Dodsworth is a three-act play by Sidney Howard based on the 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Through the title character, it examines the differences between American and European intellect, manners, and morals.
Dodsworth is a three-act play by Sidney Howard based on the 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Through the title character, it examines the differences between American and European intellect, manners, and morals.
Middle-aged Samuel Dodsworth is the head of Revelation Motor Company, an automobile manufacturing firm. His wife Fran, a shallow and vain woman obsessed with the notion of growing old, convinces her spouse Sam to sell his interest in the company and take her to Europe. Before long, Fran begins to view herself as a sophisticated world traveler and Sam as boring and unimaginative. Searching for excitement in her life, she begins spending time with other men and eventually informs Sam that she's leaving him for a member of royalty. While in Italy, Sam reunites with Edith Cortright, a widow he first met while en route to Europe via ship, and the two fall in love. Without warning, he breaks off their relationship, then realizes just how much he cares for her.
The first Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on February 24, 1934, and ran for 147 performances. It was produced by Max Gordon and directed by Robert B. Sinclair. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1933-1934.
The cast included Walter Huston as Samuel Dodsworth, Fay Bainter as Fran Dodsworth, Nan Sunderland as Edith Cortright, and Kent Smith as Kurt von Obersdorf.
Jo Mielziner's scenic designs included settings in Zenith, London, Paris, Montreux, Berlin, Naples, and Bremen.
The show reopened at the Shubert on August 20 and ran for an additional 168 performances.
In his review in The New York Times , Brooks Atkinson said, "Among the virtues of Dodsworth, place Walter Huston foremost." [1]
In 1936, Howard wrote the screenplay for a feature film adaptation. A 1995 musical adaptation with a book and lyrics by Stephen Cole and music by Jeffrey Saver was staged in Fort Worth, Texas with Hal Linden and Dee Hoty. [2]
Dodsworth is a satirical novel by American writer Sinclair Lewis, first published by Harcourt Brace & Company on March 14, 1929. Its subject, the differences between US and European intellect, manners, and morals, is one that frequently appears in the works of Henry James. In 1936 it was made into a movie, Dodsworth, which received seven Academy Award nominations and has been regarded as historically significant by the Library of Congress.
Walter Thomas Huston was a Canadian actor and singer. Huston won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by his son John Huston. He is the patriarch of the four generations of the Huston acting family, including his son John, grandchildren Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston, as well as great-grandchild Jack Huston. The family has produced three generations of Academy Award winners: Walter, his son John, and granddaughter Anjelica.
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The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theater at 225 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance style and was built for the Shubert brothers. Lee and J. J. Shubert had named the theater in memory of their brother Sam S. Shubert, who died in an accident several years before the theater's opening. It has 1,502 seats across three levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The facade and interior are New York City landmarks.
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Dodsworth is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor and David Niven. Sidney Howard based the screenplay on his 1934 stage adaptation of the 1929 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis. Huston reprised his stage role.
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