Arthur Langdon McCormick (1873 – June 25, 1954) was an American playwright. He started in theater as an actor before turning to writing. He specialized in

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

s, often with special effects that he designed using his engineering background.

Early life

Born in

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

, he attended

Albion College Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014. They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Intercolle ...

, then worked as an electrician. He worked briefly for the Thompson Electric Company, then went into business as an independent electrician in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

Theatrical career

McCormick started his acting career in Chicago, performing scenes he wrote himself. He then spent two years touring in a

repertory company A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

with

Otis Skinner Otis Skinner (June 28, 1858 – January 4, 1942) was an American stage actor active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Early life Otis A. Skinner was born on June 28, 1858, in Cambridge, Massachusetts the middle of three ...

, who encouraged him to consider writing instead. He wrote melodramas and eventually gained the nickname "The King of Melodrama". In addition to writing, he often designed lighting and special effects for the productions, which tended to the spectacular. ''When the World Sleeps'' in 1905 featured a scene with the heroine trapped in a burning mill. In the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

run of ''

The Burglar and the Lady ''The Burglar and the Lady'' is a 1905 play written by Langdon McCormick that features the characters Sherlock Holmes and A. J. Raffles, which were originally created by other authors. The play was a commercial success, and a film adaptation wa ...

'' in 1906, a horse and buggy crashed through a window, and the villain had an exploding watch. For ''A Mile a Minute'' in 1912, McCormick and magician

Howard Thurston Howard Thurston (July 20, 1869 – April 13, 1936) was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy, and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply ...

designed an effect to represent a train speeding across the stage, which they patented. In 1917, he designed a sinking ship effect for that year's installment of the ''

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

''. He expanded the effect to include the ship bursting into flames for a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

sketch called ''On the High Seas'', and repeated this in his final production as an author, ''Shipwrecked'', in 1924.

Works

McCormick wrote a number of plays and sketches between 1898 and 1924. Some were never produced on Broadway, but were nonetheless popular in

and with road companies. * ''The Toll Gate Inn'' (1900) * ''Hearts Adrift'' (1903) * ''Out of the Fold'' (1904) * ''When the World Sleeps'' (1905) * ''The Burglar and the Lady'' (1905) * ''How Hearts Are Broken'' (1906) * ''The House of Mystery'' (1906) * ''Our Friend Fritz'' (1907) * ''The Women Who Dare'' (1907) * ''The Life of an Actress'' (1907) * ''Jessie Left the Village'' (1907) (also known as ''The Convict and the Girl'') * ''Wanted by the Police'' (1908) * ''A Mile a Minute'' (1912) * ''The Great Forest Fire'' (1914) * ''On the High Seas'' (1918) * ''The Storm'' (1919) (also known as ''Men without Skirts'') * ''Shipwrecked'' (1924)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Langdon 1873 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Albion College alumni People from Port Huron, Michigan Writers from Michigan Writers from New York City