Clarence

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Clarence (1919), a comedy by Booth Tarkington. [Hudson Theatre, 300 perf.] Clarence ( Alfred Lunt) is a timid, seemingly bumbling ex‐soldier who had been wounded in the war (but during target practice). He is taken in by the Wheelers, a family in desperate disarray. The harried father ( John Flood) is almost at his wit's end trying to control his flighty, suspicious wife ( Mary Boland), his wild daughter Cora ( Helen Hayes), and his ne'er‐do‐well son Bobby ( Glenn Hunter). Clarence succeeds in bringing order out of chaos and wins the hand of the daughter's governess ( Elsie Mackay). Only as he is leaving does the family learn he is one of the world's greatest authorities on coleoptera—bugs. Heywood Broun wrote in the Tribune, “Clarence is the best light comedy which has been written by an American.” The George C. Tyler production, which deftly caught the optimism and excitement that was to characterize the 1920s, rocketed Lunt into prominence and caused Helen Hayes to be typecast as a flapper for several seasons.

Clarence ♂ In use from the mid-19th century in honour of the popular elder son of Edward VII, who was created Duke of Clarence in 1890, but died in 1892. His title (Dux Clarentiae in Latin) originated with a son of Edward III, who in the 14th century was married to the heiress of Clare in Suffolk (which is so called from a Celtic river name and has no connection with the given name Clare). The title has been held by various British royal princes at different periods in history. In the United States the name was borne most notably by the American defence lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857–1938), played in various films by Orson Welles, Spencer Tracy, and Henry Fonda.

Clarence, Australia, New Zealand Australia (New South Wales): a river renamed after Albert Victor (1864–92), Duke of Clarence, the eldest son of the British King Edward VII. It was at first known as the Big River after its discovery in 1831.

Clarence A series in the Lower Cretaceous of New Zealand, underlain by the Taitai, overlain by the Raukumara, and comprising the Urutawan, Motuan, and Ngaterian Stages. It is roughly contemporaneous with the upper Albian and lower Cenomanian.

clarence four-wheeled four-seated carriage. XIX. Named after the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV.

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