Eleanor Phelps George Arliss who had starred as Shylock in Ames's Broadway production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" during the Broadway season just ended. In any event, Ames offered Phelps the role of Jessica in the post-Broadway national tour of "Merchant of Venice." At the end of the University Players 1928 summer season, Phelps left Cape Cod to join Arliss and company and never returned to Falmouth. She loved "more than anything being in a play by Mister Shakespeare." Phelps appeared in motion pictures in the early 1930s with roles in "The Run Around" (1932), "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934),
The Merchant of Venice mercy". Critic Harold Bloom listed it among Shakespeare's great comedies. Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000 ducats to subsidise his expenditures as a suitor. Bassanio approaches his friend Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice who has previously and repeatedly bailed him out. Antonio agrees, but since he is cash-poor – his ships and merchandise are busy at sea to Tripolis, the Indies, Mexico and England – he promises to cover a bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio turns