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Finch, Robert; Ratcliff, Nora (Editor) : The Teaching of English Series. Nine Western Plays. No. 247

Thomas Nelson and Sons, Limited, London, England, 1949

Inscribed by the author. Original publisher's blue cloth binding with gilt emblem of the letter "N" on the front cover and gilt lettering on the spine. 4 3/8" x 6 1/2." 222 pages, complete. Several black and white staging diagrams, complete. Also included are musical notations for songs in one of the plays, Summer Comes to the Diamond O. Pages and covers are pristine and intact. Binding is tight. A Fine copy. Robert V. Finch (1909-1959) was an American author and playwright based in Dillon, Montana whose work gained much recognition in the 1930s and 1940s. He wrote many plays and received several awards for them. His work often used Montana as a central theme and he stayed dedicated to writing in a Western style. One of his plays, The Desert Shall Rejoice, was made into an Academy-Award-winning short film, Star in the Night. It was directed by Don Siegel, who went on to make several movies starring Clint Eastwood, including Dirty Harry. Finch also taught playwriting at the Western Montana College of Education (WMCOE) and was an interim drama director. Author's inscription in black ink on front free endpaper: "For President Rush Jordan, WMCOE. With the author's best wishes -- Robert Finch, Dillon, Mont. -- June 5, 1950." Excerpt from an introduction by the editor, Nora Ratcliff: "At last, in these plays we find out something of what life really is like out in Montana. And, what is more, by means of these plays an acting group can hand on that information to British audiences. For Robert Finch has lived from boyhood among the people he writes about, and because the outer trappings that be-glamour the scene to our eyes are to him familiar and everyday things, he is able to see past them to the real men and women who live there." Excerpt from the Author's Foreword: "Of the plays I have written I am most fond of these plays that are concerned with the people, the history, legends, the past and present of my own section of the North-west. I have had the golden opportunity here to indulge my inordinate passion for the theatre and at the same time gratify a deep and sincere interest in the literature and drama of the North-west, particularly Montana. It has always astonished me that so little attention has been paid by writers to this section of the United States. Only a very tentative, preliminary exploration of its possibilities has been made by novelists, it has been largely ignored by dramatists and grossly abused by the cinema. ... I do make bold to hope that upon your becoming acquainted with these little plays they may carry with them, like a breath from a mountain canyon, a little understanding of far-away people and a distant land." The following are the plays in this book: "The Old Grad," "Summer Comes to the Diamond O," "Murder in the Snow," "From Paradise to Butte," "Johnny," "Ghost Town," "The Return," "Gone Today," and "Near Closing Time." In the back is a chapter "On Tackling the Plays," and "Music for 'Summer Comes.'". Book. Book Condition: Fine. Binding: Hardcover

1st Edition
Inscribed by Author(s)

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