1907 Caesar and Cleopatra, opens at London's Savoy Theatre. This George Bernard Shaw 'history' play had its premiere at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, in September of this year. The players in this production include Johnstone Forbes-Robertson, Gertrude Elliott, Philip Tonge, and Elizabeth Watson.

1913 Could George Abott have realized his appearance in The Misleading Lady would begin a 76 year career in the theatre? Charles Goddard and Paul Dickey are the authors of this play about a woman who tricks a man into marriage just for a joke. Lewis Stone is the star directed by Holbrook Blinn.

1929 The Game of Love and Death by Romain Rolland stars Claude Rains,Alice Brady, Otto Kruger, and debuting Henry Fonda in a walk-on. Presented by the Theatre Guild and directed Rouben Mamoulian this play will run six weeks.

1952 The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie is set tonight at the Ambassadors' Theatre in London. The cast, trapped in a lonely snow-bound manor, is led by Richard Attenborough and his off-stage wife Sheila Sim. [Forty-four years and not sprung yet!]

2000 Few regional theatre openings this season have had the buzz that’s hovering over The Spitfire Grill, a new musical premiering at New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse, Nov. 25-Dec. 24, opening Nov. 29. Those involved are hesitant to talk about post-regional plans for the musical, but it’s an open secret the theatre is excited about the show and that New York producers are watching it closely. Based on Lee David Zlotoff's movie, Grill is directed by artistic director David Saint (Down the Garden Paths). The title is the name of a restaurant, where the no- nonsense owner, Hannah, and a former women's prison inmate, Percy (Garrett Long), trying to start over develop a friendship — and a contest. Grill is a collaboration by Fred Alley and James Valcq, with Valcq doing the music, Alley penning the lyrics, and the duo adapting the book. The show will move to Off-Broadway in 2001. -- by Anne Bradley and Steve Luber