263:. Wharton was not a fan of Fitch's plays, which she regarded as more commercial than artistic, but knew him to be a consummate professional and the most likely writer to be able to bring Lily Bart's story to the stage. She also enjoyed his ironic sense of humor. (Wharton described her visitor as "a plump showily dressed little man, with his olive complexion and his beautiful Oriental eyes full of wit and understanding.") In the following months, they met in Paris and at the Mount, Wharton's estate in Massachusetts, to work on drafts, with Wharton taking responsibility for the dialogue and Fitch for the plot revisions. At one point, when the work was not going well, Wharton in frustration asked Fitch why he had ever thought her novel could be turned into a successful play. Incredulous, Fitch replied that he never had thought that it was a plausible endeavor. It then became clear, to their amusement, that each had been set up (probably by producer Charles Frohman) to believe that the project had been initiated by the other, and seduced by the thought of working with a famous person in another field, they had each agreed to collaborate. The play was the critical and commercial failure Wharton feared it would be, but the two became good friends.
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283:. James Gibbons Huneker, a critic sympathetic to Fitch's wit and sense of the ironic, dropped a few broad hints about the playwright's sexuality in his columns when commenting on his "feminine manner of apprehending meanings of life," his not always believably masculine dialogue, and his reserve when dealing with passion between men and women. Huneker also wrote that, if Fitch slowed down and lived long enough, he might actually turn out a "masterpiece in miniature."
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While staying at the Hotel de la Haute Mère de Dieu at Châlons-en-Champagne in France, he suffered what would be a fatal attack. He underwent surgery by a local doctor rather than travel to Paris and died from blood poisoning aged 44. His body was returned from France where it was entombed for a time
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Fitch's career spanned a brief two decades, but he earned upwards of $ 250,000 from his plays at a time when a dollar per day was the working wage. He directed a few of his plays and was involved in the production of all of them. He was the first
American playwright to be taken seriously, and at one
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In 1910, the body was removed and taken to New Jersey for cremation, and the ashes were returned to the Swan
Callendar Mausoleum until the Hunt & Hunt monument was finished. His ashes were placed in a sarcophagus (where his parents' ashes later joined his) in their own mausoleum in
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Fitch suffered from attacks of appendicitis but refused his
American doctor's recommendation of surgery; instead he trusted the specialists in Europe who assured him that they could effect a cure over time without surgery. He left for Europe in Spring 1909 against his doctor's wishes.
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Since his death, Fitch has fallen into obscurity, but some of his plays were revived in repertory theaters in the twentieth century or made into films and adapted for television. The
Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of his papers.
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in the Bronx.) Fitch graduated from
Amherst in 1886, where he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity. As an undergraduate, according to Brooks Atkinson, "he dazzled his fellow students with his flair for dress and his virtuosity as an amateur actor."
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A dandy by his early teens, Fitch knew that in school he was seen as a sissy, but he said, "I would rather be misunderstood than lose my independence." Correspondence of the time points to a likely relationship, however brief, with
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A generous host with an engaging personality, Fitch was renowned as a raconteur. His invitations to Quiet Corner, his estate in
Greenwich, Connecticut, were much sought-after. He was a close friend of designer
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time, managed to have five plays running simultaneously on
Broadway. "Once Clyde Fitch got his foot in the door," Brooks Atkinson wrote, "he dominated Broadway drama."
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met with mixed reviews in 1899 because of the romance he added to the tale, but it was revived successfully many times. In 1896, he wrote the lyrics to a popular song
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30:(May 2, 1865 – September 4, 1909) was an American dramatist, the most popular writer for the Broadway stage of his time (c. 1890–1909).
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54:(class of 1886), William Clyde Fitch wrote over 60 plays, 36 of them original, ranging from social comedies and
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Fitch was one of the early
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218:(1910). His works were popular on both sides of the Atlantic. His play based on the heroine of
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University of
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in her Park Avenue apartment to discuss collaborating on a dramatization of her novel
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Biographical information for this entry is taken from
Atkinson, Moses, and Winter.
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101:(1857–1907), who played the title role for the rest of his life. His 1892 play
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with John Barrymore in the title role, and again in 1954 under the title
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to design the sarcophagus set inside an open Tuscan temple at
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Vol. I & II. New York: Moffat, Yard, & Co., 1913.
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took her name from a combination of the name of his play
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at Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
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Clyde Fitch typescripts and letters, circa 1890-1925
501:(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1963), p. 140.
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His father, Captain William G. Fitch, a graduate of
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124:, a pairing that led to many successes. In 1901,
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702:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
697:19th-century American dramatists and playwrights
470:(New York: Harper & Row, 1975), pp. 171–172.
347:Silent film adaptations of Fitch's work include
331:and its star, the British actress Joan Stanwyck.
499:James Gibbons Huneker: Critic of the Seven Arts
682:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
397:starring Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor.
344:) states that Fitch was "well before my time."
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303:in The Bronx, which belonged to a friend.
446:The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism
387:has been adapted at least twice, once in
253:In December 1905, Fitch visited novelist
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610:An Inventory of the Collection at the
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667:Writers from Greenwich, Connecticut
546:W. Clyde Fitch (AC 1886) Collection
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172:(which ran 108 performances at the
112:) was the first time that producer
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231:Love Makes The World Go 'Round
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672:Writers from Elmira, New York
561:Works by or about Clyde Fitch
525:Boston: Little, Brown, 1911.
294:The gravesite of Clyde Fitch
169:The Girl with the Green Eyes
142:The Girl with the Green Eyes
576:(public domain audiobooks)
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598:Internet Broadway Database
468:Edith Wharton: A BIography
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518:New York: Atheneum, 1970.
434:Broadway: An Encyclopedia
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618:Encyclopædia Britannica
523:The American Dramatist.
432:"Barrymore Family", in
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628:The Clyde Fitch Report
624:"Who Was Clyde Fitch?"
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89:(1890), set in the
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556:Project Gutenberg
528:Winter, William.
376:Barbara Frietchie
329:Barbara Frietchie
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585:Clyde Fitch
383:. His play
342:Bette Davis
281:Oscar Wilde
183:Her Own Way
151:Nathan Hale
118:Maude Adams
110:Le Veglione
103:Masked Ball
646:Categories
402:References
319:Miscellany
67:West Point
516:Broadway.
203:The Truth
200:in 1905),
71:Civil War
60:melodrama
34:Biography
635:held by
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363:The City
356:The City
222:'s poem
209:The City
206:(1907),
166:(1901),
160:(1898),
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44:New York
38:Born in
596:at the
563:at the
509:Sources
373:, and
365:(1926)
358:(1916)
249:, 1910
144:(1916)
56:farces
40:Elmira
350:Girls
247:Girls
215:Girls
120:with
589:IMDb
389:1924
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