Authors: Penelope Niven
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The author and the publisher acknowledge with appreciation the following individuals and institutions that granted permission and consent for the use, quotation, and citation of sources in this biography:
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The published and unpublished writings of Janet Wilder Dakin are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Amos Niven Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Amos Parker Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Catharine Kerlin Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Charlotte Elizabeth Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Isabel Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Isabella Thornton Niven Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
The published and unpublished writings of Thornton Niven Wilder are published by consent of the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency. Copyright information for Wilder's published works may be found in the Guide to Notes and Sources.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald's letter to Thornton Wilder is published by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.
Zelda Fitzgerald's letter to Thornton Wilder is published by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.
Access to the correspondence of Dr. Guelfo Frulla and Thornton and Isabel Wilder was kindly provided by Dr. Tommaso Munari, along with his permission to quote and/or cite Dr. Frulla's letters.
Excerpts from the writings and interviews of Samuel Steward are reprinted by permission of Michael Williams, executor, Samuel Steward Estate.
Excerpts from “A Very Magical Life: Talking with Samuel Steward,” Owen Keehnen's 1993 interview with Samuel Steward, are reprinted by permission of Owen Keehnen.
Excerpts from the writings of Gene Tunney and Jay Tunney are reprinted by permission of the Estate of Gene Tunney.
Excerpts from
The Selected Letters of Thornton Wilder
(New York: HarperCollins, 2008) are reprinted with permission of Robin G. Wilder and Jackson R. Bryer, editors, and the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
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For the courtesy of access to Thornton Wilder's letters to Alexander Woollcott in the Houghton Library, Harvard University, the author appreciates the assistance of Heather Cole, assistant curator of Modern Books & Manuscripts.
For the courtesy of access to and use of letters by Thornton Niven Wilder and Wilder family members, the author gratefully acknowledges the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, and the kind assistance of Dr. Louise Bernard, curator of Prose and Drama, curator of American Literature. Appreciation is also extended for the courtesy of access to and use of the collections of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Glenway Wescott, and Edmund Wilson in the Yale Collection of American Literature at the Beinecke Library; William Nichols at the Library of Congress; and Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago Library. Permission to quote from Wilder's letters and papers has in all instances, including four unpublished letters to Sibyl Colefax, been granted by the Wilder Family LLC c/o The Barbara Hogenson Agency.
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Unless otherwise noted, the photographs of Thornton Wilder and the Wilder family, as well as of Thornton Wilder's manuscript, are published with the consent of the Wilder Family LLC, and with the courtesy of the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Invaluable assistance in clearing permissions was provided by Hugh Van Dusen of HarperCollins, especially his guidance in the matter of fair use; Peter London of the Permissions Department at HarperCollins; Maya Ziv of HarperCollins; Tappan Wilder; and Barbara Hogenson and Lori Styler of The Barbara Hogenson Agency, on behalf of the Wilder Family LLC.
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use your ebook reader's search tools.
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Note: TNW refers to Thornton Niven Wilder. ANW refers to Amos Niven Wilder (brother). APW refers to Amos Parker Wilder (father).
Abbott, George, 447
Abbott, Mather A., 202, 239, 248, 297
Abercrombie, Gertrude, 523
Adams, John Quincy, 6
Adee, Alvey A., 30
Adenauer, Konrad, 639, 644
Aeschylus, 333â34
Air Corps Intelligence School, 538â39
Akins, Zoë, 549
Albee, Edward, 650â51, 656â57
Albert & Charles Boni, Inc., 241â45, 297, 314â15, 324
and
Bridge,
275, 277, 291, 296, 299â300, 301, 388
and
Cabala,
243â45, 251â52, 255, 259, 263, 268â69, 270
and
Woman of Andros,
333, 388
Aldis, Dorothy, 355
Allen, John, 133
Alvarado, Don, 333
Ameche, Don, 539
American Academy, Rome, 180, 186, 236â37, 278, 362, 437, 580
American Academy of Arts and Letters, 616â17
American Field Service, 115â16, 127â28, 136, 144, 150
American Foreign Service, 562â63
American-German Review,
645
American Laboratory Theatre, New York, 175, 221, 233, 252, 253, 286
Ames, Knowlton Lyman “Snake,” 248
Ames, Rosemary, 248â49, 255, 261â62, 292, 299
Amundsen, Roald, 316
Anderson, Margaret, 198
Anderson, Marian, 663
Anderson, Maxwell, 386, 582, 586, 593
Anderson, Sherwood, 213, 237, 238, 278, 298, 319, 343
Anderson, Tennessee Mitchell, 237
Andrews, Clark, 323
Ardrey, Robert, 353, 400, 481, 535
Aristophanes, 254, 626
Arizona, TNW in, 457, 654â61, 662, 664
Arliss, George, 171
Aronson, Boris, 470
Arthur, Jean, 359
Ashley, Elizabeth, 698
Aspen Company, 599â603
Asquith, Margaret, 314
Astaire, Fred, 427
Atkinson, Brooks, 454, 584, 587, 675
Atlantic Monthly,
295
Austen, Jane, 663
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Bacon, Francis, 549
Bacon, Leonard, 579
Baer, Lewis, 241â42, 244â45, 263, 295, 296, 297, 299, 302, 313
Baker, Christina Hopkinson, 458
Baker, George Pierce, 239, 249, 458
Balzac, Honoré, 426
Bankhead, Tallulah, 532â33, 540, 544â45, 548â49, 552, 554, 586
Barker, Creighton, 391
Barrie, J. M., 109
Barry, Philip, 241
Barrymore, Ethel, 479
Barrymore, John, 154, 163
Bassanesi, Giovanni, 584
Bates, “Tia” Anna, 520, 672
Beach, Sylvia, 198, 262, 278
Beaumont, Hugh “Binkie,” 557, 562, 624, 625â26, 629
Beerbohm, Max, 413
Beer-Hofmann, Richard, 492
Beethoven, Ludwig van,
Ninth Symphony,
284
Bel Geddes, Norman, 234, 646
Bell, Alexander Graham, 86
Benét, Rosemary, 587
Benét, Stephen Vincent, 160, 161
and
S4N,
177
at Yale, 148, 149, 152, 175, 176, 177
Benét, William Rose, 149, 161, 163, 233, 236, 237, 242, 577
Bennett, Arnold, 312
Benson, Sally, 537
Bentley, Eric, 622, 634
Berea College, Kentucky, 134, 139â40, 141â44
Berenson, Bernard, 413
Bergman, Ingmar, 699
Bergner, Elisabeth, 568
Bergson, Henri, 224, 438
Bernstein, Leonard, 648
Bingham, Hiram III, 159
Bissell, Bill, 191, 243
Blaine, James G., 114
Blumer, George, 235
Bokum, Dick, 397, 400
Boleslavsky, Richard, 175, 221, 222, 233, 252â53, 272, 273, 275, 285, 287â88
BolÃvar, Simón, 581
Boni, Albert, 241â43, 296, 300, 333;
see also
Albert & Charles Boni, Inc.
Book-of-the-Month Club, 300, 388, 394, 587, 589, 675
Booth, Shirley, 646
Bordeaux, Henry, 150
Borgese, Giuseppe Antonio, 600
Borkh, Inge, 653, 674
Boston:
Merchant
tryout in, 471
Our Town
film premiere in, 488â89
Our Town
stage tryout in, 450â52
Boston Transcript,
168, 243
Bourdet, Ãdouard, 290
Brett, Dorothy, 658
Brewster, Kate, 355
Brice, Fanny, 532
Bridge of San Luis Rey, The
(TNW):
characters and plot of, 185, 259, 307â12, 313, 499
evolution of, 262, 271, 272, 273, 276, 277, 278â81, 284, 291, 294, 295â96, 298, 333, 558â59, 628, 648
publication of, 275, 299â300, 301â2, 388, 456
public response to, 303â4, 312â14, 324, 408
setting of, 508, 519, 664
success of, 312â14, 324, 325, 328, 329, 330, 349
themes of, 258, 306â7, 336, 351, 569, 602, 629, 686
Brontë, Charlotte, 631
Brooke, Rupert, 127
Brown, John Mason, 240
Brown, Rollo, 514
Browne, Sir Thomas,
Religio Medici,
107, 108â9
Brunauer, Dalma H., 686
Bryce, James, 224
Buber, Martin, 640
Buck, Pearl, 616
Buckwitz, Harry, 653
Bunche, Ralph, 663
Burlingham, Dorothy, 409
Burnett, Whit, 678
Burton, Richard, 630
Butcher, Fanny, 355, 396, 397, 400, 675
Bynner, [Harold] Witter, 658
Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 157
Â
Cabala, The
(TNW), 254â55, 260, 288, 299, 302, 388
as
Boy Sebastian,
197, 263
characters and plot of, 259, 263â67, 271, 305, 306, 335, 342â43
errata in, 268, 270, 305, 314
evolution of, 258â59, 262â63, 271, 285
as
Marcantonio,
243â44
as
Memoirs/Year in Rome,
197, 219â20, 221, 225, 226, 238, 242â45, 249, 263
public response to, 268â70, 272, 278â79, 295, 408
setting of, 262, 263, 266
success of, 269â70, 286, 328
themes of, 256, 258, 265, 267, 336, 351, 589, 670, 686
as
Trasteverine,
207, 208, 263
Cabell, James Branch, 278, 298, 319
Cahn, Sammy, 652
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, 213â14
California Festival, 462â64
Campbell, Gladys, 353, 523
Campbell, Joseph, 545â48, 555â56
Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 649
Canby, Henry Seidel, 161, 176â77, 194, 216, 300, 546
Canfield, Cass, 315, 388, 669, 674
Capra, Frank, 390, 538
Carducci, Giosuè, 27
Carey, MacDonald, 538
Carney, Art, 652
Carter, John, 161
Casals, Pablo, 663
Cather, Willa, 278, 298, 313
Catullus, 572
Century Association, 591
Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago (1933), 356â57, 390
Cerf, Bennett, 242, 406, 547
Chaliapin, Boris, 623
Chandlee, Harry, 483
Chaplin, Charlie, 232, 413, 479, 508
Chekhov, Anton, 206, 253, 254, 306, 687
Cheshire, Fleming, 61
Chesterton, G. K., 314
China:
APW in Shanghai, 30â31, 32â42, 47â49, 50, 56â57, 61, 67, 75â77, 78â80
and Hong Kong,
see
Hong Kong
missionaries in, 29, 36â37, 41â42, 44, 46, 53â54, 62
riots in, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57, 78
U.S. recognition of, 66
China Inland Mission School, Chefoo, 40â49, 50â59, 62â63, 68, 71
Cicero, 572, 580, 581, 589
Circle in the Square, New York, 651â52
Claudel, Paul, 263
Clift, Montgomery, 540, 554, 566, 619, 628, 629â30, 631
Clodius Pulcher, 572
Coast Artillery Corps, 165â66
Cocteau, Jean, 238, 477
Coffin, Catherine, 650, 658, 665, 699
Coffin, William Sloane, Jr., 699, 701
Colefax, Arthur, 413
Colefax, Sibyl:
death of, 608â9, 694
as designer, 431
and friendship, 395, 403, 413â14, 427, 553, 590, 604
and Harris, 349, 444, 445, 446
salon of, 413â14
TNW's letters to, 332, 338â39, 344â45, 353, 360â61, 412, 418, 419, 472, 473, 474, 498, 508, 552, 565, 665
and TNW's work:
Alcestiad
, 567;
Heaven's
, 345, 361;
Ides
, 581;
Merchant
, 472;
Our Town
, 427, 442, 530;
Skin,
541, 544
and war, 467, 525, 526, 529
Coleman, Ronald, 384
Collinge, Patricia, 538
Colum, Padraic, 237, 485, 549
Con, Louis, 262
Connelly, Marc, 399, 452, 497, 620
Green Pastures,
442
Cooper, Gary, 390
Copland, Aaron, 648
Cornell, Katharine “Kit,” 353, 359â60, 395, 403, 406, 418
Cosmopolitan Productions, 386
Cotten, Joseph, 537
Cousins, Norman, 547
Coward, Noël, 353, 555, 608
Coward, Tim, 574
Coward-McCann, 315, 324, 348, 349, 369, 458, 460, 514, 574
Cowl, Jane, 470, 471
Cowley, Malcolm, 177, 615, 675, 698â99
Cowper, William, 317
Cozzens, James Gould, 332
Craven, Frank, 445, 452, 465, 479, 480, 483
Crawford, Cheryl, 479, 668
Cronyn, Hume, 538
Crowther, Bosley, 489
Crozier, Eric, 453
Cukor, George, 362, 383, 444, 463, 535
cummings, e. e., 177
Â
Dadaism, 220
Dakin, Janet Wilder, 568, 623â24
death of, 701
early years of,
see
Wilder, Janet Frances
wedding of, 511â13, 517
Dakin, Winthrop Saltonstall “Toby,” 508, 511â12, 568, 623
Damita, Lili, 333
Dana, J. Dwight, 315, 328â29, 333, 346â47, 352, 387, 388, 398, 400, 445, 449, 452, 453, 475, 477, 487, 509, 511, 512, 517, 518, 519, 531, 554, 555â56
Dane, Clarence, 286
Dante Alighieri, 185, 426, 459, 515
Dark Angel
(film), 384
Davies, Arthur B., 112
Davies, Marion, 385, 463
Davis, Robert Frederick, 400, 403
De Bosis, Adolfo, 192
De Bosis, Lauro, 192, 238, 278, 584â85
Defense of Democracy League, 504
Defoe, Daniel, 631
De la Mare, Walter, 213
DeMott, Benjamin, 655
De Sica, Vittorio, 620, 638
DeVane, William C., 176
Dial,
208
Dickens, Tom, 213
Dickinson, Emily, 439, 607, 608, 609, 610â11, 615, 616
Dietrich, Marlene, 383
Disney, Walt, 412, 479
Dodge, Mabel,
see
Luhan, Mabel Dodge
Donoghue, Margaret, 11, 37, 40, 49, 51