Man Who Came Back, The

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Man Who Came Back, The (1916), a play by Jules Eckert Goodman. [Playhouse, 457 perf.] Disowned by his wealthy father, the dissolute Henry Potter ( Henry Hull) takes to wandering the world, living a life of increasing dissipation and, along with the dance hall hostess Marcelle ( Mary Nash), sinks lower and lower until both hit bottom in a Shanghai opium den. Emissaries from his dying father locate Henry and beg him to return home for a final visit, but they insist he must leave Marcelle behind. Henry refuses to desert her and the decision, with its moral and ethical implications, somehow revitalizes him. In the end Henry does return, with an equally reformed Marcelle, who is welcomed into the Potter household. The Times, comparing the play offering to serials then common in many popular magazines, called it “A little lurid, at times intensely theatrical, but interesting all the way through.” The play was based on a story by John Fleming Wilson. Producer William A. Brady later claimed the production “made millions” for him.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Man Who Came Back, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Man Who Came Back, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ManWhoCameBackThe.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Man Who Came Back, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ManWhoCameBackThe.html

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