American Play Company

The American Play Company was a business organization that handled the licensing of plays. Prior to 1914 it was involved in play production and script purchase, but after that time it dealt exclusively in representing dramatists.

The American Play Company was a business organization that handled the licensing of plays. Prior to 1914 it was involved in production and purchase, but after that time it dealt exclusively in representing dramatists.

The American Play Company was a business organization that handled the licensing of plays.

Prior to 1914 it was involved in production and purchase, but after that time it dealt exclusively in representing dramatists.

The American Play Company was a New York theatrical agency which represented authors and rights-holders and assisted in the negotiation of theatrical and film licensing. The company originated in the 1880s, when Elisabeth Marbury became the protégée of Daniel Frohman and began representing authors and managing their various productions on Broadway, the national tour circuit, and regional amateur productions. She became the representative of Frances Hodgson Burnett, George Bernard Shaw, Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton, and P.G. Wodehouse. She was also the sole representative of the French Society of Authors.

In 1914, Marbury merged with Selwyn and Company to form the American Play Company. By 1930, the company had also absorbed the De Mille company and the John Rumsey Company. The company continued producing and managing properties until the early 1960s, when it was purchased by Sheldon Abend.