William Bernard

January 27, 1807 (age 68)

Bernard’s first literary work was the biography of Samuel Lover. In addition to this he prepared from manuscript papers his father's Retrospections of the Stage, by the late John Bernard, Manager of the American Theatre and formerly Secretary of the Beefsteak Club, which was published in two volumes in London in 1830, and two years afterward in Boston. From other manuscripts he compiled and edited "Early Days of the American Stage, " which appeared serially in Tallis's Dramatic Magazine in 1850 and 1851. A portion of these papers, with additions from manuscripts prepared by his widow, appeared in book form in 1887 under title of Retrospections of America (1797 - 1811), edited with an introduction by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton. Bernard’s association with the stage as an actor was brief, but he was all his life a constant and successful writer of popular plays which he had begun to produce while serving as a clerk in the Army Accounts Office from 1826 to 1830. During that period he also wrote a novel entitled The Freebooter's Bride. He made one of the early dramatic versions of Rip Van Winkle (1832) which was acted by James H. Hackett both in England and in this country. Its first performance was at the Park Theatre in New York, September 4, 1833. The same actor also played the leading part in another of his comedies, The Kentuckian. He wrote plays for Yankee Hill, Josh Silsbee, and other American actors, and may therefore be considered the popularizer, if not the inventor, of the eccentric rural American on the stage. Many of his plays were farces, among them His Last Legs (1839), one of the most popular pieces of its kind both in England and in America, in which Hackett, John Brougham, and other famous actors for many years played the once familiar comic character of O'Callaghan. Bernard made a stage version of Faust, produced with Spohr's music at Drury Lane in London with Samuel Phelps as Mephistopheles and Mrs. Hermann Vezin as Marguerite. This play was acted many times by Lewis Morrison on the American stage after Sir Henry Irving's production of W. G. Wills's version of Faust had re-created a theatrical interest in the old story. Among Bernard's more than one hundred plays are The Dumb Belle, The Tide of Time, The Nervous Man, The Old Style and the New, The Evil Genius, The Middy Ashore, and The Man with Two Lives. He was an active participant in the literary, theatrical, and bohemian life of London for nearly half a century, and there is scarcely a book of theatrical reminiscences of his period in which he is not frequently mentioned.

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book

The Middy Ashore, and Matteo Falcone - Primary Source Edition

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

The Irish Attorney (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Irish Attorney Pierce 0'hara. - First d...)

No Name: A Drama in Five Acts

(William Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889) was an English novel...)

The Life Of Samuel Lover, R. H. A.: Artistic, Literary, And Musical, With Selections From His Unpublished Papers And Correspondence, Volume 2...

( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

Charlotte Corday Chant

His Last Legs: A Farce, in Two Acts (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from His Last Legs: A Farce, in Two Acts O'calla...)

The mummy: a farce, in one act

Our Common Fruits: A Descriptive Account of Those Ordinarily Cultivated (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Our Common Fruits: A Descriptive Account of ...)

William Bayle Bernard

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biographer dramatist

Background

William Bernard was born on November 27, 1807, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of the English actor John Bernard. His mother was a Miss Wright, whom his father had married as his third wife shortly before leaving London and who had previously been the governess of his motherless children. The entire family returned to England in 1819, and that country was thenceforth Bayle Bernard's home.

Career

Bernard’s first literary work was the biography of Samuel Lover. In addition to this he prepared from manuscript papers his father's Retrospections of the Stage, by the late John Bernard, Manager of the American Theatre and formerly Secretary of the Beefsteak Club, which was published in two volumes in London in 1830, and two years afterward in Boston. From other manuscripts he compiled and edited "Early Days of the American Stage, " which appeared serially in Tallis's Dramatic Magazine in 1850 and 1851. A portion of these papers, with additions from manuscripts prepared by his widow, appeared in book form in 1887 under title of Retrospections of America (1797 - 1811), edited with an introduction by Brander Matthews and Laurence Hutton.

Bernard’s association with the stage as an actor was brief, but he was all his life a constant and successful writer of popular plays which he had begun to produce while serving as a clerk in the Army Accounts Office from 1826 to 1830. During that period he also wrote a novel entitled The Freebooter's Bride. He made one of the early dramatic versions of Rip Van Winkle (1832) which was acted by James H. Hackett both in England and in this country. Its first performance was at the Park Theatre in New York, September 4, 1833. The same actor also played the leading part in another of his comedies, The Kentuckian. He wrote plays for Yankee Hill, Josh Silsbee, and other American actors, and may therefore be considered the popularizer, if not the inventor, of the eccentric rural American on the stage.

Many of his plays were farces, among them His Last Legs (1839), one of the most popular pieces of its kind both in England and in America, in which Hackett, John Brougham, and other famous actors for many years played the once familiar comic character of O'Callaghan. Bernard made a stage version of Faust, produced with Spohr's music at Drury Lane in London with Samuel Phelps as Mephistopheles and Mrs. Hermann Vezin as Marguerite. This play was acted many times by Lewis Morrison on the American stage after Sir Henry Irving's production of W. G. Wills's version of Faust had re-created a theatrical interest in the old story.

Among Bernard's more than one hundred plays are The Dumb Belle, The Tide of Time, The Nervous Man, The Old Style and the New, The Evil Genius, The Middy Ashore, and The Man with Two Lives. He was an active participant in the literary, theatrical, and bohemian life of London for nearly half a century, and there is scarcely a book of theatrical reminiscences of his period in which he is not frequently mentioned.

Achievements

During his career as dramatist William Bernard wrote more than one hundred plays. Some most popular include: Casco Bay (1832), The Kentuckian (1833), The Nervous Man (1833), The Mummy (1833), Marie Ducange (1837). His biographical works about his father make him a valuable contributor to the annals of the early American stage.