Frankie and Johnny (play)

Frankie and Johnnie is a 1926 play by Jack Kirkland, based on the popular American ballad. It has three acts, one setting, and a large cast. The story concerns a dance hall girl whose lover is lured away by another woman, leading to tragedy. The setting is in a St. Louis waterfront dance hall during 1849.

A. H. Woods acquired the rights to produce Frankie and Johnnie in the Spring of 1929. John D. Williams staged it, Eugene Bonner provided incidental music, and the sets were by P. Dodd Ackerman. A tryout was held at New Rochelle, New York in May 1929, with Grace Kern, Louis Heydt, and Leona Maricle as the principals. The production then moved to Chicago, where after two weeks it was shut down by the Police Commissioner.

The play remained dormant until John Morfit agreed to mount a new production, staged by Lee Elmore, with a tryout in Queens during September 1930. The principals were Ann Forrest, Frank McGlynn, Jr. and Roberta Beatty. The tryout lasted two days before it was closed down and the cast members arrested. However, a "toned-down" version of the play went ahead on Broadway at the Theatre Republic later that month, running through November 1930. The playwright, director, stage manager, and principal cast members were found guilty at a trial, and given suspended sentences.

The play was adapted for a 1936 movie of the same name.