Nathaniel Harrington Bannister (January 13, 1813 – November 2, 1847) was an American actor and playwright. Bannister wrote over 40 plays, including ''

Putnam, the Iron Son of '76 ''Putnam, the Iron Son of '76'' is an 1844 American play by Nathaniel Bannister, and his most popular play. The play is about American Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam. Starting on August 5, 1844, it played for 78 consecutive nights (not ...

'' (1844) about the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

hero

Israel Putnam Israel Putnam (January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790), popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He als ...

which played for 78 consecutive nights in New York at the

Bowery Theatre The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse on the Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populi ...

(produced by Thomas S. Hamblin), unusually successful for its time.Paterson, Alexander D. (August 24, 1844)
"The Drama"
''The Anglo American'', Vol. 3., No. 18. p. 429. (via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

).(October 19, 1844)
The Drama
p. 618 (noting that ''Putnam'' is still playing). The bulk of Bannister's many works, only some of which were published, are historical dramas. Bannister was born in Delaware (some sources report Maryland) in 1813, and made his first appearance on stage in Baltimore at age 16 in the role of Young Norval. He died in poverty in New York on November 2, 1847.(1995)
''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre''
p. 76.Ireland, Joseph (1867)
''Records of the New York Stage, from 1750 to 1860, Vol. II''
pp. 205, 417.Berg, Albert Ellery (1884)
''The Drama, Painting, Poetry, and Song''
p. 265.Rees, James (1845)
''The Dramatic Authors of America''
pp. 35–36.(November 2, 1847)
"Died"
''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...

''. Bannister was married to actress Amelia Greene, who was previously married to

John Augustus Stone John Augustus Stone (December 15, 1801 – June 1, 1834) was an American actor, dramatist, and playwright, best known as the author of ''Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags''. Biography He appeared on the New York stage beginning in 1822. He ...

.Brown, T. Allston (1903)
''A History of the New York Stage, Vol. I''
p. 314.(November 18, 1873)
"Mrs. Amelia Bannister The Funeral of an Actress Who Graced the Boards Half a Century Ago"
'' The Sun''.Conner, William H. (April 10, 1949)
"Who Was Nat Bannister, Playwright?"
''

Sunday Morning Star ''The Sunday Morning Star'', also commonly known as ''The Sunday Star'', was a weekly newspaper in Wilmington, Delaware from 1881 to 1954. It carried three official titles in its 74 years: ''The Sunday Morning Star'' from 1881 to 1949, ''The Su ...

'' (Wilmington, Delaware). (in depth article about Bannister, questioning whether he was raised in Delaware or Maryland).

Plays (incomplete list)

* ''Rathanemus'' (1835, New Orleans) * ''Gaulantus the Gault'' (1836) * ''The Destruction of Jerusalem'' (1837) * ''England's Iron Days'' (1837) * ''The Gentleman of Lyons, or the Marriage Contract'' (1837) * ''The Maine Question'' (1839) * ''

Titus Andronicus ''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...

'' (1839, adaptation) * ''Old English Ironsides'' * ''Robert Emmett'' * ''Murrell, the Land Pirate'' * ''Roman Slaves'' * ''Two Spaniards'' * ''Caius Silius'' * ''Psammetichus, or the Twelve Tribes of Egypt'' (written for

Edwin Forrest Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born i ...

) * ''The Wandering Jew'' * ''Washington'' * ''Infidelity'' * ''Gustavani'' * ''The Fall of San Antonio'' * ''Tis Freedom's Call'' * ''Adventures of a Sailor'' * ''The Serpent's Glen'' * ''The Midnight Murder'' * ''Surrender of Lord Cornwallis'' * ''Chief of the McIvor'' * ''Texas and Freedom'' * ''Life in New Orleans'' * ''The Three Brothers: Or Crime Its Own Avenger'' (one act) * ''

'' (1844)

References

External links

''Putnam, The Iron Son of '76''
New York:

Samuel French Samuel French (1821–1898) was an American entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays. Biography French founde ...

(via

)> {{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Nathaniel 1813 births 1847 deaths 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors Male actors from Delaware Writers from Delaware American male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American male writers

Plays (incomplete list)

See also

References

External links