| There Shall Be No Night | |
|---|---|
 First edition 1940 | |
| Written by | Robert E. Sherwood |
| Date premiered | April 29, 1940 |
| Place premiered | Alvin Theatre New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
There Shall Be No Night is a three-act play written by American playwright Robert E. Sherwood.
The play was presented by the Theatre Guild on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre (now renamed the Neil Simon Theater), from April 29 through November 2, 1940. [1] (The play ran from April 29, 1940 – August 9, 1940, and again from September 9, 1940 – November 2, 1940.) [2]
Directed by Alfred Lunt, the cast starred Lunt (Dr. Kaarlo Valkonen), Lynn Fontanne (Miranda Valkonen), Charles Ansley (Joe Burnett), and Montgomery Clift (Erik Valkonen). [2]
The play won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. [2]
The title comes from a passage in the Book of Revelation (22:5) which is quoted by Lunt's character in Act 3, Scene 6: There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light... [3] : 150
The play is set in Finland between 1938 and 1940 and concerns a Nobel Prize-winning Finnish scientist (portrayed by Alfred Lunt, whose own stepfather was a Finnish-born physician) and his American-born wife (portrayed by Lynn Fontanne), both of whom are reluctant to believe that the Russians will invade their beloved Finland. But with the final advent of Finland's Winter War with the Soviets, their son Erik joins the Finnish army, and the scientist joins its medical corps. John Mason Brown wrote “No one can complain about the theatre's being an escapist institution when it conducts a class in current events at once as touching, intelligent and compassionate as There Shall Be No Night.” [4]
According to William L. Shirer, Sherwood was inspired to write the play by William Lindsay White's moving Christmas broadcast from the Finnish front during the Winter War and his columns for the New York Post. [5] The son of journalist William Allen White, the younger White had been sent there by CBS to report on that war. [6] Sherwood bases his American journalist (portrayed by Richard Whorf) in this play upon W. L. White, substantiating this in his preface to the first published edition by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1940. [3] : xxx
Fox bought the film rights for $100,000. [7]
Katharine Cornell produced and starred in a television version of the play in 1957 on The Hallmark Hall of Fame with Charles Boyer, Bradford Dillman and Ray Walston. This TV version was reset in Hungary in 1956 (changing the names from their original Finnish) in order to reflect current events in the same way that its original had done. [8] [9]
There Shall Be No Night was presented on Star Playhouse on November 29, 1953. The adaptation starred Fredric March and Florence Eldridge. [10]
Alfred David Lunt was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway and West End productions. After their marriage, they nearly always appeared together. They became known as "the Lunts" and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Guardsman is a 1931 American pre-Code film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts. It opens with a stage re-enactment of the final scene of Maxwell Anderson's Elizabeth the Queen, with Fontanne as Elizabeth and Lunt as the Earl of Essex, but otherwise has nothing to do with that play.
Lynn Fontanne was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and West End productions over the next four decades. They became known as "The Lunts", and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué subject matter was thought unacceptable to the official censor in London. It was not until 1939 that a London production was presented.
Zachary Scott was an American actor who was known for his roles as villains and "mystery men".
Robert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright and screenwriter.
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The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, originally the Globe Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 205 West 46th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1910, the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre was designed by Carrère and Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style for Charles Dillingham. The theater is named after theatrical couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne; its original name was inspired by that of the Globe Theatre, London's Shakespearean playhouse. The current configuration of the interior, dating to 1958, has about 1,505 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. The facade is a New York City landmark.
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Eduardo Ciannelli was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli.
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Ten Chimneys was the summer home and gentleman's farm of Broadway actors Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, and a social center for American theater. The property is located in Genesee Depot in the Town of Genesee in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States.
Idiot's Delight is a 1936 Pulitzer-Prize-winning play written by American playwright Robert E. Sherwood and presented by the Theatre Guild. The play takes place in the Hotel Monte Gabriel in the Italian Alps during 24 hours at the beginning of a world war. The guests trapped in the hotel by the sudden onset of hostilities are from Germany, France, the United States and Britain. Directed by Bretaigne Windust, the cast starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (Irene), with Sydney Greenstreet as Dr. Waldersee and Francis Compton as Achille Weber. The play was nominated for the 1936 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best American Play.
Arnold Saint-Subber, usually known as Saint Subber, was an American theatrical producer.
ThePlaywrights Company (1938–1961) was an American theatrical production company.
Elizabeth the Queen was a 1930 Broadway three-act play written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson, produced by the Theatre Guild, directed by Philip Moeller and with scenic and costume design by Lee Simonson. It ran for 147 performances from November 3, 1930, to March 1931 at the Guild Theatre. The starring roles were played by Lynn Fontanne as Elizabeth and Alfred Lunt as Lord Essex.
John Wexley was an American writer, best known for his play The Last Mile.
Edward Raquello was a Polish-American actor of stage and screen.
Dulcy is a 1920 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. It is a fast-paced three-act comedy with one setting and eleven characters. The story concerns a warm-hearted and wrong-headed woman who is a compulsive meddler and bromide; she cheerfully arranges other people's lives to their dismay. The action takes place within the living room of a house in Westchester County, New York, from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. The authors based the play on the character Dulcinea, created by Franklin P. Adams for his newspaper column The Conning Tower.
Sherwood, Robert E. (1940). There Shall Be No Night. Kessinger Publishing LLC (2005). ISBN 0-678-02773-0.
