Bully For You, Children For Me

I've been reading up on two playwrights, Oscar Wilde and Eugene O'Neill.  In most ways they couldn't have been more different, but they had one similarity--both were children of fairly well-known fathers.

Actually, both Wilde's parents were famous in their day.  Sir William Wilde was a surgeon, but also a notable archaeologist and author.  Jane Wilde was a poet and political activist.

James O'Neill was a popular actor, best known in his time for his many performances of The Count Of Monte Cristo. 

It can be tough for children to grow up in the shadow of eminent parents.  But both Oscar and Eugene far outstripped them, so much so that today William and Jane and James are almost solely known as the parents of their famed children

William Wilde died before his son truly started his literary career, while Jane Wilde lived long enough to see her son's reputation fall into disrepute.  I wonder how they'd feel if they knew they'd be remembered, but only because their son would be so famous (and completely rehabilitated in the public eye).

And what would James O'Neill, a celebrity, feel about being best known today as the original version of the father in what is probably his son's greatest work, Long Day's Journey Into Night?  Perhaps he'd feel better about it if the portrait he inspired wasn't so lacerating.