One of the most successful plays of the early 20th century, George M. Cohan, the original Yanky Doodle Dandy, created a new style of play which baffled and delighted audiences when Seven Keys to Baldpate opened in 1913: a melodrama crossed with a farce, tied up in a mystery.

The play tells the story of fluff novelist William Magee, who locks himself away in a snowbound summer resort in the dead of winter in an effort to win a bet with the hotel's owner that he cannot write an entire novel during his short stay. The owner assures Magee that Magee's key is the only one…but Magee will discover over the course of the evening that there are several other keys. All are in the possession of a collection of quirky, crazed characters, six apparent lunatics, involved in an increasingly bizarre scheme to steal millions.

Seven Keys to Baldpate ran for over a year on Broadway, then ran over a year on tour, and ran extensively in revival 20 years later. It was also later made into a movie 6 times, a silent film once, a radio show twice (once by Jack Benny), and into a made-for-TV movie at least twice.