''The Green Goddess'' was a popular stage play of 1921 by

William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to: * William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician * William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia * William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...

. In the three years after its publication, the play toured in both America and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was included in

Burns Mantle Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''Theatre History Stu ...

's ''The Best Plays of 1920-1921''. The 1921

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production four-act melodrama was produced and staged by

Winthrop Ames Winthrop Ames (November 25, 1870 – November 3, 1937) was an American theatre director and producer, playwright and screenwriter. For three decades at the beginning of the 20th century, Ames was an important force on Broadway, whose repertoir ...

. It ran for 175 performances from January 18, 1921, to June 1921 at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance ...

Broadway cast

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

as Raja of Rukh * Ronald Colman as Temple Priest *

Ivan F. Simpson Ivan F. Simpson (8 February 1875 – 12 October 1951) was a Scottish film and stage actor. Life and career Simpson was born on 8 February 1875 in Glasgow, Scotland, and went as a young man to New York City, where he worked for four dec ...

as Watkins * Cyril Keightley as Dr. Basil Traherne * David A. Leonard as High Priest * Helen Nowell as An Ayah * Herbert Ransome as Lt. Denis Cardew * Herbert Waring as Major Antony Crespin *

Olive Wyndham Olive Frances Wyndham Meysenberg (June 16, 1886 – November 24, 1971) was an American actress on stage and in silent films. Early life Meysenburg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of E. A. von Meysenburg, a German diplomat, ...

as Lucilla

Adaptations

The play was the basis for both a 1923 silent film and a 1930 talkie. Star

and

reprised their roles in both films, as the Raja of Rukh and his chief aide, respectively. In 1939,

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 ...

staged a version in New York, which was preceded by a short film prelude – this was two years before the release of his debut feature film, '' Citizen Kane''. The footage is now believed lost. In 1943 a third film adaptation ''

Adventure in Iraq ''Adventure in Iraq'' is a 1943 American adventure film directed by D. Ross Lederman and starring John Loder, Ruth Ford, Warren Douglas and Paul Cavanagh. The film is based on the 1921 play '' The Green Goddess'' by William Archer. Plot Th ...

'' was produced, with the setting shifted from India to the Middle East.Richards p.192

Things named after the play

Green Goddess salad dressing was invented in the 1920s, by the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, to commemorate the actor George Arliss and this play. In 1925 a

railway locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

was named after it, the locomotive's owner having been inspired by the stage play.

Bibliography

* Jeffrey Richards. ''Visions of Yesterday''. Routledge, 2014.

References

External links

Radio drama version
by Orson Welles and his Campbell Playhouse (February 10, 1939)
1946 ''Theatre Guild on the Air'' radio adaptation
at

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, ...

* book by Louise Jordan Miln which was adapted based on Archer's play {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Goddess, The 1921 plays Broadway plays British plays adapted into films Plays set in India Himalayas in fiction Indian mythology in popular culture Hindu mythology in popular culture