Frederic Stewart Isham (March 29, 1865 – September 6, 1922) was an American novelist and playwright who wrote mainly historical romances and adventure novels.

Frederic S. Isham
Born
Frederic Stewart Isham

(1865-03-29)29 March 1865
Died6 September 1922(1922-09-06) (aged 57)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation
  • Author
SpouseHelen Frue

Life

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Isham was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Charles Storrs Isham and Lucy B. (Mott) Isham. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London for two years.[1] In 1895 he married Helen Margaret Frue.[2] He died in New York.

Career

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Isham began as a playwright and later turned to novels, writing mainly historical romances and adventure novels set in various periods. Black Friday, for example, centers on the American financial crisis of 1869,[1] while Under the Rose is set in 16th century Europe. His experiences in theater informed his first novel, The Strollers.[1] Published by Bobbs-Merrill Company and its predecessor Bowen-Merrill Company, Isham's novels were illustrated by such artists as Harrison Fisher, William Thacher Van Dresser, Max J. Spero, and W. B. King.[3] The critic H. L. Mencken wrote of his novel Half a Chance that it was "a brisk and entertaining story, with not too much reality in it," which well summarizes the general tenor of Isham's work.[4]

Several of his novels have been turned into movies. With Max Marcin he turned his 1918 novel Three Live Ghosts into a 1920 comic play, and it was later made into a movie three times: a 1922 British comedy directed by George Fitzmaurice, a 1929 American comedy directed by Thornton Freeland, and a 1936 American film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone. Isham co-wrote the screenplay for the last of the three movies, which are about a trio of World War I soldiers who return home after the war only to discover that they are thought to be dead.

His 1914 novel Nothing But the Truth was made into a movie twice: as a loose adaptation in 1929 directed by Victor Schertzinger and more faithfully as a 1941 film directed by Elliott Nugent. The novel was also the basis for the 1926 musical Yes, Yes, Yvette.[5]

The Social Buccaneer was a ten-episode 1923 American film serial based on Isham's novel and directed by Robert F. Hill. It is now thought to be a lost film.

Books

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Novels
  • Aladdin from Broadway (1913)
  • Black Friday (1904)
  • Half a Chance (1909)
  • The Lady of the Mount (1908)
  • A Man and His Money (1912)
  • Nothing But the Truth (1914)
  • The Nut Cracker (1920)
  • The Social Bucaneer (1910)
  • The Strollers (1902)
  • This Way Out (1917)
  • The Thousand and Second Night: A Romantic Comedy (1911)
  • Three Live Ghosts (1918)
  • Under the Rose (1903)
Plays
  • The Toy Shop: A Drama for Children (1891)
  • Three Live Ghosts (1920, with Max Marcin)

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Frederic Isham" Book News, vol. 23, 1905, p. 167.
  2. ^ "Connecting Capron Cousins". Capronfamily.com.
  3. ^ Smith, Geoffrey D. American Fiction, 1901-1925: A Bibliography. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  4. ^ Mencken, H.L. "The Last of the Victorians." The Smart Set: A Magazine of Cleverness, vol. 29, p. 156.
  5. ^ Bob Morningstar (December 18, 1926). "Chicago Premiere; Four Cohans Theatre; Yes, Yes, Yvette". Billboard.
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