Vincent Duffey
Vincent Edward Duffey (19 June 1893 - 20 October 1951) was an American playwright, actor, stage director, and lighting designer. He is best known for co-authoring two plays staged on Broadway, The Mystery Man (1928) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1938).
Life and career
[edit]The son of longtime Bohemian Grove lighting designer J. E. Duffey,[1] Vincent Edward Duffey was born in San Francisco, California on 19 June 1893.[2] In 1911 he graduated from Berkeley High School.[3] He was educated further at the University of California.[4] He served in the United States Navy during World War I.[4] After the war he worked as a lighting designer in San Francisco.[5] In 1920 he was the lead male actor opposite Nina Moise in a production of Pendleton King's Cocaine in Los Angeles.[6] By 1923 he was well known in L.A. as a stage director, actor, lighting designer, and playwright.[1] After the death of his father in 1923[1] he succeeded him as the resident lighting designer at Bohemian Grove.[7]
With Morris Ankrum, Duffey co-authored the play The Mystery Man which was produced and directed by Gustav Blum at Broadway's Nora Bayes Theatre in 1928.[8] Duffey's play The Greatest Show on Earth was co-authored with Irene Alexander.[9] It premiered on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre on January 5, 1938.[10] It ran there for a total of 29 performances; closing on January 29, 1938.[11]
Duffey worked as a dialect coach for films in Hollywood. He also was a member of the Bohemian Club in San Francisco.[12]
He died of heart disease at Saint Francis Hospital in San Francisco, California on 20 October 1951.[13]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "J. E. Duffey Dies at Hollywood Home". Los Angeles Evening Express. August 4, 1923. p. 3.
- ↑ Vincent Edward Duffey in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997
- ↑ "Thirteen Finnish Business Course". The Berkeley Gazette. May 31, 1911. p. 1.
- 1 2 "Funeral Mass Tomorrow". The San Francisco Call Bulletin. October 22, 1951. p. 16.
- ↑ Barry, John D. (June 22, 1920). "Ways of the World". The San Francisco Call Bulletin. p. 12.
- ↑ Schallert, Edwin (December 16, 1920). "Mummers Workshop: New Little Theater Opens in Hollywood". Los Angeles Times. p. 31.
- ↑ "Oriental Troupe to Appear in Prologue". The San Francisco Examiner. June 25, 1926. p. 17.
- ↑ Mantle, Burns (January 27, 1928). "The Mystery Man Wavers; 57 Bowery A Crook Drama". New York Daily News. p. 47.
- ↑ "Playhouse: The Greatest Show on Earth". Billboard. Vol. 50, no. 4. January 22, 1938. p. 27.
- ↑ Brooks Atkinson (January 6, 1938). "THE PLAY; ' The Greatest Show on Earth' and 'Right This Way' Are New Openings on Broadway". The New York Times. p. 22.
- ↑ Mantle, Burns, ed. (1938). "The Greatest Show on Earth". The Best Plays of 1937-1938 and the Year Book of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead & Company. pp. 413–414.
- ↑ "Vincent E. Duffey". San Francisco Chronicle. October 22, 1951. p. 15.
- ↑ "Playwright Dies". Hanford Morning Journal. October 24, 1951. p. 2.