William Bayle Bernard (27 November 1807 – 5 August 1875),[1][2] often referred to as "Bayle Bernard", was a well-known American-born London playwright and drama critic. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of English comic actor John Bernard,[3] he came to Britain with his family in 1820, where he first worked as a clerk in an army accounts office. His plays include The Four Sisters and Casco Bay (1832), The Kentuckian (1833), The Nervous Man (1833), The Mummy (1833), Marie Ducange (1837), The Round of Wrong (1846), The Doge of Venice (1867), The Passing Cloud (1850) and A Storm in a Teacup (1854), as well as adaptations of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle (1834) and Wilkie Collins's No Name (1863).[3][4] He also wrote the five-volume historical romance The Freebooter's Bride (1829).[5]
His play The Mummy, a popular success on its debut at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi,[6] influenced Edgar Allan Poe's "Some Words with a Mummy".[7]
Notes edit
- ^ "William Bayle Bernard". Author and Bookinfo.com. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ a b Bordman, Gerald; Hischak, Thomas S. (2004). The Oxford Companion to American Theatre (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516986-7.
- ^ Ward, A. W; Waller, A. R., eds. (1907–21). "The Victorian Age: Part I". The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Vol. XIII. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
- ^ "Title details for Freebooter's Bride, The". British Fiction 1800–1829. Cardiff University. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
- ^ Nelson, Alfred L.; Cross, Gilbert B. (1988). "Seasonal Summary for Summer 1833". The Adelphi Theatre 1806–1900: A Calendar of Performances. Eastern Michigan University. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
- ^ Benton, Richard P. (December 1971). "Edgar Allan Poe: Current Bibliography". Poe Studies. IV (2). Washington State University Press: 38–44. doi:10.1111/j.1754-6095.1971.tb00172.x. Retrieved 1 February 2008.