''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, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

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 turned ...

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. William Harris Jr. (1884–1946) was a well-known Broadway theatrical producer. Plays he produced included ''Abraham Lincoln'', ''East is West'', '' Twin Beds'' (1914), ''Outward Bound'', and '' The Greeks Had a Word for It''. He was the son of ...

, 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 48th Street (Manhattan), West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater ...

, and ran for 193 performances. Lester Lonergan directed a cast including the following: *

Leonard Mudie Leonard Mudie (born Leonard Mudie Cheetham; April 11, 1883April 14, 1965) was an English character actor whose career lasted for nearly fifty years. After a successful start as a stage actor in England, he appeared regularly in the US, and made ...

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 an American 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 ...

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 #REDIRECT Lee de Forest {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...

in his

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

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 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 director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

(Abraham Lincoln), Ray Collins ( Grant), Edward Jerome ( General Lee)

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. He was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Orson Welles, most notably ''Citizen Kane''. Early life Of Anglo-Greek origin, Coulouris ...

(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'' (1939) an ...

( 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, Sas ...

Karl Swenson Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Early in his career, he was credited as Peter Wayne.

(

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

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 D ...

(Dennis) and

Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning five 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 Robert Pastene (January 29, 1918 – October 15, 1991) was an American actor who appeared films, television and on stage. He acted in a variety of television dramas during what is known as the Golden Age of Television throughout the 1950s and ...

and

Judith Evelyn Judith Evelyn (born Evelyn Morris; March 20, 1909 – May 7, 1967) was an American-born Canadian stage and film actress who appeared in around 50 films and television series. Early years Evelyn was born Evelyn MorrisJames Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

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.

Translations

* In 1969, Moti BA translated this play in

Bhojpuri language Bhojpuri (IPA: ; Devanagari: , Kaithi: ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bhojpuri region, Bhojpur-Purvanchal region of India and the Terai region of Nepal.:ethnologue:bho, Bhojpuri Ethnologue World Languages (2009) It is chiefly spok ...

References

External links

*
Abraham Lincoln
' (1919) at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

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

'', starring

(

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

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

) {{Abraham Lincoln, state=collapsed English plays Works about Abraham Lincoln 1918 plays American plays adapted into films Plays set in the 1860s

Production

Adaptations

Translations

See also

References

External links