Henry Guy Carleton (June 21, 1851 – December 10, 1910) was an American humorist, playwright, and journalist. He was best known for his comedic plays ''A Gilded Fool'' (1892) and '' The Butterflies'' (1894).Hart, James D. & Phillip Leininger
The Oxford Companion to American Literature
p. 110 (6th ed. 1995)

Biography

Carleton was born at Fort Union, New Mexico on June 21, 1851 (or 1856), the son of General James H. Carleton. He graduated from

Santa Clara College Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

and briefly served in the army during the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

of the 1870s before going to work for the

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

''Times'' in 1876. He later spent time in Chicago, and then went to New York and had some success as a humorist.Browne, Walter & E. De Roy Koch, eds
Who's who on the Stage, 1908
p. 74 (1908) In 1883, he became managing editor of the new ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine, where he wrote sketches such as those about the "Thompson Street Poker Club," which were illustrated by

E. W. Kemble Edward Winsor Kemble (January 18, 1861 – September 19, 1933), usually cited as E. W. Kemble, and sometimes referred to incorrectly as Edward Windsor Kemble, was an American illustrator. He is known best for illustrating the first edition of '' ...

. In 1891, Carleton reported on the current plight of various Native American nations, and he uncovered the fact that the

Sisseton Sioux The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation (), formerly Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe/Dakota Nation, is a federally recognized tribe comprising two bands and two subdivisions of the ''Isanti'' or Santee Dakota people. They are ...

, who were dangerously low on food, were still owed money by the government for sale of their surplus land. Perhaps in part because of Carleton's reporting, in 1891 Congress finally passed a bill for the relief of the Sisseton Wahpeton scouts. His first play to be staged was ''Memnon'' in 1884, but he did not have a real success until 1892's '' A Gilded Fool'', which featured

Nat Goodwin Nathaniel Carl Goodwin (July 25, 1857 – January 31, 1919) was an American male actor born in Boston. In his early career he was chiefly known for his performances in musical theatre and light opera; making his Broadway theatre, Broadway debut ...

, as well as '' The Butterflies'' in 1894, which featured

Maude Adams Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress and stage designer who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 190 ...

. Carleton was married three times. First to Helen Sinclair Hubbard (1885-1889),(8 January 1885)
Two Couples united: The Carleton-Hubbard and Cooper Goodsell Weddings
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''(4 November 1892)
A playwright in trouble
''Wilmington Daily Republican'' second to actress

Effie Shannon Effie Shannon (May 13, 1867 – July 24, 1954) was an American stage and silent screen actress. Biography Shannon had a 60-year career as starring performer and later character actress. She began as a child actor appearing with John Edward Mc ...

from 1890 to 1893, and third to actress

Olive May Olive May (November 17, 1871 – July 24, 1938) was an American stage actress. She appeared in the popular play ''Arizona'' and appeared in Maude Adams's company. Personal life May was married to playwright Henry Guy Carleton from 1894 to 1898.( ...

from 1894 to 1898.(8 September 1898)
Mrs. Henry Guy Carleton Divorced
''The New York Times''(8 September 1898)
Olive May's sacrifice: Why the married Henry Guy Carleton the play writer
''Jamestown Weekly Alert'' (reprint of ''Chicago Chronicle'' article)(18 January 1899)

''

'' He also did work in the electrical field, and had some patents on electrical devices.(21 December 1891)
Henry Guy Carleton
''Times-Picayune'' (lengthy biographical sketch, paywall article) Carlton had a pronounced

stuttering Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

impediment, which he typically acknowledged with good humor. As one story went (and was told in different variations), the actor

Maurice Barrymore Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blyth (21 September 1849 – 25 March 1905), known professionally by his stage name Maurice Barrymore, was an Indian-born British stage actor. He is the patriarch of the Barrymore acting family, and the father of Jo ...

once met Carleton in the street, who said "I s-s-s-say, B-B-B-B-Barry, have you g-g-g-got half an h-h-h-hour to s-s-s-spare, I w-w-w-want to t-t-talk to you for f-f-f-five m-m-m-minutes."Heart in the Green Room
''The Sketch'', February 7, 1906, p. 123 Another story was that a young woman once asked if he had always stuttered, whereupon he responded that he had not. When asked when he began, he replied "W-w-when I b-b-b-began t-t-to talk."(11 October 1896)
Carleton as a Stutterer
''Los Angeles Herald'' He also once said "People say I stutter. I don't. I only punctuate peculiarly."Warde, Frederick
Fifty Years of Make-believe
p. 240 (1920)Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
''Everybody's Magazine'', p. 396 (1916) Carleton was in poor health in his later years,(3 May 1905)

''

'' and he died of paralysis in

Hot Springs, Arkansas Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County, Arkansas, Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs ...

, where he had come a year prior to treat his rheumatism, on December 10, 1910.(11 December 1910)
Henry Guy Carleton, Playwright, Dead; Author of "A Gilded Fool" and "The Butterflies is a Victim of Paralyis
''

''(11 December 1910)
Henry Guy Carleton, Author and Playwright, Dead
''New York Tribune'', p. 9, col. 5.(11 December 1910)
H.G. Carleton Dead; Was Noted Playwright
''Sunday Star'' (Washington, D.C.)

Legacy

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature'' is an encyclopedia of literary criticism that was published by Cambridge University Press between 1907 and 1921. Edited and written by an international panel of 171 leading scholars and ...

'' (1907–21) included Carleton on a list of 22 American playwrights identified as "the most important dramatists of the period between 1860-1918."Smith, Susan Harris
Plays in American Periodicals, 1890-1918
p. 15 (2007) American writer

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including ''O Pioneers!'', ''The Song of the Lark (novel), The Song of the Lark'', a ...

wrote favorably of Carleton's popular appeal, noting, for example, in an 1894 column: "No one doubts or disputes that

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

was the greatest of all dramatists, but the world is not always ready for the best.

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

certainly wrote better plays than Henry Guy Carleton, but the greatest tragedian of France played ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'' and ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

'' to empty houses in New York last winter." The following year, she wrote: "Among the younger American dramatists there are very few who begin to have that feeling for language, who have begun to write lines that can stand alone. Mr. Carleton is certainly foremost among them. There are lines of ''In the Lion's Mouth'' and ''A Gilded Fool'' that haunt one's memory ..."The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews ..., Volume 1 (1893-1902)
pp. 96, 239 (1970) Cather scholar Bernice Slote, writing of Cather's commentary in the 1960s, opined that "Although he was able to write good plays, Henry Guy Carleton had only moderate success in New York, and mostly with '' The Butterflies'' (1894)."The Kingdom of Art: Willa Cather's First Principles and Critical Statements 1893-1896
p. 243 (1966) ''A Gilded Fool'' was adapted into a silent film in 1915.

Partial list of plays

* ''Memnon'' (1884)(10 March 1884)

''

'' * ''Victor Durand'' (1884)Mr. Carleton's Drama, "Victor Durand"
''Life'' (January 1, 1885) * ''The Pembertons'' * ''A Gilded Fool'' (1892) (starring

) * ''Ye Earlie Trouble'' (1892)(11 October 1892)
"Ye Earlie Trouble"
''

'' * ''The Lion's Mouth'' (1893)(10 September 1893)
"The Lion's Mouth"
''

'' * '' The Butterflies'' (1894) * ''Lem Kettle'' (1894) * ''Ambition'' (1895) * '' The Imprudent Young Couple'' (1895) * ''The Cuckoo'' (1898)(13 September 1898)
"The Cuckoo" by Carleton
''

References

External links

* * * * * (Full book, 1889)
The Butterflies: A Comedy in Three Acts
(Full play, Samuel French 1908)
Memnon: A Tragedy in Five Acts
(Full play, printed 1884) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carleton, Henry Guy 1851 births 1910 deaths American humorists American dramatists and playwrights Santa Clara University alumni People from Mora County, New Mexico