| 书目名称 | Uncle Tom‘s Cabin on the American Stage and Screen | | 编辑 | John W. Frick | | 视频video | | | 丛书名称 | Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History | | 图书封面 |  | | 描述 | No play in the history of the American Stage has been as ubiquitous and as widely viewed as Uncle Tom‘s Cabin . This book traces the major dramatizations of Stowe‘s classic from its inception in 1852 through modern versions on film. Frick introduce the reader to the artists who created the plays and productions that created theatre history. | | 出版日期 | Book 2012 | | 关键词 | America; drama; film; stage; theatre | | 版次 | 1 | | doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56645-4 | | isbn_softcover | 978-1-137-56647-8 | | isbn_ebook | 978-1-137-56645-4Series ISSN 2947-5767 Series E-ISSN 2947-5775 | | issn_series | 2947-5767 | | copyright | The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2012 |
| 1 |
Front Matter |
|
|
Abstract
|
| 2 |
,Halfway between Sermon and Social Theory: The Mania for “Tom Mania”, |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
By all accounts (and there were many), the day that . came to town was one to remember and savor—arguably one of the most important events of the year in small-town America in the late nineteenth century. Uncle Tom’s arrival in town was heralded well in advance by a plethora of colorful posters tacked to town buildings and plastered on fences; posters such as one for Al. W. Martin’s Mammoth Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company that advertised “the most magnificent, elaborate and complete production of this immortal play the American stage has ever witnessed”; or one for Parsons & Pool’s Ideal . that featured the Tennessee Jubilee Singers and the escape of Eliza; or a poster depicting Eliza crossing the ice chased by slavers and their hounds that promised the arrival of De Wolfe’s Original .; or, possibly a Downie’s Spectacular Company poster that advertised their trained bloodhounds and their trick donkey, Whiskers, and that urged the townspeople not to “fail to see our grand street parade.”
|
| 3 |
,“There is No Arguing with Pictures”: The Aiken/Howard , |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
Like the novel before it and the serialized version before that, the theatricalization of . attracted immediate and intense attention. Tom’s arrival in New York, America’s undisputed theatre center at mid-century, was announced on September 3, 1852 in a brief, unsigned article in James Gordon Bennett’s . that announced simply that “Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel of . has been dramatized at the National Theatre, and, being something of a novelty, it draws crowds nightly.”. The article continued to note that, since the novel was, in the Fall of 1852, the current “literary wonder” and had sold by the “thousands, and tens, and hundreds of thousands,” it was only natural that it should be transferred to the stage. The tone of the article indicated that the novel’s transformation to the stage was hardly a surprise; rather, there was a sense of inevitability about it.
|
| 4 |
,“A Play to which No Apologist for Slavery Could Object”: The Conway/Kimball/Barnum , |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
In 1853, as the Aiken/Howard/Purdy adaptation was moving toward its record-setting run of 325 performances, productions of . were staged by local stock companies in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco; at Rice’s Theatre in Chicago; and, in a version by Clifton W. Tayleure in Detroit, as well as those in New York. By the end of the year, New Yorkers could see a version of Stowe’s classic at the National; one at Barnum’s American Museum; another at the Franklin Museum; several months later, a fourth version in German by a Herr von Olfers at the Deutches or Charles Street Theatre; and subsequently, yet another at the Bowery Theatre. Of these, the most threatening to Purdy was the version at Barnum’s American Museum—a production dubbed the Compromise Uncle Tom. Barnum had “inherited” his production from his friend and show business collaborator, Moses Kimball, proprietor of the Boston Museum. For years, the two show business impresarios had been trading acts and shows, the most notable being the temperance classic, ., which had debuted at Kimball’s establishment in 1844 and subsequently was mounted at Barnum’s theatre in 1850. Kimball’s . had been wri
|
| 5 |
,“O’ It Was a Sight Worth Seeing”: Uncle Tom Hits the Road, |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
On September 11, 1853, roughly 2 months after the Aiken/Howard . opened at Purdy’s theatre in New York, the Philadelphia . announced that “the most extraordinary scene ever presented in our theatrical annals was witnessed [recently] at the NATIONAL.”. In this fashion, Philadelphians learned that “The Cabin,” as the . writer dubbed it, had been brought out in “fine style” and that Uncle Tom mania had seized the city. While the . column applied only to the production that had recently opened at Philadelphia’s National Theatre, it might have equally described what was happening worldwide, because almost immediately upon the release of the novel, stage versions of . began appearing in foreign capitals and American cities large and small. But nowhere, however, was the proliferation of the drama more evident than in New York, the site of the first notable theatrical Uncle Toms. By the end of 1853, in addition to Aiken’s adaptation at the National and the Conway version at Barnum’s Museum, Odell lists an obscure production by Robert Marsh at the Odeon Theatre, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; a version staged by a Mr. Thorne at the St. Charles that . described as “doing extremely well;” and a tabl
|
| 6 |
,Long Live Uncle Tom! , in the Twentieth Century, |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
While critics of . on stage at the opening of the twentieth century were already predicting the imminent demise of the phenomenon—a prediction that would grow more common and strident as the century progressed—statistics showed that this claim was anything but true. One historian in 1902 estimated that in that year alone, over one and one-half million people (one in every 35 US citizens) would see one or more productions of the play; while 10 years later, Stowe’s son Charles claimed that there had been 250,000 separate productions.. Although the 1890s undeniably marked the high-water mark for theatrical Toms, it is also undeniable that as the new century began, . was both ubiquitous and clearly in the public consciousness.
|
| 7 |
,Uncle Tom in Middle Age: From a Stage Tradition to the Silver Screen, |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
In December of 1903, American movie audience members, many who previously had been exposed to moving pictures solely through “penny dreadfuls” shown on Mutoscopes or Kinetoscopes in nickelodeons, stared in amazement at a film that, unbeknownst to them at the time, was destined to make film history. As anyone who has taken an introductory film history course well knows, the film that these astonished audiences witnessed was .. Produced by movie pioneer Thomas Edison and directed by a young film director named Edwin S. Porter, ., which was once described as “a textbook on how to rob a train,” was constructed of 20 separate shots and incorporated techniques (e.g., construction through the use of shots; cutting . shots rather than complete scenes; rear projection; panning shots) that audiences had never before seen. The action of the film was shot at over a dozen different locations, both indoors and outdoors, and included such innovations as a close-up of a character’s shooting directly at the camera (and the audience). In the opinion of film historian Robert Sklar, “no movie before it contained such a variety of scene or swift movement from place to place. For the first time, a motio
|
| 8 |
,Epilogue: The Story that Won’t Stay Dead, |
John W. Frick |
|
Abstract
In the March 23, 1901 edition of ., critic Lawrence Reamer made a claim about . that, in that year, sounded plausible; namely that the play still possessed enough of its original vitality to interest an audience at the beginning of the twentieth century.. While such a claim may have been warranted in 1901, considering the success of William Brady’s Uncle Tom at the Academy of Music, Reamer’s assertion raises an obvious and inevitable question for twenty-first century observers: would he make the same claim today? Would anyone? Conventional wisdom would likely be in agreement with Elizabeth Corbett’s 1931 assessment that Uncle Tom on stage was ostensibly dead and hence post-2000, reasonable people would necessarily conclude that optimism would be unwarranted; yet as the twenty-first century began, dramatic versions of ., like Broadway itself, continued to rise Lazarus-like from the grave, albeit none were close to the scale of their nineteenth-century ancestors.
|
| 9 |
Back Matter |
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
发表于 2025-3-21 19:32:07
