Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour opened to raves on Broadway and became one of the longest-running hits of the pre-war era. After reading the reviews, Goldwyn Pictures chief Samuel Goldwyn, famed for his malapropisms, told his associate producer Merritt Hulburd that they ought to buy it. "Forget it, Mr. Goldwyn," Hulburd replied. "It's about lesbians." "Don't worry," Goldwyn declared, "we'll make them Americans!"
[Though the term 'lesbian' does in fact derive from the Greek island of Lesbos, it is doubtful that Goldwyn was aware of this.]
Sources
Arthur Marx, Goldwyn
