Treasure Island is a play in four acts and ten scenes by Jules Eckert Goodman that is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel of the same name. [1] It was first published in 1915 by Samuel French, Inc., [2] and was later included in the children's play anthology Another Treasury of Plays for Children (1926, Little, Brown and Company) which was edited by Montrose Jonas Moses. [3] While not the first stage adaptation of Stevenson's novel, it was the first adaptation to achieve critical and commercial success; [4] bringing both "fame and fortune" to its author. [5]
Treasure Island premiered in Albany, New York at Hermanus Bleecker Hall on November 8, 1915. [6] The production moved to Broadway where it debuted at the Punch and Judy Theatre on December 1, 1915. [1] A hit, the play continued to run at that theater until May 27, 1916. [7] The play was produced by the owner of the Punch and Judy Theatre, [8] Charles Hopkins, [9] and co-directed by Hopkins and Edward Emery. [10] Maurice Rumsey, the show's musical director, contributed some original music, but mainly adapted, arranged, and conducted pre-existing music by other other composers for the show such as Camille Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre . [11] The costumes were designed by Ruth Vivian, and the wigs were designed by Coyle and Deutschmann. [12]
The original cast of Treasure Island was led by Mrs. Charles Hopkins (1886-1960), the wife of the director and producer, who played the role of Jim Hawkins. [8] Charles also appeared in the play in the role of Ben Gunn. The show's other director, Edward Emery, played the lead villain, the pirate Long John Silver. Other original cast members included Leonard Willey as Captain Alexander Smollett, David Glassford as Dr. Livesey, Edmund Gurney as Squire Trelawney, and Tim Murphy as Billy Bones among others. [1]
After the Broadway production closed, the play was performed regionally in the United States in stock theatre. [13] It later became a work used by junior high and high school drama programs in the United States after its publication in Another Treasury of Plays for Children in 1926. [14] It was also very popular with amateur community theatre. [8] It was revived at the New York Hippodrome in 1938 in a production directed by William Rathburn. [15] The play was mounted at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London in December 1950 through January 1951 with Michael Logan as Long John Silver and Anna Wing as Mrs. Hawkins. [16]
Treasure Island is both an adventure and historical novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson published in 1883, telling a story of "buccaneers and buried gold" set in the 1700s. It is considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular culture. His missing leg and parrot, in particular, have greatly contributed to the image of the pirate in popular culture.
Gilbert Emery Bensley Pottle, known professionally as Gilbert Emery, was an American actor who appeared in over 80 movies from 1921 to his death in 1945. He was also a playwright, author of seven Broadway plays from 1921 to 1933.
Basil Sydney was an English stage and screen actor.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an 8½ hour-long adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1839 novel, performed in two parts. Part 1 was 4 hours in length with one interval of 15 minutes. Part 2 was 4½ hours in length with two intervals of 12 minutes. It was originally presented onstage over two evenings, or in its entirety from early afternoon with a dinner break. Later it was presented on television over four evenings.
The Olympia Theatre, also known as Hammerstein's Olympia and later the Lyric Theatre and the New York Theatre, was a theater complex built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I at Longacre Square in Manhattan, New York City, opening in 1895.
The 44th Street Theatre was a Broadway theater at 216 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City from 1912 to 1945. It was originally named Weber and Fields' Music Hall when it opened in November 1912 as a resident venue for the comedy duo Weber and Fields, but was renamed to the 44th Street Theatre in December 1913 after their tenure at the theatre ended. It should not be confused with the Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall, often referred to as simply Weber and Fields' Music Hall and also known as Weber's Music Hall or Weber's Theatre, which was used by both Weber and Fields or just Weber from 1896 through 1912.
Florence Reed was an American stage and film actress. She is remembered for several outstanding stage productions, including The Shanghai Gesture, The Lullaby, The Yellow Ticket and The Wanderer. Her best remembered movie role was as Miss Havisham in the 1934 production of Great Expectations. In this version, however, Miss Havisham was changed from a completely insane woman to an eccentric, who did not wear her wedding veil constantly, and who dies peacefully rather than as a result of suffering burns in a fire. In the 1950s, Reed performed in several early television shows, such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Kraft Television Theatre and The United States Steel Hour. She is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Shelley Vaughan Hull was an American stage actor who also appeared in two silent motion pictures. His Broadway popularity as a suave handsome leading man was continually on the rise until his early death at age 34 in the Influenza pandemic of 1918.
Jules Eckert Goodman was an American playwright and author. He was best known for his plays Treasure Island (1915), The Man Who Came Back (1916), The Silent Voice (1914), Chains (1923), and a series of plays featuring Potash and Permutter written with Montague Glass.
Archibald Selwyn was a Canadian-American play broker, theater owner and stage producer who had many Broadway successes. He and his brother Edgar Selwyn were partners. They were among the founders of Goldwyn Pictures, later to be merged into MGM.
Nan Halperin was a Russian immigrant to the USA who became a well-known singing comedian. She played in vaudeville at an early age, and later starred in musical comedies on Broadway such as Little Jessie James (1923).
Mother is a 1910 play which was the first successful play by Jules Eckert Goodman.
Twin Beds is a 1914 comedic play by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mayo, based on Field's 1913 novel of the same name, which played on Broadway and was also the basis for multiple film adaptations. The play debuted on August 14, 1914, at the Fulton Theatre, and ran on Broadway for 411 performances.
Cheating Cheaters is a 1916 play written by Max Marcin. Producer A. H. Woods staged it on Broadway. The play is a melodramatic farce about two groups of jewel thieves who are each posing as a wealthy family in order to rob the other.
A Tailor-Made Man is a 1917 American play by Harry James Smith, which ran for 398 performances at the Cohan and Harris Theatre. It debuted on August 27, 1917, and played through August 1918.
Roi Cooper Megrue was an American playwright, producer, and director active on Broadway from 1914 to 1921.
Red, White and Maddox is a satirical musical revue written by Jay Broad and Don Tucker. The play debuted in Atlanta in October 1968 and later had a 41-performance run on Broadway from January 26 to March 1, 1969. The play was conceived by Broad, who at the time was the director of the Theatre Atlanta theatrical company. Modeled as a fictional biography of Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, the play is split into two acts. The first act chronicles Maddox's foray into politics as a firebrand segregationist, culminating in him becoming governor of the state. The second act, set in the future, details Maddox becoming president of the United States.
Philip Bartholomae was an American playwright, lyricist, screenwriter, and theatre director. He wrote many plays and musicals which were staged on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, several of which were adapted into films with screenplays by Bartholomae. His first successful play was Over Night (1911) which was also the first play he adapted into a film in 1915. His best known stage work, Very Good Eddie (1915), was a musical adaptation of Over Night which Bartholomae created in collaboration with Guy Bolton and composer Jerome Kern. It was a Broadway hit when it premiered, and enjoyed long running revivals on Broadway and the West End in the 1970s. That work received several nominations at the 30th Tony Awards and the 1976 Laurence Olivier Awards.
Gates and Morange was a New York City based firm of designers and builders established in 1894 by brothers Frank E. Gates and Richard H. Gates, and the artist Edward A. Morange. The firm had a prolific career as scenic designers for Broadway from the 1890s through the 1930s; creating sets for more than 50 productions. The firm also created designs for trade shows, exhibitions, and businesses. While the organization's work as set designers ended after the mid-1930s, the firm continued to operate in other capacities until it closed in 1953.