Walter Hackett

American dramatist (1876–1944)

This article is about the playwright. For the baseball player, see Walter Hackett (baseball).

Walter Hackett

Born| Walter Laurence Hackett
(1876-11-10)November 10, 1876
Oakland, California, U.S.
Died| January 20, 1944(1944-01-20) (aged 67)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupation|

* Playwright
* theater manager

Alma mater| University of California
Spouse|

Marion Lorne

(m. 1911)​

Walter Laurence Hackett (usually referred to as Walter Hackett, sometimes given as Walter L. Hackett or Walter Lawrence Hackett, and erroneously given as Walter C. Hackett)[a] (November 10, 1876 – January 20, 1944) was an American playwright and theater manager.[7] A native of Oakland, California, Hackett attended grammar school in that city before continuing his education at a boarding school in Canada, the country of his father's birth. He ran away from that institution to become a sailor, and subsequently worked in a variety of professions including horse trainer and school teacher. By 1901, he was working as a journalist for the Chicago American, and that same year his first plays were staged with casts led by the actress Lillian Burkhart. His first significant play as a solo playwright was The Prince of Dreams, staged in Chicago in 1902.

Hackett was primarily active as a journalist and a writer of short stories until he had three successful plays in succession, written with other writers: The Invader (1908, co-authored with Robert Hobart Davis); The Regeneration (1908, co-authored with Owen Kildare); and The White Sister (1909, co-authored with Francis Marion Crawford). The latter two plays were his first works staged on Broadway. His next two plays to reach Broadway, Our World (1911) and Don't Weaken (1914) were flops, but he rebounded with the hit play It Pays to Advertise (1914). In 1911, he married the actress Marion Lorne. Many of his plays were written with Lorne in mind, and she was often the star of his works. In 1914, the couple moved to London, England where they remained for more than 25 years. From this point on, most of his plays were staged in London's West End, and he earned the nickname Walter "Long Run" Hackett for his many plays that had lengthy runs in London.[11] In Britain some of his most successful plays included Ambrose Applejohn's Adventure, The Fugitives, and London After Dark. Not long after the outbreak of World War II, Hackett and his wife returned to the United States and settled in New York City. He died in Manhattan in 1944.

## Early life

[edit]

Fabiola Hospital in Oakland, California

Walter Laurence Hackett was born in Oakland, California, on November 10, 1876.[12][3][4] He was the son of Captain Edward Hackett, who lived in Oakland at a home at 1303 Jackson Street.[5][4] Walter was listed as living at that address with his father and his mother, Mary Ann Hackett (née Haight), and as an attendee of public schools in Oakland, in the 1880 United States census.[2] Walter later attended boarding school in Canada,[11] the nation of his father's birth.[2] He ran away from that institution to obtain work as a sailor.[11] He later attended the University of California.[13]

In his young adulthood, Hackett worked in a variety of professions, including careers as a horse trainer, school teacher, journalist, and writer of short stories.[14] By 1895 he was working in Oakland as a horse trainer. He was head of the planning committee for the horse races held at the 1895 Mayday fete of the Fabiola Hospital Association which took place at Oakland Trotting Park as a fund raiser for the hospital.[15] This also included organizing a burro race for which he acquired ten donkeys.[16] He also served as one of the judges for the horse races, and was praised for his work on the front page of The Oakland Times on May 13, 1895.[17] The following year he was appointed to the executive committee of the fete.[18] His 1896 voter registration record indicates he was living in the Hackett family home on Jackson Street.[4]

In 1899, he performed in a show called Chirps put on by Oakland's Athenian Club of which he was a member.[19] He had his first professional experiences in theatre working as a "corner-man" in a minstrel show operated by J. H. Haverly.[20]

## Early writing career in the United States

[edit]

### Short story writer and journalist

[edit]

Illustration from Hackett's 1907 short story "A Life for a Life" by artist Emlen McConnell

Hackett began his writing career as a writer of short stories. His short story "In the Service of the Czar" was published by the Short Story Publishing Company in 1899 under his full name, Walter Laurence Hackett.[21] It was later republished in The Kansas Review on July 29, 1904,[9] and was subsequently picked up by other American newspapers.[22][23][24][25]

Hackett also worked as a journalist and by 1901 was in Chicago working as the city editor for the Chicago American.[5] He later became a dramatic editor at the paper,[26] and succeeded A. P. Dunlap as lead drama critic and editor in 1903.[27] He was present at the First inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14, 1901, in Buffalo, New York, and his reporting on that event appeared as a special dispatch in newspapers nationally.[8] In 1903, he was listed as a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Auxiliary Committee.[28]

Hackett's short ghost story "Bill Bowden, A.B. Sees Things" was published in American and Canadian newspapers in February 1906.[29][30][31] This was followed by the short story "Bill Bowden on Hoodoos" the following month.[32] On July 29, 1906, several larger papers published his short story "In the Valley of the Shadow", including The Washington Star[33] and the New-York Tribune.[34] These papers also published his short stories "The Governors Decision" (1906),[35][36] "His Father's Son" (1907),[37][38] "The Cardinal's Decision" (1907),[39] "The Derelict" (1907),[40][41] "Winchester and Company" (1907),[42][43] "The Oasis in the Desert" (1907),[44][45] "The District Attorney" (1907),[46] "A Life for a Life" (1907),[47][48] "Sonia" (1908),[49][50] and "Pardners" (1908).[51][52] He also contributed work as a journalist to The Washington Star and New-York Tribune.[53][54]

Hackett's short story "The Society Dinner" was published in Broadway Magazine in June 1907.[55] Other short stories written by Hackett that were published in periodicals included "Captain Arthur's Bride" (1907)[56] "Pie" (1907),[57] "The Electric Light Bill" (1907),[58] "Rodman's Ambition" (1907),[59] "The Name She Whispered" (1907),[60] "In Deep Waters" (1908),[61] "Mr Garfield's Matrimonial Experiment" (1908),[62] "Miss Lowell's Lover" (1908),[63] "The Theft of the Dudley Diamonds" (1908),[64] "The Wheel of Fortune" (1909),[65] "The Gazebrook Necklace" (1909),[66] and "Otto Schmalz, Hypnotist" (1909).[67]

In addition to working as a writer, Hackett also worked on the business staff of producers Klaw and Erlanger in the first decade of the 20th century.[68]

### Playwright

[edit]

#### Early plays

[edit]

Lillian Burkhart starred in Hackett's first plays.

Hackett's first stage work, the musical "playlet" Jessie's Jack and Jerry was given its premiere at Keith's Theatre in Philadelphia on March 11, 1901. He co-wrote this work with playwright Francis Livingston, and the production starred Camille D'Arville and Lillian Burkhart.[69] The production toured in 1901–1902, including performances at Chicago's Olympic Theater[70] and Shea's Garden Theatre in Buffalo, New York.[71]

Hackett collaborated with Livingston again on a second play, the one-act farce The Way to Win a Husband , which they wrote specifically for Burkhart. Burkhart toured in this play in 1901–1902, including performances in Chicago,[5] Los Angeles,[5] and New York City.[72] In 1902, the actor Emmett Corrigan acquired the rights to Hackett's first full length play, the three act comedy The Prince of Dreams.[73] It premiered at the Grand Opera House in Freeport, Illinois, on November 17, 1902, in a performance by the Player's Stock Company of Chicago.[74] It then transferred to the Bush Temple of Music in Chicago.[26]

#### Hit plays of 1908: The Regeneration and The Invader

[edit]

Hackett spent the next several years focused on writing short stories, and his next play, My Mamie Rose, did not reach the stage until 1908. It was co-written with Owen Kildare and premiered at Poli's Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, on January 27, 1908, in a cast led by Arnold Daly, Chrystal Herne, Helen Ware, and Holbrook Blinn.[75] The production toured the United States,[76][77][78][79] including a stop at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago where it opened in March 1908.[80] In Chicago the play was reworked and re-titled The Regeneration.[81][82] Daly brought the play to Broadway later in the year but with some cast alterations. It opened at Wallack's Theatre on September 1, 1908, to a glowing review in The New York Times which predicted a long run for the play.[83]

Hackett co-wrote his next play, The Invader, with Robert Hobart Davis.[84] It was given its premiere in Milwaukee by the Pabst Theatre English Stock Company on May 18, 1908, with a cast led by Christine Norman, Janet Beecher, Jack Standing, and Robert Conness. The play was based on the real life events of the Panic of 1907 and the role F. Augustus Heinze played in that financial crises.[85] The play was then staged at McVicker's Theater in Chicago.[86] The Chicago production was with a completely different cast which included the actors Florence Rockwell, Edmund Breese, Thomas A. Wise, Charles H. Riegel, and William B. Mack.[87] Later that year the play was staged at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.[88]

#### The White Sister

[edit]

Main article: The White Sister

Hackett co-wrote The White Sister with Francis Marion Crawford, a work which Crawford had previously written as first an unperformed play and then as a serialized novel in Munsey's Magazine.[89][90] The idea for this collaborative project was birthed in 1907 when Hackett visited Crawford at his home in Sorrento, Italy.[91] The play tells the tale of lovers Giovanna and Giovanni who separated by the events of a war. Giovanni is believed to have been killed and Giovanna becomes a nun only to be unexpectedly reunited with him years later while nursing him in a hospital. Crawford then collaborated with Hackett on a new stage adaptation which was the dramatic version that ultimately made it to the stage.[90]

The White Sister was given its premiere on February 8, 1909, at the Stone Opera House in Binghamton, New York,[92] and ran on Broadway later that year at Daly's Theatre with Viola Allen as Giovanna and William Farnum as Giovanni.[93] A success, The New York Times later listed The White Sister along with It Pay's to Advertise and Captain Applejack as the works for which Hackett was "best known" when he died in 1944.[7] The play was adapted into films in 1915, 1923, 1933, and 1960.[94][95]

#### C.O.D. and other plays of 1910–1912

[edit]

On Valentine's Day 1910, Hackett's play In the Mountains was performed for the first time at the Auditorium Theatre in Baltimore with a cast led by the actress Percy Haswell. The play told the tale of two feuding families, the Lees and the Claybournes, who live along the Kentucky and Tennessee border.[96] After this he collaborated with dramatist Stanislaus Stange on the play Get Busy With Emily, an English-language adaptation of the 1906 French farce Vous n'avez rien à déclarer? by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber. Produced by A. H. Woods, it premiered at the Cort Theatre in Chicago on May 8, 1910.[97]

He next collaborated with Ren Shields in writing the book for the musical The Simple Life which had a score by composer P. D. DeCoster. It premiered on August 8, 1910, at the Savoy Theatre in Atlantic City with a cast of 50 led by Charles J. Ross.[98]

Hackett sold the rights to a play he wrote[99] entitled C.O.D.[100] to playwright Eugene Walter.[99] Walter altered the play and retitled it Homeward Bound for its premiere in December 1910 with Hackett credited as inspiring the theme of the play. Hackett disputed this credit, claiming he should be billed as a co-author of the work. Walter disputed Hackett's claim; stating that while Hackett had written the initial play, that after Walter purchased the rights to the work that he had almost completely remade the entire work. He stated that "less than 200 words" of Hackett's original text remained in the play.[99] The play was later retitled Mrs. Maxwell's Mistake and was presented on Broadway at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in April 1911,[101] and was retitled yet again as Fine Feathers for a production in Chicago.[102] In 1912, Hackett sued Walter for failing to credit him as a co-author of the work.[100] In December 1912, Justice Edward Everett McCall of the New York Supreme Court granted an injunction preventing Fine Feathers from being performed unless Walter was credited as a co-author while the court considered the case.[103] Ultimately the court determined that Walter had sufficiently transformed the work, and could claim to be the sole author of the piece.[104]

Hackett's play Our World was given its premiere at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on January 27, 1911, with Amelia Gardner, Doris Keane, Campbell Gullan, Malcolm Duncan, and Vincent Serrano in the lead roles.[105] It then toured to Broadway's Garrick Theatre where it opened on February 6, 1911.[106] The play investigated the theme of heredity with an examination of the daughter of a courtesan, and whether or not she was able to rise above the vices of her mother's tainted past.[107]

After this, Hackett was one of many writers who worked on the book for the musical A Certain Party which toured prior to reaching Broadway's Wallack's Theatre on April 23, 1911.[108] He then created the play Honest Jim Blunt for the character actor Tim Murphy, but the play had only a short life on the New York stage in 1912.[109]

#### Marriage and plays of 1913 and 1914

[edit]

1914 Broadway cast of It Pays to Advertise

On September 16, 1911, Hackett and the actress Marion Lorne acquired a marriage license in Jersey City, New Jersey, with plans to have a wedding ceremony at a future date.[110] The couple remained married until his death in 1944, and Lorne starred in many of her husband's plays.[7] Her first appearance in one of Hackett's plays was as Mrs. Kent in Don't Weaken which was given its premiere at The Playhouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 29, 1913.[111] That play was produced by William A. Brady and George Broadhurst, and ran on Broadway for a short period at Maxine Elliott's Theatre. While The Brooklyn Citizen gave the play a glowing review that described it as "out of the ordinary",[112] The New York Times described the work as "pleasant" and an "optimistic little comedy" but found the work derivative and therefore unlikely to generate much interest.[113]

Don't Weaken was preceded by another failure for Hackett, the one act play To Die Like a Man. It premiered on Labor Day 1913 at the Colonial Theater in Cleveland, Ohio to scathing reviews in the local press.[114] Hackett rebounded however with the hit 1914 play  It Pays to Advertise which he co-authored with Roi Cooper Megrue. It had a lengthy run of more than a year at the George M. Cohan's Theatre,[115] and was notably the longest running play of the 1914–1915 Broadway season.[116] Samuel Field converted the play into a novel which was published in 1915 by Duffield & Company.[117]

## Life in England

[edit]

### Move to London and 1910s plays

[edit]

In February 1914, Hackett and his wife traveled to England on what was supposed to be a belated honeymoon. They ended up staying and lived in London for the next 25 years.[11] His first play staged in London was 9 to 11 which was performed for the grand re-opening of Wyndham's Theatre which just been extensively renovated.[118] It opened there one July 14, 1914, with a cast led by Allan Aynesworth and Lettice Fairfax.[119] The Times described the work as a "wild burlesque of the detective romance", and, while noting positive response from the audience, its critic stated that the play "may be found amusing by playgoers whose critical sense melts in the July temperatures."[120] American newspapers reported that the play might have been plagiarized off of Charles Hawtrey's Seven Keys to Baldspate which was planned to premiere in the autumn of 1914;[121][122] however, the Boston Evening Transcript was skeptical of the accusation stating "the similarity is very difficult to discover".[123]

Hackett's second play for the London stage, He Didn't Want to Do It, premiered at the Prince of Wales Theatre on March 6, 1915, with a cast led by Joseph Coyne, Frederick Kerr, and Lydia Bilbrook.[124] Co-written with George Broadhurst It fared better with the critics. The Observer stated in its review, "This is the most audacious piece of farcical complication ever attempted. If it had not 'come off' it would have been silly beyond endurance. But it does 'come off'; it goes on coming off until the spectator can bear it no longer."[125] The play notably marked the London stage debut of Hackett's wife who portrayed Marjorie Thompson in the production.[124] Lorne also starred in Hackett's next play, Mr. and Mrs. Ponsonby,[126] which premiered at London's Comedy Theatre in June 1915.[127] The American press noted at the time that Hackett had achieved greater success with London audiences and critics than he had in America.[128][129]

Hackett's next work was the murder mystery play The Barton Mystery which was first performed to success at the Savoy Theatre in London where it opened on March 22, 1916.[130] The character of Beverley in the play, portrayed by Harry Brodribb Irving,[131] is a psychic medium who is brought in to investigate a murder.[132][133] An article in The Theosophist described the play "as being remarkable, if only for the fact it is the first in which psychic research has been introduced seriously on the English stage."[134] While the London production had a respectable run of 165 performances, a 1917 Broadway production at New York's Comedy Theatre closed after just 20 performances.[135] However, the work was successfully staged in a French-language translation at the Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau in Paris in 1917, with Firmin Gémier as Beverley.[136]

In October 1916, Hackett's play Mr. Jubilee Drax premiered at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[137] He co-wrote the work with Horace Annesley Vachell.[138] Another play in the detective genre, it failed to repeat the success of the The Barton Mystery. The Daily Telegraph noted in its critical assessment that "the American trick of presenting past events in action was carried beyond the limits of all reason."[139] Actor Walker Whiteside portrayed the role of the lead detective in production staged in Chicago in 1917.[140] His next work, the revue £150, was also a critical failure. It premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre on April 30, 1917.[141] Charles B. Cochran produced the work, and the cast included Daisy Burrell and Alec Clunes.[142]

Hackett's next play, The Invisible Foe, fared far better when it premiered at the Savoy Theatre in August 1917.[143] Another mystery with supernatural undertones, the play was based on the pseudoscientific spiritualism beliefs of Oliver Lodge.[144] The actress Fay Compton received high praise in the press for her role in this production.[145] It closed in December 1917.[146]

In 1918, Hackett's play The Freedom of the Seas was staged at the Royalty Theatre.[147] He wrote the play on commission from Seymour Hicks.[148]

### 1920s plays

[edit]

Leslie Banks and Fay Compton in Other Men's Wives

In 1920, Hackett's play Mr. Todd's Experiment was staged at the Queen's Theatre.[149] His play Ambrose Applejohn's Adventure was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Brighton in July 1921 before running on the West End in 1921–1922 at first the Criterion Theatre and later the Savoy Theatre.[150] It was also staged on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in 1921 under the name Captain Applejack.[151]

Hackett's Other Men's Wives (1928) was another play that premiered Theatre Royal, Brighton before moving to the West End in May 1928 where it played first at Wyndham's Theatre followed by further performances at St Martin's Theatre, ultimately closing there in August 1928.[152] His next play, 77 Park Lane, premiered at St Martin's Theatre on October 25, 1928, and was later revived in the West End at the Regent Theatre in 1930.[153]

Hackett also had two plays premiere at His Majesty's Theatre in the 1920s, The Wicked Earl (1927),[154] and Sorry You've Been Troubled (1929).[155]

### 1930s plays

[edit]

On 29 September 1930, Hackett's The Way to Treat a Woman was performed for the inauguration of the newly built Whitehall Theatre near Trafalgar Square after previously having that play's premiere at the Duke of York's Theatre on June 11, 1930.[156] Hackett was manager of the Duke of York's Theatre in 1930,[7] and then he and his wife were in control of the Whitehall Theatre from 1930 to 1934.[157] Several of Hackett's plays were premiered at Whitehall during this period, including Take a Chance (1931),[158] Good Losers (1931),[159] The Gay Adventure (1931), Road House (1932),[160] and Afterwards (1933).[161]

After leaving the Whitehall Theatre, Hackett took up the lease at the Apollo Theatre where the premieres of his plays Hyde Park Corner (1934),[162] Espionage (1935),[163] and London After Dark (1937) occurred.[164] He left the Apollo in 1938 when he took over the lease of the Vaudeville Theatre.[165] His tenure at that theatre began with the premiere of his play Toss of a Coin on March 17, 1938; a murder mystery in which Hackett's wife Marion portrayed both a mother and her daughter.[166] It was the 22nd of Hackett's plays staged in the West End that Marion starred in.[167]

## Later life in New York

[edit]

Hackett's wife Marion Lorne in the 1957 American television sitcom Sally

In 1940, Hackett returned to the United States and settled with his wife in New York City. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being ill for a short period of time on January 20, 1944.[7]

## Works

[edit]

### Selected short stories

[edit]

* "In the Service of the Czar" (1899)[9]
* "Bill Bowden, A.B. Sees Things" (1906)[29]
* "Bill Bowden on Hoodoos" (1906)[32]
* "In the Valley of the Shadow" (1906)[33]
* "The Governors Decision" (1906)[34]
* "His Father's Son" (1907)[37]
* "The Cardinal's Decision" (1907)[39]
* "The Derelict" (1907)[40]
* "Winchester and Company" (1907)[42]
* "The Oasis in the Desert" (1907)[44]
* "The District Attorney" (1907)[46]
* "A Life for a Life" (1907)[47]
* "Captain Arthur's Bride" (1907)[56]
* "Pie" (1907)[57]
* "The Electric Light Bill" (1907)[58]
* "Rodman's Ambition" (1907)[59]
* "The Name She Whispered" (1907)[60]
* "In Deep Waters" (1908)[61]
* "Sonia" (1908)[50]
* "Pardners" (1908)[51]
* "Mr Garfield's Matrimonial Experiment" (1908)[62]
* "Miss Lowell's Lover" (1908)[63]
* "The Wheel of Fortune" (1909)[65]
* "Otto Schmalz, Hypnotist" (1909)[67]
* "The Grocers" (1915)[168]

### Selected plays and film adaptations

[edit]

The following is an incomplete list of plays by Walter Hackett. Many of Hackett's plays were adapted into films. Only film adaptations with articles on the english wikipedia are included in this chart. This is not a complete list of all film adaptations of Hackett's plays.

The dashed cells only indicate the absence of coverage of a film adaption of a particular play currently on the English Wikipedia.

Poster for the 1915 film adaptation The Regeneration Poster for the 1923 film adaptation The White Sister. Lobby card for the 1931 film adaptation It Pays to Advertise. Lobby card for the American comedy film Strangers of the Night based on Hackett's Captain Applejack. Play  | Playwright(s)  | Film  | Film director  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

Jessie's Jack and Jerry (1901)  |

* Francis Livingston
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [69]
The Way to Win a Husband (1901)  |

* Francis Livingston
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [5]
The Prince of Dreams (1902)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [26]
The Invader (1908)  |

* Robert Hobart Davis
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [85]
The Regeneration (1908, original title My Mamie Rose)  |

* Walter Hackett
* Owen Kildare

| The Regeneration (1915)  | Raoul Walsh | [75][81]
The White Sister (1909)  |

* Francis Marion Crawford
* Walter Hackett

| The White Sister (1915)  | Fred E. Wright | [92]
The White Sister (1923)  | Henry King | [169]
The White Sister (1933)  | Victor Fleming | [170]
The White Sister (1960)  | Tito Davison | [171]
In the Mountains (1910)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [96]
Get Busy With Emily (1910)[97] |

* Stanislaus Stange
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [97]
The Simple Life (1910)  |

* Walter Hackett
* Ren Shields
* P. D. DeCoster

| —  | —  | [98]
C.O.D. (1910, adapted into Fine Feathers by Eugene Walter)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [99][100]
Our World (1911)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [106]
A Certain Party (1911)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [108]
Honest Jim Blunt (1912)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [109]
To Die Like a Man (1913)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [114]
Don't Weaken (1913)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [112]
9 to 11 (1914)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [120]
It Pays to Advertise (1914)  |

* Roi Cooper Megrue
* Walter Hackett

| It Pays to Advertise (1919)  | Donald Crisp | [115][172][173]
It Pays to Advertise (1931)  | Frank Tuttle | [172]
Criez-le sur les toits [fr] (1932)  | Karl Anton | [172]
It Pays to Advertise (1936)  | Anders Henrikson |
He Didn't Want to Do It (1915)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [124]
Mr. and Mrs. Ponsonby (1915)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [127]
The Barton Mystery (1916)  | Walter Hackett  | The Barton Mystery (1920)  | Harry T. Roberts | [130][174]
The Barton Mystery (1932)  | Henry Edwards | [174]
The Barton Mystery (1949)  | Charles Spaak |
Mr. Jubilee Drax (1916)  |

* Horace Annesley Vachell
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [175]
Taken from Life (1916)  |

* W. Taylor
* Walter Hackett

| —  | —  | [176]
£150 (1917)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [141]
The Invisible Foe (1917)  | Walter Hackett  | Whispering Shadows(1921)  | Émile Chautard | [143]
The Freedom of the Seas (1918)  | Walter Hackett  | Freedom of the Seas  (1934)  | Marcel Varnel | [147][172]
Mr. Todd's Experiment (1920)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [149]
Captain Applejack (1921, also known as Ambrose Applejohn's Adventure)  | Walter Hackett  | Strangers of the Night (1923)  | Fred Niblo | [172][150]
Captain Applejack (1931)  | Hobart Henley |
Pansy's Arabian Nights (1924)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [177]
The Wicked Earl (1927)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [154]
Other Men's Wives (1928)  | Walter Hackett  | Sweethearts and Wives (1930)  | Clarence G. Badger | [172][152]
77 Park Lane (1928)  | Walter Hackett  | 77 Park Lane (1931)  | Albert de Courville | [174][153]
77 Rue Chalgrin (1931)  | Albert de Courville | [174]
Between Night and Day (1932)  |

* Albert de Courville
* Fernando Gomis

Sorry You've Been Troubled (1929)  | Walter Hackett  | Life Goes On (1932)  | Jack Raymond | [172][155]
One New York Night (1935)  | Jack Conway | [172]
The Way to Treat a Woman (1930)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [156]
Good Losers (1931)  |

* Walter Hackett
* Michael Arlen

| —  | —  | [159]
Take a Chance (1931)  | Walter Hackett  | Take a Chance (1937)  | Sinclair Hill | [172][158]
The Gay Adventure (1931)  | Walter Hackett  | The Gay Adventure (1936)  | Sinclair Hill | [172]
Road House (1932)  | Walter Hackett  | Road House (1934)  | Maurice Elvey | [172][160]
Afterwards (1933)  | Walter Hackett  | Their Big Moment (1934)  | James Cruze | [174][161]
Hyde Park Corner (1934)  | Walter Hackett  | Hyde Park Corner (1935)  | Sinclair Hill | [172][162]
Espionage (1935)  | Walter Hackett  | Espionage (film) (1937)  | Kurt Neumann | [172][163]
The Fugitives (1936)  | Walter Hackett  | Love Under Fire (1937)  | George Marshall | [172]
London After Dark (1937)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [178]
Toss of a Coin (1938)  | Walter Hackett  | —  | —  | [179]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Some sources such as the Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism list Hackett's middle initial as C and refer to him as Walter C. Hackett.[1] However, this middle initial is in error as it does not match primary documents which indicates he was born with the name Walter Laurence Hackett. Walter L. Hackett is the name used in the 1880 United States census,[2] and Walter Laurence Hackett is the name used in the 1942 World War II draft registration card,[3] and his 1896 voter registration record in California uses Walter Lawrence Hacket.[4] Newspaper reports from his native city of Oakland, California also refer to him as Walter L. Hackett,[5] as do British newspaper reports and court documents from Hackett's 1940 filing of bankruptcy.[6] As a writer he was predominantly known as Walter Hackett without a middle initial.[7] However, as a journalist he did use Walter L. Hackett as his byline.[8] His 1899 short story "In the Service of the Czar" was republished in 1904 with his full name, Walter Laurence Hackett.[9] The Digital Collections at the New York Public Library has hand written letters by Hackett in which he signs his name Walter Laurence Hackett; indicating the author had a preference for this spelling of his middle name.[10]

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Fisher & Hardison Londré 2017, p. 293.
2. ^ a b c 1880 United States Federal Census for Walter L. Hackett, California, Alameda County, Oakland, Supervisor District No. 2, Enumeration District No. 14, page number 27
3. ^ a b Walter Laurence Hackett in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
4. ^ a b c d Walter Lawrence Hackett in the California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898, Great Register Alameda County, City of Oakland, Fifth Ward, Precinct No. 5, page 234
5. ^ a b c d e f "Walter Hackett Scores Success as Playwright". Oakland Tribune. December 5, 1901. p. 4.
6. ^ "£12,000 Liabilities of Walter Hackett". Evening Standard. April 12, 1940. p. 5.
7. ^ a b c d e f "Walter Hackett, Playwright, Dead". The New York Times. January 22, 1944. p. 13.
8. ^ a b Hackett, Walter L. (September 15, 1901). "Exit M'Kinley
Enter Roosevelt: Solemn Scene When Roosevelt Became President of the United States". Minnesota Star Tribune. p. 2.
9. ^ a b c Walter Laurence Hackett (July 29, 1904). "In the Service of the Czar". The Kansas Review. p. 4.
10. ^ "Hackett, Walter Laurence". Digital Collections, New York Public Library. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
11. ^ a b c d "Death of "Long Run" Hackett". The Gloucestershire Echo. January 22, 1944. p. 1.
12. ^ Moses 1925, p. 676.
13. ^ "Walter Hackett, Playwright, Dead". Oakland Tribune. January 22, 1944. p. 2.
14. ^ "American Who Wrote "London After Dark"". The Bolton News. January 22, 1944. p. 4.
15. ^ "Horse Committee". The Oakland Times. March 26, 1895. p. 5.
16. ^ "Burro Race". The Oakland Times. April 18, 1895. p. 1.
17. ^ "Oakland's Floral Triumph". The Oakland Times. May 13, 1895. p. 1.
18. ^ "Work Progressing: Preparations for the Fabiola May Day Fete". Oakland Enquirer. April 1, 1896. p. 3.
19. ^ "An Evening At Athenian Club: "Chirps" Last Saturday Evening Was A Great Success". Oakland Tribune. October 2, 1899. p. 6.
20. ^ "From a London Club Window". Liverpool Daily Post. July 22, 1939. p. 8.
21. ^ "New Publications". Sacramento Record Union. May 7, 1899. p. 5.
22. ^ Walter Laurence Hackett (August 4, 1904). "In the Service of the Czar". Carlisle Evening Herald. p. 3.
23. ^ Walter Laurence Hackett (August 9, 1904). "In the Service of the Czar". Stevens Point Journal. p. 3.
24. ^ Walter Laurence Hackett (August 22, 1904). "In the Service of the Czar". Mt. Carmel Republican. p. 2.
25. ^ Walter Laurence Hackett (August 5, 1904). "In the Service of the Czar". Paris Bourbon News. p. 6.
26. ^ a b c "Brief Dramatic News Notes of Timely Interest". Davenport Morning Star. November 30, 1902. p. 15.
27. ^ "Hermit's Letter: Latest Moves in Literary World". Fall River Globe. December 12, 1903. p. 3.
28. ^ "If You Will Act On This Today the Orchestra Will Be Assured". The Inter Ocean. April 5, 1903. p. 46.
29. ^ a b Walter Hackett (February 16, 1906). "Bill Bowden, A.B. Sees Things". Beaver Dam Argus. p. 6.
30. ^ Walter Hackett (February 17, 1906). "Bill Bowden, A.B. Sees Things". Vancouver Daily World. p. 8.
31. ^ Walter Hackett (February 16, 1906). "Bill Bowden, A.B. Sees Things". The Stoughton Courier. p. 6.
32. ^ a b Walter Hackett (March 10, 1906). "Bill Bowden on Hoodoos". Vancouver Daily World. p. 19.
33. ^ a b Walter Hackett (July 29, 1906). "In the Valley of the Shadow". The Washington Star. p. 30.
34. ^ a b Walter Hackett (July 29, 1906). "In the Valley of the Shadow". New-York Tribune. p. 25.
35. ^ Walter Hackett (October 28, 1906). "The Governors Decision". New-York Tribune. p. 29.
36. ^ Walter Hackett (October 28, 1906). "The Governors Decision". The Washington Star. p. 34.
37. ^ a b Walter Hackett (January 6, 1907). "His Father's Son". The Washington Star. p. 13.
38. ^ Walter Hackett (January 6, 1907). "His Father's Son". New-York Tribune. p. 35.
39. ^ a b Walter Hackett (March 31, 1907). "The Cardinal's Decision". The Washington Star. p. 33.
40. ^ a b Walter Hackett (May 26, 1907). "The Derelict". The Washington Star. p. 33.
41. ^ Walter Hackett (May 26, 1907). "The Derelict". New-York Tribune. p. 29.
42. ^ a b Walter Hackett (June 23, 1907). "Winchester and Company". The Washington Star. p. 33.
43. ^ Walter Hackett (June 23, 1907). "Winchester and Company". New-York Tribune. p. 29.
44. ^ a b Walter Hackett (July 20, 1907). "The Oasis in the Desert". The Washington Star. p. 2.
45. ^ Walter Hackett (July 20, 1907). "The Oasis in the Desert". New-York Tribune. p. 16.
46. ^ a b Walter Hackett (September 29, 1907). "The District Attorney". New-York Tribune. p. 37.
47. ^ a b Walter Hackett (August 25, 1907). "A Life for A Life". The Washington Star. p. 29.
48. ^ Walter Hackett (August 25, 1907). "A Life for A Life". New-York Tribune. p. 25.
49. ^ "Sonia". The Washington Star. April 5, 1908. p. 31.
50. ^ a b "Sonia". New-York Tribune. April 5, 1908. p. 29.
51. ^ a b "Pardners". The Washington Star. January 5, 1908. p. 7.
52. ^ "Pardners". New-York Tribune. January 5, 1908. p. 29.
53. ^ Walter Hackett (October 6, 1907). "The Conscience Fund". The Washington Star. p. 39.
54. ^ Walter Hackett (October 6, 1907). "The Conscience Fund". New-York Tribune. p. 39.
55. ^ "June Magazines; Broadway Magazine". The New York Times. May 25, 1907. p. 26.
56. ^ a b Walter Hackett (June 18, 1907). "Captain Arthur's Bride". Midland Counties Tribune: 4.
57. ^ a b Walter Hackett (September 1907). "Pie". Cosmopolitan. 43 (5): 564.
58. ^ a b "Broadway Magazine". The New York Times. October 26, 1907. p. 28.
59. ^ a b "Classified Index of Today's Journals". The Minneapolis Journal. December 8, 1907. p. 1.
60. ^ a b "Your Sunday Will Be Dull Without the Post". The Pittsburgh Post. November 23, 1907. p. 1.
61. ^ a b "The December Smart Set". The Mount Holly News. November 17, 1908. p. 3.
62. ^ a b "Popular". Times Union[disambiguation needed]. November 22, 1908. p. 15.[disambiguation+needed]&rft.atitle=Popular&rft.pages=15&rft.date=1908-11-22&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Walter+Hackett" class="Z3988">
63. ^ a b Walter Hackett (January 8, 1908). "Miss Lowell's Lover". Hinckley Echo. p. 4.
64. ^ "The Theft of the Dudley Diamonds". Munsey's Magazine. 39 (6). September 1908.
65. ^ a b Walter Hackett (August 1909). "The Wheel of Fortune". The All-Story. p. 62.
66. ^ Walter Hackett (September 1912). "The Gazebrook Necklace". Munsey's Magazine. 42 (3).
67. ^ a b Walter Hackett (October 19, 1909). "A Short Story: Otto Schmalz, Hypnotist". The Sun. p. 7.
68. ^ "The Theater". The Washington Star. June 21, 1908. p. 22.
69. ^ a b "Bright Stars At Keith's". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 12, 1901. p. 5.
70. ^ "Haymarket and Olympic Vaudeville". Chicago Tribune. September 4, 1901. p. 16.
71. ^ "Shea's Garden Theatre". The Buffalo Commercial. May 24, 1902. p. 5.
72. ^ "Behind the Footlights". New-York Tribune. August 31, 1902. p. 32.
73. ^ "Topics of the Theater". The Inter Ocean. October 24, 1902. p. 6.
74. ^ "Corrigan As A Star: Appeared in "The Prince of Dreams" at the Grand Last Night". Freeport Daily Bulletin. November 18, 1902. p. 1.
75. ^ a b "Daly in New Play". The Philadelphia Inquirer. January 28, 1908. p. 4.
76. ^ "Parson's Theater". Hartford Courant. January 30, 1908. p. 7.
77. ^ "Amusements". The Times Leader. February 1, 1908. p. 10.
78. ^ "In the Theaters". Times Leader: 3. February 6, 1908.
79. ^ "Lyric-Arnold Daly". The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 16, 1908. p. 28.
80. ^ "In the Theaters". Chicago Tribune. March 8, 1908. p. 43.
81. ^ a b "At the Studebaker". The Chicago Live Stock World. March 14, 1908. p. 4.
82. ^ "Daly's Drama of Regeneration". The Inter Ocean. March 15, 1908. p. 39.
83. ^ "Daly Scores in "The Regeneration"". The New York Times. September 2, 1908. p. 7.
84. ^ "Attractions of the Week at the Theaters". Chicago Tribune. June 14, 1908. p. 70.
85. ^ a b ""Invader" Based on the Heinze Crash". New-York Tribune. May 19, 1908. p. 7.
86. ^ "News of the Theaters". The Inter Ocean. June 12, 1908. p. 6.
87. ^ "News of the Theaters". Chicago Tribune. June 22, 1908. p. 8.
88. ^ "Blackwood Back". The Los Angeles Times. August 11, 1908. p. 20.
89. ^ "Books and Authors". New-York Tribune. December 12, 1908. p. 9.
90. ^ a b "News of Plays and Players". The Sun. December 24, 1908. p. 5.
91. ^ "Plays and Players". The Boston Globe. November 15, 1909. p. 3.
92. ^ a b "The White Sister". Press and Sun-Bulletin. February 9, 1909. p. 4.
93. ^ Mantle, Burns; Sherwood, Garrison P.; Chapman, John Arthur (1944). "The White Sister". The Best Plays of 1899-1909. Dodd, Mead & Co. p. 400.
94. ^ Thompson 1985, p. 229.
95. ^ Isenberg 1973, p. 465.
96. ^ a b "Haswell at Auditorium". The Baltimore Sun. February 15, 1910. p. 9.
97. ^ a b c "Get Busy With Emily". Variety. XVIII (10): 18. May 14, 1910.
98. ^ a b "Charles J. Ross in "The Simple Life" Made Big Hit At the Savoy Last Night". Atlantic City Daily Press. August 9, 1910. p. 8.
99. ^ a b c d "Hackett is Vexed". The Cleveland Press. December 31, 1910. p. 3.
100. ^ a b c "Notes of the Theatre". Chicago Tribune. December 21, 1912. p. 1.
101. ^ "Theatrical Notes". The New York Times. April 5, 1911. p. 9.
102. ^ Karl K. Kitchen (November 13, 1912). "Grubstaking Playwrights". The Plain Dealer. p. 10.
103. ^ "Chats of Plays and Players". The Inter Ocean. December 29, 1912. p. 46.
104. ^ "The Theaters". The Cincinnati Enquirer. April 6, 1913. p. 46.
105. ^ "A New Drama". Lancaster Daily Intelligencer. January 28, 1911. p. 3.
106. ^ a b "The Drama: "Our World" by Walter Hackett, at Garrick Theatre". New-York Tribune. February 7, 1911. p. 7.
107. ^ "Heredity is the Theme". The Kansas City Star. February 12, 1911. p. 28.
108. ^ a b "Theatrical Attractions in the Metropolis". The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. April 30, 1911. p. 35.
109. ^ a b "Storm Signals Flying in Big Time Vaudeville". Variety. October 1912. p. 10.
110. ^ "Walter Hackett Will Marry". Chicago Tribune. September 17, 1911. p. 7.
111. ^ "'Don't Weaken' Goes Strong At Playhouse". The Evening Journal. December 30, 1913. p. 2.
112. ^ a b "Don't Weaken". The Brooklyn Citizen. January 15, 1914. p. 5.
113. ^ "Don't Weaken Seen at Maxine Elliott's". The New York Times. January 15, 1914. p. 9.
114. ^ a b Archie Bell (September 2, 1913). "Two New Plays at Colonial". The Plain Dealer. p. 12.
115. ^ a b Bordman 1995, p. 8.
116. ^ "Manhattan Attractions". The Brooklyn Daily Times. July 24, 1915. p. 16.
117. ^ Megure, Roi Cooper; Hackett, Walter; Field, Samuel (1915). It Pays To Advertise. Duffield & Company.
118. ^ "Eastbourne". The Guardian: 7. July 15, 1914.
119. ^ Wearing 2014a, p. 286.
120. ^ a b "From 9 to 11: Detective Drama at Wyndham's". The Times: 37. July 15, 1914.
121. ^ "English Play Might Have Been Pirated". Oakland Tribune: 10. July 16, 1914.
122. ^ "May Have Pirated Baldpate in London". The Santa Barbara Daily News and the Independent: 5. July 17, 1914.
123. ^ "A Story Within A Play". Boston Evening Transcript: 10. July 30, 1914.
124. ^ a b c Wearing 2014a, p. 316.
125. ^ "Prince of Wales Theatre: He Didn't Want to Do It". The Observer: 12. March 7, 1915.
126. ^ "Marion Lorne in the London play "Mr. and Mrs. Ponsonby"". The Times: 11. June 1, 1915.
127. ^ a b "A Game of Complications". The Guardian: 6. June 15, 1915.
128. ^ "The Stage". The Minneapolis Journal: 32. June 20, 1915.
129. ^ "The Stage and Its People". Los Angeles Evening Express: 14. June 28, 1915.
130. ^ a b "Successful Dramatic". Variety. XLII (5): 4. March 31, 1916.
131. ^ ""Barton Mystery" Walter Hackett's Play In London". The Christian Science Monitor. April 25, 1916.
132. ^ Lachman 2014, p. 173.
133. ^ "The Barton Mystery: Play of "Psychometry" at the Savoy". The Times: 11. March 23, 1916.
134. ^ W.D.S.B. (November 1916). "Theosophy in the Magazines". The Theosophist. 38: 233.
135. ^ Wearing 2014a, p. 371.
136. ^ "The Barton Mystery in French". Sunday Dispatch: 6. January 21, 1917.
137. ^ "The Playhouses: "Mr. Jubilee Drax" at the Haymarket". The Illustrated London News. October 7, 1916.
138. ^ "Mr. Jubilee Drax". The Times: 11. October 2, 1916.
139. ^ "Drama of the Year". The Daily Telegraph: 5. December 29, 1916.
140. ^ "Mr. Jubilee Drax". Variety. Vol. XLVIII, no. 12\. November 16, 1917. p. 15.
141. ^ a b "Playwrights Revue: Reflections On Economy at The Ambassadors". Evening Standard. May 1, 1917. p. 10.
142. ^ "At the Play". The Observer. May 6, 1917. p. 5.
143. ^ a b "Savoy Theatre: The Invisible Foe by Walter Hackett". The Daily Telegraph. August 24, 1917. p. 6.
144. ^ "The Invisible Foe". Variety. February 8, 1918. p. 11.
145. ^ "Some of the New Plays". The Graphic. September 1, 1917. p. 30.
146. ^ "Music and Drama". The People. December 2, 1917. p. 4.
147. ^ a b Wearing 2014a, p. 483.
148. ^ "Hackett Writing for Seymour Hicks". Variety. March 29, 1918. p. 4.
149. ^ a b Wearing 2014b, p. 5.
150. ^ a b Wearing 2014b, pp. 107, 184–185.
151. ^ Woollcott, Alexander (December 31, 1921). "The Play". The New York Times. Vol. 71, no. 23, 352. p. 14.
152. ^ a b Wearing 2014b, p. 584.
153. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 2.
154. ^ a b Wearing 2014b, p. 499.
155. ^ a b Wearing 2014b, p. 700.
156. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 38.
157. ^ Hartnoll & Found 1992, p. 554.
158. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 135.
159. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 93.
160. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 234.
161. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 318.
162. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 388.
163. ^ a b Wearing 2014c, p. 473.
164. ^ "A New Play and A Revival: "London After Dark", "Anna Christie"". The Guardian. April 8, 1937. p. 10.
165. ^ "Theatrical Notes". The Daily Telegraph. February 17, 1938. p. 19.
166. ^ "Mr. Walter Hackett's New Play". The Guardian. March 18, 1938. p. 10.
167. ^ "Petition Against Walter Hackett". Daily Herald. July 19, 1939. p. 1.
168. ^ Walter Hackett (June 11, 1915). "The Grocers". The South Western Advertiser: 4.
169. ^ Affron 2002, p. 167.
170. ^ Murphy & Moore 1993, p. 159.
171. ^ Suaréz Ramírez 2013, p. 266.
172. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Goble 2011, p. 201.
173. ^ Wearing 2014b, p. 272.
174. ^ a b c d e Goble 2011, p. 200.
175. ^ Wearing 2014a, p. 395.
176. ^ Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916. Library of Congress. 1918. p. 2804.
177. ^ Wearing 2014b, p. 314.
178. ^ "Miss Lorne is Loosed in London After Dark". Evening Standard. April 8, 1937. p. 12.
179. ^ "Pierrots and Spies". Evening Standard. March 18, 1938. p. 9.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Affron, Charles (2002). Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520234345.
* Bordman, Gerald (1995). American Theatre – A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914–1930. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195090780.
* Fisher, James; Hardison Londré, Felicia (2017). "Hackett, Walter (1876–1944)". Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538107867.
* Goble, Alan (2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Bowker-Saur. ISBN 9783110951943.
* Hartnoll, Phyllis; Found, Peter, eds. (1992). The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198661363.
* Hunt, Rockwell D., ed. (1926). California and Californians, Volume V. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company.
* Isenberg, Michael T. (1973). War on Film: The American Cinema and World War I, 1914-1941. University of Colorado.
* Lachman, Marvin (2014). The Villainous Stage: Crime Plays on Broadway and in the West End. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786495344.
* Moses, Montrose Jonas, ed. (1925). Representative American Dramas, National and Local. Little, Brown and Company.
* Murphy, Donn; Moore, Stephen (1993). Helen Hayes: A Bio-Bibliography. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780313277931.
* Suaréz Ramírez, Jorge (2013). Cine Mudo, Ciudad Parlante: Historia del Cine Guayaquileño, Volume 2. Publicación del Programa Editorial de la Muy Ilustre Municipalidad de Guayaquil. ISBN 9789942858719.
* Thompson, Frank T., ed. (1985). Between Action and Cut: Five American Directors. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810817449.
* Wearing, John Peter (2014a). The London Stage 1910–1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893009.
* Wearing, John Peter (2014b). The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893023.
* Wearing, John Peter (2014c). The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893047.

## External links

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Wikisource has texts related to Walter Hackett.

* Walter Hackett at the Internet Broadway Database
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* Works by Walter Hackett at Project Gutenberg
* Works by Walter Hackett on Great War Theatre

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*[m.]: married
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