( About the Book Satire is a genre of literature where vi...)
About the Book Satire is a genre of literature where vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings in humans and their institutions are held up to ridicule with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into reform. While satire is generally meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is generally constructive social criticism. Also in this Book Poetry is a literary form that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language (e.g. phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre) to enhance the prosaic ostensible meaning, or generate an alternative meaning. Poetry uses numerous devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poetry's long history dates back to prehistorical times ehen hunting poetry was created in Africa. And in this Book Drama texts refer to the mode of fiction represented in the performance of a play in a theater, on radio or on television. Drama is viewed as a genre of poetry, with the dramatic mode being contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics (335 BC). The term "drama" itself derives from the Greek word meaning "action”. In the English language the word "play" or "game" was a standard term used to describe drama until William Shakespeare's time. The enactment of drama in a theater, performed by actors on a stage before an audience is often combined with music and dance. In opera, the drama is generally sung throughout, whilst in musicals it includes both spoken dialogue and songs. About us Leopold Classic Library has the goal of making available to readers the classic books that have been out of print for decades. While these books may have occasional imperfections, we consider that only hand checking of every page ensures readable content without poor picture quality, blurred or missing text etc. That's why we: • republish only hand checked books; • that are high quality; • enabling readers to see classic books in original formats; that • are unlikely to have missing or blurred pages. You can search "Leopold Classic Library" in categories of your interest to find other books in our extensive collection. Happy reading!
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dramatist playwright screenwriter
Owen Gould Davis was born on January 28, 1874 in Portland, Maine. He was the son of Owen Warren Davis and Abigail Augusta Gould. His father was in the iron-manufacturing business in Bangor, Me. , where Owen attended public school but did not finish high school. When he was fifteen his family moved to Middlesborough, Ky.
In 1889 Davis entered the University of Tennessee as a "subfreshman" but left after a year "on my father's wishes that I should go to a northern school. " He was admitted to Harvard as a special student in 1890, and two years later he enrolled in the Lawrence Scientific School of the university, where he specialized in geology. He left Harvard in 1893, without taking a degree, to work as a geologist and miningengineer.
Davis had written plays as a youngster and had attended the theater regularly in Cambridge, so he was not totally unprepared for his new occupation. He worked at a variety of jobs until 1897 when, after seeing a production of The Great Train Robbery, he wrote a spectacular melodrama, Through the Breakers, produced in New York City on Jan. 30, 1899. Its success encouraged him to continue writing, and by the time of his death he was credited with approximately 200 plays. (The exact number is obscured by his liberal use of pseudonyms. )
From 1901 to 1934 there was at least one Davis production in New York City every season. His early reputation was made in the "ten-twenty-thirty" melodrama--so called from the price, in cents, of seats--popular entertainment that relied heavily on sensational scenic effects and thrilling escapes. Davis became so famous in the popular theater that in 1905 he signed an exclusive contract with the producer Al Woods to deliver at least four "mellers" every year until 1909. In addition Woods guaranteed to revive four of the previously produced plays each season.
Some of their most famous productions were Confessions of a Wife (1905), Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model (1906), and Edna, the Pretty Typewriter (1907). In the summer of 1901 Davis leased the Baker Theater in Rochester, N. Y. , and organized a stock company for the production of his plays.
By 1909 Davis had grown weary of "cheap" melodramas and began writing plays aimed at the more sophisticated Broadway audience. He was influenced by Eugene Walter's The Easiest Way, which he considered a great play. He had some success in 1913 with his social melodrama The Family Cupboard, and in 1915 Sinners ran for 220 performances. Forever After (1918), a sentimental war story starring Alice Brady, brought him additional recognition, as did At 9:45, a successful mystery play produced the following year.
But Davis' transition to the Broadway theater was not complete until 1921 when, under the influence of Eugene O'Neill, he wrote The Detour, a somber study of life on a Long Island truck farm. The play ran for only forty-eight performances, but its realistic characters and naturalistic dialogue earned him the critical praise that he had been seeking.
In addition to serious dramas Davis also wrote Broadway comedies: The Haunted House (1924), Easy Come, Easy Go (1925), and The Nervous Wreck (1923), which was made into a musical with Eddie Cantor (Whoopee, 1928) and a film with Danny Kaye (Up in Arms, 1944). He dramatized The Great Gatsby (1926) and adapted The Insect Comedy as The World We Live In (1922). His mystery plays included The Donovan Affair (1926) and The Ninth Guest (1930).
As his prestige grew Davis joined his colleagues in the fight to expand copyright protection for American playwrights. He was instrumental in negotiating the crucial minimum basic contract between the Managers Protective Association and the Dramatists Guild in 1926, and he was active in the play jury schemes to prevent state censorship of the theater. In the summer of 1926 he was offered a chair in dramatic literature by the University of Michigan. To the end, however, Davis was a commercial writer, and in spite of his honors and accomplishments he always returned to the popular stage.
He spoke repeatedly of the "great play" that he wanted to write, but his gift was the capture and reflection of the changing public taste. He was most effective in melodrama and farce, and in the 1930's he wrote film scripts for Will Rogers (They Had to See Paris, 1929, and So This Is London, 1930) and radio scripts for "The Gibson Family" (1934). His Broadway efforts included Jezebel (1933) and Mr. and Mrs. North (1941).
But failing eyesight and recurrent stomach disorders slowed his pace. No Way Out, a failure in 1944, was the last production of his prodigious career, which spanned the theater from Bronson Howard to Tennessee Williams and earned him the reputation of America's most prolific and most produced playwright.
( About the Book Satire is a genre of literature where vi...)
He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Davis met a twenty-year-old soubrette, Elizabeth Drury Breyer, whom he married sometime between March 1901 and May 1902.
They had two children, both of whom pursued theatrical careers. Donald, a writer, coauthored with his father dramatizations of The Good Earth (1932) and Ethan Frome (1936) and wrote for television and films. Owen, Jr. , an actor and televisionproducer, was drowned accidentally in Long Island Sound on May 21, 1949.
