Edith Irene Sodergran

Edith Irene Södergran , 1892-1923, Swedish poet, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. Södergran spent most of her adult life in poor health and in isolation in SE Finland near the Russian border. Dikter (1916), her first book, was a collection of free verse that introduced the modernist movement to Finland and Sweden. The Non-Existent Country (1925) is among the most popular of her six volumes of poetry. She wrote in Swedish.

Irene (1919), a musical comedy by James Montgomery (book), Harry Tierney (music), Joe McCarthy (lyrics). [Vanderbilt Theatre, 670 perf.] Irene O'Dare ( Edith Day), “a little bit of salt and sweetness,” is a poor shopgirl who is sent on an errand to the Marshalls' Long Island estate. There Donald Marshall ( Walter Regan) falls in love with her and helps her land a job at a couturier's shop run by a man known as Madam Lucy ( Bobby Watson). At first both families oppose the match. Mrs. O'Dare ( Dorothy Walters) is suspicious of the rich, and Donald's family feels he would be marrying beneath him. But when Irene sings and dances while she models at a party held by the J. P. Bowdens, she wins everyone's heart—and a wedding ring from Donald. Notable songs: Alice Blue Gown; Irene; The Last Part of Ev'ry Party; Castle of Dreams. This charming, intimate musical is generally credited with initiating the vogue for Cinderella librettos, a trend which dominated Broadway for several years. From the time of its closing, until Pins and Needles surpassed it in 1939, Irene remained the longest‐running musical in Broadway history. A 1973 revival, which took many liberties with the original text and score, starred Debbie Reynolds and enjoyed a long run.

Hunter, N(orman) C(harles) (1908–71), English dramatist. He wrote a number of light comedies, of which All Rights Reserved (1935), Ladies and Gentlemen (1937), and A Party for Christmas (1938) reached the West End, before scoring an outstanding success with two plays which showed the influence of Chekhov in their atmosphere and characterization—Waters of the Moon (1951), starring Sybil Thorndike, Edith Evans, and Wendy Hiller, and A Day by the Sea (1953), in which Sybil Thorndike again appeared, partnered by Irene Worth, John Gielgud, and Ralph Richardson. Michael Redgrave and his daughter Vanessa were seen in A Touch of the Sun (1958). Of his later plays, the only one presented in London was The Tulip Tree (1962). Waters of the Moon was revived at Chichester in 1977 (Haymarket, London, 1978).