Moncure Daniel Conway

Moncure Daniel Conway , 1832-1907, American author and preacher, b. Stafford co., Va. An ardent abolitionist, Conway lectured in England during the Civil War in the interests of the North. Brought up as a Methodist, he became a Unitarian minister and later a preacher of free thought. Besides editing and contributing essays to periodicals, he was the author of over 70 books, including a biography of Thomas Paine (1892), whose works he also edited (4 vol., 1894-96).

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1904); L. D. Easton, Hegel's First American Followers (1966).

Conway, Moncure Daniel (1832–1907), Virginia Unitarian clergyman and liberal leader, whose more than 70 books include biographies of Emerson, Carlyle, and Hawthorne; novels, studies of Oriental religions and demonology; and pamphlets which, like his Autobiography (1904), show his very individual mind and extreme changes of opinion. Pine and Palm (1887) is a novel about the North and South prior to the Civil War, as seen by Harvard friends from the two sections. Conway was editor of the Cincinnati Dial (1860). He edited The Writings of Thomas Paine (1894–96), of whom he also wrote a biography (1892).

Plain and Fancy (1955), a musical comedy by Joseph Stein, Will Glickman (book), Albert Hague (music), Arnold B. Horwitt(lyrics). [Mark Hellinger Theatre, 461 perf.] Two New Yorkers ( Shirl Conway and Richard Derr) come to the Pennsylvania Dutch country of Lancaster County, where they encounter stern Papa Yoder ( Stefan Schnabel) as well as two young lovers, Katie Yoder ( Gloria Marlowe) and Peter Reber ( David Daniels). Problems arise because Peter has left the tight community and is therefore “shunned.” But, with the help of the two visitors, all ends happily. Notable songs: It Wonders Me; Plenty of Pennsylvania; Why Not Katie?; Young and Foolish. The musical was unusual not because of a basically trite love story but because its setting, the Amish country, was one Broadway musicals had heretofore ignored and which was now treated with a careful respect and affection. One major scene depicted a traditional Amish barn raising. Curiously, many playgoers who saw the show remembered it best for Barbara Cook's performance in a secondary role.