Charles Blevins Davis (1903-July 16, 1971) was an American playwright and theatrical producer.

Early life

Charles Blevins Davis, the only son of Charles A. Davis and his wife, grew up in

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

. Davis grew up next to the

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

family and was a lifelong friend and

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

visitor of Harry, Bess and Margaret. He shortened his name to C. Blevins Davis.

Education

Davis attended old Kansas City Junior College and, for a short time in the class of 1925 at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. He graduated from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in 1925. After teaching in Independence, Davis studied at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Career

Davis returned to Independence and taught at the

William Chrisman High School William Chrisman High School is a high school located in Independence, Missouri, United States, as part of the Independence School District. History The school was founded in 1888 and was known as Independence High School. The first building was ...

. He later worked at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in New York as the educational programs supervisor. By 1949, Davis was president of the Ballet Theater of New York. He was also a member of the American National Theater Association's board of directors. Davis produced ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' at the

Elsinore Castle Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was inscribed on the UNE ...

in Denmark. It was the first American production of the play in Denmark. He produced the 1952 touring revival of ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', it ...

'', which starred Cab Calloway,

William Warfield William Caesar Warfield (January 22, 1920 – August 25, 2002) was an American concert bass-baritone singer and actor, known for his appearances in stage productions, Hollywood films, and television programs. A prominent African American artist ...

, and

Leontyne Price Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano who was the first African American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera, where she was the first Af ...

. The State Department sponsored the production in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Davis became owner of a weekly

Cripple Creek, Colorado Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Sprin ...

, newspaper in 1951. The Cripple Creek District Museum in Colorado was founded by Blevins Davis and Margaret Giddings in 1953. Due to financial obligations of more than $400,00, Davis sold his Glendale Farm in 1959.

Personal life

In 1946, Davis married Marguerite Sawyer Hill, the widow of James N. Hill. Margaret was an art patron, socialite, and heiress to a railroad fortune. She owned Big Tree Farm in

Glen Head, New York Glen Head is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the greater Glen Cove area, which is anchored ...

, on Long Island. Margaret died at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 18, 1948, of a heart attack. Davis received her nine-million-dollar fortune upon her death. He rebuilt and renovated his Glendale Farm in Independence. In 1949, Davis purchased the Claremont Estate in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The mansion, which he renamed Trianon, was sold to the Sisters of St. Francis Seraph in 1952. Woodmen Sanatorium, also in Colorado Springs, was purchased by Davis in July 1950. His wife, Marguerite Davis, a railroad heiress died in 1948 and wished to have her fortune used for charitable purposes. The Modern Woodmen Sanatorium property and Trianon were sold to the Poor Sisters of St. Francis ( Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration) for $1 in 1952. The combined fortune that they received was worth $2,325,000 (). In the 1950s, Davis moved to

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

, Peru. While in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on a business trip, Davis died of a heart attack on July 16, 1971. He had no surviving children. His Princeton obituary stated that he lived a "colorful career" and spent $10 million during his "high-living days".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Blevins 1903 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American theatre managers and producers 20th-century American businesspeople People from Independence, Missouri People from Cripple Creek, Colorado