Paddy the Next Best Thing (novel)

Paddy the Next Best Thing is a 1908 romantic comedy novel by the British writer Gertrude Page.
The heroine of the story is Paddy Adair, the daughter of an impoverished Irish landowner near Carlingford. Her father, General Adair, had hoped she would be a boy, but is delighted by the high-spirited Paddy who dubs herself as "the next best thing" to a boy. Paddy falls in love with another landowner, who had once been involved with her elder sister.

Adaptations

Gayer Mackay and Robert Ord adapted the novel into a successful 1920 West End play of the same title. The cast was:

General Adair – J. H. Barnes
Dr Davy Adair – Clive Currie
Eileen Adair – Betty Faire
Mary O'Hara – Margaret Nicholls
Jack O'Hara – Anew McMaster
Laurence Blake – Ion Swinley
Doreen Blake – Eithne McChee
Gwendoline Carew – Winifred Evans
Lord Sellahy – H. V. Tollemache
Micky – Hyland T. O'Shea
Webb – Ethel Callanan
Mrs Bingley – Christine Jensen
Mrs Putter – Rose Edouin
Paddy – Peggy O'Neill.

The play opened at the Savoy Theatre on 5 April 1920, transferred briefly to the Strand Theatre in February 1922, and moved back to the Savoy in March, completing its run of 867 performances on 22 April 1922.
The novel has been made into films on two occasions: a 1923 British silent film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Mae Marsh and a 1933 American sound film directed by Harry Lachman and starring Janet Gaynor