John Hartley Manners (10 August 1870 – 19 December 1928) was a London-born playwright of Irish extraction who wrote ''

Peg o' My Heart "Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman i ...

'', which starred his wife, Laurette Taylor, on Broadway in one of her greatest stage triumphs.

Biography

He was born on 10 August 1870. He wrote the 1922 silent screen adaptation of his own 1912 play ''Peg o' My Heart'' which starred Laurette. The 1933 sound remake starring

Marion Davies Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...

was adapted from Manners' play as Manners had died in 1928. Manners also wrote two 1924 silent film screenplays which starred his wife in her only two other motion picture appearances, ''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. ...

'' adapted from his play, and ''

One Night in Rome ''One Night in Rome'' is a 1924 American silent drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qua ...

''. The latter his wife particularly enjoyed and kept a personal print to run over and over for guests. His one-act radio play ''

The Queen's Messenger ''The Queen's Messenger '' was the first television drama. The experiment was broadcast by a Schenectady, New York station on September 11, 1928. It was a radio drama adapted for television and broadcast both sound and moving pictures. These wer ...

'' was adapted to become the first ever broadcast television drama only three months before his death on 19 December 1928.

Productions

''Peg o' My Heart'', a comedy, played in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from December 20, 1912 to May 30, 1914. New International Encyclopedia It afterward had a long run in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The play was the subject of a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case decided in 1920, '' Manners v. Morosco''. Manners' other plays include: * ''As Once in May'' * ''The Crossways'', in collaboration with

Lillie Langtry Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the isla ...

* ''The Day of Dupes'' * ''Ganton & Co.'' * ''Getting Together'' * ''The Girl and the Wizard'' * ''The Girl in Waiting'' * ''The Great John Ganton'' * ''Happiness'' * ''The Harp of Life'' * ''The House Next Door'' * ''The Indiscretion of Truth'' * ''The Lancers'' * ''The Majesty of Birth'' * ''A Marriage of Reason'' * ''The National Anthem'' * ''One Night in Rome'' * ''Out There'' * ''The Patriot'' * ''The Prince of Bohemia'' * ''

'' * ''A Woman Intervenes'' * ''The Wooing of Eve'' * ''Zira'', with

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

He published ''Peg o' My Heart'' in 1913, and ''Happiness and Other Plays'', including ''Just as Well'' and ''The Day of Dupes'' in 1914. He died of esophageal cancer in New York City, aged 58.

References

External links

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J. Hartley Manners on Great War Theatre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manners, J. Hartley 1870 births 1928 deaths 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights British dramatists and playwrights British people of Irish descent Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from esophageal cancer English emigrants to the United States British male dramatists and playwrights Writers from London