James Bridie (3 January 1888 in Glasgow – 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor.Daniel Leary (1982) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: Modern British Dramatists 1900-1945'', Stanley Weintraub Ed., Gale, Detroit Ronald Mavor (1988) ''Dr. Mavor and Mr. Bridie: Memories of James Bridie'', Canongate and The National Library of Scotland He took his pen-name from his paternal grandfather's first name and his grandmother's maiden name.

Life

He was the son of Henry Alexander Mavor (1858–1915), an electrical engineer and industrialist, and his wife Janet Osborne. He went to school at Glasgow Academy and then studied medicine at the University of Glasgow graduating in 1913, later becoming a general practitioner, then consultant physician and professor after serving as a military physician during World War I, seeing service in France and Mesopotamia. He came to prominence with his comic play ''The Anatomist'' (1931), about the grave robbers Burke and Hare. This and other comedic plays saw success in London, and he became a full-time writer in 1938. He returned to the army during World War II, again serving as a physician. In 1923, he married Rona Locke Bremner (1897–1985). Their son was killed in World War II. His other son Ronald (1925–2007) was also both a physician and playwright. Ronald became drama critic of '' The Scotsman'' after retiring from medicine, Director of the Scottish Arts Council and Deputy Chairman of the Edinburgh Festival. He was Professor of Drama and Head of the Drama Department at the University of Saskatchewan and was appointed

C.B.E. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

Bridie died in Edinburgh of a stroke and is buried in Glasgow Western Necropolis. The Bridie Library at the Glasgow University Union is named after him, as is the annual Bridie Dinner that takes place in the Union each December.

Contribution to drama and the arts

Bridie was the founder of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, in association with joint founders art director Dr

Tom Honeyman Thomas John Honeyman (10 June 1891 – 5 July 1971) was an art dealer and gallery director, becoming the most acclaimed director of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. Born near Queen's Park, Glasgow, the son of a life insurance m ...

and cinema magnate George Singleton, who also created the Cosmo, predecessor of today's Glasgow Film Theatre. Many of his plays were staged at the Citizens Theatre between 1943 and 1960. Tony Paterson has argued that Bridie's output set the tone for Scottish Theatre until the early Nineteen-Sixties and gave encouragement to other Scottish dramatists such as Robert Kemp, Alexander Reid and George Munro.

Alan Riach Alan Scott Riach (born 1 August 1957)Smith, Anna'Riach, Alan (Scott)' ''Encyclopedia.com''. Retrieved 16 April 2022. is a Scottish poet and academic. He was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and was educated at Gravesend Grammar School for Boys, C ...

described (in 2021) Bridie's plays as both serious and offering 'high spirited fun'; both contemporarily 'commercially successful' and yet 'perennially provocative'; raising open questions that Riach considers as

Brechtian Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. He admires the quality of writing in Bridie's 1939 autobiography ''One Way of Living'', calling it a 'modern classic'. Bridie was the first chairman of the Arts Council in Scotland and was also instrumental in the establishment of the Edinburgh Festival. In 1950 he founded the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, part of the Royal Conservatoire today. Bridie worked with the director

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

in the late 1940s. They worked together on: * '' The Paradine Case'' (1947). Bridie originally wrote the screenplay, and

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplay ...

contributed some additional dialogue. But due to casting, the characters had to be changed. So

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. E ...

had to write another script. * ''

Under Capricorn ''Under Capricorn'' is a 1949 British historical thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about a couple in Australia who started out as lady and stable boy in Ireland, and who are now bound together by a horrible secret. The film is based on ...

'' (1949) * '' Stage Fright'' (1950)

Bibliography

*''Some Talk of Alexander'' (1926), book, his experiences as an army doctor *''The Sunlight Sonata'' or ''To Meet the Seven Deadly Sins'' (1928), assisted by John Brandane and published under the pseudonym Mary Henderson, directed by

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his ...

*''The Switchback'' (1929), with James Brandane *''What It Is to Be Young'' (1929) *''The Girl Who Did Not Want to Go to Kuala Lumpur'' (1930) *''The Pardoner's Tale'' (1930) *''Tobias and the Angel'' (1930) *''The Amazed Evangelist'' (1931) *''The Anatomist'' (1931) (dramatisation of the historical Burke and Hare murders) *''The Dancing Bear'' (1931) *''Jonah and the Whale'' (1932) *''

A Sleeping Clergyman ''A Sleeping Clergyman'' is a 1933 play in Two Acts by James Bridie. Directed by H. K. Ayliff, it opened at Malvern's Festival Theatre in July 1933, before moving to London's Piccadilly Theatre in September, where it ran for 230 performances. ...

'' (1933) *''Marriage Is No Joke'' (1934) *''Colonel Witherspoon'' or ''The Fourth Way of Greatness'' (1934) *'' Mary Read'' (with Claude Gurney) (1934) *''The Tragic Muse'' (1934) *''The Black Eye'' (1935) *''Storm in a Teacup'' (Adaptation) (1936) Based on

Bruno Frank Bruno Frank (June 13, 1887 – June 20, 1945) was a German author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and humanist. Biography Frank was born in Stuttgart. He studied law and philosophy in Munich, where he later worked as a dramatist and novelist ...

's ''Sturm im Wasserglas'' *''Susannah and the Elders'' (1937) *''The King of Nowhere'' (1938) *''Babes in the Wood'' (1938) *''The Last Trump'' (1938) *''The Kitchen Comedy'' Radio play, (1938) *''The Letter Box Rattles'' (1938) *''One Way of Living'' (1939) – Autobiography *''What Say They?'' (1939) *''The Sign of the Prophet Jonah'' Radio play (1942) Adaption of Jonah and the Whale *''The Dragon and the Dove'' or ''How the Hermit Abraham Fought the Devil for His Niece'' (1943) *''Jonah 3'' (1942) Revised version of ''Jonah and the Whale'' *''Holy Isle'' (1942) *''A Change for the Worse'' 1943 *''Mr. Bolfry'' 1943 *''Tedious and Brief'' (1944) *''Lancelot'' 1945 *''Paradise Enow'' 1945 *''The Pyrate's Den'' (1946) unpublished, written under the pseudonym Archibald P. Kellock *''Gog and Magog'' 1948 *''It Depends What You Mean'' 1949 *''The Forrigan Reel'' Ballad opera 1949 *''Dr. Angelus'' 1949 *''John Knox'' 1949 *''

Daphne Laureola ''Daphne laureola'', commonly called spurge-laurel, is a shrub in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae. Despite the name, this woodland plant is neither a spurge nor a laurel. Its native range covers much of Europe and extends to Algeria, Mo ...

'' 1949 *''The Golden Legend of Shults'' 1949 - (adapted to

There Was a Crooked Man (film) ''There Was a Crooked Man'' is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Stuart Burge and starring Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Reginald Beckwith, and Susannah York. It is based on the James Bridie play ''The Golden Legend of ...

by Norman Wisdom *''Mr. Gillie'' 1950 *''The Queen's Comedy'' 1950 *''Folly to be Wise'' 1952 *''The Baikie Charivari or The Seven Prophets'' 1953 *''Meeting at Night (With Archibald Batty)'' 1954 *(Adaptation) '' The Wild Duck''. Based on Vildanden by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

*(Adaptation) '' Liliom'' Based on Ferenc Molnár's play of the same name *(Adaptation) '' Hedda Gabler'' by Henrik Ibsen *(Adaptation) '' The Misanthrope'' Based on ''Le Misanthrope'' by Molière

References

External links

*
Play performances listed in Theatre Archive university of Bristol
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridie, James 1888 births 1951 deaths Writers from Glasgow Scottish dramatists and playwrights Scottish Renaissance Scottish opera librettists 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights Scottish screenwriters Scottish surgeons Alumni of the University of Glasgow British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Festival founders 20th-century British screenwriters 20th-century surgeons 20th-century pseudonymous writers Medical doctors from Glasgow