Applause (musical) resulting musical could not contain any dialogue or characters that had been created for the movie but could use the original material that the movie also used. In April 1969, it was announced that Strouse, Adams, and book writer Sidney Michaels were beginning to work on the show, with Lawrence Kasha producing. In July 1969, movie star Lauren Bacall was cast as aging theater star Margo Channing, the role played by Bette Davis in "All About Eve". Bacall greatly identified with the role, explaining, "The Margo Channing of "Applause" and myself were ideally suited. She was approaching middle age. So
Margo Lane provide sufficient "vocal contrast". Margo was based on socialite Brenda Frazier and "You Can't Take It with You" star Margot Stevenson. The relationship between Lamont and Margo was modelled on the Thin Man film series. During World War II, Walter B. Gibson felt he could no longer write stories about spy rings, since they had now become a reality. Instead he focused on whodunits, which suited the Cranston persona of the Shadow. Thus the character of Margo came to the fore, and eventually became a permanent fixture in the stories, finally being promoted to a full agent. Margo appears in