Henry Kistemaeckers (playwright)

Henry Kistemaeckers (October 13, 1872 – January 21, 1938) was a prolific Belgian-born French author and playwright.

Henry Kistemaeckers
Henry Kistemaeckers c. 1896
Born
Henry Hubert Alexandre Kistemaeckers

(1872-10-13)October 13, 1872
Floreffe, Belgium
DiedJanuary 21, 1938(1938-01-21) (aged 65)
Paris, France
CitizenshipNaturalized French
OccupationPlaywright and Novelist
Spouse(s)Julie Carvés

Early life and career

Henry Hubert Alexandre Kistemaeckers was born in Floreffe,[1] a small town some forty-five miles southeast of Brussels. He was the son of Henry Kistemaeckers (1851–1934), a controversial Belgian publisher often at odds with the censorship laws of the day.[2] As a young man, Kistemaeckers attended the Royal Athenaeum at Ostend, the University of Brussels and had published his first works while still in his teens.[3][4]

He began as a novelist but soon turned to playwriting for his livelihood. A vast number of works would flow from his hand over the decades of his life, with Instinct, Marchand de Bonheur, Le Roi de Palaces, La Passante and Un Jour de Amour among his more successful productions. His drama Le Flambée was adapted for the English stage by Peter Le Marchant and produced in London as The Turning Point and in New York as The Spy. [5] The Broadway play Where the Poppies Grow, produced at the Theatre Republic in 1918, was adapted from Kistemaeckers’ Un Soir, au Front by Roi Cooper Megrue. His most successful Broadway production, Woman of Bronze, was written with Eugene Delard 1907 as La Rivale and adapted for the American stage by Paul Kester. The play opened at the Frazee Theatre on September 7, 1920 and had a run of 252 performances. In the summer of 1927 Woman of Bronze returned to the Lyric Theatre for a 30 performance revival.[3][4][6][7]

Private life

Kistemaeckers became a French citizen in 1900 after achieving success in Paris. He was married to Julie Carvés, the daughter of ship’s captain, and among his hobbies were fencing and automobiles. Kistemaeckers was a recipient of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, served as president of the French Society of Authors and was a member of the Society of Playwrights, Society of Men of Letters and the popular committee of the Society of Preservation against Tuberculosis.[3][4]

Death
Grave of Henry Kistemaeckers on Passy Cemetery in Paris

Kistemaeckers died in Paris on January 21, 1938, at the age of 65.[3]

Selected works
  • L'Apprentissage de Lord Will, Moeurs Automobiles, (1903)[8]
  • The Theatre at the Exposition (1937)[9]

Plays
  • Pierrot amoureux, (1890)
  • Idylle Nocturne, (1891)
  • Morale du Siècle, (1892)
  • Accroche-cœurs, (1893)
  • Le Menage Quinquet, (1893)
  • L'amour en Jaune, (1894)
  • Marthe, (1899)
  • La Blessure, (1900)
  • Oedipe, (1901)
  • Le Premier client, (1903)
  • L'Instinct, (1905)
  • La Rivale – with Eugene Delard, (1907) – English-language adaptation by Paul Kester: The Woman of Bronze (1920)[3][10]
  • Le Marchand de Bonheur, (1910)
  • Le Roi des palaces, (1911)
  • La Flambée, (1911) – English-language adaptation by Peter Le Marchant: The Turning Point / The Spy
  • L'Embuscade, (1913)
  • L'Occident, with Gaston Sorbets, (1913)[11]
  • Un Soir, au Front, (1918)[12] – English-language adaptation by Roi Cooper Megrue: Where the Poppies Grow
  • La Passante, (1921)[13]
  • L'Amour, (1924)[14]
  • La nuit est à nous, (1925)
  • Deodat, (1933)[15]
  • Works produced between 1890 and 1913 from Who's Who in the Theatre[1]

Filmography

Screenwriter

References
  1. Who's Who in the Theatre; Volume 3; 1916; pg. 745 accessed September 29, 2012
  2. Hawthorne, Melanie – Rachilde and French Women's Authorship: from Decadence to Modernism – 2001 – pp. 92–94
  3. Henry Kistemaeckers. The New York Times; January 22, 1938; pg. 18
  4. The International Who’s Who; 1910; pg. 624 accessed September 27, 2012
  5. Colby, Frank Moore-Churchill, Allen Leon-The New International Year Book; 1914; pg. 213 accessed September 27, 2012
  6. Henry Kistemaeckers – Internet Broadway Database accessed September 28, 2012
  7. Woman of Bronze – Internet Broadway Database accessed September 28, 2012
  8. L'Apprentissage de Lord Will, Moeurs Automobiles, – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
  9. The Theatre at the Exposition – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
  10. Broadway Plays and Musicals
  11. L'occident : pièce en trois actes WorldCat accessed September 28, 2012
  12. Un Soir, au Front, – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
  13. La Passante – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
  14. L'Amour, – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
  15. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3.Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures by Library of Congress. Copyright Office; 1933; pg. 252 – Google Books accessed September 28, 2012
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