German Immigrant William Reinhart

"We walked up Broadway, our father and mother in the lead, and the eight little ducklings following behind." (William Reinhart)

David's barbershop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn courtesy http://www.bklynlibrary.org/ourbrooklyn/williamsburg/.

Born in Milan, Italy, William Reinhart was one of twelve children born to a glassware manufacturer from Stuttgart, Germany.  His much older brothers, who served in the German military, warned their father that war was imminent and that if he didn't want to serve, he should leave the country.  In 1909, Mr. Reinhart immigrated to America.  His wife and children followed a year later, enduring a 21 day boat ride in close quarters over "The Big Pond".  "We walked up Broadway, our father and mother in the lead, and the eight little ducklings following behind."  Little William and his siblings had never seen tall buildings before.  

Looking west on Broadway along the elevated train tracks circa 1920's? courtesy http://wahcenter.net/about/about-the-landmark-building/.

The family settled in a cold water flat in a German neighbourhood in Brooklyn.  A short time later, two men from Tammany Hall, the New York Democratic headquarters, paid the Mr. Reinhart a visit.   In exchange for his pledge to vote Democrat, along with his eight children, the Tammany men said that they would secure his citizenship papers in six months (normally a five year process).  Mr. Reinhart, smelling a rat, refused.  Every since William could vote, he has voted Republican.  As an adult, William was hired at an international steamship company where "he worked his way up from a lowly billing clerk to traffic manager".  As of 1997, William was alive and well living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (https://www.amazon.com/Ellis-Island-Interviews-Immigrants-Stories/dp/0760753091)

Ellis Island immigrants circa early 1900's courtesy 

http://peopleleap.com/educational-services/bps-blog/.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's "South Pacific"

"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair

I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair

I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair

And send him on his way."

James Michener found himself on an island in the South Pacific in 1944 where the Americans were trying to dislodge the Japanese from a nearby island.  Michener, a writer, was assigned the task of recording the history of the American Navy in the Pacific on an old battered typewriter.  He became fascinated with the local people and culture and started composing one of nineteen tales about them. It was published as Tales of the South Pacific in 1947.  

Rodgers & Hammerstein got a hold of the book and wrote a musical, based on two of the 19 stories.  The first "Our Heroine", featured an American nurse who falls in love with a French plantation owner; she struggles to accept his mixed race children,however.  The second, "Fo' Dolla" is based on a U.S. Lieutenant who falls in love with a Tonkinese woman whose mother begs him to marry her.  However, he is reluctant to, worried about what his family and Philadelphia society might think of an interracial marriage.  

The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1949, spawned such hits as "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair", "some Enchanted Evening" and "There is Nothing Like a Dame".  South Pacific starred Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin.  Running for a total of 1925 performances, it received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_(musical)

Donald Bevan & Edmund Trzcenski's "Stalag 17"

"Nobody has ever escaped from Stalag 17.  Not alive, anyway." (Von Scherbach)

In 1953, American cinema thought that the public would not be interested in a movie about World War II prisoners of war.  However, all that changed when the Korean prisoners of war were released later that year.  Paramoubnt Pictures decided to release Stalag 17, starring William Holden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_17.

The movie was based on the 1951 play by the same name, written by former POWs Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcenski, who were prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria.  The play traces the lives of several American sergeants who are prisoners in a Luftwaffe camp along with Poles, Czechs and Russian women.  The setting is Austria in 1944 on the "longest night of the year".

The play shows the lives of the average American inside the camp:  eating, sleeping, cleaning, and waiting for any chance to plotting an escape.  They abscond with a clandestine radio, an opportunity to hear the BBC news each day.  

Kuwaza is obsessed with pinup girl Betty Grable.  Sefton likes to bribe the Nazi guards in exchange for food and cigarettes.  One day he even is rewarded with a trip to the womens' barracks.  Price is the barracks security chief who plays it low key.  

One day American prisoners Manfredi and Johnson escape through a tunnel and are shot, the result of an informant.  The others brainstorm to find out who the informant is.  Maybe it's Sefton who likes to bribe the guards.  Maybe it's Dunbar, whom they are trying to usher out of the camp.  In the end, the Americans question Price.  

"When was Pearl Harbor?"  To which he responds:  "December 7, 1941."  Question two:  "Where were you on that date?"  To which he responds:  "I was eating dinner at 6 pm."  This time would fit in, if he lived in Berlin.  However, he claims he lives in Cleveland.  Backed into a corner, someone checks Price's pockets and finds a chess queen, used to hide messages for the Nazis.  As Dunbar is ushered out of the camp, Price goes down in a hail of bullets.

Stalage 17 ran on Broadway for 472 performances.  The movie debuted in 1953 starring William Holden, Don Taylor and Otto Preminger.  Von Scherbach, a sadistic Nazi captain, was added to the film script.  It grossed $10,000 at the box office.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/200410252139847746/

Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The King and I"

"The King and I is really a celebration of love in all its guises, from the love of Anna for her dead husband; the love of the King's official wife, Lady Thiang, for a man she knows is flawed and also unfaithful; the desperation of forbidden love; and a love that is barely recognized and can never be acted upon." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_I)

The King of Siam with nine of his children courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_I.

Rob and I saw "The King and I", based on the book Anna and the King of Siam, at the Stratford Theatre about twelve years ago.  What struck me the most about the musical was the beautiful costumes.  Set during the 1860's in Siam (Thailand), the story follows a widowed British schoolteacher who is hired to educate the King Mongkut's children.  The King is attempting to modernize his country and the education of his offspring is part of that plan.

He and the schoolteacher, Anna, clash on many occasions as they disagree in how the children should be taught.  At the same time, they are drawn to each other, and end up falling in love, a forbidden love that they cannot act upon as the King is already married.  In fact, the King has more than one wife; his official wife loves him despite his unfaithfulness.  

Theatrical attorney Annie Holtzmann came upon the book Anna and the King of Siam (1944) and presented it to her client, Gertrude Lawrence, suggesting that it would be a good play for her to star in to revive her fledgling stage career.  The attorney contacted composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein, who had already written four musicals.  Rodgers worked his magic, composing hits such as "Shall We Dance", "I Have Dreamed' and "Who Would Refuse?' and they had an instant hit on their hands.  Yul Brynner starred as the king alongside veteran actress Gertrude Lawrence.

The musical premiered on March 29, 1951 at the St. James Theatre on Broadway.  The role was taxing for Lawrence, who at 52, had to wear 75 pound dresses as she walked and danced 4 miles across the stage over a 3 1/2 hour period, eight times a week.  In September of 1952, she discovered she had liver cancer and passed away.  She was buried in a ballgown she wore in Act II.  The King and I continued with a new leading actress for another year and a half.  It closed after 1246 performances, the fourth longest running musical in history.

Yul Brynner & Gertrude Lawrence dance to "Shall We Dance?" circa 1951 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_I.

Frederick Knott's "Dial M for Murder"

"Dial M for Murder" premiered on the BBC in 1952, followed by a stints on the London stage and Broadway.  Written by Frederick Knott, the play featured Tony, an ex-tennis player, Margot, his younger socialite wife, Mark a crime writer who is having an affair with Margot and C. A. Swann, a criminal hired by Margot's husband to murder her.

Knowing about his wife's affair, but acting unaware, Tony and Mark go out for the evening, leaving Margot at the flat.  The plan is for Tony to hide a latchkey under the floor mat outside the flat, and let the criminal slip into the apartment unannounced, and murder Margot.  Tony plans to phone at the appointed hour to distract Margot while the criminal sneaks up on her.

However, things do not go according to plan.  Tony is late with his phone call.  The criminal enters the apartment and attacks Margot, but she fights back, stabbing him with the nearby scissors she was using for sewing.  Tony then phones and gets a distraught Margot who explains what has happened, the dead criminal lying at her feet.

The police are called and arrest Margot, thinking that she was being blackmailed by the criminal regarding her affair.  Margot goes to jail, is sentenced to hang.  However, the police later discover an attache case full of money in the flat, money that Tony was planning on paying the criminal to do the deed.

Equally incriminating, the police discover that the latchkey in Margot's handbag does not belong to her but to the criminal.  Tony mixed the keys up:  the criminal, killed by Margot, had a key in his breast pocket,  Tony, assuming it was Margot's flat key, returned it to her handbag.  However, it was the criminal's key.  Tony admits to his guilt and Margot goes free.

In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock acquired the script and adapted it to the screen, his production starring Grace Kelly as Margot, Ray Milland as Tony and Robert Cummings as the criminal.

Dial M for Murder movie courtesy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046912/.

William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker"

"As Helen, little Miss Duke is altogether superb, a plain, sullen, explosive, miniature monster whose destructive behavior makes sympathy for her afflictions impossible, but whose independence and vitality are nevertheless admirable." (New York Times review of The Miracle Worker at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/theater/Miracle-Worker.pdf)

On October 19, 1959, William Gibson's play The Miracle Worker premiered at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway.  Based on The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller, the play ran for almost two years, closing on July 1, 1961.

Tuscumbia, Alabama native Helen Keller went deaf and blind at 18 months of age when she was afflicted with Scarlet Fever.  Her parents felt such pity for her that they overindulged her and by six years old, she was a "wild, angry, tantrum-throwing" little girl en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_Worker_(play).

Desperate to get their little girl back, the Keller's called on the Perkins Institute to help their child.  Alexander Graham Bell, who worked with the deaf, recommended a woman named Annie Sullivan.  Miss Sullivan agreed to work with Helen and, thanks to her consistency and perseverance, performed a "miracle" in the life of little Helen, teaching her how to communicate.

Helen Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was based on her years with her beloved teacher.  She dedicated it to Alexander Graham Bell.  For more information on the relationship between the two, read my post http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/08/helen-annie-alec.html.

The Broadway play starred Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan, Patty Duke as Helen Keller, Torin Thatcher as Captain Keller and Patricia Neal as Kate Keller.  The production won five Tony Awards and ran for 719 performances.  The movie version, which premiered in 1962, starred much of the same cast.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_Worker_(play)

L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz"

The Wizard of Oz premiered on June 16, 1902 at the Grand Opera House on the banks of the Chicago River.  It had the trademark Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion, although the Tin Man was dressed in a Scottish kilt.  It had the famous tornado scene.  But Toto the Dog was changed to Imogene the Cow.  The Wizard had a prominent role, but not The Wicked Witch of the West.  A summer hit, the play lasted twelve weeks; by summer's end, it was on its way to Broadway.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1902_musical))

L. Frank Baums' novel, The Wizard of Oz, was published by a Chicago printing press in 1900.  Its first edition of 10,000 copies was sold before its September 1 publication date.  The original play premiered at Chicago's Grand Opera House and received rave reviews.  The production starred Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale, Fred Stone as the Scarecrow, David C. Montgomery as the Tin Man and Arthur Hill as the Cowardly Lion.

chicagology.com/rebuilding/rebuilding019/

After a twelve week run, and a tour of the upper Midwest, The Wizard of Oz premiered on Broadway in 1903 at the Majestic Theatre on Columbus Circle.

"It became the favorite of a generation.  The audiences couldn't get enough.  The tornado scene!  Fred Stone's boneless scarecrow walking about on his ankles!  The lovely all-girl poppy field!  The glittering Emerald City!  The audience came back for seconds and thirds.  They brought their kids.  Everyone bought the sheet music, the phonograph records, the player piano reels, and Baum's original novel!  Oz had entered the American consciousness." (http://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/12/15/musical-month-production-history-1903-oz)

http://untappedcities.com/2013/11/07/vintage-photos-columbus-circle-nyc-over-the-years-since-1900s/

Decades would pass, but The Wizard of Oz would not be forgotten.  In 1939, the film version premiered starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion.  This time, the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Margaret Hamilton, had an unforgettable role.  I remember watching this version on T.V. when I was a little girl.  The characters followed the yellow brick road to the Emerald City where Oz granted Dorothy her three wishes:  the Scarecrow received a skeleton, the Tin Man, a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, courage.  Dorothy's wish, granted by the Good Witch, happened when she clicked her sparkly red shows together and ended up back in Kansas, with her little dog Toto nipping at her heels. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)#Cast)

501mustseemoviesproject.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/movie-59-the-wizard-of-oz-1939/

Tennessee William's "A Streetcar Named Desire"

"Along with Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and a few other notable works, Tennessee William's 1947 masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, helped shape the look and feel of American drama for decades to come." (Life magazine)

From 1920 to 1948, the Desire Line ran from New Orleans' Bourbon Street, through the French Quarter, to Desire Street and back up to Canal Street.  The line served as the inspiration for Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Name Desire which debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in December of 1947.  That night's performance, despite its "shocking scenes" and "gritty dialogue", received a half hour applause from the audience.  The play made Williams a Pulitzer Prize winner and transformed Marlon Brando into a movie star.

"Along with Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and a few other notable works, Tennessee William's 1947 masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, helped shape the look and feel of American drama for decades to come." (http://time.com/3605994/brando-takes-broadway-life-on-the-set-of-a-streetcar-named-desire-in-1947/)  

The play opens with Southern Belle, Blanche DuBois, arriving in New Orleans from Laurel, Mississippi where her family's home has been repossessed by creditor.  Blanche, who moves in with her sister, Stella, and her brother in law, Stanley, explains that she has left teaching due to her nerves. 

Living in such close quarters, and not seeing eye to eye, Blanche and Stanley immediately clash.  Stanley feels like Blanche cheated Stella out of her inheritance of the family home.  Blanche dislikes the way that Stanley treats Stella.    

Southern Belle Blanche attracts the eye of a respectable gentleman named Mitch, played by Karl Malden.  In the meantime, in the heat of an argument, a drunk Stanley strikes Stella, who flees upstairs with Blanche.  A sober Stanley returns to beg Stella's forgiveness, bellowing her name from the courtyard.  This is a cultural touchstone scene of the play, re-enacted many times since.  Stella returns to Stanley, despite Blanche's protests.

In the meantime, Stanley spreads a rumour that Blanche was fired from teaching for sleeping with one of her male students.  When Mitch confronts Blanche about the rumour, she admits that it is true. Mitch storms out in disgust.

Stella, pregnant with Stanley's child, leaves for the hospital to give birth.  Stanley, home alone with Blanche, rapes her.  Blanche later tells her sister what happened but she refuses to believe her.  Blanche, who suffers a nervous breakdown, is committed to an insane asylum.  

A Streetcar Named Desire served as an example of melodrama with the female characters' "exaggerated sighs, unnecessary screams and fluttery hand gestures" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_(play)#Inspirations).  But it also served as an example of "Method Acting" with Marlon Brando's attempt to "create in himself the thoughts and feelings of his character".  The iconic play closed in December of 1949 after 855 performances.

http://eveonalimb.com/a-to-z-d11-kindness/

Best Books about Playwriting

Here are ten books about playwriting to get you started.

1.  The Art and Craft of Playwriting
     (Jeffrey Hatcher)

2.  The Architecture of Drama:  Plot, Character, Theme, Genre and Style
     (Joe & Robin Stockdale)

3.  Technical Theatre for Nontechnical People
     (Drew Campbell)

4.  The Playwright's Guidebook
     (Stuart Spencer)

5.  Writing a Play
     (Steve Gooch)

6.  Composing Drama for Stage & Screen
     (Stanley Vincent Longman)

7.  Writing the Broadway Musical
     (Aaron Frankel)

8.  The Art of Dramatic Writing
     (Lajos Egri)

9.  Naked Playwriting:  The Art, The Craft and the Life Laid Bare
     (Robin Russin & William Missouri Downs)

10.  The Dramatic Writer's Companion
       (Will Dunne)

http://stuartsspencer.com/guidebook.html