Full text of "The_Theatre_Handbook_And_Digest_Of_Plays"

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THE NEW

THEATRE
HANDBOOK

anJ. Digest of Plays

Other books by Bernard Sobel:

BURLEYCUE: A HISTORY OF BURLESQUE
BROADWAY HEARTBEAT
A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF BURLESQUE
A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF VAUDEVILLE

THE NEW

THEATR

AND

U j~\ / iP "OH

and JUigest or Jr lays

Edited by
BERNARD SOBEL

Preface by George Freedley

CROWN PUBLISHERS, INC.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 1959

I94> 1948, 1959 BY CROWN PUBLISHERS, INC.

Ninth Printing, December, 1964

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 58-12376
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FOR

JEAN TENNYSON

B E AUTIFUL, WISE
AND EXACTING.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The editor offers his thanks for help in the preparation of this vol-
ume:

First to George Freedley who has given his scholarship and continu-
ous cooperation ;

To Lucy Wilder of the editorial staff of Crown Publishers, Inc. ;

To Kenyon Nicholson, who went over the first script ;

To E. J. West, who helped in the updating of the present volume ;

To Clark Kinnaird;

To Richard Cordell;

To Paul Myers and the staff of the Theatre Collection of the New
York Public Library, and to all the many others who have assisted.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii

Preface by George Freedley xi

Key xiii

THE NEW THEATRE HANDBOOK i

Bibliography 727

PREFACE

This book is intended for the serious student of the theatre, and at
the same time it is the intention of editor and publisher that no lover of
the theatre escape. Theatre is several parts glamor, drama is several
parts literature and the make up of the handbook must establish a nice
balance between the two. A book filled with the fascinating apocrypha
of the theatre would undoubtedly be attractive, at the same time that
the more austere book of facts might be considered an unlikely candidate
for the best seller list. It is our hope that we have combined the two to
make this volume a book to keep on your desk against that emergency
question we all know will come. At the same time Bernard Sobel and I
trust that it is a volume that those lovers of the theatre in our country
can read, quietly with pleasure and profit.

We have included a few topics that are unusual and are proud to
point out that no more extensive grouping of plays by subject exists. We
make haste to assure you that the list is incomplete, experimental, taken
from a working list in an existing library and is not intended to be in
any way exhaustive.

A special effort has been made to cover the Oriental Theatre because
no easily accessible book deals briefly, yet authoritatively, with the sub-
ject. Certain volumes have been included in the bibliography and the
compiler wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness for that section to the
gracious and able Rosamond Gilder, who showed the way in A Theatre
Library.

The fields of motion pictures, radio, and television have been for the
most part ignored, despite the fact that they are a part of the theatre in its
broadest sense, since many directories are available as guides to these
fields.

GEORGE FREEDLEY

KEY

The arrangement is alphabetical with two
exceptions : articles under Drama and Thea-
tre headings have been arranged chronologi-
cally within the national sections. For ex-
ample, American drama is covered under
three consecutive headings: Drama, Ameri-
can, IJth-lSth century; followed by Drama,
American, IQth century and Drama, Ameri-
can, 2Oth century.

Plays for the university or community
theatre arranged by subject matter appear
under Drama, Subjects. For example, plays
concerned with agriculture and fanners are
listed under Drama, Subjects, Farm Life.

Play synopses are intended merely to sug-
gest the subject matter of the plays. Modern
plays are given more fully than classics.

Biographies are included for many cur-
rent theatre artists, though no attempt has
been made at comprehensive coverage of the
Who's Who type.

If the information sought is not under the
name of the person or organization, or title
of play, consult the appropriate subject
headings of Drama or Theatre. An attempt
has been made to keep cross-references to a
minimum, and the reader in search of addi-
tional information on any subject will often
find articles in other parts of the book on
most people or topics mentioned in the ar-
ticle he has referred to.

THE NEW

THEATRE
HANDBOOK

H in** j (T TTDTl

and Uigest or Jr lays

Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Robert E. Sheiwood (American). Drama. 2 acts,
1938.

Twelve episodes in Lincoln's life, from the time he studied Biackstone in a
New Salem log cabin, to his farewell speech at Springfield when he entrained for
Washington as President of the United States. He is seen as an Illinois postmaster,
agreeing to run for the State Senate, at a time when his prowess as a wrestler was
winning him the admiration of the townsfolk. His romance with Ann Rutledge
and his disheartenment at her death are followed by Mary Todd's pursuit and cap-
ture of him, after Lincoln has once run out on their wedding. His famous anti-slavery
debate with Douglas is dramatically represented.

Throughout, the play gains eloquence and authenticity by using Lincoln's own
words whenever feasible. Moving, and filled with a high patriotism, it was awarded
the Pulitzer Prize for 1937-38.

Abbey Theatre. A famous organization founded in Dublin in 1904 by Miss
E. F. Horniman of the Irish National Theatre Society, called by Fay and Carswell
in their book The Fays of the Abbey Theatre "first and foremost a theatrical, not
a literary movement." It was the discoverer of Synge, performing his Riders to the
Sea, The Playboy of the Western World and others. Plays were chosen to suit the
theatre so that an individual mode of its own was established. Famous dramatists
associated with the theatre were W. B. Yeats, AE, Lady Gregory, Lennox Robin-
son, Sean O'Casey and Paul Vincent Carroll Among the famous actors who have
appeared here are Dudley Digges, Sara Allgood, Maire O'Neill, Arthur Sinclair,
and Barry Fitzgerald. Players of this theatre have had several American tours.

Abbott, George ( 1887- ) . American playwright. A modern Moliere, George
Abbott is perhaps equally well known as actor, director, playwright and play
doctor. Swift-paced farce is his forte, and to the enlightened theatre-goer "a George
Abbott production," meaning a rapid-fire, craftily staged comedy in which each
laugh is made to count, is self-descriptive.

He was born in Forestville, New York, and received his A,B. from the Uni-
versity of Rochester. After that he studied under Harvard's famous Professor'
Baker. His first Broadway appearance as an actor was at the Fulton Theatre in
1913 in A Misleading Lady. Other plays in which he has had roles have been
Dulcy, Hell-Bent fer Heaven and Processional His productions include Chicago,
1926; Twentieth Century, 1932; Boy Meets Girl, 1935; Room Service, 1936; and
See My Lawyer, 1939. Among the plays which he has written, wholly or in part,
are The Fall Guy (with James Gleason), 1925; Broadway (with Philip Dunning),
1926; Love 'em and Leave 'em (with John V. A. Weaver), 1926; Coquette (with
Ann Bridgers), 1927; Ladies' Money, 1934; and Three Men on a Horse (with
John Cecil Holm), 1935.

For the last two decades Abbott has been mainly concerned with the production
of musicals, for all or most of which he has at least collaborated on the book* These
productions include Pal Joey, 1940; Best Foot Forward, 1941; Beat the Band,

1942; On the Town, 1944; Billion Dollar Baby, 1945; High Button Shoes, 1947;
Where's Charley? 1948; Call Me Madam, 1950; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,
1951 ; Damn Yankees, 1955; New Girl in Town (based on O'Neill's Anna Chris-
tie), 1957. He last appeared as an actor in the ANTA production of Wilder's The
Skin of Our Teeth in 1955 with Helen Hayes and Mary Martin, a production which
was presented in Paris and later toured the U.S.

Abie's Irish Rose. Anne Nichols (American). Comedy. 3 acts. 1922.

Abie marries an Irish girl, Rosemary Murphy, and starts a family feud. The
bride and groom are married three times, first by a Methodist minister, then by a
Rabbi, and finally by a Catholic priest.

The two families are appeased, however, when Rosemary has twins, Rebecca
and Patrick Joseph. The play ends on a Christmas Eve celebration with Abraham
Levy and Patrick Murphy admiring their grandchildren.

This play is notable largely for its long run (2,327 performances).

Abington, Frances Barton (1737-1815). English actress. Flower-seller,
street singer and reciter in taverns, and servant to a French milliner in London.
She made her stage debut at the Haymarket as Miranda in Mrs. Centime's
comedy, The Busybody, 1755, and in 1759 married her music master Abington.
After five years in Dublin, she was invited by David Gar rick to Drury Lane, where
she remained for eighteen years, playing the great ladies of comedy, Shakespearean
heroines, romps and even chambermaids, and creating the part of Lady Teazle in
the original production of The School for Scandal, 1777. Acclaimed the greatest
comedy actress of her time, she went to Covent Garden in 1782. She made her last
stage appearance as Lady Racket in Three Weeks after Marriage, April 12, 1799.

Abraham and Isaac. See Mystery of Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham Lincoln. John Drinkwater (English). Poetic chronicle play.
6 scenes. 1919.

The play covers Lincoln's life during the War years. In successive scenes he
accepts the presidential nomination in Springfield; ten months later, orders the
relief of Fort Sumter ; two years afterward, heart-sick at the prolonged war, still
sees no way of stopping it without being disloyal to the cause of Justice; at the
close of the struggle, reads the Emancipation Proclamation and tenders his resig-
nation; witnesses Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox and warns the one
against reprisals as he pleads with the other to be merciful; is assassinated by
Booth in Ford's Theatre in Washington.

Lord Charnwood's biography of Lincoln is Drinkwater's chief source book.
Lincoln's British chronicler makes np attempt to stress his hero's Americanism
which he is little qualified to judge, but emphasizes the universal quality of his
humanity.

Abuelo, El (The Grandfather). Benito Peres Galdos (Spanish). Drama.
3 acts. 1904.

A drama in which a ruined nobleman, who adores his two granddaughters, at
last finds perfect love in the offspring of the infidelity of a daughter-in-law, instead
of in the affection of the legitimate grandchild.

Abydos Passion Play. An annual dramatic performance at Abydos in celebra-
tion of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, thought to have been observed as early as
2500 B.C. According to Herodotus, the Osiris festivals held throughout Egypt were
the origin of the Greek Dionysos festivals, from which Greek drama emerged. The
most important one was held at Abydos, the center of Osiris worship. No text of the
play exists, but from descriptions found in Egyptian tombs archaeologists have de-
rived some idea of the action, which was concerned with the career, death, and resur-
rection of Osiris. The principal roles were performed by priests, but the entire com-
munity participated in the action.

Academy, The Frencti (L' Academic franchise). Established by order of the
ling in 1635. Its object was the "purification of the French language." The number
of members was fixed at forty. On the death of a member, his successor was to be
elected by the members themselves.

It ceased during the Revolution, then was re-established and now consists of
5 classes of which the language and literature class is foremost. It is non-political
and non-profit making. It awards prizes and though influential, the extent of its
influence is debatable. Many of the foremost men of letters were never elected
Alphonse Daudet, the de Goncourts, etc. The members are known as "The
Immortals."

Academy of Actors. German organization founded by Konrad Ekhof in 1753
within the Schoeneman acting company; the members of the academy discussed
parts, read plays, talked and debated about dramatic art. Though it did not continue
long, it helped to raise the standard of German acting and the status of German
actors.

Accent on Youth. Samson Raphaelson (American). Comedy. 3 acts. 1935.

Stephen Gaye, a middle-aged playwright, and his young secretary, Linda Brown,
work together harmoniously. Gaye has written a play "Old Love" which concerns
itself with an older man who leaves his wife for a girl and does not return. The
actors who are to play it rebel but Linda stands up for Stephen's idea. Stephen
decides to go abroad. This brings out his realization of Linda's love. Dickie Wells,
young actor, is also in love with her. Stephen throws them together but Linda's love
survives and she returns to work for and to marry Stephen.

. Acharnians, The. Aristophanes (Greek). Comedy. 425 B.C.

A satire on war and peace, characterized by alternate passages of rapier-like wit
and Rabelaisian gusto. The author produced it in the name of Callistratus at the
age of nineteen.

The protagonist, Dicaeopholis, a good-natured countryman, has been driven from
his home and forced to take shelter in the city by the Peloponnesian invasion. His
wish for a speedy peace is thwarted by the Assembly, who refuse the offer of a demi-
god from Heaven to serve as mediator, and instead waste time listening to the
ridiculous tales of two envoys sent to Persia. In disgust Dicaeopholis sends his own
envoy to conclude a separate peace for himself and his family. The messenger re-
turns from Sparta with samples of truces, which consist of the wines in which the
ratification of. each is drunk. The countryman samples them all and then hastens
back to his native village to observe the feast of Bacchus.

Acorn-Planter, The. Jack London (American). A play with music. Prologue,
epilogue and 2 acts.

A dramatization in idealistic terms of a plea for better understanding between
Indians and white men. Not a drama of importance, but it shows the novelist's rela-
tion to the theatre*

Acoubar ; ou La Loyaute trahie. By Jacques du Hamel, who died about 161 1.
Republished with introduction by Margaret Adams White, New York, 1931.

The earliest French play about America. It deals with the Aboriginal Indians of
North America.

Acoustics. The proper handling of the sound and hearing elements is one of
the prime essentials in the performed drama. Clear and proper enunciation by the
performers is, of course, vital. This need for clarity applies to all other sound pro-
duction. But the sound must reach the audience and all the audience correctly. In
order to achieve this ideal, the nature and behavior of sound must be understood.

Sound travels rapidly in spherical waves. When it reaches a surface, it is ab-
sorbed or reflected in greater or less degree, in accordance with the nature of the
surface. When a sound is made it will travel in all directions and be reflected from
every surface in every direction so that it will be completely spread throughout the
room. But since so much depends upon the reflection from the walls, floors, curtains,
ceilings, etc., unevennesses and faults in the transmission of sound are bound to occur.

The chief faults are inaudibility, super-audibility (loudness, outside sounds,
noises), distortion, echoes, reverberation. Stated positively, in an auditorium the
performance must be heard by all (but not too loudly), accurately as to intonation
and pitch and without the interference of other sounds, echoes or reverberations.
To achieve this the following points must be borne in mind.

Audibility. Audience should have uninterrupted view of performers. Therefore,
stage should be raised and rows of seats should slope gradually upward from the
stage.

Low ceilings and closer walls will increase sound. Curtains, drapes, and carpets
will reduce sound by absorbing it. Thus, undesired sounds may be kept out by cur-
tains. But, on the other hand, a fabric drape instead of a solid surface will deaden
sound instead of reflecting it and thus reduce the desired audibility.

A solid surface behind the stage will project sound forward, and sound may be
directed by the inclination of reflectors (solid surfaces). In any problem of audi-
bility the chief surfaces that are reflecting the sound must be considered and changed,
eliminated or enhanced as may be necessary.

Echoes and Distortion, Vibration, Reverberation. These faults are chiefly due to
sound that is reflected instead of absorbed. In the case of alcoves, boxes, high ceilings,
etc., the sound waves may bound back and forth, thus producing echoes or reverbera-
tion. This condition may be eliminated by reducing the area of the enclosure by lower-
ing the ceiling, by false walls, glass or fabric curtains, etc., or by placing absorbent
surfaces on the too solid surfaces. Such absorbent surfaces should be porous. There
are various fibrous boards, asbestos, jute and felt tiles available.

Finally, whatever the acoustic fault or need, knowledge of the nature ot reflec-
tion of sound and of the sound-reflecting materials will provide the key to the
solution. Materials will absorb or reflect sound in accordance with their porosity.
The more porous, the more absorbent.

A standard book on the subject is Acoustics and Architecture by Paul E. Sabine.

Act. A natural division of a play, consisting of one or more scenes. In the Greek
drama, the chorus marked certain pauses in the action of the play. Horace first in-
sisted upon the episodes between the choruses as natural divisions, each with a unity
and a climax of its own, and upon five acts as the standard length. This standard
continued through the Elizabethan, Restoration, and eighteenth-century periods and
throughout most of the nineteenth century. Gradually, with the elaboration of stage
settings, the impatience of audiences with overlong productions, and the growth of
the feeling for simplified form and continuity, there was a reduction and the three-
act form was established. In this form the first act is devoted to laying the ground-
work, preparing the situation and arousing interest. The second act is the meat of
the play wherein the conflict is definitely fought. The third act is the resolution, the
result of the drama.

During the last quarter of a century, possibly influenced by the tendency to pre-
sent revivals of the standard five-act repertory in two parts, there has been an at-
tendant tendency on the part of playwrights to arrange their material in two acts,
and otherwise to strive for fluidity as against the rigidity of the standard three-act
and five-act forms.

Aoting area. The space on stage on which the action of the play takes place.

Acting, Chinese. Acting is symbolical and highly conventional in the Chinese
theatre; A tasseled wand serves as a riding whip; when held in the left hand it
represents the actor dismounting from a horse or mule; if the whip is in the right
hand, he is mounting, and a walk around the stage is a journey. The distance be-
tween characters is recognized by their actions ; and doors, windows and walls exist
only because the actors designate their presence and the audience sees them vividly !
The actor is scenery, singer, dancer, acrobat and mime as well as Thespian in the
Western sense. Every gesture of the head, hand or foot has some special meaning
and each actor must guard against forgetting to lift his foot when stepping over the
imaginary threshold of a door or face the displeasure of his discriminating audience.
A fan held up along the side of the face represents the player as walking bareheaded
in the sun ; the fan may be exchanged for an umbrella to signify a rainstorm ; walk-
ing with arms extended and feeling to the right and left represents the actor to be
walking in the dark; pieces of white paper shaken out of red umbrella indicate a
snowstorm. A player standing stiffly up against a pillar shows he is hiding. Bringing
the hands together at arms length closes an invisible door. A boat is represented by
an old man with a pole and a girl with an oar standing or walking at a fixed dis-
tance from each other, the girl sculling in the stern. Passing one long sleeve in front
of tearless eyes indicates that the character is weeping.

Painting the face in establishing a type is common. Each player paints his own
face in his own characteristic and grotesque manner. Through these false faces,
which are a survival of the ancient masks, the actors escape themselves and become
imaginary individuals. During the time of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 221-280),
Lan Lin-wang, famous actor, is said to have introduced the custom of wearing face
masks in Military plays. Later the masks were worn as well by actors representing
various deities. The Chinese stage masks resemble very closely the ceremonial masks

and painted faces of totem-pole figures found among the Indians of Alaska and
British Columbia.

In painting the face, several colors are often used in a single makeup. The colors
have a meaning: red for sacred, courageous, loyal or virtuous; black to denote
tJie fierce, the coarse or the uncouth; and blue to denote cruelty. Purple indi-
cates loyalty to a lesser degree than red. Devils have green faces; gods and god-
desses have gold or yellow faces. A white fa'ce represents a treacherous, cunning,
but dignified person. Women characters appear without painted faces except for
simple cosmetics.

An actor with black splashes on his face is an enemy officer; a dab of color at
the corner of the eyes means a sick person or a villain. A ghost or dead person is
represented by an actor wearing a black hood, or a slip of white paper stuck on the
cheek, or a streamer of white paper suspended from the head and falling down over
the breast.

When a person is killed, there are fireworks. Fireworks are also used whenever
a demon appears. A death is also indicated by a red cloth thrown over the face.
A dead man recently slain gravely gets up and walks away, often doing so with
a characteristic stoop which serves to indicate that he is being carried off by four men.

A barbarian wears a piece of fur around his neck; a beggar wears a silk coat
with a design of large gaudy-colored patches. An emperor wears a yellow robe em-
broidered with coiled dragons. High officials have yellow robes with flying dragons
looking downward.

The art of juggling and tumbling in the Chinese military plays is carried to
such superlative virtuosity that it would bring blushes to the cheeks of the most
talented Western vaudeville acrobats. Another interesting feature of the Chinese
theatre is the property man wKo moves about the stage deliciously indifferent to
whatever is taking place among the actors and the audience. The property man slips
stools under actors, arranges pillows under a swooning official, and hands out the
riding whips and swords.

A play is not limited by time and space. In one play there are 830,000 soldiers
on stage, and they are all represented by only thirty men. The Chinese believe that
drama is nothing but pretence, so why have characters on stage act realistically?
Nature is not imitated but observed and contemplated. The Chinese esthetic is
essentially that the elements and some of the combinations found in nature are
legitimate raw material for the artist, but the way in which the artist reorganizes
them may depart from natural patterns in any degree that his purpose may dictate.
The result is a higher standard of finish than anything thus far seen in the Western
theatre.

Most actors are members of traveling troupes who set up outdoor theatres of
bamboo platforms and poles or even plain bamboo mats. A number of troupes stage
their performances on canal boats like the American steamboat performers of Show
Boat fame. Still another type of actor, the most despised of the profession, is the
wandering story-teller who recites, sings and acts out history and adventure on the
streets of every village and city. The Geisha or Sing-song Girl is also of the theatre;
for despite her low social position the Geisha is successful in her profession insofar
as she has charm, beauty, a talent for music and dancing, and some knowledge of the
classics.

An elaborate system of precedence is current among the actors based upon the
importance of the parts they play. The system refers to the choice of seats in the

make-up or green room, sleeping quarters and the group or society in which the actors
are allowed to move.

An actor's standing in society may be very low, but sometimes he is able to sur-
mount this obstacle and gain the respect and admiration of vast audiences and his
fame may become considerable if he is fortunate enough to belong to one of the
permanent theatres in a large city. Mei Lan-f ang was an example. Until his death in
1943, he was regarded as the greatest living actor and won his coveted position be-
cause of his outstanding impersonations of women and for his remarkable proficiency
in the dance, song, diction and pantomime of the traditional drama. Mei Lan-fang's
every gesture and pose was beautiful.

See also, Drama, Greek, ancient.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). Greek. The ancient Greek philosopher and poetic-
dramatic analyst and theorist. At eighteen he went to Athens where he was appren-
ticed to the philosopher, Plato, with whom he remained for twenty years. After the
death of Plato he tutored Alexander the Great for eight years. Later he kept a school
in the Lyceum for twelve years. He died at the age of sixty-three. He is most famous,
as dramatic theorist, for his Poetics, which is the source of much of what is known
of the classic Greek theatre. He formulated laws of dramatic composition which
have since become a touchstone of dramatic theory, alternately invoked as final
authority and scorned as academic fetish.

The Poetics, however, was not at first the rulebook it became in later periods, es-
pecially in 17th-century France. Briefly, it was an attempt to define tragedy, and to
analyze the means by which its effects were achieved, as exemplified in the works of
the major Greek dramatists.

S. R. Littlewood, in his "Dramatic Criticism" (Pitman Publishing Co., New
York, 1939) says: "It is one of the paradoxes of history that Aristotle's Poetics . . .
an assortment of lecture notes, badly put together, atrociously corrupt and amounting
altogether to not much more than a modern magazine article . . . should have domi-
nated and gone far to stifle so much dramatic effort after a score of centuries."

Brooks Atkinson, in the New York Times (October 1, 1939) says: "There is an
air of getting something off the chest in that statement. Probably Mr. Littlewood
feels better now. Certainly I do. Although Aristotle was a tremendous fellow in
science, logic and knowledge, he was no artist and no prophet in the drama. He was
an intellectual devising rules for an emotional subject. If the Poetics were not con-
stantly turning up even today, as the holy book of the drama, his system of platitudes
and blunders would not matter. But it bullies all of us every day."

See also, Drama, Greek, ancient; Poetics.

Arizona. Augustus Thomas (American). Drama. 4 Acts. 1899.

An example par excellence of well-constructed melodrama of the type popular at
the turn of the century.

The dashing exterior of Capt. Hodgman of the llth U. S. Cavalry is but a cloak
for his inherent villainy. He is the father of a baby born to Lena, a waitress in the
outpost, and as the* play opens is trying to seduce Estrella Bonham, young wife of his
middle-aged Colonel. Young Lieut. Denham learns that Estrella plans to elope with
Hodgman and forbids it. He also takes back from the Captain the lady's jewels
which she had given him. Her husband, discovering Denham in his wife's room with
the jewels, suspects him of betrayal and theft. Denham quits the service, but stays
nearby so as to be with Estrella's sister, Bonita Canby, whom he loves. Hodgman is
shot on a visit to the Canby's^ and Denham suspected. But matters are cleared up
when Lena's fiance confesses he shot his beloved's betrayer. In the meantime Denham
has been made a Captain of the First Arizona Volunteers, and Estrella Bonham has
decided she loves her husband after all.

Arthur Byron was the rascally Hodgman in the play's Chicago premiere, and the
minor role of a young officer was played by Lionel Barrymore.

Ar 16 chin. The supposed source of the name Harlequin, maintained by the
Harlequin himself: a cry en langue asiatique by his father to his ass.
See also Harlequin.

Aries. The town in France supposed by some to be the native place of Harlequin
who was believed to be a certain wicked serving-man who later fled to Bergamo.
See also Harlequin.

Arliss, George (1868-1946). English actor. Notable as a character actor. Born
in London, the son of William Arliss-Andrews, he adopted Arliss as his stage
name. He first appeared on the stage at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, Sep-
tember 18, 1886, and moved to the West End in 1890. He appeared on the screen in
the days of the silent films and later in sound films. Among the plays in which he ap-
peared successfully in both England and the United States are : The Second Mrs.
Tanqueray; The New 'York Idea; The Green Goddess; Disraeli; Old English. His
films include: Disraeli; Alexander Hamilton; The Working Man and Voltaire.

Armin, Robert (fl. 1590-1610). English actor. A comedian with the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, Shakespeare's company of actors. He apparently received his
early training from the greatest of Elizabethan clowns, Richard Tarlton. After an
early career as a writer, he joined Shakespeare's company in 1599 and remained with
it until his retirement in 1610. Nothing is known of the specific roles he may have
played.

Armored Train, The. Vsevolod Ivanov (Russian). Drama. 3 acts. 1927.
Depicts the destruction of Admiral Kolchak's White soldiers by Siberian peasants.

Arms and the Man. George Bernard Shaw (Irish). Comedy. 3 acts. 1904.

Raina Petkoff saves Captain Blunschli from the Bulgarians one night by hiding
him in her boudoir. When the war is over Bluntschli returns to see Major Petkoff
and wins Raina from her fiance, Sergius. Sergius finds consolation by marrying
Raina's maid.

The idea for the operetta The Chocolate Soldier came from this play, but the
resemblance is slight.

Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888). English poet and critic. Arnold is best known
as a poet, although his valuable reports on the educational systems of France, Ger-
many and Holland, 1861-65, his essays in criticism, On the Study of Celtic Litera-
ture, 1867, Culture and Anarchy, 1869, St. Paul and Protestantism, 1870, Literature
and Dogma, 1873, assured him a high position as a critic.

Born at Laleham-on-Thames, he was the eldest son of Thomas Arnold, and edu-
cated at Winchester, Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford. He won the Newdigate
prize for a poem in 1843, became Fellow of Oriel in 1845, and 1847-51 was private
secretary to Lord Lansdowne, president of the council, by whom in 1851 Arnold was
appointed an inspector of schools. He held this post for over thirty years, retiring in
1883.

He wrote one play Merope which was done after the Greek manner.

Arnould, Sophie (1740?-1802). French actress. The woman whom Garrick
called the greatest actress on the French stage, was actually more noted for her love

affairs than for her acting. The Comte de Lauragais, her chief protector, wrote for
Mile. Arnould a play on Clytemnestra. She sang in the operas of Giuck, the height
of her fame being reached in 1774, when she took the lead in Iphigenia in Aulis.
A famous portrait of her is that by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

Arraignment of Paris, The. George Peele (English). Masque. 1584.

Written for and played before Queen Elizabeth.

Paris is tending his flocks on Mount Ida with Oenone his wife, when he is called
upon to decide to which of the three goddesses the golden apple shall be awarded. He
decides in favor of Venus, who carries Paris away, leaving Oenone disconsolate. Juno
and Pallas arraign Paris before the gods, accusing him of partiality in his judgment.
The case is referred to Diana. She evades the question by awarding the apple to the
nymph Eliza.

Art for art's sake. An esthetic doctrine originally conceived in irritation by the
French novelist, Gautier (with his tart pour I' art) which defends "pure" beauty of
craft and style to the general exclusion of realistic ideas or utility. Maeterlinck was a
dramatic exponent of this theory, as was Oscar Wilde.

" 'Art for art's sake* was a phrase conceived in irritation and adopted as a slogan
by men more anxious to startle than to explain. It was directed at the philistine (Vic-
torian model) , and it was not ill-suited to the moment which gave it currency. Taken
out of its context the phrase is, however, dangerously near to nonsense and it is a pity
that so flip a formula should have become fixed as the accepted designation of an
esthetic doctrine persistent and more meaningful than the formula suggests." ( The
Nation, Joseph Wood Krutch, December 19, 1936.)

Burton Rascoe, in his introduction to Mademoiselle de Maupin, says that Gau-
tier's preface "was a challenge to the critics and so thorough was its disposal of the
irrelevant ideas of criticism that it became the handbook and the bible of the theories
of art for art's sake of which Gautier was the father.

L'Art poetique (Art of Poetry). A treatise on dramatic poetry by the French
writer and avocat, Thomas Sebillet, published in 1548. This work, says Barrett
Clark in his European Theories of the Drama, was a "distinct departure from the
Rhetorics and Poetics which preceded it." Besides showing the effects of Italian ideas
on French letters, this work contains probably the first trace of the influence of Aris-
totle's Poetics in France. It was chiefly interesting because of the parallel it draws
between the old French morality plays and the tragedies of antiquity. Sebillet fore-
shadows, in spirit at least, some of the reforms advocated by the spokesman of the
Pleiade.

Artist's paper stump. Rolled and pointed tools for drawing lines and shadows
in grease colors ; used as a substitute for rounded toothpicks or make-up pencils.

Artzybashev, Mikhail Petrovitch (1878-1927). Russian author. Revolution-
ary writer.

A Tartar by descent, he began his career as a caricaturist, but gave up drawing
for the writing of realistic short stories. His first novel Sanine 1907, shows his hatred
of the then existing social order, and the same revolutionary strain is evident in his
other works. After the Russian Revolution he fled to Poland.

His plays include: Jealousy, 1913; Enemies, 1913; The Law of the Savage,
1913; War, 1914.

As Before, And Better (Come prima, meglio di prima). Luigi Pirandello
(Italian). Drama. 3 acts. 1920.

A man, still sensually in love with his wife, who had eloped with a lover, takes
her back on condition that she pretend to be a second wife, even to the child. The
child, worshipping her mother, hates the pretending second mother. The woman can
not bear this, and telling the truth to the little girl, escapes with her.

As Husbands Go. Rachel Crothers (American). Comedy. 3 acts. 1931.

Lucille, thirty-five and beautiful, married to a dullish good American business
man, and Emmie, forty-five and prettily plump, tied down by a proper daughter, are
in Europe. There they have met Ronald, twenty-nine, an English novelist, and
Hippolitus, sixty and French. Over-persuaded, the women return to America bring-
ing their would-be lovers. A series of amusing contretemps occur, but in the end,
Lucille is left to her husband, Charles. Emmie marries Hippolitus and Ronald goes.

As You Desire Me. Luigi Pirandello (Italian). Drama. 3 acts. Adapted by
Dimitri Ostrow. 1931.

After a ten year search, Bruno Fieri believes he has found his wife, Lucia, who is
suffering from amnesia as the result of abuse suffered in the First World War. Lucia,
or the Unknown One as she is called, is able to remember the past as Bruno and his
family begin to accept her and to believe in her. However, when the family discover
another woman they think may be Bruno's lost wife, Lucia loses her newly found
identity and security and leaves the house an unknown woman.

As You Like It. William Shakespeare (English). Comedy. 5 acts. 1599.

The play is based on the euphuistic prose romance, Rosalind e, by Thomas Lodge.

Frederick has usurped the dominions of the Duke, his brother, who lives with his
followers in the forest of Arden. Celia, Frederick's daughter, and Rosalind, the
Duke's daughter, meet Orlando at Frederick's court. Orlando and Rosalind fall in
love, but Frederick, angry with Orlando, banishes Rosalind. Accompanied by Celia,
Rosalind, in countryman's disguise, meets Orlando in the forest and pretends to be a
youth named Ganymede. Orlando's cruel brother, Oliver, comes to the forest to kill
him but becomes remorseful. He falls in love with the disguised Celia, and Rosalind
tells Orlando that she will produce Rosalind at the wedding. At this ceremony Celia
and Rosalind abandon their disguises. News arrives that Frederick has made restitu-
tion of the dukedom.

As the Leaves. Giuseppe Giacosa (Italian). Comedy. 4 acts. 1908.

A good example of the modern social comedy, in which Giacosa links together in
a very interesting way the old and the new manners in Italian drama.

The story of a family struggle in which the reversal of their fortunes serves to
bring out the essential characteristics of each of the persons involved.

A.S.C.A.P. See American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Ascent of F 6, The. W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood (English).
Drama. 2 acts. 1936.

The British government has to cope with a native rebellion instigated by a rival
nation, Ostnia. The mountain peak, "F 6", is considered sacred by the natives; and
should it be scaled, the glory of the achievement would assure their control.

When the British hear that the Ostneans are attempting the climb, they send
idealistic Michael Ransom and a party of four men to beat the enemy to the summit.
The climb is strenuous, however, and one by one, the four men die ; only Ransom
reaches the top.

Asch, Sholem (1880-1957). Yiddish writer. Born in Kutno, Poland (then
Russia). Well-known for his stories and plays, written in Yiddish, of Jewish life in
Poland and Russia. In 1910 he came to the United States, where he settled. His
plays have been widely performed in Yiddish theatres, and translated into Russian,
Polish, German and English. The best-known are The Days of the Messiah ( 1906)
and The God of Vengeance (1907), the latter first produced by Max Reinhardt in
the German translation.

Asche, Oscar (1872-1936). English actor, playwright and producer. Born at
Geelong, Australia, of Norse descent, he studied acting at Christiana (Oslo) ; made
his first appearance in London in 1893 at the Opera Comique in Man and Woman.
He was in management at the Adelphi Theatre with Otho Stuart in 1904, at His
Majesty's Theatre in 1907, and later at the Globe Theatre. He married the actress
Lily Brayton.

His productions include: Chu Chin Chow, in which he played the title-role,
1916 1921 ; The Maid of the Mountains, 1917; Julius Caesar, in which he played
the role of Casca, 1932; and The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1929.

Plays include: Count Hannibal, 1910; The Spanish Main, 1915 ; Eastward Ho
1919 ; Mecca, 1920.

Aside, the. A dramatic device, now rarely used, in which a character in a play
speaks directly to, with information exclusively for, the audience, while supposedly
unheard by the other characters in the play. Its best-known use is to be found in The
School for Scandal by Sheridan. The device was put to a modern psychological use
in O'Neill's Strange Interlude, enabling the characters to express their inmost and
fugitive thoughts and bearing some resemblance to the "stream-of-consciousness
technique found in novels and used, for instance, by James Joyce in his Ulysses.

Aspendos. The Roman theatre at Aspendos which has a roof covering the stage.

Associated Actors and Artistes of America, Inc. Parent union of the Actors'
Equity Association, Screen Actors' Guild, American Federation of Radio Artists,
American Guild of Music Artists, and the newly organized American Guild of Va-
riety Artists. It traces from the White Rats, organized in 1900, and the Actors
International Union. These were amalgamated in 1910 as the White Rats Actors'
Union of America. In 1919 the differences between their organization and Actors'
Equity Association were composed, and the Associated Actors and Artistes of America
came into existence.

Association of German People's Theatres. An organization formed to take
the place of the Berlin Volksbuhne, which collapsed in 1918. This association com-

prised, in representation, about twenty different organizations. It is now dissolved.
Assumption of Hannele, The. See Hannele.

Astley's Amphitheatre. One of the most beautiful and largest 19th-century
theatres in London; it was an egg-shaped arena; largest stage in London, 146 feet
wide, used for grand spectacles, scenes of warfare and equestrian shows. It was de-
signed in 1804 by Philip Astley, built of wood, and opened with a horse spectacle*,
burned down twice and rebuilt. Torn down 1895.

Aston, Anthony (Tony Aston). The first professional actor in America, of
whom any record is known. He came from England, had a reckless and spectacular
career as a soldier of fortune and acted in Charleston and in New York, 1703-4.

Aston, Frank (1897- ). American drama critic, editor. Born in Dayton,
Ohio, and educated at Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati.
Served in the army, 1918. He joined the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Post,
1919, and became managing editor in 1935, serving also as drama critic, city editor,
and news editor. In 1946 he came to New York as editor of the Scripps-Howard
News, a position he still holds. He became drama critic for the World-Telegram
and Sun in 1957.

Astor Place Riot (May 10, 1849). A theatre disturbance caused by the hostility
between Edwin Forrest and William Macready. Theatregoers split into factions over
these two actors and the riot occurred inside and outside of the Astor Place Opera
House, New York. The militia was called out. Stoned by hoodlums in the street, they
fired on the crowd, killing and wounding many. An evidence of anti-British feeling of
the time.

At leisure. Term for being unemployed in the theatre.

Athalie. Jean Racine (French). Tragedy. 5 acts. Based on a biblical story. 1691.

Athalie dreams she will be killed by a child whom she later identifies as the boy
Joash. She tries to get him out of the way or to kill him and the drama centers around
the conflicts and emotions thus aroused.

Atheist's Tragedy, The. Cyril Tourneur (English). Tragedy. 1611.

D'Amville, the atheist, wants to marry his son, Rousard, to Castabella who is
wealthy. She, however, is betrothed to D'Amville's nephew, Charlemont. D'Amville
arranges that Charlemont go abroad on military service. During his absence, Casta-
bella is married to the sickly Rousard. D'Amville kills his brother, the father of
Charlemont, after a will has been made in his favor. Rousard dies. When Charle-
mont returns, D'Amville plans to kill him, but dashes out his own brains, by accident.
Charlemont is united with Castabella.

Athens, Theatre of. First theatre in Greece. The collapse of its wooden seats in
499 B.C. led to the erection of a stone auditorium in which the original orchestra
stood fifty feet to the south of the present orchestra and had a diameter of seventy-
eight feet. This theatre had a round orchestra (paradoi), a rectangular skene and a
projecting paraskinia, with a low platform stage.

Atkinson, Brooks (1894- ). American dramatic critic. Born in Melrose,
Massachusetts; educated at Harvard. Assistant to dramatic critic, Boston Transcript,
1918 ; literary editor of the New York Times, 1922 ; dramatic critic, the New York
Times, since 1926; contributor of articles on American theatre for London Daily
Telegraph. Author of Skyline Promenades, 1925; Henry Thoreau, 1927; East of
the Hudson, 1931; The Cingalese Prince, 1934; Broadway Scrap Book, 1948;
Once Around the Sun, 1951; edited Henry David Thoreau's Walden and Other
Writings, 1950.

Atmosphere. (1 ) The imaginative mood established in the writing of a play by
its author; (2) the realization of that mood, by process of staging, lighting and per-
forming in the production of the play.

Attic Bee, The. A title applied to the Greek dramatist Sophocles because of the
sweetness (honey) inherent in his works.

D'Aubignac, Abbe Frangois Hedelin (1604-1676). French dramatist, critic.
His Pratique du Theatre, 1657, a good source for the history of the 17th century
drama, outlines his principles, based on reason, most dogmatically. He condemns even
the greatest classics if they do not conform to his ideas, which he lays down as laws.
He wrote four unsuccessful tragedies to illustrate his theories: Cyminde, 1642; La
Pucelle d" Orleans, 1647 ; Le Manage de Sainte-Catherine, 1650 ; and Zenobie, 1647.

Aubry de Montdidier's Dog, or, The Dog of Montargis (Le Chien de
Montargis); or, The Forest of Bondy. Guilbert de Pixerecourt (French). Melo-
drama. 1816.

A popular melodrama, the production of which, at the Weimar Court Theatre
in 1817 caused Goethe's resignation as director. Goethe believed it beneath his artis-
tic dignity to have anything to do with a play in which a dog was the hero.

Aubry de Montdidier is murdered by his comrade Macaire, after a quarrel over
Lucille. The concealed body is discovered by Aubry's dog and later the murderer is
revealed when the dog assaults Macaire. Final proof comes when Macaire's missing
belt is discovered in the woods, stained with blood. Macaire escapes, but kills him-
self when surrounded by peasants and soldiers.

Auden, W. H. (1907- ). English poet and dramatist. He was associated in
the general mind with the poets, Stephen Spender and C. Day Lewis, with whom he
attended Oxford University. He is the author of The Dance of Death and collab-
orator with Christopher Isherwood on The Dog Beneath the Skin, The Ascent of
F 6 and On the Frontier.

Audience participation. Voluntary repetition of songs, ad-libbing, and cross-
fire chatter over the footlights by members of the audience at burlesque and vaude-
ville shows. Sometimes, in the co mm edict dell'arte, furnished the occasion for political
harangues.

Audition. A hearing; a term used now for any tryout performance before
judges, whether of singing, dancing, acting or playing an instrument, for the purpose
of prospective employment.

Auditorium, horseshoe. A 17th-18th century derivation in Italy from the early
semi-circle.

See also Teatro alia Scala; Teatro Vecchio.

Auditorium, ovoid. See Theatre: auditorium, ovoid.

Auditorium, straight-sided. See Theatre: auditorium, straight-sided.

Augier, Guillaume Victor Emile (1820-1889). French dramatist. Regarded
as one of the founders of the modern comedy of manners.

He was born at Valence. In 1 858 he became a member of the Academy. Accept-
ing the model of Scribe, who perfected the "well-made play," Augier employed it tq
different ends, striving to advise and improve his audiences. He was a bourgeois real-
ist, governed by reason; a commonsense moralist, recommending marriage for love
instead of money ; domestic fidelity and industrial and political honesty.

He wrote La Cigue, 1844; Le Gendre de M. Poirier (in collaboration with
Sandeau), 1854; Les Eff routes, 1861; Maitre Guerin, 1864; Les Fourchambault,
1878.

Augustan tragedy. The term given to a 'form of 18th century English tragedy.
It was a mixture of diverse pseudo-classic forces and heroics. Plays of this type were
amorphic, chaotic and undistinguished in character portrayal. A definite interest in
Asiatic themes predominated.

Aula regia. Buildings in the foreground of the stage in Italian Renaissance
theatres.

Auleum. The curtain introduced into the Roman theatre ; unlike modern theatre
curtains, it was dropped into a hollow recess placed toward the front of the stage.
See also Curtains.

Aulularia. Plautus (Latin). Comedy. About 200 B. C.

The title is derived from the Latin word for "pot," and the plot concerns an old
miser, Euclion, whose household god enables him to dig up a pot of gold buried be-
neath the hearth by his grandfather. But once he has the pot in his hand he becomes so
fearful lest he be robbed that he re-buries it deeper than before. Moliere's UAvare
and numerous other plays have used Plautus' plot

Aunt Urikkc. Gunnar Heiberg (Norwegian). Comedy. 3 acts. 1884.

Heiberg's earliest play. He thrusts good-humoredly at the new woman, selecting
as his heroine a kind-hearted eccentric. She moves among amusing folk who include
an idealistic girl devoted to the concept of progress, a professor scheming to become
a cabinet minister, and a radical politician uttering platitudes to catch the people.

Ausschreier, der. The name given that player in early German Shrovetide
drama who announced the end of the play.

Author's League of America. Organized in 1911 in New York by Arthur
Train, Gelett Burgess, Joseph Vance and Lloyd Osborne. Purpose, to establish
authors' rights in manuscripts and safeguard them. Subdivided into guilds with sepa-
rate officers: the Authors' Guild, Dramatists' Guild, and the Authors' League fund
(which functions as a benefit society). The League has published a bulletin for its
members during most of the period of its existence.

Auto de los reyes magos, el (The Play of the Three Wise Men). (Spanish.)
Liturgical drama. 1 act. Middle Ages.

The three Wise Men enter, expressing astonishment at the sight of the new star
in the East. Their paths converge, they exchange greetings. One bears myrrh, the sym-
bol of human nature; another brings frankincense, the symbol of divine nature; the
third bears gold, the symbol of kingly dignity. The magi then wonder which gift the
Christ-child will prefer. Here the scene changes to Herod's palace, where the magi
inform Herod that the Christ-child has been born.

Auto sacramentale. A kind of masque in the early Spanish theatre which was a
combination of prologue, farce and religious allegory written to be performed on the
pageant-cars during the Corpus Christi processionals and probably dealing with the
Eucharist. Lope de Vega wrote many of these.

Autumn Fires. See The Reckoning.

L'Avare. J. B. P. de Moliere (French). Comedy. 5 acts. 1668.

Harpagon, an old miser, and his son, Cleante, are rivals for the hand of Mari-
anne. Cleante gets possession of the miser's treasure, and gives him the choice between
Marianne and the treasure. The old man chooses the treasure.

Awake and Sing. Clifford Odets (American). Drama. 3 acts. 1935.

A Group Theatre presentation, this folk-drama of Jewish-American life in the
Bronx is propagandist in its protest against social injustices.

It is the saga of the Bergers, a lower middle-class family. The son Ralph is ambi-
tious and aspiring, but he loses the girl he loves because they are both too poor to defy
their families' disapproval. His sister Hennie, about to have an illegitimate child,
marries a childhood sweetheart whom she will never love ; then leaves him to go off
with Moe Axelrod, an embittered war veteran with one leg who can offer her some
measure of prosperity. Other characters are Bessie Berger, drudging mother of Ralph
and Hennie; Myron-, their hard-working father; and Jacob, the philosophizing old
grandfather who commits suicide by jumping off the roof.

Awakening of Spring, The. Frank Wedekind (German). Tragedy. 3 acts.
1891.

A thesis play presenting an analysis of puberty, it is a naturalistic study of three
children, Melchior, Moritz and Wendla, and of the vividness and promise of the life
awakening in them. It shows the cruelty and tragedy of its extinguishment, for which
the adult world must take full blame. This play, according to Anita Block, in her
The Changing World in Plays and Theatre, supplies "the great link between Ghosts,
that first effort directed toward the lifting of sexual taboos, and those more numerous
contemporary plays which brought into the theatre of our own time sexual subjects

that even in this age of unparalleled sex enlightenment and liberalism, still are at-
tacked as taboo."

Ayala, Adelardo Lopez de (1828-1879). Spanish dramatist. Born in Guadal-
canal, province of Seville. Dramatist who insisted on the moral thesis. Principal work:
El tanto por ciento (So Much Per Cent), 1861, has a theme of love versus money.

Ayatsuri. See Acting, Japanese.

Ayrer, Jakob (? -1605). German dramatist. One of the most important and
quite the most prolific German dramatist of his day.

He lived during the 16th century and passed almost his whole life in Nuremberg,
where he became imperial notary. His fame, however, rests entirely on his dramatic
works. In style he was the successor of Hans Sachs, but he was influenced by a travel-
ling troupe of English actors who visited the continent at the close of the century.
His plays are not now considered of very great merit.

His dramatic works number nearly seventy and were published posthumously in
Nuremberg in 1618, under the title Opus Theatricum*

Baby spot. A small spotlight.

Bacchae, The. Euripides (Greek). Tragedy. 406 B.C.

A symbolical tragedy in the formal classic tradition, using a Chorus to comment
on the action.

The god Dionysus comes with his Bacchanals to his homeland of Thebes and is
rejected by his kinsmen. So he infects them all with his own Bacchanalian madness.
King Pentheus imprisons the god and the holy women, then repents and agrees to go
to witness the secret religious rites on Mt. Cithaera. He does so, disguised as a
Maenad, is discovered and torn to bits. His mother finds his head, thinks it is a lion's,
and goes wildly off, holding it and dancing as she goes. The Chorus of Maenads, hor-
rified at the sight, turn from Dionysus. He threatens those who oppose him, then
ascends to Heaven, while the mortals proceed to their doom. The significance of the
story is much disputed by scholars, but it is generally conceded to be an allegory op-
posing the forces of instinct and those of reason and wisdom.

Back cloth. See Back drop.

Back drop. Screen or curtain lowered in back of a scene, usually for vista or
panorama effects. In the early theatre, a back drop was used for change of setting and
to limit the confines of the stage.

Back to Methuselah. George Bernard Shaw (Irish). Philosophic fantasy.
5 parts. 1921.

A philosophical comedy regarding the need of human beings to perfect themselves
to avoid being destroyed. Shaw contends that only a life measured in centuries rather
than in decades can make men mature enough to order their society rationally, and

that unless a life span of at least three hundred years is achieved the genus homo will
be discarded in favor of a more competent species. The work, while presented as a
unit, consists of five plays :

In the Beginning. Adam and Eve in Eden learn of birth and death how Lilith
was alone until she learned to procreate; how death does not matter if birth brings
other Adams. Adam chooses to live a thousand years. Centuries later, he has become
an agriculturist and is scorned by his warrior son Cain. Eve reproaches her boastful
son for his belligerence, but he retorts that he merely serves as the agent of Death and
thus fulfils a mission.

The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas. A satire on contemporary politics. Lubin
and Burge, caricatures of Asquith and Lloyd George, visit the biology professor
Barnabas, who tells them of his new book on longevity. They think he has invented
some new medicine and are ready to pass a law limiting its use to the best people
when they find he is discussing merely a biological thesis. Disappointed, Surge still
sees a possible election slogan in the idea.

The Thing Happens. The parlor of the President of the British Isles in 2170.
Barnabas of the day, a great authority on human life, is intrigued by a book by an
American explaining a system of breathing which will prevent deaths by drowning.
Moving pictures of prominent men who have drowned reveal that the Archbishop,
supposedly thus killed, has really lived three centuries. He pretended to drown, then
began a new career as his own descendant.

Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman. The long-livers are now quite numerous.
They have so congested the British Isles that the capital of the Empire has been
moved to Bagdad. An elderly gentleman has been driven almost mad by the strain of
talking to several young long-livers. His son-in-law, the Prime Minister, consults the
long-livers' oracle, and is shortly told "to go home, poor fool." The elderly gentle-
man, impressed, asks to remain on the island with the oracle and is killed by the latter
with a compassionate glance.

As Far as Thought Can Reach. 31920 A. D. Men and women are born from
eggs at seventeen, spend four years singing and dancing and mating, then become
ancients and engage in abstruse study and meditation. They are almost entirely pure
intellect; their bodies are so far conquered that they need neither food nor sleep.
In an epilogue the characters of the first play judge the future state. Eve is pleased
that cleverness prevails; Cain is sad that war is outlawed; Adam as stupid and puz-
zled as ever; Lilith hopeful for the day when man shall overcome matter entirely.

Backing. ( 1 ) Unit of scenery two- or three-fold used to mask openings in the
set, such as doorways; (2) the financing of a production.

Backstage. That part of the theatre which lies behind the stage and which in-
cludes dressing rooms and stage wings.

Bacon, Francis, Viscount St. Albans (1561-1626). English essayist and dran*>
atist. Considered one of the greatest prose writers in English literature.

Born at York House, London, the son of Nicholas Bacon, lord-keeper of the
Great Seal, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1576 he accompanied
Sir Amyas Paulet, ambassador to France, to Paris, where he remained until the death
of his father in 1579. In 1582 he was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn, of which he
became a bencher and later entered Parliament as member for Melcombe Regis in

Dorset, becoming in the years that followed the confidential adviser of the Earl of
Essex, favorite of Queen Elizabeth. In 1593 Bacon incurred the anger of the Queen
by opposing in Parliament the levying of a double subsidy and was excluded from
the court. He was, however, befriended by Essex. He regained royal favor by taking
part in the accusation at Essex's first trial for treason, and he appeared at the second
trial as one of Her Majesty's counsel, speaking against his benefactor, whose execu-
tion followed the trial.

On the accession of James I, 1603, Bacon was knighted. He became one of the
commission appointed to settle the terms of the union of England and Scotland.
Bacon advised the King to forego the most unpopular of the patents which he had
created, but the advice was rejected and in 1621, Bacon was accused of bribery and
corruption in Chancery. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London
and fined, then later pardoned, but his public career was ruined. He died a few years
later of bronchitis.

Bacon is regarded by modern men of science as the real originator of the modern
school of experimental research. His method of discovery consisted in the gradual
building up of small pieces of knowledge.

The view that Bacon is the real author of Shakespeare's plays first arose in 1852,
and was based upon the alleged illiteracy of Shakespeare, the similarity between the
writings of the two men and the non-existence of an authoritative Shakespearean text.

Bacon's main works include: Essays, 1597; Instauratio Magna, of which only
two parts were completed, (1) De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientarum, 1623, and
(2) Novum Qrganum, 1620; New Atlantis, 1627.

Bacon, Frank (1864-1922). American actor and playwright. For many years
before coming to Broadway Frank Bacon played stock with his wife. He is best
remembered as the originator of the character of Bill Jones in Lightning a play which
he wrote with Winchell Smith, and in which he acted from 1918 until his death.
After a run of several years in New York he took the comedy to Chicago, where he
gave his last performance of it only a week before he died. Will Rogers later took
Bacon's role in a movie version.

Baconian Theory. The theory that Francis Bacon wrote the plays generally
attributed to Shakespeare. Proponents of the theory argue that a man of Shakespeare's
apparently limited formal education and provincial background could not have
written with such learning and insight. They argue further that Bacon, a man suit-
ably qualified, revealed his authorship in complicated anagrams in the texts of the
plays. The theory, set forth as early as 1852, was considerably discredited by the dis-
covery of the manuscript play, Sir Thomas More, parts of which are in handwriting
identical to that of the signature on Shakespeare's will.

Bahr, Hermann (1863-1934). Austrian critic, editor, novelist and dramatist.
Born at Linz, he studied at the University of Vienna and elsewhere, and travelled
much in Europe. In 1890 he settled in Vienna as a journalist, specializing in social
and literary criticism. He was afterwards assistant editor then editor of several pa-
pers, and in 1906 became manager of the Deutsckes Theater of Berlin.

As a dramatist, Bahr is considered a lesser Schnitzler, softening the sharp edges
of realism by his scrupulous art. His works include more than eighty titles, among
which is to be found the earliest discriminating treatise upon expressionism.

His plays include: The New Men, 1887; The Great Sin, 1889; The Mother,
1891; The Domestic Woman, 1893; Dora, 1893; From the Suburbs, 1893; The
Water Sprite, 1896; Juana, 1896; The Booby, 1897; Josephine, 1898; The Star,
1898 ; TA* Athlete, 1899 ; Viennese Women, 1900 ; D*r Franz/, 1900 ; The Apostle,
1901 ; Der Krampus, 1901 ; T/z* Master, 1903 ; $**, 1904; The Poor Fool, 1905 ;
The Deliverers' Club, 1905 ; The Other, 1905; T/u? J^aw, 1906; Grotesques, 1907 ;
Tfo? Yellow Nightingale, 1907; jRiV Around, 1907; T7u? Concert, 1909; T/ie
Children, 1910; T/z* Lifc D<m<:<?, 1911; T* Principle, 1912; jT/ie Phantom,
1913 ; Tfc* Complainer, 1914; Tfo? JW/j; So# *)m<?r, 1914; TA* Po*V<?, 1916; T/r*
Moment, 1917; TA<? n/te, 1919; Indian Summer, 1924; T/u? ^*mf, 1926; Heaven
on Earth, 1928.

Baker, Elizabeth (1879- ). English dramatist. Born in London. It was not
until 1909 that she gained public notice for her work, with her play, Chains. She has
contributed to many periodicals.

Her other plays include: The Price of Thomas Scott, 1913; Partnership, 1917;
Miss Robinson, 1918; Penelope Forgives, 1930.

Baker, George Pierce (1866-1935). American educator, author. Perhaps the
best biography of the famous founder of the 47 Workshop, school of the drama at
Harvard, where Baker taught English and play writing from 1905-1924, would be
a roster of those of his pupils who achieved distinction in the theatre. Yet even that
would be too long to be feasible, including a fair share of the men who are the modern
American theatre: Philip Barry, Sidney Howard, S. N. Behrman, George Abbott,
Eugene O'Neill, Edward Sheldon, John V. A. Weaver and many, many others. Born
in Providence, Baker received his A.B. from Harvard in 1887. Later, as a professor
in the university, he sponsored the Harvard Dramatic Club when it was started in
1908. It was largely due to his influence that Harvard was the first university in the
country to accept a course on the practical aspect and technique of the drama as a
part of its regular academic curriculum. The Workshop proper was founded as a sort
of try-out theatre and critical laboratory in which the budding playwrights could test
their own works before an audience. In 1925 Baker left Harvard for Yale, where he
was professor of the technique and history of the drama until his retirement in 1933.
During the same period (1925-33) he was also chairman of the Department of
Drama, School of Fine Arts; and director of the University Theatre. When he re-
tired in 1933 many of his former pupils, grown illustrious, assembled in New Haven
from all over the world to do him homage. His published works include The Prin-
ciples of Argumentation, 1895; The Development of Shakespeare as a Dramatist,
1907; Some Unpublished Correspondence of David Garrick, 1907; Dramatic Tech-
nique, 1919; etc.

Bakst, Leon (1866-1924). Russian artist. Educated in St. Petersburg, he soon
made a reputation as a painter and was employed by the court as a teacher. About
1900 he began to paint scenery for plays produced in the Russian capital and his re-
markable work for Greek tragedies attracted a good deal of attention. After 1908 he
increased his fame by painting scenery and designing costumes for the Russian ballet
of Serge Diaghileff. His decors, which created a vogue in Paris, were richly oriental
in style, the best-known being the setting for Scheherazade. From 1909 until his
death, he lived in Paris. Examples of his paintings are in the Victoria and Albert

Museum, London, and in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Many of his
sketches are in the possession of his theatrical disciple, Simon Lissim, in Paris.

Balcony, The. Gunnar Heiberg (Norwegian). Drama. 3 acts. 1894.

The passionate heroine deceives her middle-aged husband and rejoices when he
dies in an accident that prevents his discovering her duplicity. Then, having married
her lover, and deceived him in turn, she is deserted by him.

Balcony, Elizabethan. A projecting, practicable balcony on the Elizabethan
platform stage, one on either side, above the entrance doors. Used by actors, not
audience members, as in Romeo and Juliet.

Balcony, modern. The present-day gallery is used exclusively for audience-seat-
ing, with the sole exception of "plants" to which the orchestra, as well, is sometimes
subject*

Balderston, John Lloyd (1889-1954). American dramatist and newspaper
correspondent. Born in Philadelphia, Pa., and educated at Columbia University.
During the First World War he went to Europe as a free-lance war correspondent,
and later became a representative of the McClure Newspaper Syndicate, gathering
information from England and Ireland for the United States. He became editor of
The Outlook in London, remaining in that capacity from 1920 to 1923. After that
he was employed by the now defunct New York World as London correspondent.

Plays include : A Morality Play for the Leisure Class; Berkeley Square; Dracula;
Red Planet.

Bald-headed row. The name given the first row of a theatre.

Ballad opera. Form of 18th century comedy which came into popularity with
the triumph of Gay's The Beggar's Opera* 1728. Its greatest period of success was
between 1729 and 1738 when it challenged the prestige of regular tragedies and
comedies. Written in one, two or three acts, these ballad operas were composed of
airs, accompanied by prose, blank verse or rime ; utilized nearly all the types of comedy
invention from farce to sentimentalism. Satirical and burlesque in tone.

Ballerina. Originally a dancer in the commedia dell' arte; generally also the
cantarina; does not really play a part in the scenario; introduced purely to present
intermedii of a musical kind. This type is traced, practically unchanged, from the
dancing girl as found in a Herculaneum frieze of early Roman days through the
Francischina of Callot in the 17th century to the Camilla Veronese of the 18th
century. Today the ballerina is the star female performer of ballet.

Ballet. Term for an artistic or dramatic dance to music by a group and used for
occasional interludes in opera or as a divertissement. Outside of this merely con-
tributory connotation the term is also used for that series of story-plots, interpreted
through dance and pantomime, which makes up a complete theatre program. Arnold
Haskell, in his Ballet, says: "Ballet, in the form that we recognize, had its beginning
with the founding of UAcademie National de la Danse by Louis XIV in 1661. We
are able to trace its development in an unbroken line of dancers and teachers from

then until the present day." As to its source, Mr. Haskell says: "The germ that was
to develop into ballet was brought into France from Italy by Catherine de Medici,
who was eager to divert her sons while she busied herself in ruling. The spectacle was
a combination of dancing, singing and recitation. Its aim was social. It constituted an
elegant pastime for the monarch and his court, an opportunity for bawdy humour,
for lavish expenditure, and for the fulsome flattery of court to King. The subjects
chosen were largely mythological; the King played at godship, the court worshipped.
Astute minds, bent on politics rather than pleasure, used the fashionable craze for
purposes of national propaganda, among other things, to point out to foreign am-
bassadors the might of France. . . . The finest artistic minds of the day contributed
to the music, the decoration, and the poetry of the spectacle. The people paid. The
first dramatic ballet of importance from which the history of the art may be said to
begin was Le Ballet Comique de la Reine in 1581."

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Name associated with several companies that
succeeded the Diaghilev Ballets Russes f which was disbanded after Diaghilev's death
in 1929. In 1931 Rene Blum, director of the Monte Carlo Opera Ballet, assembled a
new company including many members of the Diaghilev group with Balanchine and
Massine as choreographers, and called it the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. He
was joined in its management by Col. W. de Basil, and the group became known as
the Rene Blum and Col. de Basil Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. From 1933 this
group toured the U.S. annually under Hurok's management as the Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo; after Blum left the company in 1936, it was also known as de Basil's
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Blum returned to the Monte Carlo Opera and soon
formed a separate company, the Rene Blum Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo with
Fokine as choreographer. In 1938 Massine left the de Basil group and rejoined
Blum, bringing with him the support of an American group known as Universal
Art, Inc. After a series of conflicts tagged popularly as a "ballet war," the two
companies emerged as the Ballet Russe de Monte. Carlo (under Blum's management,
with Massine as chief choreographer) and the Original Ballet Russe (under de
Basil's management). Although many changes in management and personnel took
place in ensuing years, both companies have continued to the present, the former
being better known in the U.S., the latter in Europe.

Ballet Theatre. American ballet company formed in 1939 with Richard Pleas-
ant as director; he was later succeeded by Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith as co-
directors. The first performance was in January, 1940, and since then the company
has won a reputation for distinguished work, particularly in its modern ballets such
as Fancy Free (choreographed by Jerome Robbins), Pillar of Fire (Anthony Tu-
dor), and Rodeo (Agnes de Mille). With leading dancers such as Alicia Markova,
Nora Kaye (who rose from the corps de ballet to become the company's star in-
terpreter of dramatic ballets), Anton Dolin, Igor Youskevitch, and many others, the
group has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Balletomane. Term meaning "ballet enthusiast" As originally used in Russia,
it meant the conservative and partisan theatre-goer who never missed a single ballet
performance and always sat in the front row seats, which were next to impossible to
obtain because of the family custom of permanent chairs.

Ballets Russes. See Diaghilcv.

Balloon. To go up in one's lines; to blow.

Ballroom theatre, 16th-century French. See Hotel de Bourgogne, Hotel de
Rambouillet.

Ballyhoo. As used in the theatre, a slang term for an exaggerated form of
announcement, publicity, advertisement or stunt to create interest and increase busi-
ness; outside the theatre the word has a derogatory sense, often used to refer to
false claims.

Bancroft, Marie Effie Wilton, Lady (1839-1921). English actress. Daugh-
ter of 'Robert Wilton, a provincial actor, she was born at Doncaster, and first appeared
on the stage at Norwich in 1845. She made her debut in London at the Lyceum,
1856, as Henri in Belphegor, and later achieved a great success in burlesque at the
Strand. In 1865 she became joint manager with H. J. Byron of the old Prince of
Wales' Theatre, where she produced Caste and Society, in which she made her
reputation as a comedian. Other productions were The School for Scandal, The
Merchant of Venice, Masks and Faces, and London Assurance. In 1867 she married
a member of her company, Squire Bancroft, and on* January 31, 1880, the pair began
their management of the Haymarket Theatre with a revival of Money, followed by
two Sardou plays, Odette and Fedora, Pinero's Lords and Commons, and revivals of
The Rivals and Diplomacy. Retiring from management in 1885, she appeared at the
Garrick in revivals of Diplomacy, 1893, and Money in 1894. She died at Folkestone.

Bands. The name given troupes of actors who roamed throughout Germany up
to and during the 17th century. Germany was overrun by English, French, Dutch
and Italian acting companies. From these, independent German bands were formed,
made up of vagabonds, roamers, jugglers, quacks, musicians and acrobats.

Bankhead, Tallulah (1902- ). American actress. Born in Huntsville, Ala-
bama. She appeared first in Squab Farm, March 15, 1918. Next came Foot-loose,
1919 ; 39 East and Nice People, 1921 ; then she went to London where she scored a
hit in The Dancers, 1923, with Sir Gerald DuMaurier. Among her successes were:
Fallen Angels, 1925; The Green Hat, 1925; They Knew What They Wanted,
1926 ; The Gold Diggers, 1927 ; Her Cardboard Lover, 1927 ; Let Us Be Gay, 1930.
Next she appeared in several films, returning to New York in Forsaking All Others,
1933. Dark Victory, 1934, and a revival of Rain, 1935, served as a prelude to the
really fine role in The Little Foxes, 1939. Then followed The Skin of Our Teeth,
1942; Foolish Notion, 1945; Private Lives, 1946; The Eagle Has Two Heads,
1947; Dear Charles, 1954; revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, 1953; Eugenia,
1957. Numerous radio and TV appearances. Autobiography, Tallulah.

Bankside. The principal theatrical, district in Tudor London, across the Thames
from the City proper and a little to the west of London Bridge. The locality had
long been given over to houses of ill fame and rings for the baiting of bears and bulls.
Active opposition by London authorities to theatrical activities caused many playhouse

managers to move to Bahkside, which was beyond the jurisdiction of the city. The
Rose, Swan and Globe theatres were situated in this district.

Bar (barre). A rod along the walls of a dance studio, or backstage, for the
convenience of dancers who use it to steady themselves when stretching or limbering
up.

Barber of Seville, The. Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (French).
Comedy, 5 acts. 1775.

Bartolo wishes to marry his ward and pupil Rosine, but she prefers Count
Almaviva, whom she knows as Lindoro. Figaro the barber interests himself in the
lovers and helps them thwart the elderly guardian. The Count's attempts to outwit
Bartolo form the main plot. First he enters the old man's house disguised as a
soldier, asks to be billeted and gives Rosine a note telling of Almaviva's love. When
Bartolo discovers the soldier making love to the girl the gallant is forced to flee.
Later he returns in the guise of a music master, and the young people plan to elope.
Bartolo is tricked into signing what he believes to be a marriage contract for him and
Rosine, but what is really a contract for her marriage to Almaviva, and his rage is
allayed by the generous Count's offer of Rosine's dowry.

In the mouth of Figaro, genial man of the people, indignantly protesting against
the abuses suffered by the populace under the rule of the nobility, the author expressed
his own revolutionary ideas. The play fell with the impact of a bombshell on a society
which was to follow Figaro's advice and revolt against its masters fourteen years
later.

Rossini's opera of the same name is based on it. Beaumarchais wrote a sequel:
The Marriage of Figaro.

Barchester Towers. Thomas Job (American), Comedy. 3 acts. 1937.

The play is based on the novel by Anthony Trollope.

Madeline Neroni, recently returned to the English cathedral town of Barchester
after eleven years in Italy where she has had a serious quarrel with her Italian hus-
band, enters merrily into a social crisis arising over the selection of a new dean for
the Barchester diocese. Madeline favors a young liberal, Arabin, whose chief opposi-
tion is a certain Mr. Slope. To embarrass Mr. Slope before the archbishop Madeline
puts champagne in his ginger beer mug. Madeline also forces young Arabin to propose
to her when she knows he is in love with Eleanor Bold, and before she is positive her
husband has died. When she hears that her husband, obviously alive, has been seen
playing cards at Monte Carlo, she is quite satisfied to turn Arabin back to Eleanor
and return to Italy.

Bard of Ayon. The nickname of William Shakespeare.

Bardolatry. Excessive Shakespeare worship. The word was coined by Bernard
Shaw in the course of his attacks on the cult of Shakespeare in the late 19th-century
English theatre. It still flourishes in England and North America, and groups and
individuals have exploited it with profit. In his book, A Short History of the Shake-
speare Industry, Ivor Brown admits bewilderment at the greatness of its extent, re-
marking that English-speaking peoples are not especially fond of poetic drama.

Bare stage. The stage without scenery or properties.

Barker. A shouter or clamorer; one who through, high-pressure talk and exag-
geration drums up business for his attraction. Barkers are now used mainly for side-
shows and amusement areas.

Barn Theatres. See Theatres, 20th Century American.

Barnabee, Henry Clay (1833-1917). American singer, actor. Born November
14 1833 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He sang in church choirs, finally making
his* debut as a professional at the Music Hall in Boston, assisted by Annie Louise
Cary. He became associated with the Boston Ideal Opera Company in 1879. He
later organized the famous Bostonians, a first-rate company. His best-known role was
that of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood.

Barnstorm. A theatrical term meaning to give performances from town to town,
originally in barns.

Barnum, Phineas T. (1810-1891). A great American showman whose origi-
nality brought him world fame; made his first bid for attention in 1835 on the stage
of Niblo's Garden with an old negress, Joice Heith, whom he introduced as Wash-
ington's nurse; navigated the Mississippi with a showboat; sold Bibles; opened
Barnum's Museum in New York in 1841 ; introduced Tom Thumb in 1842 and
toured Europe in 1844 with his famous midget; managed Jenny Lind's American
tour, 1850; organized a famous menagerie and circus in 1871 ; in 1881 merged with
J. A. Bailey to form Barnum and Bailey's circus.

Barrault, Jean-Louis (1910- ). French actor, director and manager.^ In
1931 he started as a pupil of Charles Dullin, founder and manager of the Theatre
de I' Atelier, and in the succeeding years became well known as an actor, Director, and
author of adaptations. In 1940 he entered the Comedie Frangaise, but left in 1946 to
manage his own company at the Theatre Marigny, in association with his wite, the
actress Madeleine Renaud. Many notable productions followed, including Hamlet
in Gide's translation, Baptist* Amphitryon, The Trial Folpone, etc. In recent
years the Barrault company has appeared twice in New York in a repertory of their

productions. . . . .

Barrault has made an intensive study of pantomime and its use m modern inter-
pretation and his mastery of this art is evident in his company's productions. Among
the many outstanding films in which he has appeared, one of the best-known is Les
Enfants du Paradis, in which he played the part of the great 19th-century mime,

His book, Reflections on the Theatre, was published here in 1951.

Barres, Maurice (1862-1923). French novelist. Born at Charmes-sur-Moselle,
Vosges. He was educated at Nancy, and began to write while still very young. He
published Huit jours chez M. Renan in 1888 and Culte de mer in 1891. In 1889 he
became deputy for Nancy, and retained the seat until 1893. In the following year, he
published his three-act comedy, Une Journee Parlementaire. During the first World
War, Barres, who had long been an intense nationalist, gained a tremendous reputa-
tion with his powerful daily articles in the Echo de Paris.

His most popular stories include Un Amateur dames, 1899; Le Jardin de

Berenice, 1891 ; UEnnemi des Lois, 1893; and the trilogy, Le Roman de Venergit
nationale, 1897-1902.

Barrett, Lawrence (1838-1891). American actor. He first appeared in New
York in 1857 ; played in the South, California and England; in 1887 he joined forces
with Booth and toured with him; was best known as Cassius in Julius Caesar;
played in Pendragon; made his greatest hit as Lanciotto in Francesca da Rimini.
His granddaughter, Edith Barrett, is a popular actress today.

Barretts of Wimpole Street, The. Rudolf Besier (English). Historical
drama. 4 acts. 1930.

The scene of the play is the Moulton-Barrett residence at 50 Wimpole St.,
London; the time 1845-46. Elizabeth Barrett, invalided by a fall from a horse, leads
a secluded existence, virtually a prisoner, a prey to the terrible and tyrannical adora-
tion of her father, whose affection amounts almost to incestuous love. Her life is
brightened by the liveliness of her sisters and brothers and by the poetry in which she
finds solace. Her interest in literature leads to a correspondence with Robert Brown-
ing, who comes to visit her and is charmed by her intelligence and sympathy. He
courts her against the express desires of her father until she agrees to marry him.
They are forced to elope because of her parent's selfish and unbalanced attitude. She
flees with Robert to Italy, accompanied by her faithful maid Wilson and her cocker
spaniel Flush.

Among other sources, Besier consulted the writings of both Elizabeth and Robert
Browning; as a result his play has historical as well as dramatic authority. It had its
premiere at the Malvern Festival, after which it ran for nearly a year and a half in
London, with a cast headed by Cedric Hardwicke as Barrett. It opened in New York
in 1931, with Katharine Cornell as Elizabeth, and ran for a year there, then had a
successful road tour. She has revived it frequently since, notably for a tour of the
fronts during World War II.

Barrie, Sir James Matthew (1860-1937). Scottish author. Barrie, one of the
most important and prolific writers of the modern English theatre, is equally famous
for his plays and his novels. He was born at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire, where he re-
ceived his earliest education, going later to Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh
University. In 1885 he settled in London and became a contributor to a number of
papers and journals. In 1894 he married an actress, Mary Ansell; their union was
dissolved in 1910. His plays are: Becky Sharp, 1891 ; Ibsen's Ghosts, 1891 ; Richard
Savage, 1891; Walker, London, 1892; Jane Annie, 1893; The Professor's Love
Story, 1894; The Little Minister, 1897; The Wedding Guest, 1900; Quality Street,
1902; The Admirable Crichton, 1902; Little Mary, 1903; Peter Pan, 1904; Alice
Sit-by-the-Fire, 1905; Pantaloon, 1905 ; Josephine, 1906; Punch, 1906; What Every
Woman Knows, 1908; Old Friends, 1910; The Twelve-Pound Look, 1910; A Slice
of Life, 1910; Rosalind, 1912; The Will, 1913; The Adored One, 1913; Half-an-
Hour, 1913; The Dramatists Get What They Want (sketch), 1913; Der Too,
1914; The New Word, 1915; Rosy Rapture (revue), 1915; A Kiss for Cinderella,
1916; Dear Brutus, 1917 ; A Well-Remembered Voice, 1918; The Old Lady Shows
Her Medals, 1917; Mary Rose, 1920; The Truth about the Russian Dancers, 1920;
Shall We Join the Ladies? 1921; Barbara's Wedding, 1927; Young David. The
last play, written shortly before his death as a vehicle for Elizabeth Bergner, was

unsuccessful. But most of them have become so well known and so often revived,
in particular Peter Pan, that the titles alone are descriptive to most people. Barrie is
noted for his whimsy and sentiment.

A Kiss for Cinderella, in which Maude Adams starred, has been compared to the
writings of Hans Christian Andersen. There is a quaint humor in even his most
subtle character analyses, such as What Every Woman Knows; in spirit Barrie is
almost the direct antithesis to the cutting rationalizing of George Bernard Shaw,
one of his most eminent contemporaries. The topical problems of the day failed to
interest him as dramatic material; even his plays about the war are somehow removed
from grim reality by their fantasy. Yet his other-worldliness is not abstruse and
forbidding, but homely and familiar, as his descriptions of homely and familiar things
are lifted above the realm of the commonplace by his imaginative treatment of them.

Barren, Mark (1905- ). American drama critic. Born in Waco, Texas, and
educated at Baylor University and privately in Europe. Began as a sports writer
for the New York Telegraph, 1926-27. He became drama critic for the Herald
Tribune, 1927-29, and then was associated for some time with the Theatre Guild.
He has been drama critic for the Associated Press since 1931 (except for the war
years, when he was in military service), and also writes a Broadway column for
the wire-service.

Barry, Elizabeth (1658-1713). English actress, the first to achieve major rank.
Began her theatrical training with Davenant, but was a failure as an actress until
her association with the Earl of Rochester, under whose guidance she became the
greatest tragedienne of the time. Her first appearance was in 1673 at the Dorset
Gardens. She played opposite Betterton for many years, retiring from the stage in
1710, the year of his death. Her reputation was made in tragedy, and as the creator of
Cordelia in Tate's version of King Lear, Isabella in Southerne's The Fatal Marriage,
and Belvidera in Otway's Venice Preserved, she achieved immense success. Those
qualified to judge, spoke of her as "mistress of all the passions of the mind."

Barry, Philip (1896-1949). American dramatist. Born in Rochester, N.Y.,
he was graduated from Yale in 1919, and studied playwriting at George Pierce
Baker's 47 Workshop at Harvard from 1919-22. His play, 'You and 1, 1923, won the
Harvard Prize, was successfully produced on Broadway and established him as one
of the white hopes of the modern American theatre. His other dramatic works are
A Punch for Judy, 1921 ; The Youngest, 1924; In a Garden, 1925; White Wings,
1926; John, 1927; Paris Bound, 1927; Cock Robin (with Elmer Rice), 1928;
Holiday, 1928; Hotel Universe, 1930; Tomorrow and Tomorrow, 1931; The
Animal Kingdom, 1932 ; The Joyous Season, 1934; Briffht Star, 1935 ; Spring Dance
(adapted from the play by Eleanor Golden and Eloise Barrangon), 1936; Here
Come the Clowns, 1938; The Philadelphia Story, 1939; Foolish Notion, 1945; Sec-
ond Threshold (completed with revisions by R. E, Sherwood), 1951.

Barry, Spranger (1719-1777). Irish actor. Born in Dublin, where he made his
first appearance in 1744. He went to London in 1746, playing Othello at Drury
Lane. At the same theatre, later, he alternated the parts of Hamlet and Macbeth
with Garrick, whose jealousy he so aroused that Barry moved in 1750 to Covent
Garden, where he continued to challenge comparison with Garrick in leading

Shakespearean roles. From 1758 to 1767 he retired to Dublin and Cork, but, having
ruined himself in a theatrical venture, returned to London, where he appeared at the
Haymarket Theatre, and later, again under Garrick's management, at the Drury
Lane. In 1774 he returned to Covent Garden.

He was called "as handsome as a god; a silversmith turned romantic actor."
Othello was said to be his greatest role. His second wife, Ann Street Barry (1734-
1801), whom he married in 1768, was well known between 1774 and 1798 as a
tragic actress at Covent Garden, and as Desdemona was held by some to be superior
to Mrs. Siddons.

Barrymore, Ethel (1879- ). American actress. Daughter of Maurice and
Georgiana Drew Barrymore and sister of Lionel and John. Born in Philadelphia,
she made her debut as Julia in The Rivals in Montreal in 1894, and an engage-
ment at the Empire, New York, followed. Appeared in England in 1897, when
she was engaged by Henry Irving, and played in The Bells and Peter the Great.
She returned to America in 1898 and established herself as an outstanding actress.
In 1900 she starred under Charles Frohman's management, in Clyde Fitch's Cap-
tain Jinks of the Horse Marines, scoring an instant success. Among the many plays
in which she has appeared are : Alice Sit-by-t he-Fir e ; The Second Mrs. Tanqueray;
Hamlet; The Lady of the Cornelias; The Twelve Pound Look; Declassee; The
Constant Wife; Whiteoaks; Kingdom of God; The School for Scandal; The Corn
Is Green; Embezzled Heaven. In 1928 she opened the Ethel Barrymore Theatre,
New York, in The Kingdom of God. On her 70th birthday, August 16, 1949 she
was greeted by 100 admirers on a nationwide radio broadcast. In late 1957 another
homage was paid her in a television broadcast. She has appeared in many motion
pictures.

Barrymore, Georgiana Drew (1856-1893). American actress. Wife of
Maurice and mother of Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore ; and daughter of John
and Louisa Drew. She was trained for the stage by her mother and appeared with
her husband and other outstanding actors of the day including Edwin Booth and
Lawrence Barrett.

Barrymore, John (1882-1942). American actor and screen star. Younger son
of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew Barrymore ; born in Philadelphia, and
made his first stage appearance in 1903 in Magda at the Cleveland Theatre in Chi-
cago. He shortly built up as great a reputation as an actor as his sister had achieved
as an actress. The plays in which he appeared include: The Fortune Hunter; Uncle
Sam; The Yellow Ticket; Justice; Peter Ibbetson. He is best remembered for his
performance as Hamlet. His film career began in 1912, and after 1925, he acted
almost exclusively in motion pictures. Among the plays in which he appeared on the
screen are Sherlock Holmes; Arsene Lupin; Moby Dick; Rasputin; Reunion in
Vienna; Grand Hotel; Dinner at Eight; Twentieth Century. His last stage ap-
pearance was in the late spring of 1939 in My Dear Children.

Barrymore, Lionel (1878-1954). American actor. Born in London, the son of
Maurice and Georgiana Drew Barrymore. Made his first appearance on the stage
in Philadelphia under the sponsorship of his grandmother, Louisa Lane Drew, in
1893. He continued to play bits in companies headed by his uncle, John Drew, and

made his first hit in The Mummy and the Hummingbird. Then in 1905 he played
the title role in Pantaloon, and later played in The Copperhead; The Jest; Macbeth;
The Claw; Laugh, Clown, Laugh; The Pixie; Man or Devil; and other plays.

After one appearance on the screen in 1909, he returned to the stage to take his
place among the leading actors of his time. Later he went back to Hollywood and
became one of the movie greats. He was a composer and etcher of note. He published
a memoir of the family and a novel, Mr. Cartonwine: A Moral Tale.

Barrymore, Maurice (Herbert Blythe) (1848-1905). English-American
actor. Father of Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore. He was educated at Cambridge
and began his stage career in 1875 with a provincial company in a production of
London Assurance. The same year he played in the United States in Daly's Under
the Gaslight. After his marriage to Georgianna Drew in 1876, he became a leading
figure on the American and English stage and played opposite such actresses as
Modjeska, Olga Nethersole, Lily Langtry and Mrs. Fiske.

Bartholomew Fair. Ben Jonson (English). Satiric comedy. 5 acts. 1614.

A robust satire on villainy and hypocrisy in London. To the Fair, among others,
go Winwife, Quarlous, Justice Overdo, Dame Purecraft, Grace Welborn, the Jus-
tice's ward, and her fiance, Cokes. After many adventures, at the end of the day,
Quarlous wins a rich wife, Dame Purecraft; Grace and Winwife are betrothed; and
the Justice learns that the masked bawd he was about to sentence is his own wife.

Bart6s, Jan. See Drama, Czechoslovak, since the First World War.

Bat, The. Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood (American). Melo-
drama, 3 acts. 1920.

Somewhere in Miss Van Gorder's home is hidden the loot of a bank cashier who
has escaped to the West. The search for this treasure bringS nightly visitors to the
house and leads to a murder. At last the treasure is found in a secret room, where a
few of Miss Van Gorder's staunch friends wait for the murderer to return for his
prize. He is finally captured, and the mystery solved.

Bataille, Henri (1872-1922). French dramatist and poet. Born at Nimes. He
won recognition as a poet with his La Chambre Blanche (1895) and Le Beau Voyage
(1904). His long series of stage successes began with Ma-man Colibri, produced in
1904. His plays which are characterized by a preoccupation with erotic abnormalities
include: The Fair Leper, 1897; Thy Blood, 1897; The Enchantment, 1900; The
Masque, 1902; The Declaration, 1903; The Wedding March, 1905 ; Resurrection
(from Tolstoy), 1902; Poliche, 1906; Woman Unadorned, 1908; The Scandal,
1909; The Dream of an Evening of Love, 1910; The Foolish Virgin, 1910; The
Child of Love, 1911; The Torches, 1912; The Night Moth, 1913; The Amazon,
1916; Our Image, 1918; Love Sisters, 1919; The Animator, 1920; The Man With
a Rose, 1921; Tenderness, 1921; Possession, 1922; Human Flesh, 1922.

Bateman, Mrs. Sidney F. (1823-1881), American dramatist. Born in New
York, she was before her marriage Sidney Frances Cowell, daughter of the English'
low comedian who was so closely associated with the early history of the American
theatre, and whose Reminiscences are filled with a wealth of anecdote. Sidney made

her professional debut at about fourteen in New Orleans. In 1839 she married
Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman in St. Louis, and from that time their careers are
linked, for they both were actors and they both ended their days as managers of
theatres in London. She began to write in 1857 and Self was produced in St. Louis
at the People's Theatre in April of that year.

Among her other plays are Geraldine, or The Master Passion, 1859; The
Golden Calf, 1857; The Dead Secret (adaptation of Wilkie Collins 1 story), 1877.

Bates, Blanche (1873-1941). American actress. Bom in Portland, Oregon. She
married George Creel, editor and publicist, in 1912. Her stage debut was made in
San Francisco in 1894 in The Picture; her New York debut under Augustin Daly's
management in 1897 as Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew. Among the many plays
in which she has had leading roles have been The Musketeers, 1899; The Children
of the Ghetto, 1899; Mme. Butterfly, 1900; Under Two Flags (as Cigarette),
1901; The Darling of the Gods, 1902; The Girl of the Golden West, 1905; East
Lynne, 1917; The Famous Mrs. Fair, 1919; The Lake, 1933.

Batten. Piece of 1 by 3 inch lumber; used for (1) stiffener an edge to stiffen a
flat; (2) to join two or more flats together; (3) folding batten hinged parallel to
stile to enable three-fold to close together; (4) used double on top and bottom of
drop to stretch canvas and give it sufficient weight to hang well. Also a round metal
bar hung in from the flies on which spot or floodlights are attached.

See Scenery; Lighting.

Batten clamp. Metal clamp used for joining fly line to batten.
See Scenery.

Battle o Alcazar, The. Attributed to George Peele (English). Tragedy in
verse. 5 acts. 1594.

The King of Barbary, dethroned by his uncle, persuades Sebastian, King of
Portugal, to aid in recovering his throne. They are joined by Stukeley, Marquis of
Ireland, and set sail for Morocco. In the battle of Alcazar, Sebastian and the two
Moorish kings are killed, and Stukeley dies later of his wounds.

Baum, Vicki (1888- ). German novelist and dramatist. Notable for her
dramatic stories which have gained wide international popularity on the stage and
the screen.

Born in Vienna, she studied music in that city. She began to write and made a
reputation with her novel, Grand Hotel, which was afterwards dramatized and
translated into English. As a result of this success, she became associated with motion
pictures and went to Hollywood, where she established herself as a screen writer.

Her plays include: The Divine Drudge; Grand Hotel; Summer Night.

Bax, Clifford (1886- ). British playwright. He was born in London, and
was one of the founders of the Phoenix Society (1919-26). The plays which he has
written include, among others, The Marriage of the Soul, 1913 ; Polly (adapted from
Gay), 1922; Midsummer Madness, 1924; Up-Stream, 1925; The Immortal Lady,
1930; April in August, 1934. Has written extensively on his more famous con-
temporaries.

Beam. ( 1 ) Hollow beam in ceiling for concealing lighting instruments for front
lighting; (2) horizontal support of a platform.
See Lighting.

Beare and Ye Cub, Ye. Philip Alexander Bruce. Comedy. 1665.
Acted by non-professionals in Virginia in 1665. Earliest known record of a play
in English being performed in the American colonies.

Bear pit theatres. See Theatres, England, Elizabethan.

Beat of the Wing, The. Francois de Curel (French). Drama. 3 acts. 1906.

An explorer who has conquered fresh territory for French colonization, after
being hailed at home as a hero, has returned to the tropics fortified in pride, believing
himself authorized to deal despotically with an inferior race.

Beau. Word used during the Reformation for the fop, or dandy, who frequented
the contemporary playhouses in elegant apparel calculated to appeal to the ladies and
make them amenable to flirting and trifling.

Beau Brummell. Clyde Fitch (American). Drama. 4 acts. 1890.

The play deals with the rise and fall of Beau Brummell, famous Regency dandy,
who loves Marianne, a commoner's daughter, loses favor at court, and finally dies in
poverty.

Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de (1732-1799). French dramatist.
Writer of satirical comedies, and known chiefly in England and America for the
operatic adaptations of his The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro by
Rossini and Mozart respectively.

Born in Paris, he was the son of a watchmaker, whose calling he at first followed.
His gifts for invention led to his introduction to the court of Louis XV, and he
became watchmaker to the king. He traveled extensively in Spain, and his first play
of importance was based on those travels. As agent of the French government, Beau-
marchais secured considerable supplies for the American colonies in the War of Inde-
pendence. He was imprisoned in 1792, but was released, and after living in Holland
and England, returned to Paris where he died. His best contribution to dramatic
theory is to be found in his Essai sur la genre dramatique serieux. Best known of his
plays are: Eugenie, 1767 (which provided the material for Goethe's Clavigo) ; The
Two Friends, 1770; The Barber of Seville, 1775; The Marriage of Figaro, 1784.

Beaumont, Francis (1584-1616). Elizabethan dramatist. Educated at Oxford
and published his first verse in 1602. With John Fletcher he formed the famous
writing combination of Beaumont and Fletcher, and is considered to have done the
most important part of the work on the joint plays. He was buried in Westminster
Abbey.

His own plays include : The Woman Hater; The Knight of the Burning Pestle.
Those he wrote with Fletcher: Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding; A Maid's
Tragedy; The Coxcomb.

Beaumont and Fletcher. English dramatists. Elizabethan dramatic collabora-

wrote together Four Plays in One; Cupid's Revenge; The Captain; The Scornful
Lady; The Beggars Bush.

Beautiful Despot, The. Nikolai Yevreinov (Russian). Comedy. 3 acts. 1906.

A gentleman of the old school feels co-existent within him the Liberal and the
Despot. Reading the diary of his great-grandfather makes him yearn to escape to that
period. Accordingly, in his country estate, he acts as if he were living in 1808. A
friend, who calls to ask for an article commending the present for its economic gains,
learns that the Beautiful Despot has triumphed.

Beaver Coat, The. Gerhart Hauptmann (German). Satiric comedy. 4 acts.
1893.

A comedy dealing with the social rivalry between town and country housewives,
shopkeepers and grocers.

The Beaux' Stratagem. George Farquhar (English) Comedy. 1707.

One of the last of the comedy of manners, written in the spirit which made Con-
greve famous. It is marked by spontaneity and rollicking good humor. The author
wrote it in six weeks while in the throes of an illness which proved fatal. The plot
concerns Archer and Aimwell, two down-on-their-luck gentlemen who disguise them-
selves as master and servant ; the innkeeper Boniface ; Scrub, servant to a brutal squire
and confidant to young ladies ; Lady Bountiful, the squire's mother and benefactress
of the countryside, whose name has passed into the language and is used to describe a.
generous lady.

Beck, Martin (1868-1940). German-born American theatre manager, owner,
impresario. From a poor immigrant boy, stranded in the United States when an act-
ing company disbanded, to manager and head of all the Radio-Keith-Orpheum circuit
of vaudeville houses is Martin Beck's record. It was he who, in 1899, planned and
later perfected the efficient booking system of the Circuit. Built not only the New
York theatre which bears his name, but the Palace and the State Lake Theatres
in Chicago, and an Orpheum in Berlin. It was he who brought the D'Oyly Carte
Opera Company to this country for their first engagement in 1934.

Becket. Alfred Lord Tennyson (English). Tragedy. 4 acts. Printed 1893.

Thomas a Becket enrages Henry II of England, first, because he does not con-
sider himself worthy of being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury; and, second,
once appointed, he serves the church with complete devotion, refusing any compromise
with the State. Becket is finally murdered by the King's men.

Beckett, Samuel ( 1906- ) . Irish-French dramatist and novelist, born in Dub-
lin and a graduate of Trinity College. After several years of university teaching in
Paris and Dublin, he traveled extensively in Europe and in 1937 settled permanently
in France. Since 1945 all his work has been written in French. He was a dose associ-
ate of James Joyce's, and at one time served as his secretary.

Beckett's first play, Waiting for Godot, was published in his own English transla-
tion in 1954 and produced in New York in 1956. Another play, Endgame, opened
off Broadway early in 1958. He also wrote a play for radio, All That Fall, for the

BBC Third Program. His work published in English includes two volumes of
poems, critical studies of Proust and Joyce, a book of short stories, and several novels
(the later ones translated from the French originals) .

Becky Sharp. Langdon Mitchell (American). Comedy. 4 acts. Based on
William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair."

Becky Sharp is introduced as Miss Crawley's companion in London and Rawdon
Crawley's charmer. She is next seen at the Duchess of Richmond's ball in Brussels
on the eve of Waterloo. Back in London, she flirts with Lord Steyne and is discovered
by the jealous Rawdon. Lastly, she is in lodging in Pumpernickel, bringing Amelia
and Dobbin together and managing the affair with Lord Sedley.

Becque, Henri Frangois (1837-1899). French dramatist. An exponent of the
naturalistic drama in France.

Born in Paris, he began his career as a dramatist with a production of UEnfant
Prodigue at the Vaudeville, Paris, 1868. His works include: Sardanapalus, an opera,
1867; The Prodigal Child, 1868; Michel Pauper, 1870; The Abduction, 1871 ; The
Merry-Go-Round, 1878; Virtuous Women, 1880; The Vultures (Les Corteaux),
1881; The Parisian Woman, 1885; Madeleine, 1896; Widowed, 1897; A Four-
Handed Game, 1897; The Departure, 1897; An Execution, 1897; The Harlequins
(finished by Henri de Nousanne), 1910.

Beddoes, Thomas Lovell (1803-1849). British poet and dramatist. A son
of Thomas Beddoes, the physician, he was born at Clifton, England, and was edu-
cated at the Charterhouse and at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he published
his first play, The Improvisatore, in 1820. He lived much abroad, studied and prac-
ticed medicine in Germany and Switzerland and identified himself with the demo-
cratic movement. His other plays include: The Bride's Tragedy, 1822; Death's Jest
Book, 1850.

Beerbohm, Max (1872-1956). British critic, essayist and caricaturist. Beer-
bohm, half-brother to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, was born in London and edu-
cated at the Charterhouse and Merton College, Oxford. For many years (1898-
1910) he was dramatic critic for the London Saturday Review. Many of his articles
were later collected and published in Around Theatres (1930), which was recently
re-issued. A number of volumes of his caricatures and essays have been published. The
novel Zuleika Dobson ( 191 1 ) is probably his best-known work.

Beggar on Horseback. George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly (American).
Fantastic comedy. 1924. Incidental music by Deems Taylor.

Neil McRae, exhausted by overwork and discouraged by lack of funds, is con-
sidering marrying rich Gladys Cady. Neil's doctor has advised him to do it so that he
can take a rest and study music. Cynthia Mason, the girl Neil loves, agrees with
Dr. Rice. Neil falls asleep and sees in a dream his marriage to Gladys. The bride's
wedding bouquet is made of banknotes; her father wears golf knickers. At the recep-
tion Neil tries to play for the guests, but the music turns to jazz as his fingers strike
the keys. Neil is initiated into the mysteries of Cady's "widget" factory and paid
millions of dollars for doing practically nothing. His friend the doctor, who turns up
as head waiter in a restaurant, tells him to murder all his new family. One by one

he kills them with his paper cutter and is brought to trial. He defends his act as
justifiable because the victims interfered with his music. Cynthia appears, and together
boy and girl dance a love ballet. Neil is condemned to work in the Cady Consolidated
Art Factory, where masterpieces are made to order behind bars. He chooses to die
instead, but before he has a chance he wakes up and Cynthia informs him she has
changed her mind and will marry him.

Beggars' Bush, The. John Fletcher and perhaps Massenger (English) . Drama.
5 acts. 1622.

Florez, heir to an earldom but ignorant of his rights, is in love with Bertha, an
heiress who is equally ignorant of her rights. Through the intervention of a group of
beggars, Gerrard, the father of Florez and a victim of a usurper, together with Hubert,
a nobleman, are able to adjust all matters so that the identity of Florez and Bertha is
revealed and they obtain their birthrights.

Beggar's Opera, The. John Gay (English). Lyrical drama. 1728.

A musical satire, frequently bawdy, on "polite society." Dean Swift suggested
that it be written, and it shows the influence of the author of "Gulliver." Its thrusts
against the thieving politicians of the day won the favor of the public, and its humor
and lively tunes still draw audiences, as attested by numerous recent revivals.

Thieves and bandits are its principal characters. The hero, Macheath, is the
leader of a band of highwaymen, a handsome ruffian, attracted by and attractive to
the ladies. His secret wife, Polly Peachum, really loves him and is constant in spite
of her mother's recommendations to be less steadfast. Macheath proposes once too
often to a lady, is arrested, escapes, is recaptured, brought to trial, condemned to
death, reprieved. Whereupon he feels it time to acknowledge openly at last that Polly
is his wife. Brecht's Three-Penny Opera (first New York production, 1955) is based
on The Beggar s Opera.

Beginners, please! British call-boy's request for the actors to take their places
on stage for the opening scene of a play.

Behn, Aphra (1640-1689). English poet, dramatist and novelist. The first pro-
fessional woman dramatist in history.

Born at Wye, Kent, she was taken when a child to Surinam, in Dutch Guiana.
There she met the romantic chieftain Oroonoko, the hero of her best novel, and
gathered material for this romantic tale. After her return to England in 1658, she
married a Dutch merchant, Behn, after whose death she went to Holland for a short
time as a diplomatic agent. She produced poems, novels and plays as coarsely exu-
berant, as full of wit and of amorous intrigue as she was herself. Her work was highly
praised by Dryden and Otway. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Among her many works are The Forc'd Marriage, 1671 ; The Amorous Prince,
1671; The Town Pop, 1677.

Behrman, Samuel Nathaniel (1893- ). American dramatist. Behrman, who
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was attracted to the stage at an early age.
While still in his teens he wrote a vaudeville skit in which he acted himself, and
in which he got as near Broadway as Fourteenth St., New York City. In 1916 he
received an A.B. degree from Harvard, and in 1918 an M.A. from Columbia. For

a time after that he worked on the New York Times Book Review and contributed
to a number of magazines. By 1926 he was back in the theatre, as a press agent for
George Abbott's production of Broadway. The following year, 1927, the Theatre
Guild produced Behrman's The Second Man, and his reputation was made. Then
came (with Kenyon Nicholson) Love is Like That, 1927; Serena Blandish, 1929;
Meteor, 1929; Brief Moment, 1931; Biography, 1932; Rain from Heaven, 1934;
End of Summer, 1936; Amphitryon 38 (adapted from comedy by Jean Giraudoux),
1937; Wine of Choice, 1938; No Time for Comedy, 1939; The Pirate, 1941;
Jacobowsky and the Colonel (an adaptation of Franz Werfel's play), 1944; I Know
My Love (an adaptation of Marcel Achard's Aupres de Ma Blonde, made for the
Lunts to celebrate their 25th anniversary as an acting team), 1949; Jane (based on
a Maugham short story), 1952; Fanny (with Joshua Logan, based on Marcel
Pagnol's Marius cycle, with music by Harold Rome), 1954. He has also written
memories of his childhood in The Worcester Story, and many screenplays.

Belasco, David (1859-1931). American dramatist, producer, actor. Born in
San Francisco. Early theatrical experience, from call-boy to play-adapter. First
stage appearance, 1871, in the California Theatre in San Francisco, followed by
a barnstorming tour of California and Nevada. He met Boucicault, from whom he
learned much of playwriting. He acted with Booth and McCullough in 1874. His
first play to attract attention was Hearts of Oak, first produced in Chicago in 1879.
In 1880 he went to New York, where he became stage manager of the Madison
Square Theatre, and later, 1886, an associate of Daniel Frohman at the Lyceum
Theatre. Thereafter he grew to be one of the most powerful producers and play-
wrights in the history of the American stage. He was a realist in staging. His results
were reached, not by suggestion, but by putting the actual thing on the stage. In Alice
Bradley's The Governor's Lady, 1912, he put an exact duplicate of a Quids res-
taurant on the stage. When producing The Easiest Way, by Eugene Walter, 1909,
with a scene laid in an Eighth Avenue theatrical boarding house, he actually bought
one and used it intact a perfect satisfaction of his passion for the literal. The best
known of his numerous plays are: with H. C. De Mille, Lord Chumley, 1888, and
Men and Women, 1890; The Heart of Maryland, 1895; DuBarry, 1901; The
Darling of the Gods, 1902, with Luther Long; The Girl of the Golden West, 1905 ;
Temperamental Journey, 1913; Salvage, 1925; and The Return of Peter Grimm,
1921. He opened the first Belasco (now a movie theatre) in 1902; and the Stuyve-
sant which he built (now the Belasco) in 1907. Belasco's collection of pressbooks,
photographs, prompt books and theatrical designs are in the New York Public
Library.

Bell, Dame Florence Evelyn Eleanore (1851-1930). British author. She was
born in Paris, and in 1876 married Sir Hugh Bell. She wrote essays, novels, and
plays, and was created D.B.E. in 1918 for her services during the war. Among her
plays are Ulndecis (in which Coquelin appeared) ; Time Is Money; The Show
Room; and Angela.

Bellamy, Mrs. George Ann (1731?-1788). English actress. Played Juliet to
Garrick's Romeo at Drury Lane in 1750. She rivaled Mrs. Gibber who was playing
at Covent Garden with Barry. Their respective merits were the subject of lively
controversy.

Belle of New York. Hugh Morton (American). Musical comedy. 2 acts and
6 scenes. 1897.

Morton is a pseudonym for C. M. S. McClellan. Gustave Kerker did the music
for this extravaganza about a young spendthrift who falls in love with a Salvation
Army lassie, Violet Gray. Violet persuades the young wastrel to see the error of his
ways. The boy is denounced by his father, a hypocritical reformer, but in the end is
restored to his fortune.

The producer was George W. Lederer, the Ziegfeld of his day, who had an
enormous commercial success with it and added a shining new star to the theatrical
firmament by selecting an unknown chorus girl, seventeen-year-old Edna May, to
play the Salvation Army lassie.

Belle's Stratagem, The. Mrs. Hannah Cowley (English). Comedy. 5 acts.
1780.

Doricourt returns from his travels to marry Letitia Hardy, whom he has not seen
since his childhood. He is not particularly pleased with her. She determines to win
him by first disgusting him by playing a country hoyden, and then by conquering him
with her sprightliness at a masquerade. She is successful.

Bells, The. Emile Erckmann and Alex Chatrian (French). Drama. 3 acts. 1878.

The story of a burgomaster haunted by the consciousness of an undiscovered
murder that he has committed. It provided Sir Henry Irving, in the role of Mathias,
with one of his most successful parts.

Ben Hur. William Young (American). Drama. 1899.

A dramatization of General Lew Wallace's novel of the same name. Edgar Still-
man Kelley did the incidental music, and Klaw and Erlanger produced it at the
Broadway Theatre, New York, the first time it was given qn any stage. William Hart
played Messala.

This tale of the Christ is laid in the East at the beginning of the Christian era.
Ben Hur, the young head of a rich and noble family, lives in Jerusalem with his
widowed mother and little sister. When the new Roman governor arrives in state,
the family goes up to the roof to see the procession, and Judah accidentally dislodges
a tile which fells the governor. He is accused of murder. His erstwhile friend, the
Roman noble Messala, turns against him. He is condemned, his property confiscated,
and sent to the galleys for life. Ben Hur is converted to Christianity through the
miracles of Jesus. A chariot race and other exciting incidents punctuate the plot. The
play was sumptuously staged, with a chorus of eighty voices and one hundred and
eighty-one extras.

Ben- Ami, Jacob (1890- ). Jewish actor. Born in Minsk, Russia, Ben-Ami
made a great impression on New Yorkers when he appeared in that city with the
Yiddish Art Theatre in 1918-19. Arthur Hopkins engaged him and had him learn
English; his first English-speaking role was as Peter Krumback in Samson and
Delilah in 1920. His career on the English-speaking stage includes roles in The Idle
Inn, 1922 ; The Failures, 1923 ; Man and the Masses, 1924; John, 1927 ; Diplomacy,
1928. In 1926 he staged The Goat Song for the Theatre Guild. From 1929-31 he
was with the Civic Repertory Theatre under the aegis of Eva Le Gallienne, and acted
in The Sea Gull, The Cherry Orchard, Gamille, etc. After that he appeared in

Payment Deferred, Evensong, and other plays. In 1958 he appeared in a production of
The Infernal Machine at the Phoenix Theatre.

Benavente y Martinez, Jacinto (1866-1954). Spanish dramatist. Born at
Madrid. His first play was El Nido Ajeno, 1894. He became the most popular
Spanish dramatist, and in 1922 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. His
best-known plays include Saturday Night, 1903; Bonds of Interest, 1907; La
Malquerida, 1913; Fabricated Truth, 1933; Bread Eaten From the Hand, 1934.
Altogether, he wrote 170 plays, in a variety of styles.

Benchley, Robert Charles. (1889-1945). American dramatic critic, humorist,
actor. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts; A. B., Harvard, 1912. Editor of New
York Tribune Sunday Magazine, 1916; New York Tribune Graphic, 1917; manag-
ing editor of Vanity Fair 1919-20; contributed to New York World, 1920-29, He
was dramatic editor of Life magazine, 1920-29; and in 1929 joined The New
Yorker magazine as drama critic. He appeared as an actor in the Music Box Revue,
1923-24, and in numerous short comedy films, as well as in some full-length films. He
was the author of a number of humorous books.

Benefit performance. The custom of giving a starring actor the receipts or
"benefit" of one evening during his season with a company originated in the English
theatre of the 17th century. If bad weather or other unpredictable obstacles kept
away the crowds, another benefit performance was sometimes allowed. The authors
always got the proceeds of the third night of a run.

Today benefit performances in New York are held chiefly by the Actors' Fund
and other organizations, and only in rare instances is the benefit for one person.

Bennett (Enoch), Arnold (1867-1931). English writer. Notable for his
creation of a vivid picture of life in the Staffordshire Potteries district with his novels
of the Five Towns.

Born near Hanley, in the Five Towns, or Potteries, and educated at the middle
school, Newcastle-under-Lyme, he studied law with his father and afterwards with
a London solicitor, but, after winning a prize in Tit-Bits and getting a story accepted
by The Yellow Book, turned to journalism. He was an editor from 1893 to 1900,
when he retired to his cottage at Fontainebleau and devoted his life to writing. Only
twice was Bennett particularly successful as a playwright. Milestones, written in
collaboration with Edward Knoblock and produced in 1912, ran for 607 perform-
ances, and The Great Adventure based on his novel Buried Alive (1913) achieved a
run of over eighteen months.

Benois, Alexander Nikolayevich (1870- ). Russian painter and scene de-
signer, one of the leaders of the movement that resulted in the Diaghilev Ballets
Russes, for which he was artistic director from its inception to 1914. Designed scenery
and wrote scenarios for many ballets of which the outstanding one is Stravinsky's
Petruchka.

Bentley, Eric (1916- ). Anglo-American drama critic, director, teacher and
translator. A graduate of Oxford University, he took his Ph.D. at Yale University
and subsequently spent several years teaching in American colleges. In the late

1940's he achieved a reputation as a theatre critic with articles published in various
magazines and two outstanding books on the drama, The Playwright as Thinker
(1946) and Bernard Shaw (1947). Later he traveled extensively in Europe, study-
ing and working as a director with several theatrical groups, among them the Abbey
Theatre, the Teatro Universitario in Padua, and Bertolt Brecht's company. On his
return to the U.S., he directed stock company productions and in 1952 became
drama critic for the New Republic, a post he held for several years. He was later
appointed Brander Matthews Professor of English at Columbia University. He has
continued to write and edit books on the theatre, and in 1957 directed the Phoenix
Theatre production of Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan.

His other publications include A Century of Hero-Worship (1944), In Search
of Theatre (1953), The Dramatic Event (collected criticism, 1954), and a number
of anthologies of modern plays. He has also translated plays by Brecht and
Pirandello.

Berenice. Jean Racine (French), Historical tragedy. 5 acts. 1670.

Berenice, daughter of Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great), and wife of
her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis, meets Titus, who falls in love with her. After a
long struggle with his conscience, he gives up love for duty.

The heroine is the Bernice of the Bible, Acts XXV. It is interesting to note that
Corneflle and Racine both wrote plays about her at the same time at the suggestion of
Henriette d'Orleans.

Bergner, Elisabeth ( 1900- ) . Austrian actress. She studied for the stage at
the Vienna Conservatory, 1915-19; made her first appearance on the stage at the
City Theatre, Zurich, under the direction of Dr. Alfred Reucker, in the autumn of
1919; and after playing a number of small parts made an immediate success as
Ophelia in Hamlet with Alexander Moissi. She appeared in Vienna, Munich and
Berlin, including several Shakespearean productions at the Deutscher-Volkstheater
under Max Reinhardt. Her international reputation was won by her remarkable
success as Joan in Saint Joan, 1924. Further successes included her playing of Mrs.
Cheyney in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney under Barnovsky at the Koeniggraetzer
Theater, Berlin, 1926; Tessa in The Constant Nymph at the same theatre, 1927;
and Portia in The Merchant of Venice, 1927. In 1928 she made a playing tour
through Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Austria. Leading parts in Strange
Interlude, Romeo and Juliet and Amphitryon 38 followed. After 1931 she spent two
years in Paris in cinema. Her first appearance in England was at the Opera House,
Manchester, November 21, 1933, as Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never; the part
was repeated in London December 8, 1933, with tremendous success. She played the
same part in New York at the Shubert Theatre, January 21, 1935, duplicating her
London success. In 1937 she appeared in London in The Boy David, a play written
for her by Barrie. She returned to New York and appeared in The Two Mrs.
Can-oils, 1943-45; The Duchess of Malfi, 1946; The Cup of Trembling 1948. Since
then she has played various parts in England, Australia, and on the Continent. In
1954 she toured Germany and Austria in The Deep Blue Sea. Her first cinema
part was in Der Evangelimann, 1923, and she has since played in many films.

Bergstrom, Hjalmar (1868-1914). Danish dramatist. Born in Copenhagen,
the only child of parents in moderate circumstances. His first attempt at playwriting

(when he was 13) was some verse added to one of the tragedies of Oehlenschlager,
the Danish dramatist. In 1893 he obtained his degree of Ph. D., and from that year
until 1905 he taught in the Commercial High School at Copenhagen. At the same
time he did a great deal of writing of novels, short stories, and essays. But it was not
until the appearance of his first play, Ida's Wedding, in 1902 that he received general
recognition as a writer of exceptional talent. Other plays followed in quick succession.
Bergstrom was considered one of the most promising of the group of young play-
wrights in Denmark.

He wrote the following plays: Idas Wedding, 1902; Mint Street, 39, 1903;
Lynggard 6T Co., 1905; Karen Borneman, 1907; The Golden Fleece, 1908; The
Birthday Party, 1910; In the Swim, 1910; The Way to God, 1912; The Day of
Trial, 1915; What People Talk Of, 1915.

Berkeley (California) Greek Theatre. Founded by the Berkeley Play-
makers at the University of California in 1923; it has a national and international
reputation as a short play experimental theatre and is also famous for its play contests.

Berkeley Square. John Balderston (American). Play. 3 acts. 1928.

The spirit of Peter Standish, a 1928 American is projected back into the year
1784 when his namesake and most distinguished ancestor, also an American, first
visited the ancestral home of the Standish-Pettigrew family in Berkeley Square,
London. Peter, knowing the future, is constantly making faux pas. He fails in love
with the daughter of the household in 1784 and she dies. When he returns to 1928, he
still loves her and plans to live with her memory.

Berlin, Irving (1888- ). American songwriter and composer, born in Russia
as Izzy Baline. He started his professional career as a singing waiter and achieved
fame during World War I with his serviceman's revue, Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Later
musicals included Face the Music, 1932, and As Thousands Cheer, 1933, both with
book by Moss Hart; Louisiana Purchase, 1940; Star and Garter, with additional
songs by Harold Rome and Harold Arlen, 1942; This Is the Army, another service-
man's revue, 1942; Annie Get Your Gun, with book by Herbert and Dorothy
Fields, 1946; Miss Liberty, with book by R. E. Sherwood, 1949; Call Me Madam,
with book by Lindsay and Grouse, 1950. He was awarded the Medal of Merit for
This Is the Army, and a Congressional gold medal for his patriotic song "God Bless
America."

Berlin Court Theatre. See Berlin State Theatre.

Berlin State Theatre (German). Until the First World War known as the
Berlin Court Theatre, a playhouse rescued from consistent mediocrity and almost
total obsoleteness by the director-producer, Jessner, in the 1920's. Jessner was suc-
ceeded as manager by Fehling.

Bernard, Jean- Jacques (1888- ). French dramatist. Known chiefly as the
writer of subtle dramas which avoid both action and rhetoric and reduce plot and
dialogue to their simplest terms. His doctrine was, "The theatre is above all the art
of the unexpressed." He was born at Enghein, the son of Tristan Bernard.

His plays include: The Journey a Deux, 1911 ; The Joy of Sacrifice, 1912; The

House That Was Spared, 1919 ; The Fire Slow to Rekindle, 1921 ; Marline, 1922;
The Invitation to Travel, 1924; The Springtime of Others, 1924; Denis Marette,
1925; The Soul of Distress, 1926; The Secret of Aroers, 1926; The Kin? of Ma-
lousie, 1928.

Bernard, Tristan (1866-1947). French dramatist. A writer of farces and
comedies after the manner of Plautus, using disguises, concealments, mistaken iden-
tities and all sorts of impossible situations that upset any assumption of dignity.

His plays include: The Only Bandit of the Village, 1898; English As It Is
Spoken, 1899; The Touring Club Bride, 1899; The Mathieu Case, 1901 ; The Gang
at Leon, 1902; Triplepatte (with A. Godfernaux), 1905; The Twins of Brighton,
1908 ; The Ambulant Flirt, 1908 ; The Ardent Artilleryman, 1910 ; The Little Cafe,
1911; The Nocturnal Visitors, 1912; The Soubigou Beacons, 1912; Jeanne Dore,
1913 \PrinceCharming, 1914; The Force of Lying, 1914; The Cheap Cravat,l9l9;
The Idea of M. Dumorel, 1920 ; The Blue Ribbon, 1920 ; Embrace Me, 1923 ; She
Also, 1924.

Bernardoniades. A type of comedy in 18th-century Viennese drama in which
the chief character was a Hanswurst type called Bernardon. Joseph Von Kurz was
the famous low comedian who created the Bernardon and was author of many such
burlesq ics.

Bernhardt, Sarah (1845-1923). French actress. She was born in Paris, of
French and Dutch parentage and of Jewish descent. At the age of thirteen, she began
tre most serious training for the stage then available in Europe, and was entered as
a Dupil at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1862 she made her debut at the Comedie Fran-
caise in a small part in Racine's Iphigfnie. For this performance she received only the
slight notice which the part merited, and she passed on to try her fortune in burlesque.
As she was unable to sing in tune, she could make no hit in this, and her first real
success was in Le Passant, by Francois Coppee, at the Odeon in 1869. After the run
of this play, France was at war with Prussia. Sarah, throughout the bombardment
of Paris, worked long hours in an ambulance. When the Odeon reopened in 1872,
she played Cordelia in a French version si King Lear, and the queen in Victor Hugo's
Ruy Bias. She was already complete mistress of the arts of the stage. In 1874 she rose
to greater heights as an artist. As Phedre in Racine's play, she scored a triumph.
In 1877 as Dona Sol in Victor Hugo's Herriani she was acclaimed a genius. During
this period she established herself as the best known of French actresses and about
this time began to circulate the Bernhardt legends which were soon to become reality
through her triumphant appearances in the capitals of Europe, .in both the Americas,
in Australia and Egypt. She made her American debut in 1 880. Among her greatest
triumphs were in Fedora; Theodora, 1884; La Tosca, 1887; Cleopatre, 1890;
L'Aiglon; Frou-Frou (written by herself) ; La Dame aux Camelias; Hamlet. In
1912 Bernhardt made a film Queen Elizabeth in which she played the title role.

At the age of fifty-five, "the divine Sarah" was impersonating young men with
astounding success. In 1915 she had suffered the amputation of a leg, but she travelled
to the front to give performances to the troops, made a further tour of America and,
in 1922, of Italy. She was already starting to conquer fresh fields and was engaged
in a film production when she was taken ill on March 21, 1923. On March 26, she
died at her home in Paris.

Bernstein, Aline (1882-1955). American designer. Began her career by de-
signing dresses at the Neighborhood Playhouse, New York, for The Little Clay
Cart, 1924. In the same year she did costumes for Reinhardt's Miracle. Later de-
signed settings for the Theatre Guild including Caprice and Reunion in Vienna; for
Gilbert Miller, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and The Animal Kingdom; for the
Civic Repertory Theatre, The Cherry Orchard; The Sea Gull; Camille; Peter
Pan; Romeo and Juliet; Liliom. Other outstanding productions for which she
designed settings were Grand Hotel, Thunder on the Left, The Children's Hour,
The Male Animal, The Eagle Has Two Heads, Let's Make an Opera. Also wrote
two novels and an early autobiography.

See also Museum of Costume Art; Neighborhood Playhouse.

Bernstein, Henry Leon Gustave Charles (1875-1953). French dramatist.
One of the Naturalist School of French dramatists, he was noted as a master of
stagecraft. Born in Paris of Jewish parents; began writing for the stage in 1900.

He wrote Le Marche, 1900; La Detour, Joujou, 1902; Brother Jacques
(with Pierre Veber), 1903; The Fold, 1904; The Tempest, 1905; The Talon, 1906;
The Thief, 1906; Samson, 1907; Israel, 1908; After Me, 1911 ; The Assault, 1912;
The Secret, 1919; To the Heights, 1917; Judith, 1922; The Gallery of Mirrors,
1926; Felix, 1926; The Poison, 1927 \ Melo, 1929, etc.

Bernstein was one of the world s most successful playwrights, reputedly making
over $8,000,000. He reached his peak before World War I, when for ten years a
Bernstein play was performed somewhere every night. Once there were 80 simul-
taneous performances of his plays.

Bernstein, Leonard (1918- ), Born in Lawrence, Mass. Director of the
New York Philharmonic. Composer of Symphony Jeremiah and Age of Anxiety;
also composer for musical comedy hits On the Town and West Side Story, and pro-
vided musical numbers for new versions of Candide and Peter Pan. Has written
scores for several ballets. TV interpreter of music and musicians.

Bertoldo. Legendary Italian clown whose exploits led to the phrase "im-
perturbable Bertoldo," meaning, not to be thrown off one's guard by unexpected
circumstance.

Besier, Rudolf (1878-1942). British dramatist. Born in Java, of Dutch extrac-
tion, educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and Heidelberg; for some years a
journalist, about 1908 he took to writing for the stage. He is noted chiefly for his
play The Barretts of Wimpole Street which provided Katharine Cornell with a
resounding success.

His plays include: The Virgin Goddess, 1906; Olive Latimers Husband, 1909
Lady Patricia, 1911 ; Kings and Queens, 1915; Kultur at Home, 1916; A Run foi
His Money, 1916; Secrets (with May Edginton), 1922; The Barretts of Wimpoli
Street, 1930.

Betrothal, The. Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgian). Fairy play. 1918.

Sequel to The Bluebird, Maeterlinck's most popular play, and featuring many o
the same characters, this really points the same moral : that happiness, though sough
afar, often lies very near home.

Tyltyl is seventeen and, with the help of the fairy Berylune, is seeking the girl he
all love. Six village maidens sent by the fairy to woo him charm the youth but leave
m more perplexed than ever. So he sets forth to consult his ancestors, guided by
[ght and Destiny. The ancestors, a motley crew, are interested not in the six maidens,
it in a silent white-veiled figure who follows in their train. But since Tyltyl is unable
> remember her, he cannot see her clearly. Next he visits his unborn children, the
tdest of whom again chooses the lady in white. Tyltyl awakes from his dream in
!s mother's cottage to greet some visiting neighbors, accompanied by their daughter
>y. In her the lad recognizes the fair unknown of his dreams and the girl to whom
gave his bird long ago.

Betterton, Thomas (1635-1710). English actor. The foremost actor of the
nglish stage during the Restoration and also a prominent manager. In 1661 he was
igaged as a leading player at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields under Sir William
)avenant. His interpretation of Hamlet was said to have stemmed from that of
oseph Taylor, who is presumed to have been instructed in the role by Shakespeare
imself. (It was the recollection of Taylor's performance as Hamlet that enabled Sir
Villiam Davenant to impart to Betterton the examples and tradition established by
ic author and which provided a model that has endured to the present day.) After
)avenant's death Betterton assumed the managership of his company, which moved
D the new Dorset Garden theatre. In 1682 the company merged with Killigrew's,
letterton later left this company and reopened Davenant's theatre, later opening the
Jueen's Theatre in Haymarket.

His principal performances were in King Lear; Macbeth; Othello; King Henry
"III; Love For Love; The Provoked Wife; and The Way of the World. His last
ppearance was on April 25, 1710, in The Maid's Tragedy.

Betti, Ugo (1892-1953). Italian dramatist and poet. A high court judge, Betti
7rote 26 plays as well as many poems, short stories and a novel. Ispezione, 1947, was
oted as possessing affinities with Priestley's An Inspector Calls. His last play, //
riocatore, 1951, was adapted by Alfred Drake and Edward Eagle as The Gambler
nd presented by Drake in New York in 1952. His Island of Goats, in an English
ersion by Henry Reed, appeared in New York in 1955.

Betty, William Henry West (The Young Roscius) (1791-1874). British
ctor. Born at Shrewsbury, of educated parents, he was taken to Ireland and appeared
n the stage in Belfast with conspicuous success as Osman in Aaron Hill's Zara, a
ersion of Voltaire's Zaire, 1803. He appeared subsequently in Dublin, Waterford,
?ork, and Glasgow, augmenting his repertoire to include Hamlet. By the time he
cached Edinburgh, his success was so great that a critic who denied his abilities had
o leave town. His great success both in Ireland and Scotland earned for him the
.ame of the Young Roscius. In 1804, he made his first appearance at Covent Garden,
he crowd being so great that people were injured striving to gain admission. On
ne occasion the Commons adjourned to see him play Hamlet. His extraordinary
areer as a boy actor ended in 1808; after three years spent at Christ's College, Cam-
ridge, he returned to the stage in 1811, but his success was only moderate.

Beyond Human. Power, I and II. Bjornstjerne Bjornson (Norwegian).
Realistic drama. 2 acts in each part. 1883.

The first part deals with the problems of religion; and the second part with the
struggle between labor and capital.

Pastor Sang is praying for his paralyzed wife, Clara, when an avalanche descends
upon the community, and, strangely enough turns away from the church. The entire
country-side believes a miracle has occurred and they come to pray at the church.

The Pastor continues to pray that his wife may walk again. Finally as the church
bells ring, and before a crowd, Clara Sang rises from her bed and walks to her hus-
band, but the strain is too great for them both. The wife dies and in a moment, her
husband drops dead beside her.

Beyond the Horizon. Eugene O'Neill (American). Realistic tragedy. 3 acts.
1920. This tragedy of frustration was O'Neill's first important full length play and
won the Pulitzer Prize.

Andrew Mayo is a son of the soil ; his brother Robert an intellectual, a dreamer,
filled with wanderlust and a love of the sea and of far places. As he is about to leave
for a sea voyage with an uncle, Robert decides he loves Ruth, a neighbor, and stays
on the farm to marry her. Andrew, who hoped to wed the girl himself, angrily goes
off to sea in his brother's place. Three years pass. Robert is miserable on the farm
and unhappy with his wife, who has come to the conclusion it was Andrew she loved.
Then Andrew's return brings disillusionment to both of them: to Ruth because he
has forgotten her ; to Robert because he is still dull and commonplace, untouched by
his experiences. Five more years go by. This time Andrew has been to the Argentine,
where he has made a pile of money and then lost it speculating. Robert has tuberculosis ;
the child who was his one consolation is dead and the farm bankrupt. Robert chides
his brother with having been untrue to himself : having made money his ideal, he has
thrown even that away. Then the thwarted adventurer dies, happy at last and free
to take the trip "beyond the horizon" he has always longed for.

Bibiena (Galli da Bibiena). Italian family of designers and architects who, in
the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, brought baroque decor to its highest
development. Ferdinando (1657-1743) is credited with the first use of the diagonal
perspective in stage settings, which made possible the architectural elaboration and
detail of full baroque style. Other members of the family were Ferdinando's brother,
Francesco (1659-1739), his sons Alessandro (1687-1769), Antonio (1700-1774),
Giuseppe (1696-1757), and Giovanni Maria (1704-1769), and Giuseppe's son
Carlo (1728-1787). Singly and together they worked in all parts of Europe, design-
ing every type of production from opera (then in its heyday of popularity in court
circles) to royal ceremonies, as well as opera houses and theatres. Many innovations
in design and acoustics are credited to them, including the first use of transparent
scenery. The Bibiena style is sometimes adapted for use in modern baroque settings.

Billboard, The. Periodical published weekly by The Billboard Publishing Com-
pany 1564 Broadway, New York City. The oldest and most widely circulated
amusement tradepaper in the world. Founded in 1893 by the late W. H. Donaldson,
it specializes in the fields of radio and television, music, bands, night clubs, vaude-
ville, the legitimate theatre, circus, carnivals, etc. It also provides many service fea-
tures for performers, including one for forwarding letters that is used constantly bj
thousands of showpeople who have "The Billboard" as their only permanent address

Billboard Index. The Billboard Index of the New York legitimate stage since
1920 includes comparative figures of seasons in various cities; an alphabetical list of
plays and casts; theatres with plays represented; theatre seating capacities; managers
with plays represented; dramatists and musical players; stage directors, designers
and scenic executors; composers; lyric writers; librettists; dance directors; sketch
writers; length of runs; theatre awards and prizes; address lists of everyone repre-
sented in the theatre, motion pictures and radio ; theatrical costume firms and theatri-
cal transfer firms ; drama critics and theatrical editors of the United States ; The New
York appearance of leading players ; New York productions of leading managers.

Billing. An announcement or advertisement to indicate the cast, title, authorship,
composer and all other persons involved in a theatrical or any amusement production,
and arranged in the order of each person's importance.

Binyon, Robert Laurence (1869-1943). British poet. Born at Lancaster, Au-
gust 10, he was educated in St. Paul's School, London, and Trinity College, Oxford.
He entered the British Museum in 1893, and became assistant keeper in the depart-
ment of Oriental prints and drawings, 1909, retiring as keeper of the department in
1933. At Oxford Binyon won the Newdigate prize and his first volume of poetry was
published in 1894. Several additional volumes appeared subsequently, including The
Death of Adam and other Poems, 1904; The Four Years, 1919, and Sophro the
Wise, 1927, as well as a number of works on the history of art, including scenic
design, on which he was an acknowledged authority. His best known work, however,
is probably To the Fallen, written for Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918, and set to music
by Elgar. Binyon is also an authority on the work of William Blake.

Biography. S. N. Behrman (American). Comedy. 1932.

Ina Claire starred in this comedy when it was first presented by the Theatre
Guild. She played Marian Froude, a portrait painter of mediocre talent but great
personal radiance, who views life and the many men who have loved her with amused
tolerance. Her masculine visitors in Act I include Richard Kurt, a bitterly intense,
almost fanatic young editor; Melchior Feydak, Austrian composer whom she has met
in Europe, on his way to Hollywood, where he has been given a contract by a producer
who erroneously believes him to be his dead brother, composer of a popular waltz
tune; and Leander Nolan, a pompous but somehow appealing candidate for the
Senate. The latter was once Marian's boyhood sweetheart in Tennessee. He is shocked
at the Bohemian life Marian has led since she left him; she looks at the dignified
figure he has become and insists on painting him. Kurt has come to ask her to write
her autobiography for his magazine. She finds herself attracted to the bumptious
young man. Nolan objects violently to the biography, afraid lest his past be revealed.
He offers Kurt a position in Washington if he will withdraw his offer ; Kurt, opposed
to Nolan on principle, refuses. Nolan gets in touch with Kurt's employer, makes dire
threats, and stirs up such a tempest that Marian is willing to let the matter drop to
avoid any fuss. Kurt reproaches her for being superficial, irresponsible, and treating
life "as if it were a bedroom farce." Nevertheless he loves her, and she him. Kurt
quits his job rather than kill the story and is going to publish it himself; Nolan's
prospective father-in-law threatens to sue him for libel. Marian settles the problem by
burning the manuscript, then tells Kurt she will not marry him, nor, for the time

being, anyone. Without Kurt's capacity for being aroused by the things she hates,
she realizes they are temperamentally unstated.

Bird in Hand. John Drinkwater (English). Comedy. 3 acts. Printed 1927.

Joan, the daughter of Thomas Greenleaf , the proprietor of the Bird in Hand Inn,
falls in love with the squire's son, Gerald. Thomas thinks that Gerald is only intend-
ing to seduce his daughter, and Joan, a modern girl, considers her father's fears
ridiculous. One night her father drags Joan home and arouses the Inn. Three of the
guests sit in on the family conference and straighten matters out. The squire asks
Joan to marry Gerald.

Birds, The. Aristophanes (Greek). Comedy. 414 B.C.

An early work of Aristophanes, an exuberant burlesque on the national mythology.
A couple of old Athenians, weary of the corruption of the capital, determine to leave
the country, and to this end seek the advice of Tereus, the king of the birds. He speaks
at such length of his kingdom that they grow interested. A council of the birds is
held, and the Athenians are given permission to build Cloud-Cuckoo-Land, a walled
city which is to be anti-god and pro-bird. This is done. Envoys from Athens are
speedily dismissed by the heroes, but a peace offer from the gods is finally accepted
on condition that the birds be restored to their former rights and privileges. The
marriage of the daughter of Zeus with one of the Athenians ends the fantasy.

Many topical allusions stud the play, but the main theme is timeless.

Birmingham Little Theatre (Alabama) . Birmingham has its own flourishing
playhouse. It meets the needs of a city with two large colleges, and a near-by state
university. This theatre has been Birmingham's chief source of entertainment for
years. It can do pioneer work since it works on a non-profit basis. All the work except
that of director and janitor is voluntary.

Birth of God, The. Verner von Heidenstam (Swedish). Religious drama.
3 acts. 1920.

At Karnak in Egypt a Swedish merchant, who has surrendered his occupation at
home to seek the true deity, encounters an ancient priest of Apollo, awaiting for
centuries the moment when he might die after announcing the birth of a new god.
Together the pair of questers after truth climb to a hilltop, where the merchant immo-
lates himself upon the altar fire they have built, and the priest dies content, declaring
that a fresh and universal faith is about to be born.

Birth b Merlin, The. A play printed 1662 as work of William Shakespeare
and William Rowley. Shakespeare's authorship is now discredited because of the
disjointed plot and inferior poetry, while Rowley's authorship is generally accepted

The play is a medley of farce and romance. Merlin out-tricks his father, the Devil,
and solaces his mother in her old age. Uter Pendragon (King Arthur) wanders
through the main action from time to time.

Birthday Party, The; or, The Ladies' Tea. Hjalmar Bergstrom (Danish).
Drama. 3 acts. 1922.

Presents the talk of seven old maids assembled to celebrate the fortieth birthday
of one of them. Though they boast of their freedom, these bachelor women artists,

singers, secretaries and trained nurses would all have forfeited their careers had
marriage been possible. Some hint at the men they might have had. One sadly admits
that no man has ever looked upon her with passion in his eyes; and one confesses
proudly that the child she has adopted is really her own.

Bit part. A small role in a production, rarely with more than two or three lines.

Bjornson, Bjornstjerne (1832-1910). Norwegian dramatist. Distinguished
contemporary of Ibsen; but best remembered for his Norwegian tales, comparable
with the old sagas in vigor and beauty, and his pleas for the single standard of
morality.

Son of a Lutheran clergyman, he was born at Kvikne, Osterdalen, Norway, and
educated at Molde and at the University of Christiania (Oslo). He first attracted
attention by his stories of peasant life. He wrote his first play, Between the Battles,
in 1857, and two years later became the director of the theatre at Bergen. From 1861
he was director of the National Theatre in Oslo. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel
prize for literature. As a politician, he played a prominent part in the movement
which led to the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905. He died in Paris.

The best known of his plays are '.Between the Battles, 1857 ; Lame Hilda, 1858 ;
KingSverre, 1861 \SigurdSlembe, 1862; Mary Stuart in Scotland, 1864; The Newly
Married, 1868; Sigurd Jorsalfar, 1872; The Editor, 1874; A Bankruptcy, 1875;
The King, 1877; Leonarda, 1879; The New System, 1879; A Gauntlet, 1883; Be-
yond Human Power 1, 1883 ; Geography and Love, 1 885 ; Beyond Human Power II,
1895 ; Paul Lange and Tora Parsberg, 1898 ; Laboremus, 1901 ; At Storhove, 1902 ;
Dayland, 1904; When the New Wine Blooms, 1909.

Black Crook, The. Charles M. Barres (American). Play with music. 1866.

Described by its author as an "original magical and spectacular drama," this was
the first successful American revue. Its premiere at Niblo's Garden, New York City,
brought startled gasps from an audience unaccustomed to the tights and ballet cos-
tumes^ worn by the dancers. Spectacularly staged, and with a generous bevy of
feminine pulchritude, it held the spectators entranced for five hours running and
eventually made almost a million dollars for the producer.

Black Maskers, The. Leonid Andreyev (Russian). Symbolic drama. 5 acts.
1908.

The play presents the problem of a dual personality and the evil existent in the
soul of man.

Here the hero is the human soul, entrenched within its castle, the body, and yet
invaded by maskers who, when it seeks to celebrate a festival, represent its involuntary
thoughts of evil. Threatened by these maskers of doubt, despair and madness, the soul
struggles against the nightmare, is overwhelmed, yet dies unyielding.

Black wax. A material used in blocking out the teeth where so desired ; kneaded
with the fingers, it is applied directly to the teeth to be obliterated, both on the inside
and outside areas of the gums.

Blackface. A stage make-up by means of which white actors impersonate Negro
characters; burnt cork or charcoal is generally used.

Blackfriars Theatre. The first private theatre in London, housed in the
structure of an old Dominican monastery in 1576. Unlike the public theatres, it was
rectangular and roofed, resembling a long interior hall. Until 1587, when it was
temporarily closed, it was the center of English production. Here performances were
given by the Children of the Chapel Royal, Paul's boys, and Oxford's actors. On
several of these occasions John Lyly was the playwright. It was also used in later years
as the winter quarters for Shakespeare's company. In 1600 it was re-opened to child
actors by Richard Burbage, the Shakespearean actor, and in 1609 the King's Men,
formerly the Chamberlain's, took it over for their performances.

Blackout. The closing of a scene, act, or the play itself, usually on a particularly
effective line, by a sudden extinguishing of the lights.

Blanchette. Eugene Brieux (French). Drama. 4 acts. 1892.
A play in which the author attacks society because it will not give young girls an
opportunity of earning a living by teaching. This was Brieux's first important success.

Blank verse. A style of poetry composed of unrhymed lines, usually in iambic
pentameter. The Elizabethans were among the first to use blank verse in the drama.
Gorboduc, which appeared in 1562, was the first English tragedy and was written
in blank verse. Christopher Marlowe demonstrated to what magnificent use blank
verse could be put in his Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. After him came
Shakespeare, the greatest exponent of both blank verse and drama. It was Shakespeare
who introduced infinite variation into the traditional pattern of five strong and five
weak stresses in alternation by shifting stresses and carrying the rhythmic movement
over from line to line.

The Blind (Les Aveugles). Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgian). Allegorical play.
1890.

A symbolical and eerie allegory, poetic and appealingly human. A group of blind
men and women are seated under the stars in a mystic wood. Their guide is an elderly
priest returned from the dead. Gropingly they try to discover their location and
destiny, and the audience gradually realizes that they represent baffled humanity,
which wanders sightless in the forest of ignorance, without faith and without knowl-
edge of the hereafter, guided by leaders and credos which have outlived their
usefulness.

Blitzstein, Marc (1905- ). American composer. Author-composer of The
Cradle Will Rock, a play with music, which was intended to be performed by the
Federal Theatre Project in June, 1937 at Maxine Elliott's theatre. Due to the politi-
cal ideology, and the fact that there was a strike in the steel industry, it was deemed
impolitic to open it. Angered by this, the composer and company, on two hours' notice,
moved to the Venice Theatre and performed it with the author at the piano, sans
scenery and costume and with the actors in the audience. It was a succes d'estime and
ran for ten performances. It was revived somewhat similarly for two Sunday nights
at the Mercury during the 1937-38 season. Meeting again with success it was put on
for a regular run at the Windsor Theatre in January, 1938. Blitzstein was responsible
for the incidental music in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, November,

1937. He is also author of I've Got the Tune. In 1953 his musical Regina, based on
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, was presented.

Bloody Brother, The; or, Rollo, Duke of Normandy. John Fletcher and
Ben Jonson, and perhaps other collaborators (English). Tragedy. 5 acts. c. 1639.

The Duke of Normandy has bequeathed his dukedom to his two sons, Rollo and
Otto. Rollo, the elder, in order to win the whole heritage, kills his brother and orders
the execution of all those who oppose him, including his tutor. Rollo, captivated by
Edith, the daughter of his old tutor, spares her. She plots to kill Rollo to avenge her
father's death, but the brother of another of Rollo's victims kills him first.

Blot on the 'Scutcheon, A. Robert Browning (English). Tragedy. 3 acts.
1843.

Lord Henry Mertoun delays asking the hand of Mildred until he has become
intimate with her. Her brother and guardian, Lord Tresham, consents willingly to
the arrangement, but upon obtaining a confession from her of her guilt with an
unknown lover, surprises Mertoun and kills him. Mildred dies of a broken heart and
Lord Tresham takes poison.

Blount, Edward (fl. 1588-1623). English printer. Stationer, translator and,
together with William Jaggard, printer of the first folio edition of Shakespeare's
plays in 1623.

Blow the show. To leave the show ; to run away from an engagement.
Blow up. To forget one's lines in a performance.

Blue Bird, The. Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgian). Symbolistic drama. 3 acts.
1908.

The brother and sister, Tyltyl and Mytyl, set out on Christmas Eve to look for
the Blue Bird of Happiness, together with the souls of the Dog, the Cat, Milk, Fire,.
Water, Sugar, Bread and Light. On Christmas morning the children discover that
their own turtle dove is blue. But no sooner is the Blue Bird found than it flies away
and the search must begin again.

Blumenthal, Oscar (1852-1917). German dramatist and critic. Founder and
manager of the Lessing Theatre in Berlin, 1888.

He devoted his energy to contemporary farce and comedy and tried to elevate the
tone of the comedy stage, but for financial reasons was forced to abandon his ideal for
the humdrum farces on current events. His plays are distinguished by the sprightliness
of the dialogue. He published several columns of critical and miscellaneous essays.

Among his most successful plays are : The Big Bell; A Drop of Poison; The Black
Veil.

B. O. Theatrical parlance and abbreviation for box office.

Boadicea. See Bonduca.

Boar's Head Inn. A famous tavern situated in Eastcheap, London, frequently

used for theatrical performances and occupied for six months in 1602 by Worcester's
group of professional actors. It is thought that the Boar's Head is intended to be the
scene of the tavern sequences in Shakespeare's King Henry IV.

Board. ( 1 ) The wooden rack in a box office used as container of tickets for the
entire theatre; tickets are sometimes arranged according to the seating plan of a
theatre, the board being a miniature map of such a plan; (2) a group of individuals
who control the activities of the entire theatre from production to theatre manage-
ment; (3) call board; see Gallboard.

Boards, The. In theatrical parlance, the stage ; "to walk the boards" is a cliche
meaning to appear on the stage.

Boguslawski Theatre. A Warsaw theatre named for the first director of War-
saw's first public theatre. It was destroyed in World War II.

Boileau, Nicolas (Boileau-Despreaux) (1633-1711). French poet and critic.
Born in Paris. After the death of his mother when he was two he appears to have been
somewhat neglected. Early in life he conceived a "hatred of dull books." He studied at
the College de Beauvais and later at the Sorbonne, where he took up theology. This he
soon gave up, as he did law, in spite of his admission to the bar in 1656. The death
of his father left him a comfortable maintenance and thereafter he devoted himself
exclusively to study and writing. His Satires was an attack on many authors who
had gone before him. He was, however, friendly with Moliere and Racine. The
Satires and Epitres brought him to the attention of Louis XIV, who granted him a
liberal pension and later made him historiographer to the King. His contribution to
dramatic theory is best to be found in his Art Poetique, which was primarily intended
as justification for his attacks on preceding authors in his Satires.

Bold Stroke for a Wife, A. Mrs. Susannah Centlivre (English). Comedy.
5 acts. 1718.

Colonel Fainall, to win the consent of Obadiah Prim, the Quaker guardian of
Anne Lovely, to his marriage with the latter, impersonates Simon Pure, "a quaking
preacher." No sooner has he obtained the consent than the true Quaker arrives.

Boleslavski, Richard (1889-1937). Producer and director. Born in Warsaw,
Poland. He acted in the Moscow Art Theatre 1906-15; then served in the war. He
came to America in 1920. In New York between 1920-28 he staged Revue Russe,
1922; Vagabond King, 1925; White Eagle, 1927; Ballyhoo, 1927; Mr. Money-
penny, 1928; Judas, 1929; and various productions of the American Laboratory
Theatre, for which he was stage director in 1928-29. For many years he was active
in Hollywood as director and teacher. He was the author of several novels, but is
best known for his Acting: The First Six Lessons, 19337

Bolton, Whitney (1900- ). American drama critic. Born in Washington,
D.C., and educated at Staunton Military Academy and the University of Vir-
ginia. He became a drama reporter for the New York Herald Tribune in 1924,
and four years later joined the staff of the New York Morning Telegraph as drama
critic and columnist, where he remained until 1938. He then worked as publicity

director for Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures and as an assistant to David
O. Selznick, but in 1949 returned to the Morning Telegraph as drama critic. He
is the author of Save the Pieces (1932) and a novel The Rosewood Jail (1953),
and of several screenplays and short stories.

Bonds of Interest, The (Los intereses creados). Jacinto Benavente y Mar-
tinez (Spanish). Comedy. Prologue and 3 acts. 1907.

A modern satirical commedia dell'arte, it shows how the bonds of interest link
respectability with villainy. It represents the high-water mark of Benavente's dra-
matic achievement, and the essence of his philosophy of life, disillusioned and a little
disdainful.

Leander and Crispin, a gentleman and his valet, living by their wits and escaping
the law by various subterfuges, invade a small town in Spain and trick themselves
through Crispin's cleverness into a comfortable state of being.

Bonduca (Boadicea). John Fletcher (English). Tragedy. 5 acts. 1647.

Based on the story of Boadicea as given by George Holinshed. The principal
character, however, is Caratach, wise counsellor to the impetuous British Queen.
Presents the battles in which Boadicea is defeated and killed and Caratach is taken
prisoner. Richard Burbage played in this drama.

"Bones." Metal plates used for theatre tickets at the end of the 18th century
which bore the names of important actors of a company together with the names of
guests; permitted the holder free admission to the play.

Bone, Mr. One of the end men in a minstrel show.
Bonfils, Helen. See Elitch's Gardens.

Boniface, Dr. Stock character of the French farce of the 17th century, print of
whom by Huret establishes similarity with stock characters of the contemporary
Italian commedia del forte.

Bonstelle, Jessie (1870P-1932). Began career in a road company in Bertha,
the Beautiful Sewing Machine Girl, a melodrama. Worked for Augustin Daly; later
for the Messrs. Shubert in Syracuse. Appeared under her own management in
Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse; leased the Garrick Theatre in Detroit and opened
with a stock company which ran fourteen years. In 1923, took over the Harlem Opera
House in New York, and tried out plays for Broadway producers. In 1925 she pur-
chased the Bonstelle Playhouse in Detroit and in 1928 she organized it into the
Detroit Civic Theatre. She encouraged many prominent actors in their early careers,
among them Katharine Cornell, Ann Harding, Ben Lyon, Melvyn Douglas, Frank
Morgan, William Powell, Kenneth McKenna.

Book. In theatrical usage, the term used for the play manuscript; in musical pro-
ductions it refers to the libretto without the music.

Booking. (1) Hiring, engaging or contracting; when a play is hired or con-
tracted to appear in a theatre it is booked for that theatre; (2) also applicable to
actors and vaudeville acts; (3) circuit booking.

Boomerang. (1 ) A platform arrangement mounted on casters with two or more
levels used for painting scenery; (2) also refers to remote control gelatin change for
spotlight.

See Scenery; Lighting.

Booth, Edwin Thomas (1833-1893). American actor.

Born at Belair, Maryland, the son of Junius Brutus Booth, he first appeared
at the Boston Museum in King Richard III, 1849. Later he won great success as a
Shakespearean actor in California and Australia, and was manager, 1863-67, of the
Winter Garden Theatre, New York. In 1869 he built Booth's Theatre in New
York and managed it until 1874. In 1880 and 1882 he played in London and Ger-
many. His Booth's Theatre was built after the burning of the Winter Garden in
1867, and cost Booth one million dollars. Every effort was made to make the house
safe for actor and audience. He devoted his company to the performing of Shake-
speare. When in 1874 he went bankrupt, he spent the rest of his life in starring
tours in America. He was the founder of the Players' Club. His farewell perform-
ance was made in Hamlet, April 4, 1891, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Otis Skinner in The Last Tragedian (1939) throws new light on his career with
the annotated correspondence with the Stoddards.

A recent biography of Booth is Prince of Players, 1953, by Eleanor Ruggles.

Booth, John Wilkes (1839-1865). American actor; son of Junius Brutus
Booth; born in Hartford County, Maryland, in 1839; went on the stage in 1856,
and left it in 1864, in which year he appeared in New York as Mark Antony to the
Cassius of J. B. Booth, Jr., and the Brutus of Edwin Booth. He assassinated Presi-
dent Lincoln on April 14, 1865; took to flight, was shot twelve days later.

Booth, Junius Brutus (1796-1852). Anglo-American actor.

Born in London, he was well educated in the classics, but became stage-struck
and left home for the town of Deptford where he made his debut at seventeen, 1813.
Soon Booth was filling leading roles in the provinces, and it took him only three years
to get a trial at Covent Garden, as Richard III, when he was twenty-one. Resem-
bling Edmond Kean, he was put forward as the great actor's rival at Covent Garden
and at Drury Lane. He played lago to Kean's Othello at the latter in 1817. There
were riots in the pit every time Booth appeared, since all the theatregoers took
sides. Early in 1821 he married Mary Anne Holmes, although he was already mar-
ried. Thirty years later his first wife came to America and sued for divorce, to the
surprise and horror and dismay of his grown children. Booth made his American
debut at Richmond, Virginia, July 6, 1821, in Richard HI. From then until his
death in 1852, on his way from an engagement in New Orleans to another in Cin-
cinnati, he performed in America, save for two seasons when he made appearances
at Drury Lane in London. He was always eccentric, and as the years went by his
eccentricities and his fits of drinking increased. Many times he seemed insane. In
his case, as in those of Cooke and Kean, there was no way of telling how much was
madness and how much alcohol. As an actor, he was famous for his realism. His
best-known roles included Brutus, Lear, Othello and Hamlet. His last appearance
was at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, November 19, 1852, in The Iron
Chest.

Booth, Shirley (1909- ). American actress. Born in New York, she made her
first stage appearance in Hartford, 1923, in a stock company production of The Cat
and the Canary. Her first New York appearance followed in 1925, in Hell's Bells.
She subsequently appeared in a number of productions, playing small parts or
featured roles, and gradually became known as an accomplished actress, especially for
her playing in The Philadelphia Story, My Sister Eileen, and Tomorrow the
World. Full recognition did not come, however, until her performance in Come
Back, Little Sheba in 1950, which was an unqualified triumph. She later repeated the
role in the motion picture, winning the Academy Award for 1952. Since then she has
starred in several plays, notably The Time of the Cuckoo, 1952, and also in A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn, 1951 ; By the Beautiful Sea, 1954; and Miss Isobel, 1957. She
is one of the most versatile American actresses, being equally at home in comedy or
drama, musical or straight play.

Boothe, Clare (1903- ). American playwright and politician. Clare Boothe
Luce was for several years an editor of Vanity Fair, later becoming a freelance
journalist and foreign correspondent. In 1933 her first book, a novel called Stuffed
Shirts, was published. She was married for the second time in 1935, to Henry R.
Luce. She became active in the Republican Party in 1940, and served as a congress-
woman from Connecticut, 1943-46. In 1953 she was appointed U.S. ambassador to
Italy.

Her best-known dramatic works are The Women, 1936; Kiss the Boys Good-
bye, 1938 ; and Margin for Error, 1939.

Border. (1) A scenery term: a drop; (2) a lighting term: the line of front
stage overhead lights.

Borderlight. Strip of individual reflectors in varying lengths to light stage from
overhead; used for toning and blending the other light on stage; hung on pipe or
bridge.

See Lighting.

Boris Godunov. Pushkin (Russian). Historical tragedy. 5 acts. 1826.

Boris Godunov, appointed regent, murders the younger brother of the weak-
minded Feodor and ultimately makes himself Czar; Gregory, a young monk, im-
personates the dead brother, and advances at the head of the Polish army into
Russia. Boris Godunov on his tottering throne, at the head of the famine-stricken
land, realizes that the time of retribution has come. While the army of the pretender
is still far away, he dies.

This drama was used as libretto for a grand opera of the same name by
Moussorgsky, which provided the great Russian opera singer, Chaliapin, with his
greatest role.

Born in a trunk. A term meaning born into a theatre family. Sometimes, born
in a dressing-room.

Bosse, Abraham (1602-1676). French printer. Devotee of the French theatre
of the 17th century whose print of a farce at the Hdtel de Bourgogne established
its similarity with the Italian commedia dell'arte.

Bostonians, The. An organization, formed in 1887 and flourishing until about
1904, which produced light opera. Among the most successful productions were
Robin Hood and The Serenade.

Both Your Houses. Maxwell Anderson (American). Satire. 3 acts. 1933.

A daring and forthright commentary on national politics.

The story of a hard-fighting, young and idealistic Congressman, who suddenly
finds himself up against a group of old-time politicians, all at work on a big appro-
priations bill. The young idealist tries to draw up a relatively honest bill, but realiz-
ing that the fight seems hopeless, he turns around and makes the bill so ridiculously
dishonest that he can not imagine but that it will be instantly killed. However, it
is so pleasing to all parties that it goes through both houses.

Won Pulitzer Prize award for 1932-33.

Boucicault, Dion (1822-1890). Irish actor and dramatist.

Born at Dublin. His first play, London Assurance, was produced at Covent
Garden, London, 1841, and he first appeared on the London stage in his own play
The Vampire at Princess's Theatre in 1852. He wrote or adapted nearly 140 plays.
He first appeared in America in 1852, on November 10, in his own play Used Up.
Through his efforts the first copyright law was passed in 1856. He settled in America
in 1876, and died in New York City in 1890.

Best known of his plays are: The Colleen Bawn, 1860; The Octoroon (an anti-
slavery play), 1867; The Shaughraun, 1875.

Bound East for Cardiff. Eugene O'Neill (American). Drama. 1 act. 1919.

One of O'Neill's first plays. Frank Shay presented it in his Wharf Theatre in
Provincetown, with the author himself playing a Second Mate. Records indicate
his performance was adequate. The scene of the play is the seamen's forecastle of
the British tramp steamer GlenCairn, on a foggy night, midway between New York,
and Cardiff. Five sailors, including a Cockney, an Irishman and a Swede, sit on
benches talking, while on a bunk the sailor Yank lies dying. There is no dramatic
action properly speaking. Yank is a frustrated creature, a man who has missed his.
star. All his adult life has been spent in seafaring, "travelin' all over the world and
seein' none of it ; without no one to care whether you're alive or dead." And during
all those years he has longed for a farm on which he might settle down and till the
land. In his frustration he parallels the hero of O'Neill's later Beyond the Horizon,
who contrary to Yank, yearned for the sea and lived and died on the land.

Bourdet, Edouard (1887-1945). French dramatist. More intent on treatment
than theme, he interpreted the post- World War I scene with bitter irony. He wrote
The Rubicon; The Open Cage; The Shepherd's Hour; La Prisonniere (pro-
duced in New York as The Captive and closed by the police after a five-months'
run) ; Man Enchained; Just Appeared; Le Sexe Faible; and other plays, excelling
in the comedy of manners. Appointed director of the Comedie Frangaise, home of
the national French drama, in 1936 by Leon Blum's government.

Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Le. Moliere (French). Comedy. 5 acts. 1670.
Monsieur Jourdain, a retired French shopkeeper, desires to become a great

gentleman. He studies dancing, fencing, music, philosophy, and tries to have an affair
with the Marquise de Montignac. In the last act, however, he unknowingly marries
his daughter to a commoner, and is forced to watch his Marquise marry the Conte
de Chateau-Gaillard.

Bourget, Paul (1852-1935) . French poet and novelist. The author of a number
of analytical and psychological novels. Two of his works which have been drama-
tized have been highly successful: La Barricade and Le Tribun.

Bowery Theatre (1827-1833). Once the democratic rival of the then aristo-
cratic Park Theatre in New York. Several times destroyed by fire and rebuilt.
Boasted such managers as Charles Gilbert, Thomas Hamblin and James H. Hackett.
Identified with the early career of Edwin Forrest.

Box Office. The office at the front of a theatre where tickets are sold. The first
mention of a box office in print appears in Dekker's The Gull's Hornbook (1609).

Box-office statement. A formal weekly account of the box-office receipts sub-
mitted by the box-office treasurer to the business manager of a play, and given by
him to the producer. The playwright is entitled by his contract to have a copy of the
statement. On tour, the box-office treasurer submits the account to the company
manager.

Box-set. Scene composed of three walls and the ceiling of a room with the hy-
pothetical fourth wall facing the audience.

Boyle, William (1853-1923). Irish dramatist. Born in County Louth, Ireland;
was since 1874 an officer of Customs and Excise. Author of the following plays, all
produced by the Irish National Theatre Society: The Building Fund, 1905; The
Eloquent Dempsey, 1906; The Mineral Workers, 1906; The Love Charm, 1911;
and Family Failing, 1912.

Boy Meets Girl. Bella and Sam Spewack (American). Farce. 3 acts. 1935.

A hilarious farce lampooning Hollywood. Staged by George Abbott, it ran in
New York for two seasons. Later Hollywood proved it could laugh at a joke on
itself by filming it.

Law and Benson, an irrepressible writing team working for the films, have brains
as fertile as their energy is boundless. Their antics distress serious C. K. Friday, a
producer and their immediate superior, who is pining for a new story for Larry
Toms, Western star, and is distraught by constant interruptions midgets no one
ordered, an English extra telling him what kind of hats Coldstream Guards should
wear. Susie, a blonde and extraordinarily naive waitress who serves the authors
lunch, suddenly inspires them. She is about to have a natural child. It shall be called
Happy and be the star who will help Larry come back! Months pass. As it is
written, so has it come to pass. Happy is born and becomes a sensation, stealing scenes
from Larry, who is considering marrying the baby's mother in self-defense. But Susie
is busy fulfilling a long-deferred ambition to go to high school, and besides, her heart
belongs to the hat authority, the English extra. Things almost go awry when a pub-
licity scheme cooked up by Law and Benson to enhance Happy's publicity value

proves a boomerang, and on the heels of that Happy gets the measles. But a few
fake phone calls fix matters up; Susie falls into the arms of her Englishman, who
turns out to be a lord's son; and Law and Benson, to the music of blaring trumpets,
begin a search for a baby to succeed Happy as a star.

Brace cleat. A device used to fasten stage brace to scenery.
See Scenery.

Brace jack. Right-angle triangular frame used for bracing scenery.
See Scenery.

Bracegirdle, Anne (c. 1663-1748). English actress. A member of Colley Gib-
bers company. In 1688 she took the part of Lucia in Shadwell's The Squire of
Alsatia, and in 1693, that of Araminta in Congreve's The Old Bachelor. Her best-
known part, however, was Angelica in Congreve's Love for Love, but she also
gained success as Isabella, Portia, and Cordelia in Measure for Measure, The Mer-
chant of Venice and King Lear, respectively. Piqued at the success of Mrs. Oldfield
.in 1707, she left the stage, reappearing only on the occasion of Betterton's benefit,
April 1709, when she played Angelica once more.

Brady, Alice (1892-1939). American actress. The daughter of William A.
Brady, theatrical manager, Alice Brady was born in New York City and studied for
grand opera at the Boston Conservatory of Music. She made her first stage appear-
ance in a minor role in Robert Mantell's production of As You Like It, 1909, and
her first New York appearance in A Balkan Princess, 1911. She played roles in a
number of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, including H. M. S. Pinafore, 1911;
Patience, 1912; lolanthe; etc.; and toured with De Wolf Hopper in a repertory of
the operettas in 1914. She has also acted in Little Women, 1912; The Family Cup-
board, 1913; The Things that Count, 1913; Sylvia Runs Away, 1914; What is
Love? 1914; Sinners, .1915; Forever After, 1918; Anna Ascends, 1920; Drifting,
1922; Zander the Great, 1923; The Bride of the Lamb, 1926; Lady Alone, 1927;
A Most Immoral Lady, 1928; Karl and Anna, 1929; Brass Ankle, 1931; Ladies
of the Jury, 1931 ; Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931 ; and other plays.

Brady, William A. (1863-1950). American theatrical manager. Born in San
Francisco. He was brought to New York and educated in the public schools. He
was married to Marie Rene, by whom he had a daughter, the actress Alice Brady.
His second wife was the actress, Grace George, whom he married in 1899 and by
whom he had a son, William Brady, Jr. He began his stage career in San Francisco
in 1882, and last acted in 1928 in A Free Soul. He was the lessee of the Manhattan
Theatre, New York, from 1896 to its demolition; he built the Playhouse, 1911,
which he managed; and then Brady became manager of the Forty-Eighth Street
Theatre in 1912. In 1917 President Woodrow Wilson appointed him chairman of
the committee to organize the motion picture industry; and he was president of the
National Assocation of Motion Picture Industry, 1915-20. Among the many
actors and actresses he has managed have been Grace George, Helen Gahagan,
Douglas Fairbanks, Helen Hayes, Mary Nash, Kenneth McKenna, Alice Brady
and Katherine Alexander. His productions include Gentleman Jack, Mile. Fifi,
Way Down East, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Two Orphans, Trilby, Foxy Grandpa,

The Pit, Baby Mine, Bunty Pulls the Strings, Bought and Paid For, The White
Feather, Alibi, The Ruined Lady, The Skin Game, Street Scene, A Church Mouse,
Alice Sit-by-the-Fire, Mademoiselle.

Braggart soldier. A dramatic type, possibly a derivation from the ancient
Latin miles gloriosus and the capitano of the commedia dell'arte, which came into
being in England with the character of Ralph Roister Doister in Udall's play of
the same name. The character in England lasted until the closing of the theatres
in 1642. Toward the final years of its existence the type was characterized by base-
ness and sensuality. To the type Shakespeare contributed, among other characters,
Falstaff, Pistol, Parolles.

Brahm, Otto (1856-1912). German director, critic.
See Deutsches Theater.

Brand. Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian). Drama. 5 acts. 1866.

Brand, a young Norwegian clergyman, contemptuous of the compromising
spirit of the religion of his countrymen, goes to a town on a distant fjord. Unbending
he practises his principle and enforces it on others, though it costs him the life of
his child and of his wife. The people turn against him and drive him out into the
snow. An avalanche overwhelms him as he makes his last appeal to God, and receives
the answer, "He is the God of Love."

Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen (1842-1927). Danish literary critic. Born in
Copenhagen of Jewish parents, he was educated at the University in that city. His
first important work, Aesthetic Studies, appeared in 1868. In 1871 he issued the first
part of what was to be his major work and a classic of modern criticism, Main Cur-
rents in Nineteenth Century Literature, a series of lectures published in 6 volumes,
1871-1890. Almost by itself this series produced an awakening in Scandinavian
literary and intellectual circles; in it Brandes attacked the stranglehold of nine-
teenth-century conventions and championed the new spirit of realism. His writings
covered a wide range of subjects, and he became known as "the dean of European
culture." Among the many writers who felt the influence of his work were Ibsen,
Bjornson, and Strindberg. His studies of Shakespeare (1897) and of Ibsen (1899)
are especially famous.

Break up. For actors, to lose composure on stage and be unable to continue the
scene due to another actor's horseplay or practical jokes in the midst of a performance.

Breakaway scenery. Scenery that breaks or changes its form in full view of the
audience.

Breaking. The closing of a show.

Brecht, Bertolt (1898-1956). German dramatist, director and producer. In
the 1920's his plays were hailed as the beginning of a new era in German drama, but
with the advent of the Nazi regime his plays were forbidden and Brecht left Ger-
many, spending part of the next 12 years in the U.S. After the war the East German
government invited him to work in Berlin, offering him a theatre and a generous

subsidy.^ He accepted the offer, but maintained Austrian citizenship. He died in Lon-
don while his company was making its first appearance there.

Brecht's dramatic theories have been the subject of much controversy both here
and abroad. His Epic Theatre method is an attempt to break away from the theatre
of "illusion" (which he considered to be the entire Western theatre tradition from
Aristotle on), and arouse in the audience an attitude of detached observation and
evaluation. As a means to this, Brecht employed what he termed "alienation," the
use of interruptions comments, asides, lectures, songs, poems calculated to break
off the audience's identification with the performance and to substitute critical aware-
ness. The alienation principle was also employed in the use of scenery and music.
Brecht trained his actors to emphasize the distance between themselves and their
roles, in direct opposition to Stanislavsky's ideal of identification.

Several of Brecht's plays have appeared in English translations, notably Mother
Courage, The Private Life of the Master Race, The Caucasian Chalk Circle,
Galileo (produced in New York by Charles Laughton in 1947), and The Good
Woman of Setzuan (produced by the Phoenix Theatre in 1956). He is most popu-
larly known as author and librettist of The Threepenny Opera (1928), with music
byKurtWeill.

Brederoo, Gerbrand Adriaanszoon (1585-1618). Dutch dramatist. He ranks
as the greatest comic dramatist of Holland.

Born in Amsterdam, March 16, 1585, he began life as an artist. The best of
his plays are Het Moortje> 1615, and De Spaansche Brabander, 1618.

Breeches parts. The Elizabethan dramatic convention of a plot's hingeing on
the masquerade of female characters as boys or men, was convincing because the
female characters were then played by boys. The new wave of popularity for
"breeches parts" in the first half of the 18th century was due not to convincingness,
but to suggestive unconvincingness for at that time women had taken their place
on the stage in all female roles. Lacking the risque dialogue that was giving way
to sentimentalism, audiences satisfied their salacious interest visually. Performances
having "breeches parts" were especially advertised. Because they felt that male cos-
tume set them off to advantage, as many of them were pert and saucy, the actresses
favored such roles. Burnaby, Manning, Rowe, Johnson, Banks, Breval, Moore, and
other dramatists supplied this demand of actresses and audiences.