James Bernard Fagan

Life
1873-1933 [J. B. Fagan]; US actor-manager; b. Belfast, son of Sir James, Inspector of Irish Reformatories; ed. Clongowes, TCD, and Oxon.; read law, but joined companies of Sir Frank Benson in 1895, and later Max Beerbohm; turned to playwrighting, 1899-1913; wrote The Prayer of the Sword (1904), a play in prose and verse, and other popular plays; founded the Oxford Playhouse with Flora Robson, Gielgud, and Guthrie, 1923; appt. Director of Cambridge Theatre Festival, 1929; produced Juno and the Paycock in London; most successful with And So to Bed (1926), a three-act comedy based on Pepys, and The Improper Duchess (1931); d. Hollywood, California. PI DIB OCIL

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Works
Stage plays
  • The Prayer of the Sword: A Play in Five Acts (London: R. Brimley Johnston / Adelphi, [Eng.]: R. B. Johnson 1904), 116pp.
  • Under Which King? (New York: Rosenfield 1905)
  • The Earth: A Modern Play in Four Acts [Plays of Today and Tomorrow] (London: T. F. Unwin/NY: Duffield 1910), 154pp.; Do. (London: Unwin 1913), 158pp.
  • Bella Donna; A Play in Four Acts (London: Dramatic Typing Office 1911); Do. (New York: Rosenfield 1912).
  • Hawthorne of the U.S.A.: A Play in Four Acts (London/NY: S. French 1917), 95pp. [A romantic farce, being the adventures of an American in the Balkans].
  • The Wheel: A Play in Three Acts (London: Duckworth & Co. 1922), 125pp., and Do., rep. as The Wheel Of Life: A Play In Three Acts (New York: Brentano's 1922; rep. 1923), 125pp. ill.
  • “And So to Bed”: A Comedy in Three Acts (New York: Holt 1926), 145pp.; Do. (London: GP Putnam & Son 1927), 140pp., and Do. reprinted as And So to Bed - An Adventure with Samuel Pepys: A Comedy in Three Acts [French's acting edition. no. 1047] (London & NY: S. French 1929), 74pp.
  • The Improper Duchess: A Modern Comedy in Three Acts (London: Victor Gollancz 1931), 112pp.; Do., reprinted in Famous Plays of 1931, ed. Rudolf Besier (London: V. Gollancz 1931; rep. 1932), and Do. rep. as The Improper Duchess: A Modern Comedy In Three Acts (London/NY: S. French’s Acting Edns. 1933)., reprinted in Plays Of a Half-Decade, ed. Robert Cedric Sherriff (London: Gollancz 1933).
  • Treasure Island: A Play ... based on R. L. Stevenson’s Story (London: Cassell & Co. 1936), 175pp., and Do., rep. as Treasure Island; A Play In Four Acts (London: Cassell and Co. 1953), 175pp.
  • Doctor O’Toole: A Farcical Comedy (London: French’s Acting Editions [1938]), 31pp., and Do., trans. by R. Lloyd Hughes as Y Meddyg Ffars-comedi [Welsh Drama Series] (London: Samuel French [1938]; rep. 1950), iv, 24pp.
Translations
  • Eugène Brieux, Woman on her Own; False Gods; The Red Robe, [3 plays, False Gods trans. James Bernard Fagan] (London: Herbert Jenkins; NY: Bretano's 1916).
Media
  • Smilin’ Through [1932] (Santa Monica, Calif.: MGM/UA Home Video 1993 ), Audiovisual (98 min.). Videocassette release of the 1932 production by Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Inc. Director, Sidney Franklin; from the play by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin; screeplay by Ernest Vajda and Claudine West; dialogue by Donald Ogden Stewart and James Bernard Fagan. Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard. Covernote reads: ‘Kathleen is a high-spirited young woman whose passionate nature entangles her in a blood feud, and makes her a kind of hostage to history's most savage war. Kathleen was raised by her embittered uncle, John Carteret, whose bride was murdered at the alter by a jilted, jealous suitor. John's whole life has been spent mourning her, and Kathleen is his only joy. But she falls in love with Kenneth Wayne, the murderer's son. She knows nothing of his ancestry until John forbids their love, which is made even more urgent by Kenneth's imminent departure for battle as a soldier in the first World War.’]

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