''Once in a Lifetime'' is an American play, notable as the first of eight collaborations by famous playwriting duo George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The play has elements of {{Satire}}, but for the most part it is content to be zany, character-driven {{Farce}}. It was first produced on Broadway in 1930.

The plot follows [[OnlySaneMan May Daniels]], [[TheSmartGuy Jerry Hyland]], and [[TheDitz George Lewis]], a [[PowerTrio trio]] of vaudeville performers who, in the wake of the first motion picture with sound (''FIlm/TheJazzSinger''), head out to Hollywood to try their hand at teaching movie stars how to speak eloquently. When they get there, however, they discover just how difficult it is to get by in Hollywood, and just how {{c|loudcuckoolander}}razy some of the people out there can be. Some of those crazy people include:

* Susan Walker, a small-town girl who dreams of being an actress. She travels out to Hollywood with her mother, meeting (and falling in love with) George along the way. [[BadBadActing She's not very talented.]]
* Herman Glogauer, head of the Glogauer Studios, who signs on the trio with their voice training school. He lives in the shadow of [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]]: turning down the Vitaphone, which would go on to make ''The Jazz Singer'' the first talkie and make rival studio Schlepkin Brothers a ton of money.
* Helen Hobart, an old friend of May from their vaudeville days who is now famous in Hollywood as a gossip columnist. Exceedingly flamboyant and affected.
* Lawrence Vail, a young playwright who was brought out to Hollywood to be a screenwriter, given an office and a big salary, and promptly ignored by the studio.
* Miss Leighton, Glogauer's brisk, efficient secretary. Much hated by Vail, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat for certain reasons]].
* Rudolph Kammerling, a much put-upon German film director.
* Phyllis Fontaine and Florabel Leigh, two beautiful film starlets with horrific voices.

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!!This play contains examples of:

* AmbiguouslyJewish - Glogauer
* BadBadActing - Susan
* BetaCouple - George and Susan
* BoisterousBruiser - Both Glogauer and Kammerling--which makes [[HamToHamCombat their arguments]] a sight to see.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}} - Half the damn cast.
* ConsolationBackfire: When George's movie appears to be a fiasco, May tells him that "we've got a gold dinner set, anyway. A hundred and six pieces, and every piece with your initials in diamonds. That's not bad for two months' work." This is the cue for two pages to appear, carrying said dinner set out.
* CreatorCameo - George S. Kaufman himself originated the role of Lawrence Vail on Broadway.
* DeadpanSnarker - Vail and May both have their moments.
* TheDitz - George. Susan as well, but mostly George.
* LoveRedeems - Jerry--who is a shameless suck-up to Glogauer the entire play--[[spoiler:quits his job in pursuit of May after she leaves]], proving that he really does love her.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg - "Ladies and gentlemen--and Mr. Glogauer..."
* NaiveNewcomer - The main trio (and the Walkers to an extent)
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed - Played with all over. Creator/JanetGaynor, Creator/JohnBarrymore, and the major studios of the times are all name-dropped normally, but Kammerling is probably supposed to represent Creator/FritzLang, and the Schlepkin Brothers studio is clearly meant to be a send-up of Warner Bros.
** Which makes it really strange [[FridgeLogic when you think about]] the fact that Warner Bros. itself is referenced elsewhere by it's actual name.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] - May
* OurActsAreDifferent - The play is split up into three acts, with an {{Intermission}} usually taken between each act. Also, the first and third are comprised of three scenes each, but the second act is just one big scene.
* TheRoaringTwenties
* StageMom - Mrs. Walker has a little of this in her.
* TooDumbToLive - George, but of course, his stupidity lands him an executive job at the studio.
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