Edward Knoblock

Edward Knoblock
Captain Edward Knoblock (circa 1918)
Born	Edward Gustavus Knoblauch (1874-04-07)April 7, 1874 New York City, New York, US
Died	July 19, 1945(1945-07-19)(aged 71) London, England
Occupation(s)	Playwright and novelist

Edward Knoblock(bornEdward Gustavus Knoblauch;7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of which the most successful wereKismet(1911) andMilestones(1912, co-written withArnold Bennett). Many of his plays were collaborations, with, among others,Vicki Baum,Beverley Nichols,J. B. PriestleyandVita Sackville-West.

After serving in the British armed forces during theFirst World War,he combined his theatrical career with work on films, both inHollywoodand the UK. He lived most of his adult life in London, where he died in 1945 at the age of 71.

Life and career

Early years

Knoblock was born in New York City, the second of the seven children of Carl (Charles) Eduard Knoblauch and his wife, Gertrud,néeWiebe. Knoblock's father was a successful stockbroker with a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1880 Knoblock's mother died suddenly. His father remarried in 1885 but died of acute appendicitis in 1886. Knoblock's American-born stepmother, who had attended music conservatory in Leipzig, took the children to Germany, where his older brother was already in school and where the cost of living was lower. Knoblock spent two years at school in Berlin. A legacy from Charles Knoblauch's maternal uncle in 1890 enabled the family to return to New York, and in 1892 Knoblock went toHarvard,graduating in 1896. See Knoblauch, "Nachrichten aus Manhattan," p. 370–381.Thereafter he spent much of his life in Europe, first in Paris and from 1897 in London.

Determined to pursue a theatrical career, Knoblock, in the words ofThe Times,"settled down to 14 years of hard and unremunerative work, gaining experience of the theatre by acting as well as by writing, adapting and translating plays".He toured withWilliam Greet's company inThe Dovecot,an adaptation of a French comedy (1898);he managed theAvenue Theatre(also 1898);he appeared at theRoyalty Theatrein November 1899 as Jo in the premiere ofShaw'sYou Never Can Tell,and was in the cast at theAdelphi TheatreinLaurence Irving'sBonnie Dundee(1900).His first dramatic work to be staged was a collaboration with Lawrence Sterner, a revised version of the latter's 1895 playThe Club Baby,produced at the Avenue in May 1898,running for 39 performances.

Early 20th century

Between the turn of the century and his breakthrough success in 1911 Knoblock wroteThe Partikler Pet(an adaptation of a play byMax Maurey), 1905;The Shulamite,adapted fromAlice and Claude Askew's novel, 1906;The Cottage in the Air,adapted fromPrincess Priscilla's Fortnight,1909;Sister Beatrice,(a translation ofMaurice Maeterlinck's play), 1910; andThe Faun1911.During part of this period he held the post of reader of plays at theKingsway Theatre,London, whereLena AshwellandNorman McKinnelwere in management together. Knoblock claimed that in eighteen months he read five thousand plays, "and neither lost nor held up a single one of them".In 1909 he returned to Paris, from where he made long visits to Tunis andKairouan,absorbing the local colour and atmosphere that inspired him to write the playKismet.It was taken up byOscar Ascheand presented at theGarrick Theatrein 1911, running for 328 performances in its first production,and a further 222 in its first revival, in 1914.

Milestones,1912

Knoblock's next play wasMilestones(1912), co-written withArnold Bennett.Bennett had tried his hand as a dramatist before, with mixed success, but the combination of his gifts as a story-teller and Knoblock's painstakingly acquired craftsmanship produced a critical and box-office success that made them both a great deal of money.It played at the Royalty for more than 600 performances and ran for more than 200 onBroadway.Laurence Irvingis quoted in theOxford Dictionary of National Biographyas saying that Knoblock taught Bennett, and laterJ. B. Priestleyand others "the rudiments of stage carpentry".Between the premiere ofMilestonesand theFirst World WarKnoblock had three more plays presented in London:Discovering America,(1912);The Headmaster(with Wilfred Coleby, 1913); andMy Lady's Dress(1914).

First World War and 1920s

In August 1914 Knoblock was determined to join theBritish Army.His friend the novelistCompton Mackenzieheld a senior post in military intelligence and secured him a commission. Knoblock served as a captain in the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Greece. In July 1916 he became a naturalised British citizen and the following month he anglicised the spelling of his surname, changing it from Knoblauch to Knoblock.

Knoblock, right, withDouglas FairbanksandMary Pickfordin 1924

During the war years Knoblock continued to write plays:England Expects(withSeymour Hicks,1914);Hail;Marie-Odile;The Way to Win;A War Committee;How to Get On;PaganiniandMouse(all 1915);The Hawk(from the French) andHome on Leave(both 1916); andTiger! Tiger!(1918).In 1917 he bought and subsequently restored theBeach House,aRegencybuilding inWorthing,Sussex.His plays of the immediate post-war years wereOur Peg(1919);Mumsie,Cherry,andOne(all 1920).

After the war Knoblock divided his time between London andHollywood,where he wrote for the film company ofDouglas FairbanksandMary Pickford.He adaptedThe Three Musketeersin 1921, wrote the filmRositafor Pickford (1923), and was a consultant for Fairbanks's 1922Robin Hoodand 1924The Thief of Baghdad.According to his biographer Eric Salmon he was associated with several other film adaptations during the 1920s and 1930s, although he was evidently not involved with the scripting of any of the 1914,1920or1930film versions ofKismet.

Knoblock had two more collaborations with Bennett:London Life,an original play (1924) andMr Prohack(1927), a dramatisation of Bennett's 1922 novel of the same name.His other plays of the 1920s wereSimon; Called Peter(with J. E. Goodman, from the novel, 1924);Speakeasy(withGeorge Rosener,1927); andThe Mulberry Bush(1927).At the end of the decade he published his first novel,The Ant Heap(1929).

Later years

In the 1930s Knoblock collaborated on adaptations of novels withVicki Baum(Grand Hotel,1931), Priestley (The Good Companions,1931),Beverley Nichols(Evensong,1932) andVita Sackville-West(The Edwardians,1934).His other plays from the decade wereHatter's Castle(fromA. J. Cronin's novel, 1932) andIf a Body(with Rosener, 1935), an experimental Broadway piece in which the six scenes of the play were set on platforms and moved into place in full view of the audience.

For the cinema, Knoblock helpedElinor Glynwith the screenplay for her 1930 filmKnowing Men,and was among the screenwriters forMen of Steel(1933),Chu Chin Chow,EvensongandRed Wagon(all 1934),The Amateur Gentleman(1936),Moonlight Sonata(1937) andAn Englishman's Home(1939).

In the 1930s and early 1940s Knoblock published three more novels:The Man with Two Mirrors(1931),The Love Lady(1933), andInexperience(1941). In 1939 he published an autobiography,Round the Room.

Knoblock was the subject of one of the most repeated stories involving the gaffe-prone actorJohn Gielgud,which Gielgud confessed was true. While the two were lunching together atThe Ivya man passed their table, and Gielgud said, "Thank God he didn't stop, he's a bigger bore than Eddie Knoblock – oh, not you, Eddie!" Asked how Knoblock reacted, Gielgud replied, "He just looked slightly puzzled, and went on boring."

Knoblock died on 19 July 1945 aged 71, at the London home of his sister, the sculptor Gertrude Knoblauch.

Sources

• Croall, Jonathan, ed. (2013).Gielgoodies – The Wit and Wisdom and Gaffes of John Gielgud.London: Oberon Books.ISBN978-1783190072.
• Gaye, Freda (1967).Who's Who in the Theatre(fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.OCLC5997224.
• Knoblauch, Susanne C. (2020).Nachrichen aus Manhattan.Münster: LIT Verlag.ISBN978-3-643-25001-8.
• Parker, John (1922).Who's Who in the Theatre(fourth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.OCLC473894893.
• Parker, John; Freda Gaye; Ian Herbert (1978).Who Was Who in the Theatre.Detroit: Gale Research.OCLC310466458.
• Wearing, J. P. (2013).The London Stage 1890–1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel.Lanham: Scarecrow Press.ISBN978-0-81-089281-1.

External links

• Edward KnoblockatIMDb
• Edward Knoblockat theInternet Broadway Database
• Guide to the Edward Knoblock Papers at Rice University
• Guide to Edward Knoblock Papers at Houghton Library, Harvard College
• Edward KnoblockatLibrary of Congress,with 62 library catalogue records
• Plays by Edward Knoblock on Great War Theatre