| Davy Crockett, or Be Sure You're Right, Then Go Ahead | |
|---|---|
 Actor playing Davy Crockett, 1904 | |
| Written by | Frank Murdoch |
| Date premiered | 1872 / Broadway June 1873 |
| Genre | melodrama, frontier drama |
| Setting | American frontier |
Davy Crockett, or Be Sure You're Right, Then Go Ahead is an 1872 American play which became very popular in its time, inspired by the frontiersman of the same name.
It was written by Frank Murdoch, and the lead role was played by Frank M. Mayo. [1] [2]
Crockett arrives at his home in the woods and learns that "Little Nell" (properly named Eleanor Vaughn), his childhood love interest, has returned from abroad, along with her guardian and fiancé. As that group travels to their intended destination at the fiancé's uncle's estate, Crockett offers shelter in his hunting hut. [3] The play's most memorable scene has Crockett use his arm to bar the hut's door against howling wolves. [4] The uncle is later revealed to be evil and forcing the marriage, so Crockett is able to marry Eleanor. [3]
Though often cited as a prominent example of a frontier drama, the play is more of a standard melodrama set in a frontier location. [3] [5]
The play has been called "one of the most revered plays of the nineteenth-century American theatre." [6] [7] However, its initial critical reviews were negative, though it came to achieve great success. [8] Mayo played Crockett throughout much of the rest of his life, already reaching his 1000th performance of the role by May 1877. [6] [9] Though it proved impossible, Mayo did try to break free of being typecast as Crockett. He once lamented that a man had approached him and asked "I don't suppose you'll ever play anything else but Mayo, Mr. Crockett?" [10] Even Mayo's son had success playing the role. [11] [12]
The play's popularity was as a touring production, but it first played on Broadway in June 1873 at Wood's Museum Theatre for 12 performances. It also played at Niblo's Garden in March 1874. [13] [14] [15]
The 1916 silent film of the same name credits Murdoch as the writer.
Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II. The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher who is hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the piece, as well as by a love to which neither can admit. The musical premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran for nearly three years, making it the fourth-longest-running Broadway musical in history at the time, and has had many tours and revivals.
David Crockett was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution.
Buddy Ebsen, also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971); afterwards he starred as the title character in the television detective drama Barnaby Jones (1973–1980).
Albert Herman Woods was a Hungarian-born theatrical producer who spent much of his life in the USA. He produced over 140 plays on Broadway, including some of the most successful shows of the period, sometimes under the name of the production company 'Al Woods Ltd.'. Woods built the Eltinge Theatre on Broadway, named for one of his most successful and profitable stars, the female impersonator Julian Eltinge.
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of the title characters in the Walt Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett and the television series Daniel Boone.
William Crozier Walsh was a film producer, screenwriter and comics writer who primarily worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions. He was born in New York City. For his work on Mary Poppins, he shared Academy Award nominations for Best Picture with Walt Disney, and for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium with Don DaGradi. He also wrote the Mickey Mouse comic strip for more than two decades.
Jesse Kenneth Tobey was an American actor active from the early 1940s into the 1990s, with over 200 credits in film, theatre, and television. He is best known for his role as a captain who takes charge of an Arctic military base when it is attacked by a plant-based alien in The Thing from Another World (1951), and a starring role in the 1957-1960 Desilu Productions TV series Whirlybirds.
Frank Maguire Mayo was an American actor and comedian, born in Boston, Massachusetts.
Beyond the Horizon is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Although he first copyrighted the text in June 1918, O'Neill continued to revise the play throughout the rehearsals for its 1920 premiere. His first full-length work to be staged, Beyond the Horizon won the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Oliver Morosco was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned the Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garbutt was in charge of the film business. The company was merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players–Lasky Corporation in 1916.
James E. Murdoch was an American actor and elocutionist.
Annie Griffiths Yeamans was a 19th-century character actress, appearing in many Harrigan and Hart productions.
Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model is a play written by Owen Davis. A Broadway production of it by A. H. Woods opened in 1906 and was a huge hit. The story is a melodrama, and it was often cited as an archetype of the genre. Reata Winfield originated the title role in the Broadway production.
William Barr Friedlander was an American songwriter and theater producer who staged many Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of them were musical comedies. Early successes included Moonlight (1924) and Mercenary Mary (1925). Later productions received mixed reception. His longest-running production was the comedy Separate Rooms, which ran from March 1940 to September 1941.
Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendency is an 1835 novel by John P. Kennedy that was a popular seller in its day.
The Flowers of Virtue is a 1942 play by Marc Connelly.
Memphis Bound is a 1945 American musical based on the Gilbert and Sullivan opera H.M.S. Pinafore. The score was adapted and augmented by Don Walker and Clay Warnick, with a libretto credited to Albert Barker and Sally Benson, "with gratitude to W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan." The original production starred an all-black cast including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Avon Long, Billy Daniels, Ada Brown, and Sheila Guyse.
Oliver Doud Byron was an American stage actor.