Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
E218085
"Arsenic and Old Lace" is a dark comedic stage play by Joseph Kesselring about a man who discovers his seemingly sweet elderly aunts are serial poisoners.
All labels observed (12)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1928450 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Arsenic and Old Lace (play) Context triple: [Arsenic and Old Lace (film), basedOn, Arsenic and Old Lace (play)]
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A.
Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 dark comedy film directed by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant as a man who discovers his seemingly sweet aunts are serial killers.
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B.
A Comedy of Murders
A Comedy of Murders is a comedic crime play by British writer Michael Chaplin that blends humor with a classic whodunit storyline.
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C.
The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, celebrated for its witty dialogue and influential role in defining the genre.
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D.
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1939 American musical film, based on the Rodgers and Hart stage musical, best known for starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as aspiring performers putting on a show.
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E.
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1937 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, best known for songs like "My Funny Valentine" and "The Lady Is a Tramp."
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Arsenic and Old Lace (play) Target entity description: "Arsenic and Old Lace" is a dark comedic stage play by Joseph Kesselring about a man who discovers his seemingly sweet elderly aunts are serial poisoners.
-
A.
Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 dark comedy film directed by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant as a man who discovers his seemingly sweet aunts are serial killers.
-
B.
A Comedy of Murders
A Comedy of Murders is a comedic crime play by British writer Michael Chaplin that blends humor with a classic whodunit storyline.
-
C.
The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, celebrated for its witty dialogue and influential role in defining the genre.
-
D.
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1939 American musical film, based on the Rodgers and Hart stage musical, best known for starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as aspiring performers putting on a show.
-
E.
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1937 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, best known for songs like "My Funny Valentine" and "The Lady Is a Tramp."
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
black comedy
ⓘ
farce ⓘ stage play ⓘ |
| acts | 3 ⓘ |
| adaptedInto |
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944 film)
ⓘ
linked to:
Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
|
| alsoKnownAs |
Arsenic and Old Lace (stage play)
ⓘ
linked to:
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
|
| author | Joseph Kesselring ⓘ |
| broadwayRunEnd | 1944 ⓘ |
| broadwayRunStart | 1941 ⓘ |
| character |
Abby Brewster
ⓘ
Elaine Harper ⓘ Jonathan Brewster ⓘ Martha Brewster ⓘ Mortimer Brewster ⓘ Teddy Brewster ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| directorOfBroadwayPremiere | Boris Karloff’s role as Jonathan Brewster was originated by Boris Karloff on Broadway ⓘ |
| genre |
comedy
ⓘ
dark comedy ⓘ murder comedy ⓘ |
| hasAdaptation |
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944 film)
ⓘ
linked to:
Arsenic and Old Lace (film)
|
| hasForm | live theatre ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn | subsequent dark comedic crime plays ⓘ |
| hasTitle |
Arsenic and Old Lace
ⓘ
linked to:
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
|
| intendedAudience | adult ⓘ |
| isFictionalWork | true ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainCharacter | Mortimer Brewster ⓘ |
| notableFor |
mixing farce with macabre subject matter
ⓘ
portrayal of two sweet elderly aunts as serial poisoners ⓘ |
| notableTheme |
appearance versus reality
ⓘ
family secrets ⓘ madness and sanity ⓘ |
| originalBroadwayTheatre | Fulton Theatre ⓘ |
| originalMedium | stage ⓘ |
| plotSummary | A drama critic discovers his elderly aunts are murdering lonely old men with poisoned elderberry wine. ⓘ |
| premiereCity | New York City ⓘ |
| premiereDate | 1941 ⓘ |
| premierePlace | Fulton Theatre ⓘ |
| producerOfBroadwayPremiere | Howard Lindsay ⓘ |
| setting |
Brewster family home
ⓘ
Brooklyn, New York ⓘ
linked to:
Brooklyn
|
| subject |
eccentric family
ⓘ
poisoning ⓘ serial murder ⓘ |
| timePeriodOfSetting | early 1940s ⓘ |
| workPeriod | 20th century ⓘ |
| writer | Joseph Kesselring ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Arsenic and Old Lace (play) Description of subject: "Arsenic and Old Lace" is a dark comedic stage play by Joseph Kesselring about a man who discovers his seemingly sweet elderly aunts are serial poisoners.
Referenced by (47)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
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subject linked to:
Violet McNaughton
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subject linked to:
Four Twelves Are 48
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