Mordaunt Shairp (13 March 1887 – 18 January 1939) was an English dramatist and screenwriter born at

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

. Educated at

St Paul's School, London (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent school Public school , religion = Church of England , president = , he ...

, and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, he spent much of his life as a schoolmaster in London and wrote many plays for pupils to perform. His adult plays dealt with darker interpersonal relationships and ''

The Green Bay Tree ''The Green Bay Tree'' is a 1933 three-act drama written by Mordaunt Shairp that explores a "half-suggested homosexual relationship" between a man and his protégé or, in the words of one critic "a rich hot-house sybarite" and someone "he ado ...

'' (premièred at

St Martin's Theatre St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world. The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...

in London's West End on 25 January 1933 and also performed on

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 ...

) was originally controversial because of its

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

subtext. Shairp also spent a short spell in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

as a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He died at

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Selective filmography

* '' The Dark Angel'' (1935, directed by Sidney Franklin; cowritten with

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...

) * '' The White Angel'' (1936, directed by

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

) * ''

Wee Willie Winkie "Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme whose titular figure has become popular as a personification of sleep. The poem was written by William Miller and titled "Willie Winkie", first published in '' Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fire ...

'' (1937, directed by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

)

Plays

*''

The Crime at Blossoms ''The Crime at Blossoms'' is a 1933 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh Wakefield and Joyce Bland. It was remade by Rogers in 1949 as '' Dark Secret''. After moving into a picturesque country cottage, a woman become ...

'' (1932) *''

'' (1933)

References

External links

* People educated at St Paul's School, London English male screenwriters 1887 births 1939 deaths Writers from Totnes Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English screenwriters {{england-writer-stub