''The Bird of Paradise'' is a melodramatic American play of 1912 set in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, the best known work of

Richard Walton Tully Richard Walton Tully (May 7, 1877 – February 1, 1945) was an American playwright. Biography Tully was born on May 7, 1877 in Nevada City, California. Tully was married to another playwright Eleanor Gates until he divorced her in 1914. His b ...

. The play has been credited with creating an image of Hawaii as a land where native girls “dance the hula, play ukuleles, live in grass huts, and worship volcano gods”.

Plot

Luana, a Hawaiian princess, is in love with a beachcomber who is also a doctor. He dies after saving the people of Hawaii by isolating the

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

which is the cause of

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

. Luana then redeems his soul by sacrificing herself to the volcano goddess Pele to save her people again. The play includes more-or-less authentic Hawaiian music, dancing, and a simulated volcano in the third act.

Productions

Even though New York City audiences found ''The Bird of Paradise'' ridiculous, it was a modest success on Broadway in 1912, running to 114 performancesBill Peschel, “Bird of Paradise Gets Plucked (1912)” in 20th Century, Writers Gone Wild way Show, February 17, 2009 at

Maxine Elliott's Theatre Maxine Elliott's Theatre was originally a Broadway theatre at 109 West 39th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1908, it was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall of the Chicago-based firm Marshall and Fox, ...

between January 22 and April 13, 1912. However, its mixture of exotic and erotic was a big hit on tour, and with several revivals it ran off-Broadway for twelve years.

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

later said he had been inspired to become an actor by seeing the play at the age of seventeen.

Plagiarism dispute

The play’s success led to a long-running court case, in which after twelve years a schoolteacher named Grace Fendler persuaded the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

that Tully had

plagiarized Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

her scenario entitled ''In Hawaii''. The courts awarded her $780,000 in 1924. The legal fight then went on for another four years, and the judgement was reversed on appeal.

Film adaptations

While the litigation continued, no Hollywood producer wanted to touch a film project based on the play, turning instead to other stories set in the

Pacific islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. Finally, in 1932, '' Bird of Paradise'' was filmed, with Dolores del Rio as Luana and

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he beca ...

as her lover. It was not a big success. The story was filmed again as '' Bird of Paradise'' (1951), with

Debra Paget Debra Paget (born Debralee Griffin; August 19, 1933) is an American actress and entertainer. She is perhaps best known for her performances in Cecil B. DeMille's epic ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956) and in Elvis Presley's film debut, '' Love Me ...

playing a central character renamed as Kalua.Luis Reyes, ''Made in Paradise: Hollywood's Films of Hawai'i and the South Seas'' (Mutual Publishing, 1995), p. 1795

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird of Paradise the 1912 plays