It may be that there was no copyright issue because the central plot motif is so ancient: It goes back to both the Amphitryon legend and the Menaechmi (identical twins mistaken for each other), both embodied in classic Roman comedies by Plautus.
The former gave the American musical theatre OUT OF THIS WORLD and OLYMPUS ON MY MIND, the latter BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. Jean Giraudoux titled his retelling of the former myth AMPHITRYON 38 because he counted 37 previous versions, including those by Moliere and Kleist.
Probably another source for various Hollywood uses of the idea was the dual role of Chandebise/Poche in Feydeau's A FLEA IN HER EAR - totally contrasting indivudals who just happen to look alike & wind up in the same place at the same time.
Also, a play by one Rudolf Lothar, THE RED CAT, seems to have been the source of repeated 20th-Century Fox movie musicals, in which an entertainer finds himself mistaken for/compelled to impersonate a business tycoon: Maurice Chevalier in FOLIES BERGERE (1935), Don Ameche in THAT NIGHT IN RIO (1941), and Danny Kaye in ON THE RIVIERA (1951). The businessman morphed into a tinpot dictator when the story was reworked for Richard Dreyfuss in MOON OVER PARADOR (1988).
And, of course, dozens of playwrights have tickled audiences with a plot involving identical twins of contrasting personalities. In addition to THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, Goldoni's THE VENTIAN TWINS and Anouilh's RING ROUND THE MOON (in French L'INVITATION AU CHATEAU) are the most notable.
So, whatever DAVE's relations to THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT, its creators had a lot of other quasi-sources to draw from. |
