the crowds of fans in the street that special police had to be called in during the last week of the run.<ref>Lesley, p. 161</ref> The notoriety of the play inspired a Broadway parody, "Life Begins at 8:40", sung by [[Luella Gear]], [[Ray Bolger]] and [[Bert Lahr]]:

{{Poem quote|Night and day, ma chérie,
Me for you, and you and you for me.
We're living in the smart upper sets.
Let other lovers sing their duets.
Duets are made for the bourgeoisie – oh
But only God can make a trio.<ref name=lahr73/>}}