S.J. Perelman's cult classic, The Beauty Part, will open in a fall revival by Off-Broadway's Peccadillo Theater Company Sept. 18. Perelman's satire of art and commerce in New York and Hollywood originally opened on Broadway on Dec. 26, 1962, with a cast headed by Bert Lahr in several roles. It closed 85 performances later. Since then, it has been periodically resurrected as a "lost classic."

Perelman began his working life as a cartoonist, moved on to screenwriting ("Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers"), and then settled into a long career as a humorist, writing pieces for The New Yorker. The Beauty Part was his solo playwriting debut.

Director Dan Wackerman has decided to tackle the play's many scenes by using a chorus of eight dancers, who, moving to the jazz of the period and brandishing props and pieces of furniture, suggest each successive locale.

Peccadillo previously revived Philip Barry's seldom seen In a Garden. For information on Beauty, call (212) 591 0564.

-- By Robert Simonson