Henry Churchill de Mille | |
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| Born | (1853-09-17)September 17, 1853 |
| Died | February 10, 1893(1893-02-10) (aged 39) |
| Other names | Henry C. de Mille |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, playwright |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingWilliam C. deMille andCecil B. DeMille |
| Relatives | grandchildren: Agnes de Mille Peggy George Katherine DeMille Richard de Mille |
Henry Churchill de Mille (September 17, 1853 – February 10, 1893) was an American dramatist andGeorgist, and the father of film pioneersCecil B. de Mille andWilliam C. de Mille, and the paternal grandfather of the dancer and choreographerAgnes de Mille.
Henry Churchill de Mille was born on a farm atWashington, North Carolina. He was the son of businessman and politician William Edward de Mille (1824–1873) and Margaret Mutter Blount Hoyt de Mille (1835–1911).[1] He received his BA and AM degrees fromColumbia College in 1875 and 1879. He had studied for the ministry before choosing instead to become a teacher. Eventually, he served as vice-principal at the Lockwood Academy in Brooklyn. Also, he taught several semesters at theColumbia Grammar School in Manhattan.[2][3]
He began in amateur theater and later as an actor withA. M. Palmer's organization before returning to teaching at theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts. By 1882 de Mille was employed at theMadison Square Theatre reviewing and later revising submitted plays, during which he became acquainted with the playwrightsSteele MacKaye andDavid Belasco.[2][3]
On December 10, 1883, de Mille's first original play,John Delmer's Daughters, or Duty, opened at theMadison Square Theatre and closed a week later. Three years later, on September 18, 1886,Main Line, or Rawson's Y, a Western melodrama written in collaboration withCharles Barnard, opened at the oldLyceum Theatre. The play, a love story set at a remote railroadway station (complete with authentic RR tracks) and telegraph office, received warm opening night reviews.[4] A short while later de Mille would join forces with David Belasco in a collaborative effort that would prove to have a greater box-office appeal with the theatergoing public.[2][3]
Their first production wasThe Wife, a four-act drama that premiered at the Lyceum Theatre on November 1, 1887, under the direction ofDaniel Frohman. The play was well received and at its close both authors were called upon to make theircurtain call.[5]Lord Chumley; or the Knight of Lummy Tum a three-act comedy written forE. H. Sothern was well received on August 21, 1888,[3] and their three-act drama,The Charity Ball, another success, debuted at the Lyceum Theatre on November 19, 1889.[6] The following season the two producedMen and Women at theProctor'sTwenty-third Street Theatre. The drama opened on October 20, 1890, and starredMaude Adams in a tale about business and politics in America.[7]
Belasco and de Mille chose to go their separate ways by 1891. Later that October de Mille producedThe Lost Paradise, his adaptation of theLudwig Fulda playDas Verlorene Paradies. The production by Charles Frohman's company proved to be another success and was considered to be de Mille's best work to date.[8] As he was finishingThe Lost Paradise, de Mille readHenry George's famous treatiseProgress and Poverty and immediately became a dedicatedGeorgist "single-taxer". De Mille resolved to write a conclusion toThe Lost Paradise calledThe Promised Land, based on the teachings of George, but de Mille died of typhoid fever less than a year later and before it could be finished.[9][10]
In 1876 de Mille marriedMatilda Beatrice "Bebe" Samuel (1853–1923), a native ofLiverpool who had come to America with her parents when she was about eighteen. Their sonWilliam C. deMille was born in 1878,Cecil B. DeMille in 1881 and daughter Agnes de Mille some ten years later.[3][11]
While at home in Pompton, New Jersey, de Mille contractedpneumonia and died there after a brief struggle on February 10, 1893. He was survived by his wife and children, though his young daughter would fall victim tospinal meningitis just two years later. Two months after de Mille died his widow founded the Henry C. De Mille School for Girls in Pompton and opened an office on Broadway becoming only the second woman playbroker (facilitator) in America working with playwrights, producers and actors.[2][3][11]
Today de Mille's legacy probably lies more with what influence he had over his sons. Within a decade or so of his death, de Mille's style of play writing went out of vogue and his works were largely forgotten. His demise at thirty-nine denied him the opportunity to evolve with the times and possibly be as well known today as a few of his contemporaries.[3]
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