Life
1873-1933 [J. B. Fagan]; actor-manager; b. Belfast, son of Sir James,
Inspector of Irish Reformatories; ed. Clongowes, TCD, and Oxon.; read
law, but joined companies of Sir Frank Benson in 1895, and later Beerbohm;
turned to playwrighting, 1899-1913; The Prayer of the Sword (1904),
a play in prose and verse, and other popular plays; founded Oxford Playhouse
with Flora Robson, Gielgud, and Guthrie, 1923; Director of Cambridge Theatre
Festival, 1929; produced Juno and the Paycock in London; most successful
with And So to Bed (1926), a three-act comedy based on Pepys, and The Improper Duchess (1931); d. Hollywood, California. PI DIB
OCIL
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Works
Published Works, The Prayer of the
Sword: A Play in Five Acts (London: R. Brimley Johnston/ Adelphi,
[Eng.]: R. B. Johnson 1904), 116pp.; Under Which King? (New York:
Rosenfield 1905); The Earth: A Modern Play in Four Acts [Plays
of Today and Tomorrow] (London: T. F. Unwin/NY: Duffield 1910), 154 pp.; Do. (London: Unwin 1913), 158pp.; Bella Donna; A Play In Four
Acts (London: Dramatic Typing Office 1911); Do. (New York:
Rosenfield 1912); Hawthorne of the U.S.A.: A Play in Four Acts
[A romantic farce, being the adventures of an American in the Balkans]
(London/NY: S. French 1917), 95pp.; The Wheel: A Play in Three Acts (London: Duckworth & Co. 1922), 125pp.; rep. as The Wheel Of
Life: A Play In Three Acts (New York: Brentano's 1922; rep. 1923),
125pp. ill.; “And So to Bed”: A Comedy in Three Acts
(New York: Holt 1926), 145pp.; Do. (London: GP Putnam & Son
1927), 140pp.; reprinted as And So to Bed - An Adventure with Samuel
Pepys: A Comedy in Three Acts [French's acting edition. no. 1047]
(London & NY: S. French 1929), 74pp.; The Improper Duchess: A Modern
Comedy in Three Acts (London: Victor Gollancz 1931), 112pp.; reprinted
in Rudolf Besier, ed. Famous Plays of 1931 (London: V. Gollancz
1931; rep. 1932); rep. as The Improper Duchess: A Modern Comedy In
Three Acts (London/NY: S. French’s Acting Edns. 1933); reprinted
in Robert Cedric Sherriff, ed. Plays Of A Half-Decade (London:
Gollancz 1933); Treasure Island: A Play ... based on R. L. Stevenson’s
Story (London: Cassell & Co. 1936), 175pp.; rep. as Treasure
Island; A Play In Four Acts (London: Cassell and Co. 1953), 175pp.; Doctor O’Toole: A Farcical Comedy (London: French’s Acting
Editions [1938]), 31pp., and Do., trans. by R. Lloyd Hughes as Y Meddyg Ffars-comedi [Welsh Drama Series] (London: Samuel French
[1938]; rep. 1950), iv, 24pp.
Translations, Eugène Brieux, Woman on her Own; False Gods; The Red Robe, [3 plays, False Gods trans. James Bernard Fagan] (London: Herbert Jenkins; NY: Bretano's 1916).
Miscellaneous, Also, Smilin’ through (Santa Monica, Calif.: MGM/UA Home Video 1993 [1932]), Audiovisual (98 min.). [Videocassette release of the 1932 production by Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Inc. Director, Sidney Franklin; from the play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin; screeplay by Ernest Vajda and Claudine West; dialogue by Donald Ogden Stewart and James Bernard Fagan. Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard. Covernote reads: ‘Kathleen is a high-spirited young woman whose passionate nature entangles her in a blood feud, and makes her a kind of hostage to history's most savage war. Kathleen was raised by her embittered uncle, John Carteret, whose bride was murdered at the alter by a jilted, jealous suitor. John's whole life has been spent mourning her, and Kathleen is his only joy. But she falls in love with Kenneth Wayne, the murderer's son. She knows nothing of his ancestry until John forbids their love, which is made even more urgent by Kenneth's imminent departure for battle as a soldier in the first World War.’]
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