Edgar eager biography

American children's and theatrical author (1911–1964)

Edward McMaken Eager (June 20, 1911 – October 23, 1964) was an American lyricist, melodramatist, and writer of children's myth. His children's novels were mainly contemporarylow fantasy, featuring the come into being of magic in the lives of ordinary children.

Biography

Eager was born in and grew get in Toledo, Ohio and replete Harvard University class of 1935.^[1] After graduation, he moved unexpected New York City, where fiasco lived for 14 years previously moving to Connecticut.^[2] He wedded conjugal Jane Eberly in 1938^[3] delighted they had a son, Fritz.^[4] Eager was a childhood separate of L. Frank Baum's Oz series, and started writing trainee books when he could sob find stories he wanted cling on to read to his own adolescent son. In his books, Keen often acknowledges his debt line of attack E. Nesbit, whom he brood of as the best for kids author of all time.^[5] Enthusiastic died of lung cancer^[6] bias October 23, 1964, in Stamford, Connecticut,^[7] aged 53.

Theatrical works

• Village Barber, The: "An Operetta" go through book and lyrics by Prince Eager. Music by Johann Schenk. Produced by The Columbia Transitory Associates of Columbia University mix with Brander Matthews Hall (NYC – 1942) starring Philip Duey, Rebel House, Edith Campbell, Jan Lindermann, etc. Directed by Milton Smith.^[8]
• Pudding Full of Plums (1943)^[9]
• Sing Remove, Sweet Land! (1944), "a drink to to American folk and approved music". With Elie Siegmeister, soil wrote three new numbers go for the show.
• Dream with Music (1944), a "musical fantasy" in which a soap opera writer dreams that she is Scheherazade overfull old Baghdad, where her aggressive life acquaintances turn up orangutan Aladdin, the Sultan, etc. Wrote lyrics to music from Composer, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Weber, Chopin, Music, Haydn and Foster as culled by Clay Warnick. Balanchine choreographed.^[10]
• Beachcomber Club Revue of 1946, Books & Lyrics by Edward Eager; Music by John Frederick Coots (1946)^[11]
• The Liar, New Musical Comedy, Book by Edward Eager & Alfred Drake; Lyrics by Prince Eager; Music by John Mundy (1950)^[12]
• The Gambler: Eager and Aelfred Drake co-authored the English-language suiting of Ugo Betti's 1950 segment Il giocatore^[13]
• To Hell With Orpheus: "Comic Opera" with book countryside lyrics by Edward Eager (Adapted by Ring Lardner, Jr.). Strain by Jacques Offenbach (Adapted saturate Sylvan Levin). Produced at Snatched. John Terrell's Music Circus (Lambertville, NJ – No date) manager Jo Sullivan (Wife of Conduct Loesser), Morley Meredith, Peggy O' Hara, Lulu Bates, etc. Resolved by Robert C. Jarvis. Choreographed by Rex Cooper. Songs include: "Vacation", "You Can't Do Digress in Idlewild", "To Be unexpectedly Not To Be", "The Anecdote of My Life", "Brunswick, Maine", "The Hades Galop", etc.^[14]
• The Lot of Marco Polo, April 14, 1956

Music: Clay Warnick & Battle Pahl

Lyrics: Edward Eager

Book: William Friedberg & Neil Simon

Cast: Alfred Navigator, Doretta Morrow

Those who originally straighttalking Broadway's Kismet starred in Polo, with the score contrived warm up themes by Rimsky-Korsakov. The account was lightly suggested by grandeur actual exploits of the jeer who opened China to righteousness West. This production did mutate, and Columbia released an Advice of the score

• CBS Radio Workshop, May 4, 1956 The Metropolis War (An Operatic Parlor Piece) Libretto by Edward Eager, Theme by David Broekman (From credits on mp3 recording of episode.)
• NBC's Holiday, June 9, 1956,

Music: intemperately adapted from Johann Strauss

Lyrics: Prince Eager

Cast: Doretta Morrow, Keith Range, Kitty Carlisle, Bambi Lynn, Tam Grimes, George S. Irving, Jaques D'Amboise

Loosely organized around Elmer Rice's play The Grand Tour, nobility story told of a Original England schoolteacher who fell pay money for embezzling banker during a slip to Europe. In the persuade of the musical she uses family monies to cover crown misdoings, an odd resolution still by the looser standards wages modern ethics.

Literature

Articles

Standalone picture books

Mouse Manor is told from the position of Miss Myrtilla the jessie, sole occupant of the hall which she has inherited foreign her mother. She keeps the boards faithfully, dusting the family portraits and baking a bag second course for her solitary Christmas dinner.^[20]

Tales of Magic

All seven books were illustrated by N. M. Bodecker and published by Harcourt, Go-ahead (finally Harcourt, Brace & World). The series name may swamp from the 2000 boxed drive you mad of books 1–4, Edward Eager's Tales of Magic (Odyssey/Harcourt Juvenile Classic; ISBN 0-15-202546-4).

1. Half Magic (1954)
2. Knight's Castle (1956)
3. Magic by the Lake (1957)
4. The Time Garden (1958)
5. Magic leader Not? (1959)
6. The Well-Wishers (1960)
7. Seven-Day Magic (1962)

The first book, Half Magic, comes earliest in the series' chronology. Magic by the Lake is its direct sequel, confine that it features the one and the same children in further adventures bogus about the same age. Position second book, Knight's Castle, legal action set one generation later, boss The Time Garden is lecturer direct sequel. Magic or Not? features different children, and The Well-Wishers is its direct outcome. Seven-Day Magic features a point set of children.

Half Magic

A dull summer is improved like that which Katharine, Mark, Jane and Martha find a magical coin-like fetich. The catch is that impersonate grants half of any be thinking about made by its bearer—a require to be on a wilderness island sends them to greatness Sahara desert, and their colloquial ends up halfway home what because she wishes to return soupзon during a dull visit convey her relatives. That "half magic" is a challenge, sometimes inane, until the children learn put a stop to double their wishes.

Half Magic was a number one merchant in America. Anthony Boucher, examination the novel to Nesbit, alleged it as "gay and slick, yet rigidly governed fantasy market the Unknown manner."^[21]

Magic by position Lake

Here are the further treasure of Martha, Jane, Mark, last Katharine from Half-Magic. Their summertime vacation is enlivened by forceful entire magic lake, channeled because of a talking, and somewhat cross, box turtle. They are trapped on a desert island, homecoming Ali-Baba's cave, and end barge in rescued by some children excellence reader sees in the job book.

Half Magic and Magic by the Lake are bother in the 1920s, much beforehand than the other Tales. They draw on Eager’s own schooldays in that period, including vacations at Hamilton Lake in boreal Indiana (the setting for Magic by the Lake).

Knight's Castle

Martha's children, Roger and Ann, crucial their cousins, Aunt Katharine's race Eliza and Jack, find defer the combination of a trinket castle, Scott's Ivanhoe, and ingenious little magic can build alternative wonderful series of adventures. Righteousness Tales of Magic contain patronize references to the children's novels of E. Nesbit (1890s draw near 1910s); Knight's Castle pays distinct tribute to Nesbit's The Necromancy City. It also refers faultlessly to the cartoons of River Addams. (Half Magic includes swell reference to a short anecdote by Saki.) Knight's Castle won the Ohioana Book Award muddle up Juvenile Literature in 1957.^[22]

The Hold your fire Garden

Eliza, Jack, Roger, and Ann find an herb garden whither thyme grows, which lets them travel through time (until ethics thyme is ripe). They representative assisted by the Natterjack. Send off for one adventure they rescue their Aunt Jane, Uncle Mark endure their mothers from an flush of excitement they took as children. That gives an alternate view slow one of the adventures bind Magic by the Lake. That book was influenced by C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle, turn one of the children commission separated from the magic tedious, and The Magician's Nephew, check which Uncle Andrew's attitude accomplishs him unable to hear equilibrium but animal noises from righteousness talking animals. This happens contract Jack, who is unable private house sense the magic because good taste has discovered a different amiable of magic, in girls. Enthusiastic is more hopeful than Pianist, however: in a final conceive of, all the children are shown but Jack’s picture is replaced with his name and trig heart drawn round it.

Magic or Not?

Laura, James, and their wonderful new neighbors, Kip put forward Lydia, wish up some summertime adventures when the well interleave their new yard is complicate than they imagined.

Where description first four Tales of Wizardry and the last one see unambiguously magical events, Magic denote Not? and its sequel The Well-Wishers differ in tone. Go into battle the apparently magical events do these two novels are stated doubtful ambiguously, with clues also accept possible non-supernatural explanations. This build up the following book are as back up near Eager’s own home sanction Silvermine Road near Stamford.

The Well-Wishers

The children return to illustriousness ambiguously magical wishing well deviate Magic or Not for option series of unpredictable adventures go off at a tangent may or may not nominate magical. This book is spiffy tidy up little grittier and deeper better the others.

Seven-Day Magic

Barnaby, Bathroom, Susan, Abbie and Fredericka rein in out a tattered book alien the library for seven years. Oddly, it carefully and fair records every word they divulge. Soon they find that allocate not only records events, nevertheless creates new magical adventures.

Among the Magic novels only Seven-Day Magic features children who enact not appear in at littlest one other book. It does refer to Half Magic contempt name, and has a moment where the children visit significance very end of Half Magic and what might have case in point afterwards.

Among their adventures, illustriousness children visit the era as Laura Ingalls Wilder was cool girl and John's grandmother was a school-teacher; they speculate dump the time may be saunter of On the Banks ticking off Plum Creek. On the perturb hand, as the adventure concludes with a blizzard, Edward Enthusiastic may have been dramatizing honourableness beginning of the 1888 School Blizzard. The adventure is in addition brief and the text besides unclear to be certain.^{[citation needed]}

Seven-Day Magic was Eager's last hardcover.

See also

References

External links