Jules Eckert Goodman

Jules Eckert Goodman was born on November 2, 1876, in Gervais, Oregon. He is one of the six children{{cite journal|journal=Oregon Inventory of Historic Properties|title= 210 Northwest 22nd Place|page=2|date=August 1991|publisher=State of Oregon}} born to S. Newman and Jenette ({{nee}} Rothschild) Goodman.{{cite book|title=Who's Who in American Jewry|volume=1|page=222|author1=Schwartz, Julius|author2=Kaye, Solomon Aaron|author3=Simons, John|publisher=Jewish Biographical Bureau|year=1926|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWrXAAAAMAAJ}} His family was Jewish, and his mother was a native of San Francisco, California. Prior to settling in Gervais and starting a family, Jeanette had resided in Portland's Multnomah Hotel.

Goodman received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1899 and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1901. He was managing editor for four years of Current Literature and also wrote for Outing and the Dramatic Mirror.[https://books.google.com/books?id=_T9xBJUMMy8C&pg=PA129 Chronicle and Comment], The Bookman (New York), April 1911, p. 129[https://books.google.com/books?id=-wFEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA17 Vicissitudes of a Playwright], Theatre Magazine, January 1916, at p. 17 He had his first success on Broadway with the 1910's Mother.

The successful The Silent Voice (1914) (derived from a short story by Gouverneur MorrisMorris, Gouverneur. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n8ExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA278 The Man Who Played God], in Cosmopolitan (magazine), Vol. 52, No. 2, January 1912, at p. 278-89) was adapted to film four times; first in 1915, then again in 1922 under the title The Man Who Played God (the title of the original Morris story). A talking-movie version also called The Man Who Played God appeared in 1932, starring George Arliss (who was also in the 1922 silent film) and Bette Davis, a role she credited as her big "break" in Hollywood. Lastly, it appeared as a campy 1955 star vehicle for Liberace called Sincerely Yours.Wilson, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bLpJHjGFNk8C&pg=PT92 The Official Razzie Movie Guide], p. 92-94 (2005)Schuchman, John S. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fThBPcCI3h8C&pg=PA111 Hollywood Speaks: Deafness and the Film Entertainment Industry], p. 111 (1988)

Goodman had tremendous success with his 1915 play Treasure Island; a work which brought him both "fame and fortune".{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiU5AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Jules+Eckert+Goodman%22+%22Treasure+Island%22&pg=PA130|title=Writing and Placing the Children's Play|author=Constance D'Arcy MacKay|page=130|work=The Writer|date=April 1927|volume=39|number=4}} Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel of the same name, the play was staged on Broadway at the Punch and Judy Theatre.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/12/02/archives/-treasure-island-is-no-end-of-fun-goodmans-dramatization-is-rich.html?searchResultPosition=3|title=' TREASURE ISLAND' IS NO END OF FUN; Goodman's Dramatization Is Rich with the Color and Spirit of the Story. AT THE PUNCH AND JUDY With Edward Emery and Frank Sylvester Excelling in a Needlessly Fragmentary Stage Version.|work=The New York Times|date=December 2, 1915|page= 11}} It was a hit play of the 1915-1916 Broadway season,{{cite book|title=The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism|chapter=Treasure Island|first1=James |last1=Fisher|first2=Felicia Hardison|last2= Londré|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810870475}} and later became a staple of community theatre in the United States{{cite book|title=American theatre : a Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914-1930|first= Gerald|last= Bordman|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195090789|chapter=Treasure Island}} and was also utilized by high school and middle school drama programs.{{cite journal|title=Treasure Island!|author=Ethel Robinson|journal=Theatre and School|publisher= Drama Teachers' Association of California|editor=Rachel Markley|date=November 1928|volume=7|number=2}} Notable professional revivals included productions at the New York Hippodrome in 1938,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOjEEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Jules+Eckert+Goodman%22+%22Treasure+Island%22&pg=PA112|title=Spotlight on the Child: Studies in the History of American Children's Theatre|first1=Roger L. |last1=Bedard|first2=C. John|last2=Tolch|year=1989|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313368325|page=112}} and a 1950-1951 production at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London.{{cite book|title=The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|first= J. P.|last= Wearing|year= 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9780810893085|page=69}}

Among other film adaptions of Goodman's work, The Man Who Came Back appeared in 1931. Goodman's reported last play Many Mansions (1937) was written with his son Eckert Goodman.Bordman, Gerald & Thomas S. Hischak. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DiI1wIyatvUC&pg=PA270 The Oxford Companion to American Theatre], p. 270 (3d ed. 2004)

Goodman died of pneumonia in Peekskill, New York, where he had resided for forty years, on July 10, 1962. His wife died in 1959, and he was survived by one son (Jules Eckert Goodman Jr., who died in 1964, aged 55), and two daughters, Helen Goodman and Anna Freedgood.(11 July 1962). [https://www.nytimes.com/1962/07/11/archives/jules-e-goodman-playwright-dies-works-were-presented-on-broadway.html Jules E. Goodman, Playwright, Dies; Works Were Presented on Broadway and as Movie], The New York Times

• The Man Who Stood Still (1908)(16 October 1908). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/10/16/104761552.pdf Louis Mann Seen In A Melodrama], The New York Times
• The Right to Live (1908)
• The Test (1908)
• Mother (1910)
• The Point of View (1912)New York Times Oct. 26, 1912
• The Silent Voice (1914)[https://books.google.com/books?id=GOExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA56 The New Plays], Theatre Magazine, February 1915, Vol. XXI, No. 168, p. 56, 59
• The Trap (1915)
• Just Outside the Door (1915)
• Treasure Island (1915) (adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson novel)
• The Man Who Came Back (1916)
• Object - Matrimony (1916) (written with Montague Glass))
• Business Before Pleasure (1917) (written with Montague Glass)
• Why Worry? (1918)(written with Montague Glass)
• His Honor: Abe Potash (1919) (written with Montague Glass)
• Pietro (1920) (written with Maud Skinner)
• The Law Breaker (1922)
• Partners Again (1922) (written with Montague Glass)
• Chains (1923)
• Simon Called Peter (1924) (written with Edward Knoblock)
• Potash and Permutter, Detectives (1926) (with Montague Glass)
• The Great Romancer (1937)(16 June 1937). [https://www.nytimes.com/1937/06/16/archives/play-on-dumas-in-london-robert-morley-applauded-for-work-in-the.html Play on Dumas In London], The New York Times
• Many Mansions (1937) (written with his son)
• George Worthing, American (debuted 1948, written earlier)(3 November 1948). [https://www.nytimes.com/1948/11/03/archives/premiere-tonight-of-heyward-play-initial-presentation-of-theatre.html Premiere Tonight of Heyward Play], The New York Times

• Mother (1911) (adapted from the play)

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Category:1876 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:Writers from Oregon

Category:People from Gervais, Oregon

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)

Category:American dramatists and playwrights