The Governor's Lady

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The Governor's Lady is a 1912 play written by Alice Bradley, directed by David Belasco and produced by Belasco and his son-in-law David Elliott. It is known for its unconventional set.

Contents

Production

Emma Dunn and Emmett Corrigan in the famous Childs Restaurant scene in The Governor's Lady (1912) The-Governor's-Lady.jpg
Emma Dunn and Emmett Corrigan in the famous Childs Restaurant scene in The Governor's Lady (1912)

After previews in Philadelphia [1] and Washington [2] The Governor's Lady opened at Belasco's Republic Theatre in New York on September 10, 1912. [3] Emma Dunn and Emmett Corrigan starred as Mary and Dan Slade, Gladys Hanson played Katherine Strickland and Milton Sills played Robert Hayes. [4] [5] The three-act contemporary domestic drama dealt with topics of rising social status and the then-little-discussed topic of divorce. [6] The reasonably well-reviewed [7] and moderately commercially successful play ran 135 performances. [3] It is primarily known as an example of Belasco's theatrical naturalism, because he recreated a Childs Restaurant on stage using materials and food from the actual restaurant chain rather than conventional representative stage scenery. [8] [9]

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References

  1. "'Governor's Lady' Shown", New York Times, May 2, 1912.
  2. "Early Fall Brings Many New Plays", New York Times, Jun. 17, 1912.
  3. 1 2 Mantle and Sherwood, The Best Plays of 1909-1919, p. 475.
  4. White, "The Stage", p. 827
  5. "The Governor's Lady", Internet Broadway Database.
  6. "The New Plays", p. 100.
  7. "Seeing This Play Seems Like Spying: Such a Sense of Intimacy Is Conveyed", New York Times, Sep. 11, 1912.
  8. Dodge, Staging a Popular Restaurant, p. 104.
  9. Essin, Designing American Modernity, pp. 32-33.

Bibliography