The Career of Owen Davis (1874-1956) in the American Theatre
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1978 The aC reer of Owen Davis (1874-1956) in the American Theatre. Jack Kendall Wann Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Wann, Jack Kendall, "The aC reer of Owen Davis (1874-1956) in the American Theatre." (1978). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3301. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3301 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND f 7911589 f | MANN, JACK KENDALL | THE CAREER OF OMEN DAVIS (1B7A-1956) IN THE | AMERICAN THEATRE. ! THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND | AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COL., P H .D ., 1978 University , M icrofilms International 300 N. ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR. Ml 48106 @ 1979 JACK KENDALL WANN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE CAREER OF OWEN DAVIS (1874-1956) IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department o f Speech by Jack Kendall Wann M.A., U n iv ersity of L o u is v ille / 1969 December/ 1978 Acknowledgeme nts Special thanks to Dr. Roderick Bladel/ Staff Librarian, Lincoln Center Theatre Collection, and to Betty Ross and Paul Myers of his staff. My gratitude is also extended to Dr. Bill Harbin for his guidance and to Dr. Waldo Braden for his very special overall influence during my doctoral s tu d ie s . But, especially I owe my major debt to Carol and to Regan for their help and patience in getting through difficult and demanding times. Table of Contents A b stra c t Introduction.................................................................................... 1 C hapter I. The Early Career of Owen D avis........................... 9 I I . Owen Davis Becomes a L egitim ate Broadway Playwright........................................................ 79 III. The Maturity of Owen D avis.........................................122 IV. The Final Twenty Years of the Career of Owen Davis.........................................................170 % V. The Organizational Work of Owen Davis. 189 C onclusion..............................................................................................200 A ppendix.................................................................................................. 210 Bib liography.........................................................................................220 V ita ........................................................................................................... 235 i i i A b stra ct The purpose of this study was to examine and assess the theatrical career of Owen Gould Davis (1874-1956) . The published plays of Davis, extant unpublished manuscripts, typescripts, and contemporary reviews and articles constitute the bulk of the primary research material. These have been supplemented by the playwright's personal memoirs, biographical accounts, correspondence with surviving contemporaries, and journal and newspaper a r t i c l e s . The results of the study were as follows: Since, (1) Owen Davis was an important American play wright whose work was significant in the development of American Theatre practice in the twentieth century, (2) his prolificacy was remarkable, (3) the duration of his career (almost sixty productive years in the professional theatre) demonstrates his enduring influence on the American theatre scene, (4) at least four of his works have gained a lasting place in the dramatic literature of this country (Icebound, Ethan Frome, The Nervous Wreck, and The Haunted House) , (5) h is work in th e New Realism made him second only to i v Eugene O'Neill in the development of America's regional drama, (6) he was America's most representative practi tioner of sensational melodrama, (7) he was an acknowledged master of adaptation and dramatization from other forms, (8) he was a significant innovator and a pioneer in dramatists' organization work, specifically for the Dramatists Guild of The Authors League of America, and (9) his personal and professional "ethos" remained unblemished throughout his long career; it is apparent that his significance and influence on the development of theatre practice in America has been grossly under estimated. Owen Davis has proved an important figure in the history of theatre in this country. v Introduction George Jean Nathan once referred to Owen Davis as, "the Lope de Vega of the American theatre.”^ Other prom inent twentieth-century critics described Davis as "the dean of American dramatists," "America's most prolific and produced playwright,"^ and "our dramatic laureate."^ These superlatives provide an ironic introduction to an artist whose name has virtually been forgotten by con temporary students of American theatre. Owen Davis began his professional career in 139 7 at a time when Bronson Howard reigned as the foremost of a small group of significant American playwrights. By the time Davis died in 1956, Tennessee Williams represented this country's best efforts in dramatic literature. Owen Montrose J. Moses, Representative American Dramas (Boston: L i t t l e , Brown and Company, 1933), p . 300. 2 New York World Telegram, 21 September 19 34 (Clipping File, Lincoln Center Theatre Collection). Hereafter cited as CF, LCTC. ^ New YQEfc Times, 15 October 1956, p. 75. ^ Alexander Woolcott, "Up From 10-20-30," C ollier's, 2 January 1926,- p. 7. 2 Davis served the theatre devotedly for that entire period of fifty-nine years. In that time/ he produced over two hundred plays, nearly all of which were performed in the professional theatre. This productivity made Davis unques tionably America's most prolific playwright in the first half of the twentieth century; his plays were produced in New York for thirty-seven consecutive seasons. This "enormous fecundity and narrative invention"^ earned him immense popularity and great profit (by 19 33, he had already earned nearly one and a half million dol lars in royalties}.1,5 In retrospect however, in spite of his popular and financial success, his career seems to have been as ephemeral as it was prolific, Davis' view that the playwright serves his society as "a minstrel, not a prophet" brought a contemporary quality to his work which consistently reflected the conventions and character of his own time. This contributed to the monetary and popular success of his art, but also limited its universal significance and his own acceptance as a serious artist. When Davis made h is debut as a p lay w rig h t in 189 7, American theatre asked little of its dramatists, but 5 Sidney Skolsky, Times -Square Tintypes, 5 August 1931 (CP, LCTC). ^ Ward Morehouse, New York Sun, 6 February 19 33 (CF, LCTC). ^ New Ycrk Herald-Tribune, 2 March 1941, p. 27. demanded a great deal from its actors, directors, produc ers, and technical innovators. As a result, superior acting could always be found, displayed in spectacular mountings provided by skillful craftsmen of the theatre. But the plays upon which these productions were built often seemed less important than these elements. The emphasis on the playwright's contribution to