''The World of Carl Sandburg'' was a stage presentation of selections from the poetry and prose of

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

, chosen and arranged by

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...

, starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

. There was a 21-week national tour 1959–1960, co-starring Davis's husband

Gary Merrill Gary Fred Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990) was an American film and television actor whose credits included more than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. He starr ...

, towards the end, he was replaced by Barry Sullivan. Afterwards, there was a one-month run at the

Henry Miller Theatre The Stephen Sondheim Theatre, formerly Henry Miller's Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 124 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Owned by the Durst Organization and managed by the Roundabout Theatre ...

in the fall of 1960, co-starring Leif Erickson. Guitar accompaniment and singing was provided by the folk singer and guitarist

Clark Allen Clark Allen (February 14, 1925 – January 20, 2008) was an American entertainer, artist, and businessman. Early life Allen was born in Baltimore. He attended Grossmont High School in El Cajon, California, graduating in 1942. His drawing of the o ...

. For the opening performances, both of the tour and on Broadway, Sandburg himself spoke after the production. A printed text version, with commentary by Corwin and Sandburg, was then published in 1961.

Norman Corwin background

Since the 1930s, Corwin had been adapting Sandburg for the stage in various ways. In 1958, he was approached by Leonard Karzmar to create a production honoring Sandburg in his 80th year. The result was a Hollywood star-studded evening held on the campus of

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. When, a few months later, Corwin was asked for "suggestions for an evening of 'concert style' theater", he chose the Sandburg Tribute as a model, but reworked it for three performers.

Bette Davis background

In the late 1950s, Davis's career as a celebrated Hollywood actress was seemingly over, with several failures in a row. She had even agreed to a television role, but the pilot was not even aired. Davis was considering a return to live theater when she was approached for the Sandburg staging, and she and her husband, Gary Merrill, signed on without a script. As Davis and Merrill lived in Maine, rehearsals were held at Bowdoin College, and the show premiered in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Their marriage was falling apart at the time, and the national tour accelerated their personal acrimony. Davis and Merrill, during the tour, ended up staying in widely separated rooms. Davis served Merrill with divorce papers during the tour, and Barry Sullivan substituted for Merrill.

On Broadway

The Broadway production, with Leif Erickson, received four favorable reviews out of seven in the New York papers. Overall, the show was a failure, and closed after one month. Corwin lists numerous excuses, none of which he believes, while he barely hints at what several Davis biographers state explicitly: the Davis-Merrill on-stage chemistry had been a major draw.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:World of Carl Sandburg, The 1960 in theatre 1961 books Harcourt (publisher) books