| Hell-Bent fer Heaven | |
|---|---|
 Poster for 1936 production | |
| Written by | Hatcher Hughes |
| Date premiered | January 4, 1924 |
| Place premiered | Klaw Theatre New York City, New York |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | melodrama |
| Setting | The Hunt family home in theBlue Ridge Mountains |
Hell-Bent fer Heaven is amelodrama play byHatcher Hughes.
The play ran at theKlaw Theatre from January 4 to April 1924 and was produced byMarc Klaw. The cast featuredGeorge Abbott,Glenn Anders and Margaret Borough.[1] The play was staged by Augustin Duncan.[2]
It also helped launch the career ofClara Blandick, who later appeared as Auntie Em in the classic 1939 adaptation ofThe Wizard of Oz.[3]
The play was included inBurns Mantle'sThe Best Plays of 1923-1924.
The play won thePulitzer Prize for Drama in 1924.[4] The choice sparked controversy in literary circles and the media because the prize jury had actually selected George Kelly'sThe Show-Off, but was overruled byColumbia University, which was administering that year's Pulitzers as Hatcher Hughes was a professor there.[5][6]
Set in theCarolina mountains, late one afternoon to 9 o'clock that evening during the summer. Rufe Pryor is a religious fanatic who works for the Hunts. Sid Hunt returns to the family home from the war. He has a girlfriend, Jude Lowry, who Rufe also is interested in. Rufe inspires old clan rivalry between the Hunts and the Lowrys, in an attempt to remove Sid from the picture. When Rufe's plans are discovered, the two families reconcile. (The play was billed as "A High Spirited Tale of the Blue Ridge.")
The play was made into the motion pictureHell-Bent for Heaven in 1926.[7]
The full text ofHell-Bent fer Heaven at Wikisource
