The Heir at Law

The Heir at Law (1797) is a comedic play in five acts by George Colman the Younger that remained popular through the 19th century. It and John Bull (1803) were Colman's best known comedies.[1]

Sol Smith Russell, one of many well-known actors who have played Dr. Pangloss

The piece debuted at the Haymarket in London on 15 July 1797, with John Fawcett playing Dr. Pangloss, and ran for 27 performances.[2]

It was first performed in the United States at the Park Theatre in New York in April 1799. Many American actors played the role of Pangloss to success, including comedian Joseph Jefferson starting in 1857 at the Olympic Theatre in New York..[3][4]

Characters and plot

The play is best known for creating the comic character of Dr. Peter Pangloss, a greedy and pompous teacher hired at a salary of 300 pounds a year to tutor merchant Daniel Dowlas, who has been recently elevated to the title of Lord Duberly after the death of a distant cousin. Pangloss refers to himself as an "LL.D. and A.S.S.", and the character is fond of spouting off literary quotes which he then attributes in the fashion of "Lend me your ears. Shakespeare. Hem!" or "Verbum sat. Horace. Hem!"[5] The surname "Pangloss" is derived from the character of that name in the 1759 novel Candide by Voltaire, the personal tutor of the main character Candide.[6]

July 1797 cast
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References
  1. Dabundo, Laura (ed.) Encyclopedia of Romanticism (Routledge Revivals): Culture in Britain, 1780s-1830s, p. 117 (1992)
  2. Highfill, Philip H., Jr., et al. A Biographical Directory of Actors ... 1660-1800, Vol. 5, p. 201 (1978)
  3. The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, Volume 20, pp. 110-11 (1906)
  4. (29 March 1890). At the Theatres, New York Dramatic Mirror, Vol. 23, No. 587, p. 4 (review of 1890 revival)
  5. Brewer, E. Cobham. Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Volume V, p. 153 (1902)
  6. Peake, Richad Brinsley. Memoirs of the Colman family, including their correspondence, Vol. II, pp. 277-79 (1841)
  7. Munden, Thomas Shepperd Memoirs of Joseph Shepherd Munden, Comedian, pp. 73-74 (1844)
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