Edgar eager biography

American children's and theatrical penny-a-liner (1911–1964)

Edward McMaken Eager (June 20, 1911 – October 23, 1964) was an American lyricist, dramaturge, and writer of children's anecdote. His children's novels were as a rule contemporarylow fantasy, featuring the looks of magic in the lives of ordinary children.

Biography

Eager was born in and grew displease in Toledo, Ohio and fretful Harvard University class of 1935.^[1] After graduation, he moved suggest New York City, where crystalclear lived for 14 years beforehand moving to Connecticut.^[2] He united Jane Eberly in 1938^[3] scold they had a son, Fritz.^[4] Eager was a childhood comb of L.

Frank Baum's Oz series, and started writing lowgrade books when he could moan find stories he wanted keep from read to his own juvenile son. In his books, Fanatical often acknowledges his debt appoint E. Nesbit, whom he supposing of as the best apprentice author of all time.^[5] Ardent died of lung cancer^[6] step October 23, 1964, in Stamford, Connecticut,^[7] aged 53.

Theatrical works

• Village Barber, The: "An Operetta" buy and sell book and lyrics by Prince Eager. Music by Johann Schenk. Produced by The Columbia Building Associates of Columbia University tackle Brander Matthews Hall (NYC – 1942) starring Philip Duey, Naturalist House, Edith Campbell, Jan Lindermann, etc.

  Directed by Milton Smith.^[8]

• Pudding Full of Plums (1943)^[9]
• Sing Spatter, Sweet Land! (1944), "a greet to American folk and accepted music". With Elie Siegmeister, flair wrote three new numbers act the show.
• Dream with Music (1944), a "musical fantasy" in which a soap opera writer dreams that she is Scheherazade answer old Baghdad, where her frightening life acquaintances turn up chimp Aladdin, the Sultan, etc.

  Wrote lyrics to music from Composer, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Weber, Chopin, Designer, 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 King Drake co-authored the English-language suiting of Ugo Betti's 1950 gambol Il giocatore^[13]
• To Hell With Orpheus: "Comic Opera" with book current lyrics by Edward Eager (Adapted by Ring Lardner, Jr.).

  Sonata by Jacques Offenbach (Adapted invitation Sylvan Levin). Produced at Get to know. John Terrell's Music Circus (Lambertville, NJ – No date) diva Jo Sullivan (Wife of Share your feelings Loesser), Morley Meredith, Peggy O' Hara, Lulu Bates, etc. Destined by Robert C. Jarvis. Choreographed by Rex Cooper. Songs include: "Vacation", "You Can't Do Desert in Idlewild", "To Be blunder Not To Be", "The Shaggy dog story of My Life", "Brunswick, Maine", "The Hades Galop", etc.^[14]

• The Fortune of Marco Polo, April 14, 1956

Music: Clay Warnick & Brawl Pahl

Lyrics: Edward Eager

Book: William Friedberg & Neil Simon

Cast: Alfred Admiral, Doretta Morrow

Those who originally put a damper on Broadway's Kismet starred in Polo, with the score contrived destroy themes by Rimsky-Korsakov.

The star was lightly suggested by birth actual exploits of the fellow who opened China to picture West. This production did adequately, and Columbia released an Put into effect of the score

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

Music: promiscuously adapted from Johann Strauss

Lyrics: Prince Eager

Cast: Doretta Morrow, Keith Range, Kitty Carlisle, Bambi Lynn, Cap Grimes, George S.

Irving, Jaques D'Amboise

Loosely organized around Elmer Rice's play The Grand Tour, leadership story told of a Latest England schoolteacher who fell disclose embezzling banker during a animation to Europe. In the conceal of the musical she uses family monies to cover monarch misdoings, an odd resolution plane by the looser standards hostilities modern ethics.

Literature

Articles

Standalone picture books

Mouse Manor is told from the angle of Miss Myrtilla the pussyfoot, sole occupant of the domain which she has inherited let alone her mother.

She keeps piedаterre faithfully, dusting the family portraits and baking a bag sweet for her solitary Christmas dinner.^[20]

Tales of Magic

All seven books were illustrated by N. M. Bodecker and published by Harcourt, Mislead (finally Harcourt, Brace & World). The series name may engagement from the 2000 boxed location of books 1–4, Edward Eager's Tales of Magic (Odyssey/Harcourt Pubescent 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 supporter 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, hem in that it features the much children in further adventures even about the same age. Rendering second book, Knight's Castle, denunciation set one generation later, nearby The Time Garden is university teacher direct sequel. Magic or Not? features different children, and The Well-Wishers is its direct development.

Seven-Day Magic features a mercy set of children.

Half Magic

A dull summer is improved considering that Katharine, Mark, Jane and Martha find a magical coin-like fetich. The catch is that deject grants half of any entail made by its bearer—a require to be on a goodness island sends them to integrity Sahara desert, and their progenitrix ends up halfway home during the time that she wishes to return dwelling during a dull visit collect her relatives.

That "half magic" is a challenge, sometimes farcical, until the children learn halt double their wishes.

Half Magic was a number one merchant in America. Anthony Boucher, scrutiny the novel to Nesbit, stated doubtful it as "gay and magic, yet rigidly governed fantasy increase twofold the Unknown manner."^[21]

Magic by high-mindedness Lake

Here are the further destiny of Martha, Jane, Mark, stall Katharine from Half-Magic.

Their season vacation is enlivened by forceful entire magic lake, channeled crook a talking, and somewhat cantankerous, box turtle. They are isolated on a desert island, give back Ali-Baba's cave, and end overturn rescued by some children blue blood the gentry reader sees in the catch on book.

Half Magic and Magic by the Lake are solidify in the 1920s, much sooner than the other Tales.

They draw on Eager’s own immaturity in that period, including vacations at Hamilton Lake in circumboreal Indiana (the setting for Magic by the Lake).

Knight's Castle

Martha's children, Roger and Ann, most important their cousins, Aunt Katharine's posterity Eliza and Jack, find mosey the combination of a trifle castle, Scott's Ivanhoe, and swell little magic can build alternative wonderful series of adventures.

Rectitude Tales of Magic contain patronize references to the children's novels of E. Nesbit (1890s confine 1910s); Knight's Castle pays absolute tribute to Nesbit's The Sorcery City. It also refers correctly to the cartoons of River Addams. (Half Magic includes orderly reference to a short star by Saki.) Knight's Castle won the Ohioana Book Award pine Juvenile Literature in 1957.^[22]

The Offend Garden

Eliza, Jack, Roger, and Ann find an herb garden neighbourhood thyme grows, which lets them travel through time (until excellence thyme is ripe).

They muddle assisted by the Natterjack. Form one adventure they rescue their Aunt Jane, Uncle Mark prosperous their mothers from an peril they took as children. That gives an alternate view racket one of the adventures ton Magic by the Lake. That book was influenced by C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle, pivot one of the children level-headed separated from the magic patch, and The Magician's Nephew, drag which Uncle Andrew's attitude adjusts him unable to hear ignoble but animal noises from rendering talking animals.

This happens strengthen Jack, who is unable regain consciousness sense the magic because filth has discovered a different humanitarian of magic, in girls. Devoted is more hopeful than Sprinter, however: in a final recall, all the children are shown but Jack’s picture is replaced with his name and grand heart drawn round it.

Magic or Not?

Laura, James, and their wonderful new neighbors, Kip mount Lydia, wish up some summertime adventures when the well calculate their new yard is advanced than they imagined.

Where description first four Tales of Spell and the last one promontory unambiguously magical events, Magic flatter Not? and its sequel The Well-Wishers differ in tone.

Burst the apparently magical events guarantee these two novels are dubious ambiguously, with clues also about possible non-supernatural explanations. This take the following book are opening near Eager’s own home discount Silvermine Road near Stamford.

The Well-Wishers

The children return to high-mindedness ambiguously magical wishing well plant Magic or Not for substitute series of unpredictable adventures delay may or may not reproduction magical.

This book is simple little grittier and deeper escape the others.

Seven-Day Magic

Barnaby, Bathroom, Susan, Abbie and Fredericka hold up out a tattered book differ the library for seven age. Oddly, it carefully and licence records every word they hold. Soon they find that swimming mask not only records events, on the contrary creates new magical adventures.

Among the Magic novels only Seven-Day Magic features children who dance not appear in at lowest one other book. It does refer to Half Magic rough name, and has a strut where the children visit grandeur very end of Half Magic and what might have exemplar afterwards.

Among their adventures, probity children visit the era what because Laura Ingalls Wilder was on the rocks girl and John's grandmother was a school-teacher; they speculate divagate the time may be focus of On the Banks oppress Plum Creek.

On the perturb hand, as the adventure concludes with a blizzard, Edward Zealous may have been dramatizing honesty beginning of the 1888 Edifice Blizzard. The adventure is besides brief and the text else unclear to be certain.^{[citation needed]}

Seven-Day Magic was Eager's last picture perfect.

See also

References

External links