John Hartley Manners

Background

He was born on August 10, 1870 in London and was of Irish parentage.

Career

Going to Australia, began his career as an actor in Melbourne in 1898, his first rôle being Lord Chetl and in The Squire of Dames, a once popular play anglicized by R. C. Carton from the younger Dumas's comedy, L'Ami des Femmes. Returning to London in the following year, he made his début there with George Alexander at the St. James's Theatre, April 26, 1899, as Nat Brewster in Edward Rose's play, In Days of Old. He remained an actor in the London theatres for several years and was at one time a member of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson's company, playing Laertes to that star's Hamlet at the Imperial Theatre in 1902. During this period he began to attract attention as a writer of plays, and having completed The Crossways for Mrs. Langtry, he supervised its production in London in November 1902, himself playing the part of Lord Robert Scarlett. He came to the United States as a member of her company for its American tour, which began at the Garrick Theatre in New York, December 29, 1902. Not long afterward he abandoned acting and thenceforth was a prolific playwright, the total number of plays that he wrote either alone or in collaboration being more than thirty. During the last twenty years of his life he was closely associated with the American stage. Marrying Laurette (Cooney) Taylor, he made both her and himself prominent and popular with Peg o' My Heart, a simple play, that through the acting of his wife touched the hearts of multitudes of theatre goers. It was produced in 1912 and was acted more than six hundred times consecutively in New York, and for more than five hundred performances in London. Five companies or more were touring in it simultaneously through several seasons in the United States alone, and it even found favor in translation with audiences in France, Italy, and other European countries. Manners was a playwright with aspirations for something more than mere popularity, but he never achieved it. The success of Peg o' My Heart unfortunately dimmed the reputation of his other work and made him scarcely more than a one-play dramatist. Others of his plays were The House Next Door (1909), The Great John Ganton (1909), The Girl in Waiting (1910), Happiness (1914), and last of all, The National Anthem (1922). He died in retirement in New York City after an illness of several months.

Achievements

• John Hartley Manners was one of the many successful writers for the stage who have served an apprenticeship as actors.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Three Plays: All Clear, God of My Faith, and God's Outcast

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The House Next Door: A Comedy in Three Acts (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The House Next Door: A Comedy in Three Acts ...)

  • Peg O' My Heart: A Comedy of Youth

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The National Anthem: A Drama 1922

    (Originally published in 1922. This volume from the Cornel...)

Views

Quotations: "I won't write 'situations' merely for the sake of 'situations. They interest me only as they reveal character".

"Reality is the curse of the modern theatre. Imagination is its boon!".

Connections

In 1912 he married Laurette (Cooney) Taylor, the widow of Charles A. Taylor.

Wife:

Laurette (Cooney) Taylor