This production has a Trump card

Why are such relatively well-known actors as Linda Blair, Charlene Tilton, Robert Walden, Johnny Whitaker and Eddie Mekka appearing in Ray Cooney’s farce “Run for Your Wife” for a brief run, only Wednesday through Saturday at the 96-seat Theatre East, above a Studio City bowling alley?

Because it’s a warmup for a larger, presumably better-paying run at the Trump 29 Casino, near Indio, on the following weekend, in a theater that could seat as many as 2,100.

William Osco is producing the venture with Murray Langston, better known as “the Unknown Comic,” who does his comedy routine with a paper bag over his head. Langston is also appearing in the play, minus the paper bag.

After the Trump casino, they hope to take the show to Las Vegas, where this Americanized version of the British farce is set, and maybe other stops.

It hasn’t been easy so far. Blair got a TV gig that shortened the Studio City run by a weekend. Then Tilton tripped over her cat, tearing ligaments in her ankle and forcing a one-week postponement of the original run. Walden came to the project late after another actor failed to show up.

The Trump venue, Osco said, can be reduced via curtains to a smaller size. That might be a good idea, he added, because 2,100 seats is too many for a play.

He also might want to make sure there aren’t any backstage cats.

-- Don Shirley