"The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French

For the genre "play" our book club chose, "The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French. The picture is from the movie version. The actual "book" is a script with a red nondescript cover. 

The play centers around a young woman, Jane, whose mother is desperate for her to find a suitable husband. A friend of the mother's also has a daughter "coming out" and in a similar search. Two very different men, both named David, provide the potential love interests. That each is initially made to understand that one particular David is the right one, and that it ultimately proves incorrect is basically the entire plot. Hijinks ensue. The reluctant debutante's parents, Jimmy and Sheila, provide a bit of a Mr. and Mrs. Bennet-style characters.

The play claims to be hilarious and warns against introducing over-the-top staging to enhanced its humor. At most, I found it slightly amusing. However, when our book club met to discuss it, someone suggested reading a scene out loud. We assigned ourselves parts and proceeded to do a read aloud. The results were actually very funny. I finally understood the initial note. Exaggerating for effect was unnecessary.