The Happy Hypocrite: A Fairy Tale for Tired Men is a short story with moral implications, first published in a separate volume by Max Beerbohm in 1897. His earliest short story, "The Happy Hypocrite" first appeared in Volume XI of The Yellow Book in October, 1896. Beerbohm's tale is a lighter, more humorous version of Oscar Wilde's 1890 classic tale of moral degeneration, The Picture of Dorian Gray.The Happy Hypocrite tells the story of a man who deceives a woman with a mask in order to marry her. The book was published by John Lane at The Bodley Head, in New York City and in London in 1897. In 1900 the story was produced as a stage show at the Royalty Theatre in London starring Frank Mills and Mrs Patrick Campbell. In 1936 the play, with a new script by Clemence Dane and music by Richard Addinsell, was revived at His Majesty's Theatre starring Ivor Novello, Vivien Leigh, Isabel Jeans and Marius Goring.An edition with colour illustrations by George Sheringham was published by John Lane in November 1918.The story was adapted as a one-act radio opera, Lord Inferno, by Giorgio Federico Ghedini to a libretto by Franco Antonicelli; it premiered on RAI on 22 October 1952. It was staged as L'ipocrita felice at the Piccola Scala in Milan on 10 March 1956. Source: Wikipedia (en)