Shattered Applause: The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne

346 Pages·1992·17.18 MB·English

by  Robert A Schanke

Schanke Robert A. Schanke
SHATTERED
Theater / Biography APPLAUSE
his comprehensive biography of the actress fi lm critic Rex Reed called
T“a national treasure” draws on Robert A. Schanke’s interviews and
The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne
correspondence not only with Eva Le Gallienne but also with more than
one hundred of her colleagues and friends, including Glenda Jackson,
Burgess Meredith, Eli Wallach, Peter Falk, Ellen Burstyn, Anne Jackson,
Farley Granger, Jane Alexander, Uta Hagen, and Rosemary Harris. Forty-
two illustrations offer highlights of Le Gallienne’s many notable perfor-
mances in such plays as Hedda Gabler, Liliom, The Cherry Orchard, Peter
Pan, Camille, Mary Stuart, The Royal Family, and The Dream Watcher.
Behind her public role as a famous actress and as the founding and
maintaining force of the fi rst civic repertory theater in the United States,
Eva Le Gallienne led a private life complicated by her identity as a lesbian.
Schanke considers Le Gallienne’s sexuality and how it played a role in the
struggles, defeats, and triumphs that combined to inspire her greatness.
Shattered Applause, a fi nalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian
Nonfi ction, tells a fascinating story that also serves as a barometer of the
changing values, tastes, and attitudes of American society.
Robert A. Schanke, a professor emeritus of theater at Central College,
Iowa, is the author of Eva Le Gallienne: A Bio-Bibliography, “That Furi-
ous Lesbian”: The Story of Mercedes de Acosta, and Ibsen in America: A
Century of Change.
Cover illustrations: top, as Queen Marguerite in Exit the King, author’s
collection; bottom, as Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder, courtesy
Museum of the City of New York, The Theatre Collection.
Southern Illinois
University Press ISBN 0-8093-3008-3
ISBN 978-0-8093-3008-9
1915 University Press Drive
Mail Code 6806
Carbondale, IL 62901
www.siupress.com Southern
Illinois
Printed in the United States of America University
Press Foreword by May Sarton
Schanke_Shattered_cvr_CDDC.indd 1 7/20/10 11:13 AM
SHATTERED APPLAUSE
The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne
Shattered Applause
As Hedda Gabler, 1939. Courtesy Museum of
the City of New York, The T heatre CoUection.
Shattered Applause
The Lives of
Eva Le Gallienne
Robert A. Schanke
Foreword by
May Sarton
Southern illinois University Press
Carbondale and Edwardsville
Copyright © 1992 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
Paperback edition 2010
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
Te Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Schanke, Robert A., 1940–
Shattered applause : the lives of Eva Le Gallienne / Robert A. Schanke;
foreword by May Sarton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Le Gallienne, Eva, 1899–. 2. Actors—United States—Biography.
3. Lesbians—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.L3S34 1992
792'.028'092—dc20
[B] 92-4414
ISBN 0-8093-1820-2 CIP
ISBN 978-0-8093-1820-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8093-3008-9 (paperback)
ISBN 0-8093-3008-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-8093-8600-0 (ebook)
ISBN 0-8093-8600-3 (ebook)
Te paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To Jack
Contents
Illustrations / ix
Foreword I xi
May Sarton
Preface / xv
Acknowledgments I xxi
1. Water Baby I 1
2.Mad about Her / 24
3. Tout Sera Bien (All Shall Be Well) I 41
4.Abbess of Fourteenth Street I 66
5.My Life in Two I 88
6.The Greater Depression / 99
7.Beyond Joy I 159
8. Buying Some Freedom I 184
9. The Queen Is Baek I 202
10. Exit the Queen / 232
I1.The Comeback Kid I 242
12.Winter Bound I 268
Appendixes
A. Works by Eva Le Gallienne I 281
B. Production Record of Eva Le Gallienne / 284
Notes I 291
Index I 311
illustrations
Frontispiece
As Hedda Gabler (1939)
Following page 118
As two-year-old
At tea with Nanny and Hep
As eight-year-old in school play
With half sister Hep (1914)
While playing in The OjJChance (1918)
AlIa Nazimova in Hedda Gabler (1918)
In Liliom (1921)
Modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch (1921)
A doll of her Julie in Litiom (1922)
Caricature of The Swan, (1923)
In The Master Builder (1925)
The Civic Repertory Theatre
Caricature of The Three Sisters (1927)
As Hedda Gabler (1928)
In The Cherry Orchard with Alla Nazimova (1928)
As Peter Pan (1928)
Cover of Time (1929)
As Juliet (1930)
Cartoon from "Lesbian Scrapbook"
In Camille (1931)
In Alice in WOnderland (1932)
Josephine Hutchinson as Alice (1932)
In Camille (1935)
May Sarton (c. 1937)
In The Cherry Orchard (1944)
In Mary Stuart (1957)
ix