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Old Maid, The
Old Maid, The (1935), a play by Zoë Akins. [Empire Theatre, 305 perf.; Pulitzer Prize.] When Charlotte Lovell ( Helen Menken) has an illegitimate daughter, her married cousin, Delia Ralston ( Judith Anderson), agrees to raise her as her own. Delia also prevents Charlotte from marrying her brother‐in‐law. Years later, Charlotte has moved in with her cousin; and the child, Tina ( Margaret Anderson), has grown into an attractive woman who loves her supposed mother and has little time for her prim, dour maiden aunt. At Tina's wedding to rich Lanning Halsey ( John Cromwell), Charlotte decides to reveal the true story, but finds she cannot summon up the courage to do so. Understanding her agony, Delia quietly tells Tina to give her last kiss to Cousin Charlotte. Based on Edith Wharton's novel, the play divided New York's critics. But their division turned to unity in their dismay at the play's being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. This dissatisfaction, coupled with the Pulitzer committee's bypassing Winterset the next season, led to the establishment of the New York Drama Critics Circle and its own award.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OldMaidThe.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OldMaidThe.html |
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Old Maid, The
Old Maid, The, novelette by Edith Wharton, published in 1924 as one of the series Old New York. Zoç Akins dramatized it (1935).
Delia Lovell and her cousin Charlotte both love Clem Spender, and Charlotte has an illegitimate daughter by him after Delia leaves to marry wealthy Jim Ralston. Ever‐domineering and afraid of scandal, Delia takes the child Tina into her home as her own daughter, and maneuvers Charlotte into breaking her engagement to Joseph Ralston. Charlotte lives with them as the maiden aunt, stifling the truth through love of her child, even when Tina regards her as a quaint survival whose presence is rather a nuisance. The cousins quarrel violently the night before Tina's wedding, but when they are left alone Delia recognizes that she has done a “sacrilegious thing” in interfering with another “human being's right to love and suffer after his own fashion,” and they settle down to a quiet understanding and old age. |
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-OldMaidThe.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Old Maid, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-OldMaidThe.html |
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