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''You Can't Take It with You'' is a 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, later adapted into a 1938 film starring Lionel Barrymore and JimmyStewart, and a forgotten 1987 syndicated television series.

Set during The Depression, the plot is centered around the lives of the QuirkyHousehold of the Sycamore family. The household includes eccentric but kind patriarch Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff, his daughter Penny, an amateur playwright, her husband Paul, who is a fireworks engineer with his friend Mr [=DePinna=], and their two daughters Alice, the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]], and Essie, an amateur ballerina trained by a crazed Russian, Boris Kolenkhov, and wife of Ed, a printer and xylophone player. Also in the house is the SassyBlackWoman maid, Rheba, and her CloudCuckoolander boyfriend, Donald. The main conflict of the work involves Alice falling in love with Tony Kirby, and how Tony's wealthy banker father, Anthony P. Kirby and his snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match, especially after a disastrous Dinner Party where the families were supposed to become acquainted. Throw into the mix a drunken actress, Gay Wellington, an exiled Russian Countess, Olga Katrina, and various FBI and IRS agents, and you have a play beloved by High School drama clubs nation-wide.

The film won the AcademyAward for Best Picture of 1938, as well as Best Director for Capra; it was Capra's third award in five years after previously winning for ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'' and ''Film/MrDeedsGoesToTown''. It was also something of a StarMakingRole for Stewart, who had been working in Hollywood since 1935 but saw his career really start to take off following this film. The movie does suffer from AdaptationExpansion--it has 153 characters as opposed to only 19 in the play.
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!!This Work Shows Examples Of:
* AdaptationExpansion
* BeYourself: Grandpa Vanderhoff's philosophy, which he passes down to his family, explaining their strange behavior.
* ButtMonkey: Mr. Kirby in Act 2.
* CloudCuckoolander: Most of the cast--certainly the Vanderhoff family.
** Kolenkhov and Mrs. Sycamore probably take the top prize, however.
* CoolOldGuy: Grandpa
* DinnerAndAShow
* DysfunctionalFamily: Subverted, the Sycamores are quite happy with their weirdness, as compared to the unhappy normality of the Kirby's.
* HuskyRusskie: Kolenkhov, played in the movie by Mischa Auer.
* LadyDrunk: Gay Wellington, in spades.
* ManChild: Paul is the proud owner of an erector set.
--> '''Mr. Kirby:''' Do you use this as a model of some sort?
--> '''Paul:''' No, I just play with it.
* MeaningfulEcho: In the movie, when Grandpa Vanderhoff invites Mr. Poppins to stay with them, Mr. Poppins wants to know who takes care of all of them. Grandpa informs him, "[[Literature/TheBible The same one who takes care of the lilies of the field]]," and invites him to become a lily. Some moments later, when Mr. Poppins decides to quit his job on the spot, he rushes out to Grandpa Vanderhoff and says, "The die is cast; I'm a lily!"
* MeddlingParents: The Kirbys.
* MostWritersAreWriters: Penny's a playwright.
* OneNormalNight: Alice just wants her family to not be weird over the course of one dinner party. It doesn't work.
* OnlySaneMan: Alice, among her family.
* PrettyInMink: Mrs. Kirby
* QuirkyHousehold
* SassyBlackWoman
* SlobsVersusSnobs: A central conflict (although the Vanderhoffs are more bohemian [[CloudCuckoolander Cloudcuckoolanders]] than actual slobs), most notable during the dinner scene. The movie comes down pretty hard against the snobs.
* StarMakingRole: Jimmy Stewart had been working in Hollywood since 1935 but this was the movie that made him a big star.
* TitleDrop: Grandpa drops the title in reference to Mr. Kirby's wealth... It's the Aesop, after all.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a broken leg, and Barrymore did the film on crutches.
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