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Biography
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959) was a prolific and successful playwright whose career spanned over thirty years. His first produced play, The White Desert (1923) failed. His next was a success. Written in collaboration with Laurence Stallings, What Price Glory? (1924) told the story of American soldiers in France during the First World War. Further collaborations with Stallings were not well received, but he did receive praise for his study of married life, Saturday’s Children (1927). Even more successful was Gypsy (1929), a play about an effervescent, unstable flapper.
In 1930, he turned to blank verse for his Elizabeth the Queen. Its success encouraged him to write most of his subsequent plays in the same form. Many of these were warmly received, including Both Your Houses (1933) that won a Pulitzer prize, Mary of Scotland (1933), Winterset (about the Sacco-Venazetti case) that won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and Journey to Jerusalem (1940). More verse plays followed.
After a period of declining popularity, he achieved success with Joan of Lorraine (1946), although its star, Ingrid Bergman, clearly contributed greatly to the play’s popular appeal. However, his next play, Anne of the Thousand Days (1948) was equally successful.
With his love of language, he refused to talk-down to his audiences and provided a text that gifted actors could relish and embellish.
In 1938, Maxwell Anderson was one of the founding members of the Playwrights' Company.
| Items for Sale on Collectors' Post |
| Click for details |
| 000797 |
Theatre: Programs (USA) - pre 1940 | MARY OF SCOTLAND (by Maxwell Anderson) with Helen Hayes, Philip Merivale & Helen Menken - pre-Broadway |
| 000815 |
Theatre: Programs (USA) - pre 1940 | THE WINGLESS VICTORY (by Maxwell Anderson) & CANDIDA (by G. Bernard Shaw) with Katharine Cornell |
| 010171 |
Theatre: Programs (USA) - pre 1940 | MARY OF SCOTLAND (by Maxwell Anderson) with Helen Hayes, Philip Merivale & Helen Menken |
| 000947 |
Theatre: Programs - Souvenir | CANDLE IN THE WIND (by Maxwell Anderson) with Helen Hayes + program |
| 010161 |
Theatre: Playbills | THE STAR-WAGON (by Maxwell Anderson) with Burgess Meredith & Lilian Gish |
| 010366 |
Theatre: Playbills | ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS (by Maxwell Anderson) with Rex Harrison |
| 000303 |
Theatre: Magazines | THEATRE TIME, Spring 1950 |
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