Anna Alice Chapin
New York Public Library Digital Gallery[1]
Born(1880-12-16)December 16, 1880
New York City
DiedFebruary 26, 1920(1920-02-26) (aged 39)
New York City
Occupation(s)Author and Playwright
SpouseRobert Peyton Carter
Robert Peyton Carter

Anna Alice Chapin (December 16, 1880 – February 26, 1920) was an American author and playwright. She wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales and books on music, but is perhaps best remembered for her 1904 collaboration with Glen MacDonough on the child's book adaptation of the Babes in Toyland operetta.[2][3]

Early life

Anna Alice Chapin was born in New York City, the daughter of Dr. Frederick Windle Chapin and the former Anna J. Hoppin.[4] Her father, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, attended Trinity College, Hartford and received his medical degree from New York University.[5] Her mother was most likely a close relative of the architect Howard Hoppin (1854–1940), who designed several buildings in the Pomfret Street Historic District, including the Chapin home.[6] Chapin received a private education and studied music under Harry Rowe Shelley.

Career

Chapin published her first book, The Story of the Rhinegold, when she was just 17 years old. Her other works would include: Wonder Tales from Wagner (1898); Wotan, Siegfried, and Brunhilde (1898); Masters of Music (1901); The True Story of Humpty Dumpty: How He Was Rescued by Three Mortal Children in Make Believe Land, Illustrated & Decorated by Ethel Franklin Betts (1905); Discords (1905); The Heart of Music (1906); Königskinder (1911); The Nowadays Fairy Book (1911); The Street-Car Mystery (1911); The Spirit of the Sea (1912); The Topsy Turvy Fairy (1913); The Eagle's Mate (1914); The Every Day Fairy Book (1915); Mountain Madness (1917); and Jane (1920).[7]

Chapin also wrote many short stories for magazines and newspaper syndication.[citation needed]

The Deserters

Chapin wrote a play, produced in New York City in 1910, entitled The Deserters,[8][9][10] written with her husband, Robert Peyton Carter, a stage actor who often worked with Maude Adams.[11][12][13][14][15] In 1919 The Deserters was released as the film Sacred Silence, with William Russell and Agnes Ayres.[16]

Film

Several of Chapin's stories were adapted for film between 1914 and 1961. The Eagle's Mate was produced in 1914 with Mary Pickford and James Kirkwood, Sr. in the starring roles. In 1920 Mountain Madness came out with a cast led by Mignon Anderson, Harold Miller (1894-1972) and Ora Carew. The Girl of Gold written with Cleveland Moffett first appeared in the magazine Snappy Stories as a serial running from December, 1919 to March, 1920 and was produced as a film with Florence Vidor, Malcolm McGregor and Alan Roscoe in 1925. The libretto Babes in Toyland was first seen on film in 1934 as a vehicle for Laurel and Hardy and again in 1961 with Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello.[17][18]

Bibliography

Babes in Toyland, 1904

Personal life

Chapin married Robert Peyton Carter, a stage actor who often worked with Maude Adams, in 1906.

Chapin, aged 39, died after a short illness at her residence on West Thirteenth Street, New York City.[21] She was preceded in death, on June 8, 1918, in Monrovia, California, by her husband, Robert Peyton Carter,[22][23][24][25][26][27] who had appeared on stage as recently as March 1918 supporting Maude Adams in A Kiss for Cinderella.[11][28] and often together in Peter Pan[29][30][31][32]

Sources

  1. ^ "Anna Alice Chapin". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b Fox, Duffield and Company (advertisement) (30 October 1904). "Babes in Toyland by Glen MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin". The New York Tribune. New York, New York. p. 10. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Ethel Franklin Betts, Illustrator (New-York tribune. 1866-1924, National Endowment for the Humanities)((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b ""The Uniform Fitted Him Fairly Well", Ethel Franklin Betts (c. 1877-1956) - Sale 12162 - American Art Online; 14 - 23 March 2016". Christie’s. Retrieved 9 December 2020. ... the Christmas-themed children's book, Babes in Toyland. The book, based on the operetta of the same name, was written by lyricist Glen MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin.
  4. ^ Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American Commonwealth Company. p. 164. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  5. ^ New York University, General Alumni Catalogue: Medical alumni, 1833-1907, 1908, p. 266 accessed 6.17.13
  6. ^ American Architect and Architecture, Volume 19, p. vii accessed 6.17.13
  7. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge, Volume 6, 1918, p. 296 accessed 6.17.13
  8. ^ "Page 4". Michigan Daily. No. (vol. 21, iss. 75). January 14, 1911. p. 4. The Deserters,
  9. ^ "Fine Arts Quartet Records, 1910-2016". Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids. University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. Retrieved 9 December 2020. The Deserters, by Robert Peyton Carter and Anna Alice Chapin - Hudson (Reel 4 Frame 954 Volume 29, 1911 )
  10. ^ "HUDSON THEATER, 139-141 West 44th Street, Manhattan. architects J.B. McElfatrick & Son and Israels & Harder. Landmark Site: Built 1902-04; Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 997, Lot 15" (PDF). Designation List 196 LP-1340. Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 17, 1987. Retrieved 9 December 2020. THE DESERTERS 9/20/10 (63 perfs.) by Robert Peyton Carter and Anna Alice Chapin; with Frederick Truesdell and James J. Ryan.
  11. ^ a b Anna Alice Chapin Dead. The New York Times, February 27, 1920, p. 13
  12. ^ Carter, Robert Peyton; Chapin, Anna Alice (1910). "The Deserters,".
  13. ^ Jenks, George C.; Chapin, Anna Alice (1911). The Deserters. H.K. Fly Company. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Free eBook
  14. ^ "A Guide to the Belknap Playbills and Programs Collection". University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Peter Pan (By J.M. Barrie - Original Adaptation) : or "the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" by J.M. Barrie. Various productions (1905 - 90) starring Maude Adams, Robert Peyton Carter, Marion Abbott, Ernest Lawford, Grace Henderson, Lula Peck, R.P. Carter, Byron Silvers, Pauline Chase, Marilyn Miller (Portrayed by Judy Garland in the 1945 biopic, "Till the Clouds Roll By" and by June Haver in the 1949 biopic, "Look for the Silver Lining"), J. Edward Bromberg, Josephine Hutchinson, Eva Le Gallienne, Howard da Silva, Charles Walters, Richard Waring, Nina Boucicault, Arthur Lupino, Sydney Harcourt, Violet Kemble Cooper, Leslie Banks, Jane Wren, Unity More, Dot Temple, Hilda Blake, Mark Buffery, Richard Huw, Simon Slater, Ian Bolt, Susan Hampshire, Michael Denison, etc. Originally produced (1905) by Charles Frohman.
  15. ^ Warde, Frederick (1915). "A Merry Devil - Launcelot Gobbo in the Merchant of Venice". The Fools of Shakespeare. London: McBride, Nast & Company. Retrieved 9 December 2020. A most interesting and unique performance of Launcelot Gobbo was given some years ago by that sterling character actor, Mr. Robert Peyton Carter, so long associated with Miss Maude Adams. I was the Shylock of the performance to which I refer.
  16. ^ Fox Film Corporation (12 October 1919). "Sacred Silence". iMdb.
  17. ^ The American Film Institute Catalog, (Kenneth White Munden, editor), 1997, p. 283 accessed 6.17.13
  18. ^ Anna Alice Chapin - Internet Movie Database accessed 6.17.13
  19. ^ "STORY OF THE VIOLIN.; THE HEART OF MUSIC. The Story of the Violin. By Anna Alice Chapin, author of "Masters of Song," &c. Pp. 299. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. $1.60". The New York Times. 26 January 1907.
  20. ^ "1916: Crazy Cat and the Bohemian Greenwich Village Felines of Sheridan Square, Part I". The Hatching Cat. 7 May 2016. As Anna Alice Chapin wrote in her book Greenwich Village (1920):
  21. ^ "Obituary for Anna Alice Chapin Chapin (Aged 40)". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 27 February 1920. p. 13.
  22. ^ Aushenker, Michael (August 2, 2011). "Historical Museum Explores Miramar's Past". The Lookout. Santa Monica. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Among the visitors of yesteryear: John Muir, Mark Twain, and Robert fPeyton Carter, an entertainment figure who handwrote in ink a lengthy, nostalgic poem about the Miramar.
  23. ^ "Robert Peyton Carter". IMDb.
  24. ^ "Robert Peyton Carter". Playbill. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  25. ^ Special to The New York Times (15 September 1905). "New Fitch Play In Boston". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Robert Peyton Carter". IBDB.com. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  27. ^ "R.P. Carter". IBDB.com. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  28. ^ Maude Adams. Syracuse Herald, March 12, 1918, p. 8
  29. ^ "March 3rd, 1913 playbill from the National Tour engagement of James M. Barrie's 'PETER PAN' at the Illinois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois". SportsCards.com. 9 December 2020. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. The play starred MAUDE ADAMS (who originated the role of "Peter Pan") and featured ROBERT PEYTON CARTER as "Captain Hook" and "Mr. Darling". Others in the cast included MARION ABBOTT, DOROTHY DUNN, EDWIN WILSON, ANN PITTWOOD, BYRON SILVERS, JANE WREN, LOLA CLIFTON, DOROTHY CHESMAN, GEORGE DRISCOLL, MARGARET GORDON, DOROTHY TUREAK, ANNA READER, FRED TYLER, WALLACE JACKSON, ALLEN FAWCETT, JAMES L. CARHART, GUSTAVE STROWIG, STEPHEN WITTMAN, AUGUST KRAEMER, STAFFORD WINDSOR, DILLON DEASY, MADGE TREADWELL and HELEN McDONALD ..... CREDITS: Book by J. M. BARRIE; Sets designed by J. M. HEWLETT, A. T. HEWLWTT and CHARLES BASING; Produced by CHARLES FROHMAN
  30. ^ "programs: 100 Years of Peter Pan". Norman F. Moore Collection. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  31. ^ "Maude Adams In Famous Barnyard Play "Chantecler" Opens at Mason; "Madame X" Continues at the Burbank". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 190. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 4 May 1912. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Miss Adams plays the cock and delivers the prologue George Henry Trader is cast as the dog. Others in the cast include William Lewers, Robert Peyton Carter, Ernest Rowan, A Lionel Hogarth, E. W. Morrison, Josephine Victor, Marlon Abbot. Margaret Gordon. Lucy Prendergast, Ada Loshell and Allen Fawcett.
  32. ^ O'Brien, Mique. "Stage Jottings". Daily Tribune. No. 8 December 1914. Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana: Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program. Retrieved 9 December 2020. Percy Hammond, dramatic critic of the Chicago Tribune, has not heretofore Been a very ardent admirer of Maude Adams' art, but the actress apipeaxs to have WOn him. completely by her performance in "The Legend of Leonora," which will be the piece de resistance oh tonight's double bill at the Grand. Of a rccent performance Mr. Hammond wrote: "Nothing more improbable was ever Written by a dramatist nothing more probable was ever acted by an actress. That, to me, was an important item in the enjoyment Of 'The Legend of Leonora.' Everything1 Was so possibly impossible. Miss Adartis' company had a great share In this1—Mr. Arthur Elliott as the. magistrate being particularly fine. So, indeed, was Mr. Charles Hammond in A conventional environment, and Mr. Robert Peyton Carter as an amusing Interloper excusing his intrusions by the skill of his playing.

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