James Planché
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James Robinson Planché (February 27, 1796 – 1880), was a dramatist, officer of arms and miscellaneous writer. In 1820, he married Elizabeth St. George (1796-1850), also a notable playwright. She was skilled at sentimental and melodramatic scenes, he at playful dialog, and revisions of their plays suggest that they collaborated.
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[edit] Life and career
Planché was born in London of Huguenot descent and worked in the College of Arms. At the College, because of his scholarship, he rose to the rank of Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary. In this capacity he was repeatedly sent on missions to invest foreign princes with the Order of the Garter. Nevertheless, poverty followed Planché throughout much of his life, and the early death of one daughter and one son-in-law left him to support many grandchildren.
Planché produced more than of 90 adaptations and about 70 original pieces for the stage, including his first work, 1817's Amoroso, the King of Little Britain, 1820's The Vampire; or, the Bride of the Isles, and his last stage work, the 1856 extravaganza Young and Handsome. Among his efforts were twenty-three melodramas, several comedies and farces, nine musical revues, twenty-three fairy-tale extravaganzas, and nine burlesques of classical mythology. In his productions, Planché was interested in recreating historically accurate costumes and settings. His work influenced the dramatist W. S. Gilbert. Many of Planché's extravaganzas, burlesques, revues, and a few experimental pieces are found in a forty-one play, five-volume collection, The Extravaganzas of J. R. Planché, published in 1879. Many of his letters are preserved in the Harvard Theatre Collection.
Planché also produced book-length scholarly studies of historical and literary material, including History of British Costumes, The Pursuivant of Arms (1852), a volume on William the Conqueror The Conqueror and his Companions (1874), and a small review of English queens for Victoria's coronation. In addition, he wrote travelogues, children's books, and magazine articles. He served for a time as the drama critic of the Morning Herald. Along with Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Douglas Jerrold, and others, he helped abolish the Patent System of English theater and extend copyright to dramatic works in the United Kingdom.
He also wrote the autobiographical Recollections and Reflections: A Professional Autobiography (1872). In this work, Planché describes his colleagues, such as Eliza Vestris ((1797-1854) the burlesque singer and comedienne), her husband, the actor C. J. Mathews, John Pritt Harley (1786-1858, a popular comic actor who helped establish Planché as a young playwright), actor and singer James Bland, Charles Dance ((1794-1863) a writer of light comedies and farces), singer and actress Priscilla Horton ((1818-1895) later Mrs. Thomas German Reed), James Bland (Planché praised him for embuing a sense of believability into even his most fantastic roles), and Frederick Robson ((1822-1864) one of the greatest actors of the era). It also offers glimpses of many other notables of the time, including Carl-Maria von Weber, with whom he collaborated on Oberon, Eugène Scribe, many of whose works he translated, W. C. Macready, with whom he had an artistically profitable but personally difficult relationship, and even P. T. Barnum.
Planché died at the age of 84.
[edit] Heraldic succession
| Preceded by William Courthope |
Rouge Croix Pursuivant 1854–1866 |
Succeeded by John von Sonnentag de Havilland |
| Preceded by William Courthope |
Somerset Herald 1866–1872 |
Succeeded by Stephen Isaacson Tucker |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.
