A heartwarming play by John Patrick, first produced in 1950.

Mrs. Ethel P. Savage has just inherited $10 million from her late husband. After her husbands death, she realizes her crazy, youthful dreams and plans to use the money to help others make do the same. Her stepkids--[[RichBitch Lily Belle]], [[SleazyPolitician Titus]], and [[ObliviousYoungerSibling Samuel]]--commit her to The Cloisters, a sanatorium in Massachusetts, so that they can get their hands on the money. Somehow or another, Mrs. Savage manages to send them on one wild-goose chase after another from her seclusion.

Along the way, she gets to know the Cloisters's residents:

[[GoodWithNumbers Hannibal]]: A former statistician, who [[GiftedlyBad believes he is an excellent violinist]].

[[HouseWife Florence]]: A dignified woman who carries around a baby doll, [[TearJerker believing it to be her deceased son]].

[[GenkiGirl Fairy May]]: A plain girl who believes she is stunningly beautiful, and is determined to have someone say "I love you" to her at least once a day.

[[TheWoobie Jeff]]: A handsome guy whose plane was shot down in World War II, and thinks the incident left him with a disfiguring scar.

[[GrumpyOldMan Mrs. Paddy]]: Was told once to shut up, and never spoke again, except to rant: [[LongList "I hate lightning, skunk cabbage, custard, mustard, spiders, blisters...."]]

Dr. Emmett: The voice of reason.

Miss Willie: A nurse who stays on because she's [[spoiler: married to Jeff, but [[LaserGuidedAmnesia he doesn't remember her.]]]]

Even though the setting and premise look serious on paper, this play, done right, is both comedy and gentle satire. The three [[MeaningfulName Savage]] children are contrasted against the [[TheWoobie kind inmates]] at the Cloisters; add Mrs. Savage to the mix, and audiences are often left wondering who the sane ones really are.

!This play contains examples of:

* BabyDollBaby: Florence, one of the inmates in the sanitarium, has a doll she thinks is her deceased son.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Mrs. Savage's teddy bear.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Seeing as how six characters live in the nuthouse...
* CoolOldLady: Mrs. Savage
* DoubleEntendre
* DartboardOfHate: At Fairy May's suggestion, Mrs. Savage does this to Lily Belle. {{Hilarity Ensues}}.
* DirtyOldWoman: Mrs. Savage, although only while insulting Lily Bell, who's had six husbands.
* HappilyMarried: Mrs. Savage never regretted all of the things she didn't get to do because she married young until after her husband died.
* ElderlyBlueHairedLady: Mrs. Savage again. After dying her hair red and then going with a SkunkStripe, she finally decided just to tint her hair blue, since it goes with everything.
* {{Jerkass}}: In a set of three.
* MayDecemberRomance: Presumably. Mrs. Savage was 16 when she met her husband and he already had three children.
* TruthSerum: Averted by medical ethics.
* TooDumbToLive: Mrs. Savage tells her stepkids that the money is hidden in the most ridiculous places.... and they swallow it whole.
* {{TearJerker}}: When Mrs. Savage [[spoiler: finally leaves The Cloisters]] everyone else in the house is shown excactly the way why wish to be.
* WickedStepmother: Possibly why the savage children instantly decided to hate Ethel, although in this case it's more like Wicked Stepchildren.
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