The Lottery Man

Last updated

The Lottery Man is a comic play in three acts by Rida Johnson Young. Produced by the Shubert family, it premiered on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre on December 6, 1909, [1] and was later adapted into a film twice; once in 1916 and again in 1919. It was Young's first critically and financially successful play as a playwright. [2]

Contents

The original Broadway cast included Janet Beecher as Helen Heyer, Cyril Scott as Jack Wright, Louise Galloway as Mrs. Wright, Helen Lowell as Lizzie Roberts, Robert MacKay as "Foxey" Peyton, Ethel Winthrop as Mrs. Peyton, Harry S. Hadfield as Stevens, Mary Leslie Mayo as Hedwig Jensen, and Wallace Sharpe as Hamilton. [1] A production of the play, again produced by the Shubert family, toured nationally in 1910 starring Sadie Harris as Helen Heyer, William Roselle as Jack Wright, Lucia Moore as Mrs. Wright, Vivian Ogden as Lizzie Roberts, Florence Robertson as Mrs. Peyton, and May Donahue as Hedwig Jensen. [3] [4]

Summary

Jack Wright, a handsome, well-travelled young newspaperman with a gambling problem and debts, has been fired by his employer over losses that he caused to the paper with some shoddy reporting. To turn in a sensational story that will get his job back, and also raise some cash, he decides to conduct a lottery through the newspaper with himself as the prize in marriage; he will also supply the paper with weekly tales of his adventurous exploits, and each installment will tantalize readers a hint about his identity. He promises the paper that if he fails to go through with the marriage, the winner will get all the lottery money. As soon as the piece goes to press, he falls in love with a charming girl, Helen, and realizes that the lottery will ruin his new relationship. The lottery is a big hit, raising $300,000. In an attempt to prevent matrimonial disaster, he buys up all the lottery tickets he can. When Helen learns of the stunt, she is upset and breaks up with Jack. On the last day of the lottery, a nervous spinster, Lizzie, wins the lottery and refuses to give up her prize. It turns out, however, that she has stolen the lottery ticket. All ends well, and Jack marries Helen.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Bracken</span> American actor (1915–2002)

Edward Vincent Bracken was an American actor. Bracken came to Hollywood prominence for his comedic lead performances in the films Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek both from 1944, both of which have been preserved by the National Film Registry. During this era, he also had success on Broadway, with performances in plays like Too Many Girls (1940).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Friml</span> Czech composer

Charles Rudolf Friml was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer. His best-known works are Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, each of which enjoyed success on Broadway and in London and were adapted for film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Warwick</span> American actor (1878–1961)

Robert Warwick was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction of sound to cinema. As a young man he had studied opera singing in Paris and had a rich, resonant voice. At the age of 50, he developed as a highly regarded, aristocratic character actor and made numerous "talkies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrison Ford (silent film actor)</span> American actor

Harrison Ford was an American actor. He was a leading Broadway theater performer and a star of the silent film era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morosco Theatre</span> Broadway theatre in Manhattan, New York

The Morosco Theatre was a Broadway theatre near Times Square in New York City from 1917 to 1982. It housed many notable productions and its demolition, along with four adjacent theaters, was controversial.

<i>Brown of Harvard</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

Brown of Harvard is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Jack Conway, and starring William Haines, Jack Pickford and Mary Brian. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is based on the successful 1906 Broadway play Brown of Harvard by Rida Johnson Young, who also co-wrote the popular music for the play along with Melvin Ellis. The film is best known of the three Brown of Harvard films. It was John Wayne's film debut. Uncredited, Wayne played a Yale football player. Grady Sutton and Robert Livingston, both of whom went on to long and successful careers, also appear uncredited. The 1918 film included future Boston Redskins coach William "Lone Star" Dietz and the only Washington State University football team to win a Rose Bowl.

<i>The Lottery Man</i> (1916 film) 1916 film

The Lottery Man is a 1916 American silent comedy film written by Theodore Wharton and Rida Johnson Young. It was directed by Leopold Wharton and Wharton, and stars Oliver Hardy, Thurlow Bergen and Lottie Alter. It was produced at the Whartons Studio in Ithaca, New York, and distributed by Whartons Studio. The film was released on June 26, 1916. A print of the film exists in the film archive of the Library of Congress.

<i>Maytime</i> (musical)

Maytime is a musical with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics and book by Rida Johnson Young, and with additional lyrics by Cyrus Wood. The story is based on the 1913 German operetta Wie einst im Mai, composed by Walter Kollo, with words by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolph Schanzer. The story, set in New York, is told in episodes covering a long period, from 1840 to the 20th century. Wealthy young Ottillie is in love with Dick, but they are kept apart by family and circumstance. Years later, their descendants marry. Maytime introduced songs such as "The Road to Paradise", "Will You Remember?" and "Jump Jim Crow".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rida Johnson Young</span> American dramatist

Rida Johnson Young was an American playwright, songwriter and librettist. In her career, Young wrote over 30 plays and musicals and approximately 500 songs. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Some of her better-known lyrics include "Mother Machree" from the 1910 show Barry of Ballymore, "Italian Street Song", "I'm Falling in Love with Someone" and "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" from Naughty Marietta, and "Will You Remember?" from Maytime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Klein</span>

Manuel Joachim Klein was an English-born composer of musical theatre and incidental music who worked primarily in New York City.

Park Avenue is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman and Nunnally Johnson, music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was produced by Max Gordon with costumes by Tina Leser. The plot focused on the many divorces and marriages of the rich and "black tie" set. The production performed poorly and was Gershwin's last work for Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Manning (actor)</span> American actor

Jack Manning was an American film, television and theater character actor, teacher and stage director.

<i>Brown of Harvard</i> (1918 film) 1918 American film

Brown of Harvard, also known as Tom Brown at Harvard, is a 1918 film based on the 1906 Broadway play Brown of Harvard by Rida Johnson Young and the novel by Young and Gilbert Colman. The Washington State University football team and its coach, William "Lone Star" Dietz, participated in filming while in Southern California for the 1916 Rose Bowl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton Sundberg</span> American actor (1903–1987)

Clinton Charles Sundberg was an American character actor in film and on stage.

<i>The Passing of the Third Floor Back</i> (1918 film) 1918 British film

The Passing of the Third Floor Back is a 1918 British/American silent allegorical film based on the 1908 play The Passing of the Third Floor Back by Jerome K. Jerome and directed by Herbert Brenon. The star of the film is Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, a legendary Shakespearean actor, who starred in the 1909 Broadway presentation of the play and its 1913 revival. Forbes-Robertson had been knighted by King George V in 1913 and had retired from acting in theatre that same year. In his retirement Forbes-Robertson had only dabbled in film acting making a 1913 film version of Hamlet, the most famous role he had played on the stage. Filmed in 1916, it was released in 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Peyton</span> American actress (1870–1946)

Jane Peyton was an American lead and supporting actress whose career did not commence until she was nearly 30. During her time on stage, she appeared in several long-running Broadway plays and successful road tours. Peyton is remembered for her performances in The Ninety and Nine, The Earl of Pawtucket, The Heir to the Hoorah, The Three of Us, and The Woman. Once the wife of actor Guy Bates Post, Peyton retired after 14 years on stage, when she married the writer Samuel Hopkins Adams.

<i>The Lottery Man</i> (1919 film) 1919 film by James Cruze

The Lottery Man is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and starring Wallace Reid and Wanda Hawley. It is based on a 1909 Broadway play, The Lottery Man, by Rida Johnson Young. In the play Cyril Scott and Janet Beecher played the roles that Reid and Hawley play in the film. Famous Players–Lasky produced and Paramount Pictures distributed.

The Squab Farm was a comedic play about the film industry staged on Broadway in 1918. It was written by Fanny Hatton and Frederic Hatton, and staged at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway. It starred several former film directors as well as actress Alma Tell and a 16-year-old Tallulah Bankhead in her first stage role. She was reportedly chastised for whistling in the communal dressing room, unknowingly breaking one of the theater's oldest superstitions and fellow actress Julia Bruns took pity on her and invited to share her dressing room. George Foster Platt directed.

Lucia Moore was an American stage and silent film actress. She appeared in plays on Broadway from 1900 through 1932; often in works written by women playwrights, such as Rachel Crothers, Anita Loos, Clare Kummer, Jean Webster, and Rida Johnson Young. She also appeared in original plays by Maxwell Anderson, Barry Conners, George Scarborough, and Edgar Selwyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Pavey</span> American stage actress

Marie Pavey, also known as E. Marie Pavey, was an American stage actress and vaudeville performer who had an active career in the United States during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Trained as an actress in Chicago, she began her career in that city in 1900. In her early career she toured widely in vaudeville as a stage partner to Bert Coote.

References

  1. 1 2 "THE LOTTERY MAN" NOT A ALONG CHANCE; Rida Johnson Young's New Farce at the Bijou Pretty Sure to be a Winner". The New York Times . December 7, 1909. p. 7.
  2. Ellen M. Peck (2020). Sweet Mystery: The Musical Works of Rida Johnson Young. Oxford University Press. p. 22.
  3. "Auditorium Theatrical Season Commences". Denver Municipal Facts. 2 (45): 10. November 5, 1910.
  4. "The Lottery Man". Ogden Evening Standard . August 17, 1910. p. 6.