Peggy Webling
Encyclopedia
Peggy Webling was a British playwright, novelist and poet. Her 1927 play version of Mary Shelley
's Frankenstein
is notable for naming the creature "Frankenstein" after its creator, and for being the inspiration of the classic 1931 film
directed by James Whale
.
Webling wrote her adaptation of Frankenstein at the request of actor-producer Hamilton Deane
, who had a recent success in his stage adaptation
of Bram Stoker
's Dracula. Webling's Frankenstein was first produced by Deane in Preston, Lancashire in December 1927. After touring in repertory
with Dracula for two years, and some revisions by Webling, it opened in London in February 1930, where it played 72 performances. The Times
of London wrote, "Miss Webling, translating into terms of the theatre Mary Shelley's one lasting and original composition, has unquestionably succeeded in bringing the monster to life; but the play in which she exhibits this wild beast is as flimsy as a bird cage."
Nonetheless, in April 1931 Universal Pictures
bought the film rights to an unproduced American adaptation of Webling's play by John L. Balderston
(who had similarly adapted Deane's Dracula for the New York stage), giving the playwrights $20,000 plus 1 percent of the gross earnings on all showings of any films based on their dramatic work. Balderston himself had a low regard for Webling's play, calling it "illiterate" and "inconceivably crude".
She was born Margaret Webling in Westminster, England
; her father was a silversmith and jeweler. Peggy and her sisters Josephine, Rosalind and Lucy were precocious at performing amateur theatricals in London, and gained the acquaintance of actress Ellen Terry
, and authors Lewis Carroll
and John Ruskin
. She spent time in Canada and the United States during the periods 1890–1892 and 1895–1897.
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
's Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
is notable for naming the creature "Frankenstein" after its creator, and for being the inspiration of the classic 1931 film
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
directed by James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
.
Webling wrote her adaptation of Frankenstein at the request of actor-producer Hamilton Deane
Hamilton Deane
Hamilton Deane was an Irish actor, playwright and director. He played a key role in popularising Bram Stoker's Dracula as a stage play and, later, a film.-Life:Deane was born in Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin...
, who had a recent success in his stage adaptation
Dracula (play)
Dracula is a 1924 stage play adapted by Hamilton Deane from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, and substantially revised by John L. Balderston in 1927...
of Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's Dracula. Webling's Frankenstein was first produced by Deane in Preston, Lancashire in December 1927. After touring in repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
with Dracula for two years, and some revisions by Webling, it opened in London in February 1930, where it played 72 performances. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London wrote, "Miss Webling, translating into terms of the theatre Mary Shelley's one lasting and original composition, has unquestionably succeeded in bringing the monster to life; but the play in which she exhibits this wild beast is as flimsy as a bird cage."
Nonetheless, in April 1931 Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
bought the film rights to an unproduced American adaptation of Webling's play by John L. Balderston
John L. Balderston
John L. Balderston was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for his horror and fantasy scripts....
(who had similarly adapted Deane's Dracula for the New York stage), giving the playwrights $20,000 plus 1 percent of the gross earnings on all showings of any films based on their dramatic work. Balderston himself had a low regard for Webling's play, calling it "illiterate" and "inconceivably crude".
She was born Margaret Webling in Westminster, England
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
; her father was a silversmith and jeweler. Peggy and her sisters Josephine, Rosalind and Lucy were precocious at performing amateur theatricals in London, and gained the acquaintance of actress Ellen Terry
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, and authors Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
and John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. She spent time in Canada and the United States during the periods 1890–1892 and 1895–1897.
Further reading
- Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 240: Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century British Women Poets. Edited by William B. Thesing. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.