Bab is a 1920 play by Edward Childs Carpenter, based on a 1916 series of magazine stories by Mary Roberts Rinehart, collected into book form in 1917. It is a four-act comedy that leans towards farce, with five scenes, two settings, and eleven characters. The action of the play takes place over four weeks time in late Spring. The story concerns events in the life of Barbara "Bab" Archibald, a "sub-deb", a girl in the year before she makes her debut in society.
The play was produced by George C. Tyler and Arthur Hopkins, staged by Ignacio Martinetti, with Helen Hayes as the female lead. It had tryouts in Boston and Baltimore then premiered on Broadway during October 1920. It ran three months on Broadway and could have gone longer, but was forced to go on tour by prior scheduling and a lack of unteneted Manhattan theaters.
It had been preceded by a 1917 trilogy of silent films based on the Bab stories, all now lost.
Characters
Characters are listed in order of appearance within their scope.
Lead
Barbara Archibald, called Bab is 17, quick-witted and lively, unafraid to speak her mind.
Supporting
James Archibald is Bab's wealthy father; generous and likable, but worried about fortune-hunters.
Clara Archibald is Bab's mother, fussy and stern guardian of her younger daughter's behavior.
Leila Archibald is 20, Bab's sister, less lively and worried her beau will be stolen by Bab.
Carter Brooks is a neighbor, a college-trained civil engineer and army veteran, but not working as yet.
Clinton Beresford is an English "Honourable", enamored of Leila, of uncertain financial status.
Featured
William is the elderly butler to the Archibalds, whose tenure allows him to express opinions.
Hannah is Mrs. Archibald's middle-aged upstairs maid, who openly reports on Bab to her mother.
Jane Raleigh is 17; she looks up to her friend Bab and is shocked by her at the same time.
Eddie Perkins is 16, the Archibald's next door neighbor, a bit foolish and gone on Bab.
Guy Grosvenor is Carter's actor friend from college, who is pretending to be Harold Valentine.
Off stage
Harold Valentine is an imaginary boyfriend made up by Bab to spite her mother.
Great Aunt Veronica is the family dragon who lives in Philadelphia and the 19th Century.
Synopsis
The play was colored by the then recent passage of the Volstead Act, which lent possession of alcohol an illicit air, and mention of drinking a clandestine glamor.
Act I (The library at the Archibald's country house. An afternoon late in May.) Bab's school has shut due to an outbreak of measeles, so she has returned home. A family crisis has occurred over Leila inviting Clinton Beresford, whom her father detests, for the weekend. Carter Brooks and James Archibald are dragged to a tea party with Mrs. Archibald and Leila. While they're gone, Jane Raleigh comes over. Bab opens her suitcase to show Jane a play she wrote at school, but it turns out to be filled with men's clothing and a whisky bottle. Bab realizes she mixed up suitcases with a young man on the train. William brings that young man, holding Bab's suitcase, into the library. He turns out to be Beresford. Bab is incensed when her mother nixes attendance at a party for Beresford. Bab decides to invent a lover named Harold Valentine, to display her maturity, and enlists Eddie Perkins' help in carrying out the deception. (Curtain)
Act II (Scene 1:Same as Act I. The next day.) Bab returns home from a store with a postcard photo of a handsome young man. She inscribes the photo as if he had given it to her, and "hides" it in the library. She then writes a letter to "Harold Valentine", including a love poem, and addresses the envelope. She asks Hannah to mail it, knowing the maid will instead give it to her mother. Flowers arrive for Bab from "H" (sent by Eddie). Mrs. Archibald confronts Bab with the missive and burns the letter. She threatens to pack Bab off to Great Aunt Veronica. Carter finds the photo and recognizes the image; he quickly tumbles to Bab's scheme. He intercepts a second letter in which Bab suggests marriage with "Harold", intending to put more pressure on her mother. (Three Minute Curtain)
(Scene 2:Same as Act I. That night at 11pm.) Jane and Eddie are surprised to see Bab at the party, wearing Leila's old evening frock. Eddie, trying to act grownup in front of the girls, smokes a cigar and becomes ill. Carter arrives with a new guest: the young man in the photo! Carter tells an astonished Bab he has brought "Harold" just for her, but will tell everyone else he is Guy Grosvenor. Harold invites Bab to dance, pretending they are close, while she denies knowing him. Mr. Archibald, tipped off by Carter, puts his arm around "Harold" and pronounces him a fine young man, fit for joining a good family. Guy then asks to speak alone with Mr. Archibald, as if he were planning to ask for Bab's hand. Thoroughly alarmed, Bab realizes she must get back the letter. (Curtain)
Act III (Bachelor's Quarters in the Archibald Boathouse. Just before midnight.) Beresford, having retired to his guest quarters,[fn 1] is surprised to find an armed burglar in his room. Bab, wearing a shabby old cap and coat of her father, has come looking for the letter. She hadn't realized Guy and Beresford shared a room. After a talk, Bab learns Beresford has a contract from the British Government to award to Mr. Archibald's company, but didn't want to seem like he was trying to buy Leila. He helps Bab search Guy's things; the letter is found and destroyed. But Carter and Guy turn up, a bit snockered, and insist on Beresford joining them in a drink. Bab, hiding in a closet, hears the details of Carter's plan. Guy has called it off, afraid Bab might commit suicide if pushed any further. Suddenly there is a gunshot from the closet, shocking the three men. Pulled into the room, Bab is unhurt. She had sneezed, causing her to jerk the trigger. Her parents and Leila, alarmed by the gunshot, rush into the boathouse. Bab sneezes again; she has the measeles. (Curtain)
Act IV (Same as Act III. An afternoon, three weeks later.) Recovered from the measeles, Bab has been confined to the family property for her sins. She is determined on another scheme, Leila's elopement. A carefully worded message brings Beresford with the British Government contract options he holds. Bab briefs him on bringing a motorboat to the dock when he sees a signal flag go to half-mast. Jane and Eddie are to lower the flag when Leila enters the boathouse. But Bab's father comes in after Leila, whom Bab hastily conceals behind the door. Bab maneuvers her father so he no longer can see the doorway; Leila slips out unseen as the motorboat horn sounds. Mrs. Archibald now strolls in, guessing what happened. Bab mollifies her father with the contract options signed over to his company by Beresford. Carter comes to say goodbye; he is on his way to Poland, to help with its post-war reconstruction. Bab finally learns Carter loves her, but now must wait for his return. (Curtain)
George C. Tyler had signed Helen Hayes to a contract in 1916 with the road company of Pollyanna.[7] Since then she had appeared under his management in the American adaptation of Dear Brutus and Clarence, among others. Bab was a natural fit for Hayes' flapper stage image at that time. For financial backing, Tyler teamed up with Arthur Hopkins, whom he had worked with before.[8]
Helen Hayes said the cast of Clarence were happy working together, and that "the company was furious with Mr. Tyler" for moving her to Bab. She also claimed the actual first performance of Bab was in Taunton, Massachusetts, just before the Boston opening.[9]
Cast
Cast from first performance through the Broadway run. The production was on hiatus from May 2 through September 26, and again from October 3 through October 17, 1920.
The first performance of Bab was given at the Hollis Street Theatre in Boston, on February 16, 1920.[11] It was a resounding success, and ran through to May 1, 1920.[12] According to local columnist Edward Harold Crosby, the old record for continuous performances at the Hollis Street Theatre was broken on April 10, 1920, when Hayes surpassed Maude Adams record of 64, which had stood for thirty years.[13] Hayes herself was delighted with her critical reception and sudden personal popularity with Harvard's student body. She felt a bit like Zuleika Dobson, bewitching so many young college men.[9]
After a long summer hiatus, the producers scheduled only one tryout for the new cast of Bab, a week-long engagement at the Academy Theatre in Baltimore, starting September 27, 1920. The local reviewer called the play "so light it is often non-essential" but said it was redeemed by the excellent cast, singling out Hayes, Tom Powers, Percy Haswell, and Sam Edwards.[14]
Broadway premiere and reception
The Broadway premiere for Bab was delayed due to a shortage of available theaters. George C. Tyler decided to replace the underperforming political comedy Poldekin at the Park Theatre,[15] in order to launch Bab on October 18, 1920. The critic for The Brooklyn Daily Times consistently called the play and character "Babs" throughout their review.[16][fn 3] The reviewer for The New York Herald expressed admiration for a more complex work than a "flapper" play might suggest, and especially for Helen Hayes, who they estimated must have had seventy percent of spoken lines. They reported: "Her performance was a notably fine achievement in broad comedy. It had, moreover, minutes of subtlety". They also had praise for the supporting company and opined "The play is intended for the young".[17]
Heywood Broun had fears that Helen Hayes would be trapped by popular parts like this, when her talent suggested she should be playing more challenging roles.[fn 4] He felt the incidents of the play were more amusing than the whole, and had good words for the performances of Tom Powers, Lillian Ross, and Stephen Davis.[19] The reviewer for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle concurred with Broun on supporting players Powers, Ross, and Davis. They made a comparison of playwright Edward Childs Carpenter's treatment of adolescence with Booth Tarkington's Seventeen and Clarence and judged the former did well and "crowded a large amount of good fun into his play", though "The whole thing lacks subtlety".[20]Alexander Woollcott disagreed, saying that Carpenter's treatment suffered in comparison to Tarkington's. He also cautioned Helen Hayes on the perils of "overstriving" in a part, and suggested she look at her colleague Tom Powers, whose performance was one of masterful understatement.[21]
Broadway closing
Despite its continuing popularity, the production was forced to close on New Year's Day, 1921. The Park Theatre had been previously reserved for a revival of Erminie, and no other Broadway theaters were available.[22][23]Bab started on tour with Hayes and a slighly different cast in January 1921.[24]
Notes
↑ Mr. Archibald's hospitality towards potential sons-in-law includes consigning them to a single room away from the main house.
↑ This, and their recapitulation of the storyline, suggested an early departure from the theatre, if indeed they ever made it inside at all.
↑ Hayes was furious about Broun's review, particularly when he called her "cute". She later wrote: "I was shattered by Heywood Broun's evaluation of my performance. Shattered because I felt he was right, furious because he was right."[18]
Related Research Articles
Mary Roberts Rinehart was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie. Rinehart published her first mystery novel, The Circular Staircase, in 1908, which introduced the "had I but known" narrative style. Rinehart is also considered the earliest known source of the phrase "the butler did it", in her novel The Door (1930), although the exact phrase does not appear in her work and the plot device had been used prior to that time. She also worked to tell the stories and experiences of front line soldiers during World War I, one of the first women to travel to the Belgian front lines.
Madge Kennedy was a stage, film and television actress whose career began as a stage actress in 1912 and flourished in motion pictures during the silent film era. In 1921, journalist Heywood Broun described her as "the best farce actress in New York".
Edith Roberts was an American silent film actress from New York City.
The Washington Square Players (WSP) was a theatre troupe and production company that existed from 1915 to 1918 in Manhattan, New York City. It started as a semi-amateur Little Theatre then matured into a Repertory theatre with its own touring company and drama school. It received national newspaper coverage and sparked like-minded companies across the country. After it ceased operating, three of its members founded the Theatre Guild.
Harold Robertson Heaton was a newspaper artist whose work focused on cartoons. His prodigious body of work contributed to the development of political cartoons. He also illustrated books and produced sketches and paintings. He left newspaper work in 1899 to begin acting on the stage, and later wrote plays as well. He returned to cartooning for six years beginning in 1908, but continued acting while doing so. He appeared in many Broadway productions through 1932. A brief retrospective on his employment with the Chicago Tribune, from October 1942, mentioned his obituary had been printed "a few years ago".
Bab's Diary is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy film directed by J. Searle Dawley and starring Marguerite Clark. The film's scenario was written by Martha D. Foster, based on the screen story "Her Diary" by Mary Roberts Rinehart. This was the first in a trilogy of Babs films all starring Clark.
Bab's Burglar was a 1917 American silent romantic comedy film directed by J. Searle Dawley and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film followed Bab's Diary, released on October 17, 1917, and was the second in the trilogy of Babs films that starred Marguerite Clark.
Bab's Matinee Idol is a 1917 American silent romantic comedy film, based on the Mary Roberts Rinehart novel Bab: a Sub-Deb, produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and directed by J. Searle Dawley. This was the final film in the trilogy of Babs films that starred Marguerite Clark.
Common Clay is a 1914 play by Cleves Kinkead. Its structure varied by production: it started with a prologue, three acts and an epilogue. The prologue was later dropped, and still later, the epilogue was converted to a fourth act. It has three settings, and fourteen characters. The story concerns the dismissal of a young servant when she becomes pregnant by her employer's son, and her subsequent fight for justice. The action of the play spans ten years time. The play won the John Craig Prize, also referred to as the Harvard Prize, given annually to the best work produced in conjunction with George Pierce Baker's playwriting workshop at Harvard.
The Bat is a three-act play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood that was first produced by Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper in 1920. The story combines elements of mystery and comedy as Cornelia Van Gorder and guests spend a stormy night at her rented summer home, searching for stolen money they believe is hidden in the house, while they are stalked by a masked criminal known as "the Bat". The Bat's identity is revealed at the end of the final act.
Leila Holterhoff was an American soprano concert singer from Los Angeles, California, who later became a psychoanalyst, translator, and philanthropist.
Helen Lee Worthing was an American actress, mostly active in the era of silent film.
Mazie King was an American dancer, singer, and vaudeville performer.
Lucy Hayes Herron Laughlin Lippitt was an American socialite and amateur golfer.
Leila Ernst was an American Broadway actress. Her Broadway debut was in the 1939 production Too Many Girls. She also had a role in the film Life with Henry.
José Ruben was a French-born actor whose career from 1910 on was in the United States. He first rose to prominence in 1916-1917 with the Washington Square Players, and for the next ten years was a highly regarded lead player. He acted in over twenty silent films and was a fixture on Broadway stages, as both performer and director, for over forty years. He also taught drama at Barnard College and was a stage director for the New York City Opera.
The Thirteenth Chair is a 1916 play by the American writer Bayard Veiller. It has three acts and a single setting. The action takes place entirely in the drawing room of a large house in New York City during one evening. One critic labelled it a melodrama using mystery fiction devices: a murder during a seance, and a locked-room mystery. There are no clues given to the audience to identify the murderer, who is exposed only by supernatural agency in the last act.
Clarence is a 1919 play by Booth Tarkington. It is a four-act comedy with two settings and eleven characters. The story concerns an ailing recently discharged soldier who is given a handyman job by a financial tycoon because he has overheard family gossip in the tycoon's waiting room. Tarkington wrote the play with Alfred Lunt in mind, after having seen him perform in his earlier work, The Country Cousin.
The Wren is a 1921 play by Booth Tarkington. It is a three-act comedy with one setting and seven characters. The action of the play takes place within 24 hours. The story concerns a seaside boarding house owned by an old salt but run by his young daughter, and their guests: a Canadian artist and a New York married couple. The play was intended as a vehicle for Helen Hayes, to give her something besides a flapper role.
Golden Days is a 1919 play by Sidney Toler and Marion Short, originally titled The Golden Age. It is a comedy in four-acts, each having a sub-title, with three settings and fourteen characters. The action of the play takes place during Spring and Summer of 1917, and Spring 1919. The story concerns the blossoming of a small-town Connecticut girl and her awakening to a true romance. At the time, the play was considered unusual since all but three characters were between 16 and 21 years of age.
References
Synopsis source
Edward Childs Carpenter (1925). Bab: A Farcical Comedy in Four Acts. Samuel French, New York.
Citations
↑ "Fiction". The Pittsburgh Post. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. June 2, 1917. p.13 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "In Flickering Film". Monrovia Daily News. Monrovia, California. September 18, 1917. p.4 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Broun, Heywood (October 19, 1920). "Helen Hayes Does Something Less Than Her Best". New York Tribune. New York, New York. p.8 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ ""Bab"". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. October 20, 1920. p.6 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Woollcott, Alexander (October 19, 1920). "The Play". The New York Times. New York, New York. p.20 – via NYTimes.com.
↑ ""Erminie" At The Park". The New York Herald. New York, New York. December 12, 1920. p.17 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Park Theatre (ad)". The New York Times. New York, New York. December 26, 1920. p.85 – via NYTimes.com.
↑ "Helen Hayes Much Desired". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. January 2, 1921. p.27 – via Newspapers.com.
Bibliography
Mary Roberts Rinehart. Bab: A Sub-Deb. Doran, 1917.
Edward Childs Carpenter. Bab: A Farcical Comedy in Four Acts. Samuel French, 1925.
George C. Tyler and J. C. Furnas. Whatever Goes Up. Bobbs Merrill, 1934.
Helen Hayes and Sandford Dody. On Reflection: An Autobiography. M. Evans and Company, 1968.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
