Peg o' My Heart (play)

For other uses, see Peg o' My Heart (disambiguation).
Peg o' My Heart
Laurette Taylor in Peg o' My Heart
Written byJ. Hartley Manners
Directed byJ. Hartley Manners
Date premieredDecember 20, 1912 (1912-12-20)
Place premieredCort Theatre
Original languageEnglish
SubjectSatire of Irish-American sentimentality
GenreComedy
SettingDrawing room of Regal Villa in Scarborough

Peg o' My Heart is a 1912 play written by J. Hartley Manners. It has three acts, a medium-sized cast, one setting, and moderate pacing. The story is set at the English mansion of the socially prominent Chichester family, whose lives are changed by the introduction of an Irish-American heiress into their midst.

It was first produced by Oliver Morosco and staged by the playwright. The massive single setting was designed by Robert Brunton.[1] The play starred Laurette Taylor, who had recently signed a three-year contract with Morosco.[2] It opened in Los Angeles during May 1912, where it ran for eleven weeks.[3] Its Broadway premiere came in December 1912. It was a huge success there, playing over 600 times through May 1914, establishing new records "for longest consecutive run of any comedy in New York City" and continuous performances by a female star.[4] Critical reviews on both coasts emphasized the importance of Taylor's performance over the content of the play.[1][5]

Morosco had announced a prize to write a song for the play in March 1912;[6] a year later the winner Peg o' My Heart was released, also to popular success. Manners published his play,[7] but he also published a novel expanding and encompassing the comedy with background and future events.[8] The play had a moderately successful Broadway revival from February through April 1921, and was the basis for a 1922 silent film and a 1933 musical.

  1. ^ a b Johnson, Julian (May 27, 1912). ""Peg", Genre-Piece". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Will Play In West". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. March 3, 1912. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "The Taming of Alberta". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. August 1, 1912. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "In Our Set". The New York Times. New York, New York. May 31, 1914. p. 66 – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ "Laurette Taylor Is "Peg o' My Heart"". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. December 21, 1912. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Plays And Players". The Tucson Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. March 21, 1912. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ J. Hartley Manners (1916). Peg o' My Heart: A Comedy in Three Acts. C. C. Smith.
  8. ^ J. Hartley Manners (1913). Peg o' My Heart: A Comedy of Youth. Dodds, Mead & Company.