 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(July 2011) |
| Smilin' Through | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Allan Langdon Martin, pseudonym for Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin |
| Characters | Kathleen Dungannon Moonyean Clare John Carteret Kenneth Wayne Jeremiah Wayne |
| Date premiered | December 30, 1919 |
| Place premiered | Broadhurst Theatre New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Romantic drama |
| Setting | The Carteret Garden, Dunstable, England |
Smilin' Through is a 1919 play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin, written under a pseudonym, Allan Langdon Martin. Cowl also starred in the play in a double role and co-directed it with Priestly Morrison. Smilin' Through was produced by The Selwyns and opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway on December 30, 1919. It included in the cast Orme Caldara as Kenneth and Jeremiah Wayne, Henry Stephenson as John Carteret and Ethelbert D. Hales as Dr. Owen Harding. Scenic design was by Joseph Urban. The play was a popular hit and ran for 175 performances. It also played for a long run on the road, and was one of Jane Cowl's greatest commercial successes.
Jane Cowl was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.
Jane Murfin was an American playwright and screenwriter. The author of several successful plays, she wrote some of them with actress Jane Cowl—most notably Smilin' Through (1919), a sentimental fantasy that was adapted three times for motion pictures. In Hollywood Murfin became a popular screenwriter whose credits include What Price Hollywood? (1932), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. In the 1920s she wrote and produced films for her dog Strongheart, the first major canine star.
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan.
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The story is a sentimental romantic tale of a young Irish woman, Kathleen Dungannon. Her romantic attachment to Kenneth Wayne is opposed by her adopted father John Carteret, who bears the painful memory of his thwarted love for her aunt, Moonyean Clare. Moonyean visits John as a ghost, and the roles of Kathleen and Moonyean were both played by Jane Cowl.
The popular story was first filmed in 1922 by First National Pictures, and was later remade twice by MGM, in 1932 and 1941. In 1932, it was also made into an unsuccessful Broadway operetta, Through the Years, with music by Vincent Youmans. The title song of the operetta, however, became a hit.
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theater owners in the United States, and became the country's largest theater chain. Expanding from exhibiting movies to distributing them, the company reincorporated in 1919 as Associated First National Theatres, Inc., and Associated First National Pictures, Inc. In 1924 it expanded to become a motion picture production company as First National Pictures, Inc., and became an important studio in the film industry. In September 1928, control of First National passed to Warner Bros., into which it was completely absorbed on November 4, 1929. A number of Warner Bros. films were thereafter branded First National Pictures until 1936, when First National Pictures, Inc., was dissolved.
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter.
Vincent Millie Youmans was an American Broadway composer and producer.
Smilin' Through is also the title of a 1919 ballad with lyrics and music by Arthur A. Penn. The creation of the song and play were independent but intertwined. According to Isidore Witmark in his history of the Witmark and Sons publishing house, Cowl's play was partially rewritten after the song was published, based upon the imagery of the lyrics. Both the title and the music of the song were incorporated into the play when it was completed and produced. [1]
"Smilin' Through" is a popular ballad with lyrics and music by Arthur A. Penn.
