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Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. Booth Tarkington was born in Indianapolis. He first attended Purdue University but graduated from Princeton University in 1893. While at Princeton he was the editor of the Nassau Literary Magazine and formed the Princeton Triangle Club. He was also voted the most popular man in his class. He was one of the most popular American novelists of his time, with The Two Vanrevels and Mary's Neck appearing on the annual best-seller lists nine times. Tarkington's best known work today is The Magnificent Ambersons, which traced the growth of the United States through the decline of the oncepowerful and aristocratic Amberson family dynasty, contrasted against the rise of industrial tycoons and "new money" families in the economic boom years after the Civil War leading up to World War I. Amongst his other works are The Man From Home (with Harry Leon Wilson) (1908), The Flirt (1913), Penrod (1914), Harlequin and Columbine (1918), The Gibson Upright (1919), In the Arena (1920) and Gentle Julia (1922).

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Customer Reviews (2)

Typical Tarkington In A Play
With Tarkington hitting a kind of rut with his novels, it isn't too surprising that he decided to try a different way of telling a story.He worked with Harry Leon Wilson, the writer of "Ruggles of Red Gap", to create "The Man From Home", a play which debuted in 1907 in Chicago and was published in 1908.The two would pair up several more times with such plays as "The Gibson Upright", "Tweedles", and "How's Your Health?", but this was their first venture.

The story is pure Tarkington, or so it seems to me.To begin with, you have people from a small town in Indiana, though the scene is the Hotel Regina Margherita in Sorento, Italy.One of Tarkington's common themes of judging people by how they act, rather than by their family history or the money they have, is well in force.And there is some of the identity surprises as well.

In the story, there are two Americans from Indiana (Horace Granger-Simpson and his sister Ethel Granger-Simpson) trying to rise above their humble origins by having Ethel marry the Honorable Almeric St. Aubyn, who is the son of Lord Hawcastle.Horace is taken with the Comtesse de Champigny, and all this has been put together by Lady Creech, the sister-in-law of Lord Hawcastle.However, in order for the marriage to happen, Ethel needs to pay a rather large settlement, and for that she needs the approval of Daniel Voorhees Pike, her guardian, whom she fears will be too American and embarrass her.Another subplot is a Russian man travelling under an assumed name and pretending to be German, and who happens to have become friends with Mr. Pike.Another is about a Russian criminal who is being chased by the police.

In the first act, we meet the interested parties, and learn at least something about their characters.Tarkington and Wilson set the stage well as they introduce all the major threads, even though one of the characters has not yet arrived.The second act advances the story well, and introduces the last character as well as fills in the back-story a bit.We learn a lot more about Hawcastle's character, or lack thereof.The third act is the meat of the play, as the all three of the plots become joined together.The Hawcastle's are exposed, we learn who Vasili is, and Ethel learns about the shame of the family she was about to marry into, but her own honor does not allow her to back out of the deal.Act four deals with this new development.Ethel refuses to break her promise, and Pike somewhat surprisingly stands with her, and even agrees to the settlement, though it is by doing so that he ultimately frees her from her obligation.

There are a couple of subplots, which really aren't needed for the story, but they don't hurt it either.A much bigger weakness is that there are too many amazing coincidences which tie these characters all together.Certainly one can accept Pike being Ethel's guardian, as we know that the guardian was on the way.Vasili's secret identity was also well established and one can accept it, and in fact it Vasili is an important character because he helps establish that it is possible for titled and rich people can still also be good human beings as opposed to the Hawcastles.The relationship between the Russian criminal (Professor Ivanoff) though is problematic.Though certainly an important character to expose the Hawcastles, his presence at this place at this point in time just when Pike can make use of it, is a bit too much to accept.

Overall "The Man from Home" is a decent play, but not as humorous as one might expect from Tarkington and Wilson.The plot is just a bit too far out there to be believable.As a first effort it is interesting.Tarkington's theme of small town common sense and morals being more important than a title and riches is one we have read before, but being put into a play, and having Indiana meet European aristocracy is a different twist than what he has given us before.It is of some interest, but at the same time there is a reason why you don't see this play being performed very often.There were two films based on this play, the first being directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1914, though the storyline is quite a bit different, and then another film in 1922, with Alfred Hitchcock given credit for title designer, but the film has been lost.

Hobnobbing with the Aristocracy
When "The Man from Home" opened on Broadway in August 1908 at the Astor Theatre, playwright Booth Tarkington and his co-writer Harry Leon Wilson envisioned it as a satire on the coarseness of American manners.Little did they expect American audiences to cheer at the simple homespun common sense wisdom of Daniel Pike.William Hodge played Pike, a lawyer put in charge of a wealthy estate.He makes the trip to Sorrento, Italy because, although not too distant in age, he is the guardian of Ethel Granger-Simpson.Ethel has been hobnobbing with the wealthy European aristocracy, many of whom are unfortunately now broke.They seek "alliances" with wealthy Americans to replenish the family bank accounts.Ethel plans to marry playboy Almeric.The obstacle to the alliance is the consent of her guardian who must approve the "settlement" of $750,000.(This is still a lot of money today.In dollars from a hundred years ago, it must have been a whopping fortune!)Ethel petulantly explains that it is not a dowry, but is what she brings to the alliance.When Pike wants to know what Almeric brings to the marriage, Ethel spouts about his ancestors who fought in ancient battles.Pike isn't too anxious to liquidate what is the bulk of Ethel's fortune to her husband-to-be.The plot thickens as an Italian fugitive Georgeopolis, from Greece, shows up on the lamb.Sympathetic to his story, Pike befriends the fugitive and hides him.When Pike won't approve the settlement, Almeric's father, the Earl of Hawcastle who has been watching, uses the threat of aiding and abetting to throw Pike in an Italian jail if he doesn't approve the money transfer.Through a series of devices, Ethel overhears the real greed in the Europeans and gets in touch with her American self, which says you should work for what you earn.The play concludes as Pike approves the settlement just as Ethel breaks off the engagement.The final moments lead us to believe that the future holds something special for Ethel and Daniel Pike.This is a well-made play.It is delightful in its homespun roots and would play well to modern-day American audiences who reflect many of the same values 100 years later.The show ran for 496 performances, an incredibly long run in 1908-09 that attests to the tremendous popularity of the play.This is a little jewel that would play well in modern revival.Bravo! ... Read more

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This classic book has been formatted for the Kindle, with linked table of contents and back links for easy navigation.

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At a certain committee meeting held in the spring of 1916, it was agreed that fourteen leading American authors, known to be extremely generous as well as gifted, should be asked to write a composite novel.

An excerpt:

Genevieve Remington had been called beautiful. She was tall, with brown eyes and a fine spun mass of golden-brown hair. She had a gentle smile, that disclosed white, even teeth. Her voice was not unmusical. She was twenty-three years old and possessed a husband who, though only twenty-six, had already shown such strength of character and such aptitude at the criminal branch of the law that he was now a candidate for the post of district attorney on the regular Republican ticket.

The popular impression was that he would be elected hands down. His address on Alexander Hamilton at the Union League Club banquet at Hamilton City, twenty-five miles from Whitewater (with which smaller city we are concerned in this narrative), had been reprinted in full in the Hamilton City Tribune; and Mrs. Brewster-Smith reported that former Congressman Hancock had compared it, not unfavorably, with certain public utterances of the Honorable Elihu Root.

George Remington was an inch more than six feet tall, with sturdy shoulders, a chin that gave every indication of stubborn strength, a frank smile, and a warm, strong handclasp. He was connected by blood (as well as by marriage) with five of the eight best families in Whitewater. Mr. Martin Jaffry, George's uncle and sole inheritor of the great Jaffry estate (and a bachelor), was known to favor his candidacy; was supposed, indeed, to be a large contributor to the Remington campaign fund. In fact, George Remington was a lucky young man, a coming young man.
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