Abraham Lincoln -A Play

1919. hard. Good. Abraham Lincoln: A Play - By John Drinkwater Book in good condition, front cover is a scratches, corners worn , but text is wonderfully clear. 112 Pages

1919- the play was originally written in 1918 Abraham Lincoln is a somewhat fictionalized play by John Drinkwater about the 16th President of the United States. Drinkwater's first great success, it opened in England in 1918 and on Broadway in 1919. In the New York production, the title role was played by Frank McGlynn, who had previously portrayed Lincoln in D.W. Griffith's controversial epic The Birth of a Nation. A rare depiction of events in the life of a U.S. President by a British playwright, the play was a great success in its day, and was produced on radio by Orson Welles on August 15, 1938, on his program, The Mercury Theatre on the Air. In 1924, a two-reel sound film version of the play, also starring McGlynn, was filmed by Lee De Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. On May 26, 1952, the play was presented on television on the anthology series Studio One.

The television version was notable for featuring actor James Dean in a small, but very noticeable role. The production has survived on kinescope, available at the Internet Archive. Drinkwater's play is rarely revived today. The play covers events in Lincoln's Presidency from his election in 1860 to his assassination, but leaves out most of the events in his private life.
-Wikipedia Lincoln: I accepted this war with a sick heart, and I've a heart that's near to breaking every day. I accepted it in the name of humanity, and just and merciful dealing, and the hope of love and charity on earth. Page 23 before a Curtain Fall... Lincoln: I thank you. I accept. He rises, the others with him. He goes to the door and calls. Susan. There is silence. Susan comes in. Susan: Yes, Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln: take these gentlemen to Mrs. Lincoln. I will follow at once. The four men go with Susan.

Lincoln stands silently for a moment. He goes again to the map and looks at it. He then turns to the table again, and kneels beside it, possessed and deliberate, burying his face in his hands.