''The College Widow '' is a 1904 American comedic play by

George Ade George Ade (February 9, 1866 – May 16, 1944) was an American writer, syndicated newspaper columnist, and playwright who gained national notoriety at the turn of the 20th century with his "Stories of the Streets and of the Town", a column that ...

, which was adapted to film multiple times, and also into the popular 1917 musical ''

Leave It to Jane ''Leave It to Jane'' is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, based on the 1904 play '' The College Widow'', by George Ade. The story concerns the football rivalry between Atwater ...

''.

Background

In the latter nineteenthHalsey, L. (December 1870)
The College Widow
''Phrenological Journal and Packard's Monthly'', pp. 427-28 and early twentieth centuries, the trope of a "college widow" was spoken of on college campuses, usually meaning an attractive unmarried woman near campus who would date college students, moving on to new students as the years passed.Clark, Daniel A
Creating the College Man: American Mass Magazines and Middle-Class Manhood, 1890-1915
pp. 107, 227 (2010) Playwright

first used the trope for a poem he wrote in 1900 (later published in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' in 1905), and as the inspiration for a play in 1904.

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

also drives the light plot of the play, loosely based on the football rivalry between

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

and

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts cur ...

, which is now known as the

Monon Bell The Monon Bell (pronounced MOE-non) is the trophy awarded to the victor of the annual college football matchup between the Wabash College Little Giants (in Crawfordsville, Indiana) and the DePauw University Tigers (in Greencastle, Indiana) in ...

rivalry.(24 January 2006)
'College Widow' to open Purdue's new Hansen Theatre
Purdue University News

Broadway production

After initial warm up performances at the Columbia Theater in Washington, D.C.,Washington Sees Ade Play
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' the play successfully ran at the

Garden Theatre The Garden Theatre was a major theatre on Madison Avenue and 27th Street in New York City, New York. The theatre opened on September 27, 1890, and closed in 1925. Part of the second Madison Square Garden complex, the theatre presented Broadway ...

on Broadway for 278 performances, from September 20, 1904, through May 13, 1905, and then toured the United States with three different touring companies.(13 May 1905)
Advertisement
''New York Tribune'', p. 8, col. 5 (advertisement for final matinee and final show on evening of May 13, 1905)(9 July 1904)

''

'' The play was produced by

Henry Wilson Savage Henry Wilson Savage (March 21, 1859 – November 29, 1927) was an American theatrical manager. Biography Henry W. Savage was born March 21, 1859, in New Durham, New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard in 1880. He became president of the Henry W. ...

and directed by George Marion.(18 September 1904)
Amusements of the week
''

''(21 September 1904)
George Ade and "The College Widow" (review)
''

''Hischak, Thomas S
Broadway Plays and Musicals
p. 978 (2009)(21 February 2006)

''Fort Wayne News-Sentinel'' At the end of the run and tour, Ade is said to have earned $2 million from the play. In 1911, baseball star

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

starred in a touring production of the play.Edelman, Rob
Ty Cobb, Actor
''The National Pastime'' (2010)

Plot

The play is a cheerful and lightweight comedy. Set at fictional Atwater College, Jane Witherspoon (played by

Dorothy Tennant Dorothy Tennant (22 March 1855 – 5 October 1926) was an English painter of the Victorian era neoclassicism. She was married to the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Biography Tennant was born in Russell Square, London, the second daughter of ...

) is the daughter of the college president, and she works to prevent star football player Billy Bolton (Frederick Truesdell) from attending rival Bingham College.Fisher, James and Felicia Harsdison Londre
The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism
p. 106 (2008)

Original Broadway Cast

* Frederick Truesdell as Billy Bolton, a half back * George E. Bryant as Peter Witherspoon, A.M. Ph.D., President of the Atwater College * Edwin Holt as Hiram Bolton, President of the K. and H. Road * Dan Collyer as "Matty" McGowen, a trainer * Stephen Mailey as Hon. Elam Hicks of Squantumville * Edgar I. Davenport as Jack Larrabee, a football coach * J. Beresford Hollis as Copernicus Talbot, a post-graduate tutor * Thomas Delmar as "Silent" Murphy, centre rush * Morgan Coman as "Stub" Talmadge, a busy undergraduate * Robert Mackaye at Tom Pearson, right tackle * E.Y. Backus as The Town Marshall * Douglas J. Wood as Ollie Mitchell * George F. Demarest as. Dick McAllister * John H. Chapman as "Jimsey" Hopper *

as Jane Witherspoon, the college widow * Amy Ricard as Bessie Tanner, an athletic girl *

Gertrude Quinlan Gertrude Quinlan (February 25, 1875 r February 23, 1880 r February 23, 1877, according to 1900 census– November 29, 1963) was an American actress of soubrette roles, singing in over 125 operas. Quinlan spent most of her youth in Boston. ...

as Flora Wiggins, a prominent waitress * Lida McMillan as Mrs. Primley Dalzelle, a professional chaperon * Mary McGregor as Luella Chubbs * Belle Nelson as Cora Jenks * Lucy Cabeen as Bertha Tyson * Georgia Cross as Sally Cameron * Florence Cameron as Ruth Aiken * Grace Quackenbush as Josephine Barclay

Adaptations and legacy

The play was adapted to a silent film of the same name in 1915, and again in 1927,(7 November 1927)
George Ade's Old Comedy
''

'' and in the sound film '' Maybe It's Love'' in 1930 and ''

Freshman Love ''Freshman Love'' is a 1936 sound film based on George Ade's oft filmed 1904 play '' The College Widow'', adaptations of which were filmed twice previously, in 1915 and 1927, and parodied by the Marx Brothers in their 1932 film ''Horse Feathers''. ...

'' in 1936.(25 January 1936)
At the Palace
''

'' The 1932

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

' film ''

Horse Feathers ''Horse Feathers'' is a 1932 pre-Code comedy film starring the Marx Brothers. It stars the Four Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo), Thelma Todd and David Landau. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, an ...

'' also largely appears to be a parody of the 1927 film.Coniam, Matthe
The Annotated Marx Brothers
p. 85 (2015) It was also adapted into a successful musical in 1917 under the title ''

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:College Widow Play 1904 plays College football mass media Broadway plays