Abie’s Irish Rose became a fixture on Broadway in the 1920s, running for more than five years. That was bad news for Robert Benchley, who had to think up a new capsule review of the play each week for Life magazine:

• “People laugh at this every night, which explains why democracy can never be a success.”
• “In another two or three years, we’ll have this play driven out of town.”
• “Where do people come from who keep this going? You don’t see them out in the daytime.”
• “A-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, well, all right.”
• “All right if you never went beyond the fourth grade.”
• “The Phoenicians were among the earliest settlers of Britain.”
• “There is no letter ‘w’ in the French language.”
• “Flying fish are sometimes seen at as great a height as fifteen feet.”

In despair he finally wrote, “See Hebrews 13:8.”

That verse reads “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.”