PorgyDuBose Heyward and Dorothy Heyward
(1927)
A drama cowritten by DUBOSEHEYWARD and
DOROTHYHEYWARDthat was based on DuBose
Heyward’s popular novel PORGY.The play, directed
by Rouben Mamoulian, debuted on BROADWAYin
October 1927 at the Guild Theatre on West 52nd
Street. It ran for more than 200 performances be-
fore beginning a successful national tour and re-
turned to Broadway for an additional 150-plus
performances.
The Heywards were committed to using an
African-American cast, rather than actors in black-
face, for the production. Heyward biographer Frank
Durham notes that in the absence of an organized
national Negro theater, the Heywards found them-
selves “taken aback” by the “group of people from
whom they were to select those entrusted with the
interpretation of the comedy and drama and pathos
of their story.” After lengthy rehearsals, however,
the play took shape as an absorbing piece, one en-
riched by the talents of the cast that included the
celebrated veteran Rose McClendon.
Despite its popularity, the Heyward version of
Porgywas eclipsed by the 1935 GEORGEGERSHWIN
musical adaptation of the novel.
Bibliography
Durham, Frank. DuBose Heyward: The Man Who Wrote
Porgy.Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1965.
Hutchisson, James. DuBose Heyward: A Charleston Gen-
tleman and the World of Porgy and Bess.Jackson:
University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
Slavick, William. DuBose Heyward.Boston: Twayne Pub-
lishers, 1981.
Porgy and Bess (1935)
The GEORGEGERSHWINadaptation of DUBOSEand
DOROTHY HEYWARD’s play PORGY (1927). Hey-
ward’s play was in turn based on his 1925 novel of
the same name.
Porgy and Bessopened on BROADWAYat the
Alvin Theatre in October 1935. Gershwin collabo-
rated with the Heywards and with Rouben
Mamoulian, the director of the Heyward produc-
tion. In 1935 Mamoulian was responsible for stag-
ing the musical; Heyward wrote the libretto and
collaborated with Ira Gershwin on the lyrics.
On opening night, 10 October 1935, the cast
featured Anne Wiggins Brown in the starring role
of Bess and Todd Duncan in the leading role of
Porgy. Also appearing in the Gershwin debut was J.
Rosamond Johnson, brother of JAMESWELDON
JOHNSON. The Eva Jessye Choir, under EVA
JESSYE’s direction, performed as the musical en-
semble.
Unlike the first adaptation of the novel, Hey-
ward’s own 1927 production that opened on
Broadway, the Gershwin musical failed to garner
critical acclaim or generate substantial audience
interest. It closed after only five months and 124
shows. The play continues to be staged.Bibliography
Durham, Frank. DuBose Heyward: The Man Who Wrote
Porgy.Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1965.
Hutchisson, James. DuBose Heyward: A Charleston Gen-
tleman and the World of Porgy and Bess.Jackson:
University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
Hyland, William. George Gershwin: A New Biography.
Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003.
Jablonski, Edward. Gershwin.Boston: Northeastern Uni-
versity Press, 1990.
Slavick, William. DuBose Heyward.Boston: Twayne Pub-
lishers, 1981.“Possible Triad on Black Notes, A”
Marita Bonner(1933)
A set of three jarring short stories by MARITA
BONNERthat earned her first honorable mention
in the 1932–33 OPPORTUNITYliterary contest. The
collection included a foreword and three vignettes,
“There Were Three,” “Of Jimmy Harris,” and
“Corner Store.” All three were set in the Frye
Street community of CHICAGOthat Bonner cre-
ated and invoked repeatedly in her fiction. The
multiracial and multiethnic community was a
place in which “All the World” exists, in which
identity is both fluid and inflexible. On Frye Street,
an observer may “wonder whether Russians are
Jews, or Jews, Russians—and finally... wonder
how the Negroes there manage to look like all men
of every other race and then have something left
over for their own distinctive black-browns.” It is
in this bustling cultural milieu that Bonner sets her
tragic tales of families on the verge of ruination.“Possible Triad on Black Notes, A” 429