The bedroom farce disguised as historical comedy opened on 15 October 1924 at the Morosco Theatre and ran for 287 performances. Edwin Justus Mayer's first produced play was set in the Italian Renaissance and centered upon the amorous activities of sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, played by Joseph Schildkraut. Frank Morgan played the duke, a henpecked husband, and appeared again in the 1934 motion picture version, The Affairs of Cellini. The 1945 musical version, The Firebrand of Florence, failed despite the estimable talents of Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin, and Lotte Lenya.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.