Bernard Shaw on the American Stage: A Chronicle of Premieres and Notable Revivals (Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries)

Bernard Shaw on the American Stage is the first comprehensive study of the production of Bernard Shaw’s plays in America. During his lifetime (1856-1950), Shaw was America’s most popular living playwright; productions of his plays were outnumbered only by Shakespeare. Forty-four of Shaw’s plays were staged in America before his death, eight more posthumously. Eleven of the productions were world premieres. Bernard Shaw on the American Stage tells the story of the fifty-two premieres, which, apart from a few fragments, is his total dramatic oeuvre. The book also includes, again for the first time, production data and concise overviews of dozens of the most notable American revivals of the plays, from the 1890s to the beginning of the 2020 pandemic. Illustrations―production photographs, programmes, theatre buildings, playbills, actors’ studio portraits― inform the study throughout. Acknowledgements A Note on Shaw’s American Income References Sources Contents Abbreviations List of Figures 1 Prologue Notes References 2 First Steps: The Mansfield Years “We chatted for about an hour” “Of course it doesn’t draw”: Arms and the Man (1894) The Fourth Estate: Elisabeth Marbury A “dangerous play”: The Philanderer The Candida Debacle “You owe me a great play”: The Devil’s Disciple (1897) “A boon to the jaded mind” “Richard Mansfield himself”: The Man of Destiny “I disown you”: Caesar and Cleopatra “The matter is hung up”: You Never Can Tell One Final Effort: Man and Superman “They think more of me in America” Notes References 3 Consolidation and Controversy: The Daly Years “Who is Arnold Daly?” Candidamania: “a form of fashionable disease” (1903) “An oasis of delight”: The Man of Destiny (1899, 1904) “Be kind to him” A Cromwell Play That Never Was “Written especially for Arnold Daly”: How He Lied to Her Husband (1904) “For this you will scream away all eternity in hell”: You Never Can Tell (1903, 1905) “I hae ma doots”: John Bull’s Other Island (1905) A Tsunami of Criticism The Fanny Brough Problem: Mrs Warren’s Profession (1905) New York Comstockery “Illuminated gangrene” “And so, farewell” “Drunk on ink” “My terms are a million dollars” A New Norm Notes References 4 Robert Loraine’s Man and Superman “Eureka” “It’s indullicate, that’s what it is” A “happy solution” “He might at any moment ascend to Heaven” “Shaking in his boots” “A riot in cynical paradox” “Children are better off without him” “No decent young man should be allowed to see the show” On the Road The First Tanner and Don Juan One Last Superman in America Notes References 5 Theatrical Capitalism: The Syndicates and the Shuberts Hawks and Handsaws In Search of Caesar “I did this job extraordinarily well” “One of the oddest of this odd Irishman’s plays”: Caesar and Cleopatra (1906) Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (1907) In Search of Lady Cicely Full Circle “Bernard Shaw had very little to do with it” Enter the Shuberts “The Shaw boom is a thing of the past”: Widowers’ Houses (1907) Alive and Well in Butte, Montana “Liberty does not exist there” Patience Rewarded: Fanny’s First Play (1912) Impatience Unrewarded: The Philanderer Winthrop Ames: The Philanderer (1913) Notes References 6 Eliza Comes to Broadway The Four Impresarios The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet, “Doncherknow” (1911) Pygmalion: “I can be your pretty slut” (1914) Impresario 1, Charles Frohman: “A fine scheme . . . I like it” Impresario 2, Lee Shubert: “Impossible” Impresario 3, Marc Klaw: A Calling Card Impresario 4, George Tyler: “She made money for us” “All Greek to me” A More Nuanced Response “An entirely friendly creditor” On Tour Notes References 7 A Good War in America “Americans will be the leaders of tomorrow” “He tells the truth about the English” The Harley Granville Barker Tour (1915) “Such people as may be found in the United States today”: Androcles and the Lion (1915) “Sporadic laughter”: The Doctor’s Dilemma (1915) “The cash customers stayed away”: Androcles on Tour “Too provincial a country to appreciate it”: Major Barbara (1915) The Smith College Mummers An “infamous conspiracy” “It lacks quality, of course” New York’s “acknowledged matinee idol”: William Faversham “More mighty than the constitution of the United States” Getting Married (Boston, 1914) “A real Socialist—such as Jesus Christ was”: Getting Married (1916) Too Good to Last A “piratical exploit”: Misalliance in Philadelphia (January 1917) “A pork-packer of Chicago”: Misalliance in New York (September 1917) “The breach of contract is flagrant” “Forty-five minutes of stinging satire”: O’Flaherty V.C. (1920) A Good War? Notes References 8 Short Plays in Little Theatres America’s Little Theatres The Toy Theatre, Boston: Press Cuttings (1915), Great Catherine (1915), Overruled (1915), The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1915), Annajanska, the Wild Grand Duchess (1922) The Neighborhood Playhouse, New York: The Inca of Perusalem (1916) “A first night surprise” The Little Theatre, Philadelphia: The Admirable Bashville (1915), Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction (1916) The Drama League Players, Washington DC: Augustus Does His Bit (1917) The Fascinating Foundling (1928), Village Wooing (1934), The Six of Calais (1937) “Pestilent pirates” Notes References 9 World Premieres at the Theatre Guild Lawrence Langner “Our first joust with Bernard Shaw”: Heartbreak House (1920) “Full of poignant truth” The “lunatic” and Back to Methuselah (1922) “Octogenarian garrulity” “Worth doing and worth seeing... but...” A Missed Opportunity: Jitta’s Atonement (1923) A New Guild Theatre “Exasperating idiots”: Saint Joan (1923) “A play for the ages...” “There is a truly great Poet in Shaw” Saint Joan on Tour “Will you please hurry up and write the Guild a new play?” Notes References 10 Political Shaw The American Delusion “A political extravaganza”: The Apple Cart (1930) “Shaw Fraternizes with Soviets” (1931) “Hello, all you dear old boobs” (1931) “EXPECT THE WORST”: Too True to Be Good (1932) “A Charter of Anarchism”: Shaw’s Opera House Speech (1933) Rejection: On the Rocks “A dignified monkey”: The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1935) “Two theatrically incompatible moods”: The Millionairess (1938) Rejection: Geneva Unfinished Business “An exciting play of ideas”: On the Rocks (1938) Canada First: Geneva (1940) Posthumous Premieres Notes References 11 Posthumous Shaw Buoyant Billions at the Y (1951) “Thoroughly exhilarating”: In Good King Charles’s Golden Days (1952) “Not a comforting playwright”: Farfetched Fables (1952) Premieres Finale Posthumous Shaw in New York10 Beyond New York “His work is now miserably neglected” Notes References Appendix: A Summary of American Premieres of Shaw’s Plays Bibliography and Sources Index