Henry Hamilton (playwright)

Henry Hamilton (c. 1853 – 4 September 1918) was an English playwright, lyricist, and critic. He is best remembered for his musical theatre pieces.

Hamilton was born at Nunhead, Surrey. He was educated at Christ's Hospital. Originally an actor, he debuted in 1873 at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. He later appeared in London at the Lyceum Theatre and the Drury Lane. He retired from the stage in 1883 and turned to writing plays, his first being A Shadow Sceptre. His most popular theatre pieces included The Duchess of Dantzic (1903), Veronique (1905) and The Little Michus (1907). He was also the author of the popular song "Private Tommy Atkins".

He died at Sandgate, Kent.

Works

• Stolen Orders, play, with Cecil Raleigh 1915, turned into a motion picture in 1918
• The Whip, play, with Raleigh, 1912, turned into motion pictures in 1917 and 1928
• Autumn Manoeuvres (1909), the English version of Tatárjárás, a musical play by Emmerich Kalman with a Hungarian libretto by Karl von Bakony and R. Bodanski. It had been produced as The Gay Hussars in America in 1909 and was then adapted for the English stage by Hamilton; lyrics by Percy Greenbank.

File:Veronique1.jpg

Programme from revival of Veronique at the Adelphi Theatre

• The Sins of Society, play, with Raleigh, 1909, turned into a motion picture in 1915
• Moths, adaptation of Ouida's 1880 novel
• La Tosca, adaptation
• Expiation, play, 1909
• The Little Michus, musical comedy, book (English translation of book by Albert Vanloo and Georges Duval), 1907
• Veronique, comic opera, book (English adaptation of French libretto by Vanloo and Duval), 1905
• The Duchess of Dantzic, romantic light opera, 1903, book and lyrics, music by Ivan Caryll (based on the play Madame Sans-Gêne by Victorien Sardou)
• The School Girl, musical, 1904, book
• The King's Musketeer, romantic play, 1899 (after the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas)
• The Great Ruby, play, with Raleigh, 1898, turned into a motion picture in 1915
• The White Heather, play, with Raleigh, 1897, turned into a motion picture The White Heather in 1919
• Dick Whittington and His Cat, an 1894 pantomime version of this tale.
• The Derby Winner, produced in the United States under the title The Sporting Duchess, melodrama, with Augustus Harris and Cecil Raleigh, 1895, turned into motion pictures in 1915 and 1920
• Carmen, with Prosper Mérimée, play (from the opera by Georges Bizet)
• Handfast, play, with Mark Quinton, 1897
• Harvest, play, 1886
• Our Regiment, 1883
• A Shadow Sceptre
• The Royal Oak, play, with Harris, turned into a motion picture in 1923
• The Hope, play, with Raleigh, turned into a motion picture in 1920
• The Best of Luck, play, with Raleigh and Arthur Collins, turned into a motion picture in 1920

External links

• Henry Hamilton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Henry Hamilton at the Internet Movie Database