William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes

William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes PDF Author: Henry Zecher
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 9781453555811
Category : Actors
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
William Gillette is best-remembered today as the living personification of Sherlock Holmes, but he was much more than that. He was one of the nineteenth century's greatest stars, among its most successful actors and playwrights. In a career spanning six decades, he was one of the best-known celebrities in the Western world, a towering figure in an age of towering figures. Among his friends were Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Theodore Roosevelt, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Nast and Maurice Barrymore. He built a castle on the Connecticut River and a miniature railroad to run around it. Among the guests who rode on that train were President Calvin Coolidge, physicist Albert Einstein and Tokyo Mayor Ozaki Yukio, who gave to America the cherry blossoms in 1912. James M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, wrote two hit plays for which he specifically asked Gillette to star in. As a playwright, Gillette was known for the stark realism of his sets, costuming, dialogue and actions. He developed realistic and dramatic lighting and sound effects. As an actor, he developed the philosophy of The Illusion of the First Time, in which an actor speaks his lines and moves about each night, not as he has done a hundred times before, but as if he is making up his dialogue as he goes along, and moving about as if doing so for the first time, as real people do. Gillette's intention was to reproduce as much as possible the real world on stage, to make his audiences believe they were seeing a life episode being lived across the barrier of the footlights. This magnificent biography is the first full treatment of Gillette ever published. Exhaustively researched, thoroughly documented, and beautifully written, it not only details the life of this extraordinary man, it provides a colorful context of the times in which he lived. This is a major part of the history of the Western theater finally documented for our edification and enjoyment.

William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes

William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes PDF Author: Henry Zecher
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 9781453555811
Category : Actors
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
William Gillette is best-remembered today as the living personification of Sherlock Holmes, but he was much more than that. He was one of the nineteenth century's greatest stars, among its most successful actors and playwrights. In a career spanning six decades, he was one of the best-known celebrities in the Western world, a towering figure in an age of towering figures. Among his friends were Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Theodore Roosevelt, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Nast and Maurice Barrymore. He built a castle on the Connecticut River and a miniature railroad to run around it. Among the guests who rode on that train were President Calvin Coolidge, physicist Albert Einstein and Tokyo Mayor Ozaki Yukio, who gave to America the cherry blossoms in 1912. James M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, wrote two hit plays for which he specifically asked Gillette to star in. As a playwright, Gillette was known for the stark realism of his sets, costuming, dialogue and actions. He developed realistic and dramatic lighting and sound effects. As an actor, he developed the philosophy of The Illusion of the First Time, in which an actor speaks his lines and moves about each night, not as he has done a hundred times before, but as if he is making up his dialogue as he goes along, and moving about as if doing so for the first time, as real people do. Gillette's intention was to reproduce as much as possible the real world on stage, to make his audiences believe they were seeing a life episode being lived across the barrier of the footlights. This magnificent biography is the first full treatment of Gillette ever published. Exhaustively researched, thoroughly documented, and beautifully written, it not only details the life of this extraordinary man, it provides a colorful context of the times in which he lived. This is a major part of the history of the Western theater finally documented for our edification and enjoyment.

Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts

Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts PDF Author: Doyle A.C.
Publisher: Рипол Классик
ISBN: 5521071822
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) was an English writer best known for his detective stories about Sherlock Holmes. “Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts” is a four-act play by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, based on several stories about the world-famous detective.

WILLIAM GILLETTE IN SHERLOCK H

WILLIAM GILLETTE IN SHERLOCK H PDF Author: William 1853-1937 Gillette
Publisher: Wentworth Press
ISBN: 9781373979780
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 22

Get Book

Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes, as Produced at the Garrick Theatre, New York

William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes, as Produced at the Garrick Theatre, New York PDF Author: William 1853-1937 Gillette
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781019436875
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
This fascinating memoir by actor and playwright William Gillette provides a behind-the-scenes look at the original stage production of Sherlock Holmes, which he himself starred in and co-wrote. Drawing on his personal recollections and notes, as well as reviews and promotional material from the time, Gillette offers a compelling account of the creation and reception of this iconic character. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of Sherlock Holmes on stage and screen. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Accounts of William Gillette

Accounts of William Gillette PDF Author: Jim Bennett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780998112114
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
Sherlock Holmes murder mysteries. Five Mysteries with William Gillette and Charles Frohman

Sherlock Holmes in America

Sherlock Holmes in America PDF Author: Bill Blackbeard
Publisher: ABRAMS
ISBN: 9780810916098
Category : Detective and mystery comic books, strips, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book

Book Description


Sherlock Holmes in America

Sherlock Holmes in America PDF Author: Martin H. Greenberg
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1602399344
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book

Book Description
Sherlock Holmes makes his American debut in this fascinating and extraordinary collection of never-before-published crime and mystery stories by bestselling American writers. 12 b&w illustrations.

Plays by William Hooker Gillette

Plays by William Hooker Gillette PDF Author: Don B. Wilmeth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521240895
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book

Book Description
The American playwright and actor William Gillette is best remembered today for the role of Sherlock Holmes that he first created for the stage in 1899 and played for more than thirty years. Gillette also adapted foreign plays for the American stage and wrote strong melodramas and spy stories in which he frequently appeared himself. This volume includes All the Comforts of Home (1890), Secret Service (1895) and Sherlock Holmes (1899). Gillette's sure grasp of the keys to theatrical success, together with his technical innovations, makes him an interesting and important theatre figure. In his time, as playwright and player, he achieved a new combination of melodramatic suspense with a cool, understated acting style. These three plays represent the range of his dramatic talent.

Plays by William Hooker Gillette

Plays by William Hooker Gillette PDF Author: Don B. Wilmeth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521284318
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book

Book Description
The American playwright and actor William Gillette is best remembered today for the role of Sherlock Holmes that he first created for the stage in 1899 and played for more than thirty years. Gillette also adapted foreign plays for the American stage and wrote strong melodramas and spy stories in which he frequently appeared himself. This volume includes All the Comforts of Home (1890), Secret Service (1895) and Sherlock Holmes (1899). Gillette's sure grasp of the keys to theatrical success, together with his technical innovations, makes him an interesting and important theatre figure. In his time, as playwright and player, he achieved a new combination of melodramatic suspense with a cool, understated acting style. These three plays represent the range of his dramatic talent.

Sherlock Holmes - The Hero With a Thousand Faces: Volume 1

Sherlock Holmes - The Hero With a Thousand Faces: Volume 1 PDF Author: David MacGregor
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1787056503
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book

Book Description
Sherlock Holmes: The Hero With a Thousand Faces ambitiously takes on the task of explaining the continued popularity of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective over the course of three centuries. In plays, films, TV shows, and other media, one generation after another has reimagined Holmes as a romantic hero, action hero, gentleman hero, recovering drug addict, weeping social crusader, high-functioning sociopath, and so on. In essence, Sherlock Holmes has become the blank slate upon which we write the heroic formula that best suits our time and place. Volume One looks at the social and cultural environment in which Sherlock Holmes came to fame. Victorian novelists like Anthony Trollope and William Thackeray had pointedly written "novels without a hero," because in their minds any well-ordered and well-mannered society would have no need for heroes or heroic behavior. Unfortunately, this was at odds with a reality in which criminals like Jack the Ripper stalked the streets and people didn't trust the police, who were generally regarded as corrupt and incompetent. Into this gap stepped the world's first consulting detective, an amateur reasoner of some repute by the name of Sherlock Holmes, who shot to fame in the pages of The Strand Magazine in 1891. When Conan Doyle proceeded to kill Holmes off in 1893, it was American playwright, director, and actor William Gillette who brought the character back to life in his 1899 play Sherlock Holmes, creating a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic with his romantic version of Holmes, and cementing his place as the definitive Sherlock Holmes until the late 1930s. By that point, Sherlock Holmes had developed a cult following who facetiously maintained that Holmes was a real person, formed clubs like The Baker Street Irregulars, and introduced the idea of cosplay to the embryonic world of fandom. These well-educated fanboys subsequently became the self-assigned protectors of Sherlock Holmes, anxious that their version of the character not be besmirched or defamed in any way. In spite of this, there was considerable besmirching and defaming to be seen in the early silent films featuring Sherlock Holmes, which effectively turned him into an action hero due to the lack of sound. When sound films took the industry by storm in the late 1920s, there were a numbers of pretenders who reached for the Sherlock Holmes crown, including Clive Brook, Reginald Owen, and Raymond Massey, but it took more than a decade before a new definitive Sherlock Holmes would be crowned in 1939 in the person of Basil Rathbone.