Wilder Times

Penelope Niven has done quite a job in her biography of Thornton Wilder.  With unparalleled access to his papers, she has delivered 800+ pages on a man most people only know one thing about--he wrote Our Town.  And maybe that's the problem. I definitely recommend this book for those who want to know more about Wilder, but there's a good chance this will tell you more than you want to know.

Not that it wasn't a fascinating life. Born in 1897, Wilder was an academic type who, by the age of 30, published the novel The Bridge Of San Luis Rey, which won the Pulitzer Prize.  A bestseller in its day, I don't think it's much read any more. (I've heard some claim it's still quite popular, but I'm not sure if I should believe them).

Wilder wrote other novels, but his heart was always in the theatre, even if he didn't approve of much that was on Broadway at the time. He felt the stage could offer so much more and wrote some short plays that dealt with cosmic themes.  Then came Our Town in 1938, which also won the Pulitzer.  It's been revived on Broadway four times, and may just be the most produced play of the 20th century.  This is partly because it's so easy to stage, but even more because it deals movingly but not too sentimentally with basic themes that touch everyone--family, love, life, death.

In 1942 Wilder won his third Pulitzer for The Skin Of Our Teeth, which is as extravagant as Our Town is simple, yet deals with equally large themes--nothing less than the existence of humanity. I've never seen a production of the play, but it's a wonderful read. Though it must be tremendously expensive to put on, it's had two revivals on Broadway.

Wilder had his longest Broadway run with the 1955 farce The Matchmaker, a reworking of his former flop The Merchant Of  Yonkers, itself an adaptation of a German play that had been based on a British one-act. While The Matchmaker can still hold the stage it's been mostly superseded by its musicalization, Hello Dolly!  There's a fairly faithful 1958 movie adaptation starring Shirley Booth, Anthony Perkins and Shirley MacLaine that's worth checking out.

It's hard to place Thornton Wilder's place in the world of letters.  But unless something changes in humanity, I imagine Our Town will be performed centuries hence.  And, for that matter, Penelope Niven's book will remain his standard biography.