''Johnny Belinda'' is a 1940 play by

Elmer Blaney Harris Elmer Blaney Harris (January 11, 1878 – September 6, 1966) was an American author, dramatist, and playwright. Biography Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois as the youngest of eight children. He moved with his family to Oakland, Californ ...

, dealing with the then shocking subjects of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

, murder,

bastardy Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

, abuse of a

deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...

bigotry Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, rel ...

and

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

in a small community. It ran for 321 performances on Broadway from September 18, 1940 to June 21, 1941, and has been repeatedly adapted for film, radio, television, and as a musical.

Plot summary

Set in Souris East,

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, and Charlottetown at the end of the 19th century, the isolated

Belinda lives with her father and aunt in the remote farming and fishing community northwest of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. Belinda is universally referred to as 'the Dummy' until the newly arrived doctor sees her potential and begins teaching her sign language. As her personality emerges from the silence her appearance also changes. She is raped by a local lad and gives birth to a son she names Johnny Belinda. The community assumes the child is the doctor's and shuns him and her family in moral outrage. Matters come to a head when the

biological father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...

attempts to take his infant son from Belinda by force, and she kills him. At the ensuing trial all but the doctor are prepared to condemn Belinda for murder until the truth unexpectedly emerges: that she was acting in self-defense. She is set free with her baby and the doctor's good name is restored.

Adaptations

* ''Johnny Belinda'' (1948 film) * ''Johnny Belinda''

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

play, 1950 * ''Johnny Belinda''

NBC Television The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, 1958 * ''Johnny Belinda'' "

ITV Play of the Week ''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes ...

," 1958 * ''Johnny Belinda'' (1959 film), an Australian television play * ''Johnny Belinda'' (1967 film), television movie * ''Johnny Belinda'', musical play by

Mavor Moore James Mavor Moore (March 8, 1919 – December 18, 2006) was a Canadian writer, producer, actor, public servant, critic, and educator. He notably appeared as Nero Wolfe in the CBC radio production in 1982. Life and work Moore was born in Tor ...

and John Fenwick,

Charlottetown Festival The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which runs from late May to mid-October every year since 1965. Named after its host city Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and its Charlottetown Conference, since its inc ...

, 1968 * ''Belinda'', CBC Television adaptation of the musical, telecast March 9, 1977 * ''Johnny Belinda'', 1982 film starring

Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film ''The Executioner's Song'' (1982), and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for th ...

External links

IBDB Internet Broadway Database

DPS Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Johnny Belinda , The Canadian Encyclopedia

"ITV Play of the Week" Johnny Belinda (TV Episode 1958) - IMDb

American Film Institute: AFI Catalog of Feature Films, The First 100 Years, 1893-1993
1940 plays English-language plays Plays set in Canada {{1940s-play-stub