Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935

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Mitchell wrote the plays "Becky Sharp" and "The New York Idea" among many others.

From the description of Papers, 1890-1934. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 31178976

Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), American poet and playwright, used the pseudonym John Philip Varley. His best-known plays were Becky Sharp (1899) and The New York Idea (1906). He taught playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania from 1928 to 1930. His father was S. Weir Mitchell, neurologist and author.

From the guide to the Langdon Mitchell letters to Dorothy Thomas, 1917-1935, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

From the guide to the Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, 1883-1936, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), American poet and playwright, used the pseudonym John Philip Varley. His best-known plays were Becky Sharp (1899) and The New York Idea (1906).

He taught playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania from 1928 to 1930. His father was S. Weir Mitchell, neurologist and author.

From the description of Langdon Mitchell letters to Dorothy Thomas, 1917-1935. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 175299107

Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), American poet and playwright, used the pseudonym John Philip Varley. His best-known plays were Becky Sharp (1899) and The New York Idea (1906).

He taught playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania from 1928 to 1930. His father was S. Weir Mitchell, neurologist and author.

From the description of Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, 1883-1936. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122378706

Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935) was an American playwright, poet and professor of playwriting. Mitchell also wrote poetry, under the pseudonym John Philip Varley. The son of neurologist and author, Silas Weir Mitchell, Mitchell was born in Philadelphia. After studying law at Harvard and Columbia Universities, Mitchell was admitted to the New York Bar in 1886. He traveled abroad for some time and eventually returned to Philadelphia where he went into law practice.

He began his writing career with poetry, publishing collections such as Sylvian and Other Poems (1884) and Poems (1894). He also published a collection of short stories in 1896, Love in the Backwoods. When Mitchell turned his focus to playwriting, he achieved more success. His first produced play, In the Season, premiered in London in 1893 and on Broadway in 1895, but he wasn't acknowledged as an important playwright until his 1899 success with Becky Sharp.

An adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel, Vanity Fair, Becky Sharp starred Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, the leading actress of the day. The 1935 film adaptation of Becky Sharp, starring Miriam Hopkins, was the first full-length Technicolor film.

Other notable plays by Mitchell include The New York Idea, an examination of the emerging phenomenon of casual divorce; A Kentucky Belle; Step By Step; The New Marriage; another Thackeray adaptation, Major Pendennis; and an adaptation of Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata.

In 1928, Mitchell joined fellow playwrights Jesse Lynch Williams, Lord Dunsany, Gilbert Emery and Rachel Crothers to create a playwriting course at the University of Pennsylvania, where he lectured for two years. Some of their lectures were published in The Art of Playwriting: Lectures Delivered at the University of Pennsylvania on the Mask and Wig Foundation (1928). In 1892, Mitchell married actress Marion Lea, with whom he had one son and two daughters. Mitchell died at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia on October 21, 1935.

From the guide to the Langdon Mitchell papers, 1883-1936, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Houghton Mifflin Company. Houghton Mifflin Company reader reports on manuscripts submitted for publication. 1882-1931. Houghton Library
creatorOf Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935. Langdon Mitchell letters to Dorothy Thomas, 1917-1935. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Souvenir programs of theatrical productions, 1883-1965. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Stark, Samuel. Theatre scrapbook collection, 1860-1950. Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn John Jay Chapman papers Houghton Library
referencedIn Stark, Samuel. Theatre scrapbook collection., 1860-1950 Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn Letters sent to Walter Hines Page from various correspondents, English period, 1876-1937. Houghton Library
referencedIn Mitchell family. Papers, 1806-1949. College of Physicians of Philadelphia
referencedIn Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 1865-1932,. Autograph letters signed from Minnie Maddern Fiske to various recipients [manuscript], 1886-1905. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Langdon Mitchell letters to Dorothy Thomas, 1917-1935 New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division
referencedIn Braithwaite, William Stanley, 1878-1962. Papers, 1897-1930 Houghton Library
referencedIn Kane, Florence Bayard, 1868-1943. Papers, 1886-1943. Historical Society of Pennsylvania
referencedIn Susanna Valentine Mitchell Gammell papers, Gammell (Susanna Valentine Mitchell) papers, 1896-1976 Brown University Library, Special Collections
creatorOf Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935. Papers, 1890-1934. Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Historical manuscripts collection, 1347-1969, bulk: 1775-1885 Free Library of Philadelphia: Rare Book Department
referencedIn John Mason Brown papers, 1922-1967. Houghton Library
creatorOf Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935. Langdon Mitchell papers, 1883-1936. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933. Additional papers, 1841-1940 Houghton Library
referencedIn Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt, 1861-1933. Papers, 1847-1933 Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Owen Wister Papers, 1829-1966, (bulk 1890-1930) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Baker, George Pierce, 1866-1935. Papers of George Pierce Baker, 1882-1926 (inclusive), 1890-1926 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn Kauser, Alice, ca. 1872-1945. Papers of Alice Kauser, ca. 1895-1940 (inclusive). Houghton Library
creatorOf Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, 1883-1936 New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division
referencedIn Century Company records New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division
referencedIn Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir), 1829-1914. Biographical project, 1914-1931. College of Physicians of Philadelphia
creatorOf Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, 1883-1936. New York State Historical Documents Inventory
creatorOf Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935. Correspondence to Van Wyck Brooks, 1933. University of Pennsylvania Library
creatorOf Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir), 1829-1914. S. Weir Mitchell collection, 1861-1935. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Howells family papers, 1850-1954 (inclusive). Houghton Library
creatorOf Langdon Mitchell papers, 1883-1936 The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.
creatorOf Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1858-. Correspondence with Theodore Dreiser, 1907-1916. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Houghton Mifflin Company contracts, 1831-1979 (inclusive) 1880-1940 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn Papers, 1911-1944 (inclusive), 1929-1937 (bulk). Houghton Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Baker, George Pierce, 1866-1935. person
correspondedWith Braithwaite, William Stanley, 1878-1962 person
correspondedWith Brown, John Mason, 1900-1969 person
correspondedWith Century Company corporateBody
correspondedWith Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933 person
correspondedWith Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel, 1853-1935 person
associatedWith Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 1865-1932, person
associatedWith Free Library of Philadelphia. corporateBody
associatedWith Gammell, Susanna Valentine Mitchell person
associatedWith Houghton Mifflin Company. corporateBody
correspondedWith Howe, M. A. De Wolfe (Mark Antony De Wolfe), 1864-1960 person
associatedWith Kane, Florence Bayard, 1868-1943. person
associatedWith Kauser, Alice, ca. 1872-1945. person
associatedWith Keyserling, Hermann, Graf von, 1880-1946. person
associatedWith Mitchell family. family
associatedWith Mitchell, S. Weir (Silas Weir), 1829-1914. person
associatedWith Page, Walter Hines, 1855-1918 person
associatedWith Patrick, Paul J person
associatedWith Patrick, Paul J. person
correspondedWith Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt, 1861-1933 person
associatedWith Samuel Stark person
associatedWith Stark, Samuel. person
associatedWith Thomas, Dorothy person
associatedWith Thomas, Dorothy. person
associatedWith Williams, Talcott, 1849-1928. person
correspondedWith Wister, Owen, 1860-1938. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
United States
Subject
Theater
American drama
American poetry
Love-letters
Playwriting
Occupation
Poets, American
Dramatists
Poets
Professor
Activity

Person

Birth 1862

Death 1935-10-21

Information

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