Abstract
While critics of Uncle Tom’s Cabin 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.1 Although the 1890s undeniably marked the high-water mark for theatrical Toms, it is also undeniable that as the new century began, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was both ubiquitous and clearly in the public consciousness.
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Notes
Thomas F. Gossett, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture (Southern Methodist University Press, 1985), p. 371.
John W. Frick, New York’s First Theatrical Center: The Rialto at Union Square (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Research Press, 1985), pp. 30–32.
A. Nicholas Vardac, Stage to Screen: Theatrical Method from Garrick to Griffith (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949), p. XXV. While it is certainly true that many of the earliest films utilized painted drops and theatrical box sets, movies as early as 1903 were moving steadily toward greater realism.
Daniel J. Watermeier, “Actors and Acting,” The Cambridge History of the American Theatre, 1870–1945, eds. Don B. Wilmeth and Christopher Bigsby. Vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999): p. 468;
Garff B. Wilson, A History of American Acting (Bloomington, MA: Indiana University Press, 1966), pp. 240–42.
Harry Birdoff, The World’s Greatest Hit: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (New York: S. F. Vanni, 1947), p. 360.
Frank S. Arnett, “Fifty Years of Uncle Tom,” Munsey’s Magazine (September 1902): 898–902. {*}
John H. McDowell, “‘I’m Going There, Uncle Tom,” Original Scenery, documents, and A Promptbook on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Theatre Studies 24/25 (1977–79): 122–23.
Unsigned Article, “Last Days for ‘Uncle Tom,’” New York Times Magazine, July 12, 1931; {*} Elizabeth Corbett, “Uncle Tom Dead,” Theatre Guild Magazine (January 1931); {*}
Unsigned Article, “Shed a Tear for the Passing of Long Suffering ‘Uncle Tom,’” Literary Digest 14 (February 1931); {*}
Fletcher Smith, “Uncle Tom Has Died for the Last Time,” The Boston Globe, January 12, 1930; {*} R. Burton Rose, “The Death of UTC,” Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine (December 1931). {*} When she wrote her article, it is likely that Corbett was unaware that the Harval Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company was still touring.
For an overview of social changes that took place in the early twentieth century, see John Frick, “A Changing Theatre: New York and Beyond, 1870–1945,” The Cambridge History of American Theatre, ed. Don B. Wilmeth and Christopher Bigsby, Vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1999): pp. 196–232.
John Mason Brown, “‘Uncle Tom,’ Authentic Americana,” Literary Digest, June 17, 1933: 13.
Bosley Crowther, “Topsy and Eva Again,” New York Times, May 30, 1933.
Tom Mikotowicz, “George (Francis) Abbott,” in eds. John W. Frick and Stephen M. Vallillo, Theatrical Directors (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994): pp. 3–4.
Linda Williams, Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O.J. Simpson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 187.
P. William Hutchinson, “Trinity Square Company,” Theatre Journal 32 (May 1980): 262–63.
Kevin Kelly, “‘Uncle Tom’ at Trinity Sq.” The Boston Globe 2 November 1978.
David Benjamin, “A Paper Mache Dragon,” The Mansfield (Mass.) News November 9, 1978.
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© 2012 John W. Frick
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Frick, J.W. (2012). Long Live Uncle Tom! Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the Twentieth Century. In: Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the American Stage and Screen. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137112378_5
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