''Abraham Lincoln'' is a 1918 play by John Drinkwater about the 16th President of the United States. Drinkwater's first great success, it premiered in England in 1918. The 1919 Broadway production starred Frank McGlynn.

Production

A rare depiction of events in the life of a U.S. President by a British playwright, ''Abraham Lincoln'' was a great success in its day. The play covers events in Lincoln's Presidency from his election in 1860 to his assassination, but omits most of the events in his private life. ''Abraham Lincoln'' was first produced in October 1918 at the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

, of which John Drinkwater was the artistic director.

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

and

Nigel Playfair Sir Nigel Ross Playfair (1 July 1874 – 19 August 1934) was an English actor and director, known particularly as actor-manager of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in the 1920s. After acting as an amateur while practising as a lawyer, he turne ...

acquired the play and its company for the suburban Hammersmith Playhouse, where ''Abraham Lincoln'' became a sensational success with London audiences. Irish actor William J. Rea starred. Produced by William Harris Jr., the Broadway production of ''Abraham Lincoln'' opened December 15, 1919, at the

Cort Theatre The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. It was built in ...

, and ran for 193 performances. Lester Lonergan directed a cast including the following: * Leonard Mudie as Chronicler * Florence Johns as Susan, a Maid * Winifred Hanley as Mrs. Lincoln * Frank McGlynn as Mr. Lincoln * Forrest Davis as William Tucker, a Merchant * Duncan Cherry as Elias Price, a Lay Preacher * Penwood Batkins as James MacIntosh, a Journalist * John S. O'Brien as William H. Seward, Secretary of State * Charles Fleming as Johnson White, Confederate Commissioner * William R. Randall as Caleb Jennings, Confederate Commissioner * Paul Byron as John Hay, Lincoln's Secretary * Frank E. Jamison as Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury * Herbert Curtis as Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, 1862 * Alfred Moore as Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy * William A. Norton as Burnet Hook, a Member of the Cabinet * David Landau as Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 1865 * J. Philip Jerome as Messenger * Mary Horne Morrison as Mrs. Goliath Blow * Charles S. Gilpin as William Custis * Albert Phillips as General Ulysses S. Grant, Commander of the Federal Army * George Williams as Captain Mallins, Grant's aide-de-camp * Charles P. Bates as Dennis, an Orderly *

Raymond Hackett Raymond Hackett (July 15, 1902 – July 7, 1958) was a stage and screen actor. He had been a child actor on the Broadway stage and was the brother of Albert Hackett. He was born in New York City the son of Maurice Hackett and Florence Hackett (n� ...

as William Scott, a Soldier * Frank Ginter as General Meade, Field Commander, Federal Forces * Thomas Irwin as Captain Stone, Meade's aide-de-camp * James Durkin as General Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate Army * J. Paul Jones as John Wilkes Booth

Adaptations

In 1924, a two-reel sound film version of the play was filmed by

Lee De Forest Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor and a fundamentally important early pioneer in electronics. He invented the first electronic device for controlling current flow; the three-element " Audion" triode v ...

in his

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film proce ...

sound-on-film process. Frank McGlynn reprised his Broadway role. In Czechoslovakia the play was broadcast on radio on November 8, 1937. Directed by Miloslav Jares, the production starred Frantisek Salzer in the role of Abraham Lincoln. ''Abraham Lincoln'' was adapted as the sixth episode of the

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...

series ''

The Mercury Theatre on the Air ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with mus ...

'', broadcast August 15, 1938. The cast included

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

(Abraham Lincoln), Ray Collins (

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

), Edward Jerome (

General Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

)

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek o ...

(Hook),

Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...

( Seward), Carl Frank (

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

), Karl Swenson ( Hay),

William Alland William Alland (March 4, 1916 – November 11, 1997) was an American actor, film producer and writer, mainly of Western and science-fiction/monster films, including '' This Island Earth'', '' It Came From Outer Space'', '' Tarantula!'', ''The ...

(Dennis) and

Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...

( Mrs. Lincoln). On May 26, 1952, the play was presented on television on the anthology series '' Studio One''. Starring Robert Pastene and Judith Evelyn, the TV adaptation was notable for featuring actor

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...

in the small but significant role of William Scott, a Union soldier court-martialed and condemned to death for falling asleep on watch. The live production survived on kinescope and is available at the Internet Archive.

References

External links

*
Abraham Lincoln
' (1919) at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

*
Abraham Lincoln
' at Project Gutenberg
"Abraham Lincoln"
(August 15, 1938) on ''

'', starring

(

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest c ...

)
"Abraham Lincoln"
(May 26, 1952) on '' Studio One'' (

) {{Abraham Lincoln, state=collapsed English plays Abraham Lincoln in art 1918 plays American plays adapted into films Plays set in the 19th century Fiction set in the 1860s

Production

Adaptations

See also

References

External links