Virgil Geddes
Virgil Geddes was an American playwright and critic born in 1897 in Nebraska. Despite only completing eighth grade, he was an avid reader with a strong interest in literature. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Geddes embarked on a career in journalism and theater, working in cities like Boston and Chicago before moving to Paris, where he contributed to the Paris Tribune. In 1926, he published his first widely recognized works, including a poetry collection titled *Forty Poems*. Geddes gained significant acclaim in the 1930s, particularly for his plays, such as *Pocahontas and the Elders* and *Four Comedies from the Life of George Emery Blum*, which explored the life of a character who transitions from undertaker to state senator. Additionally, he founded one of the early summer theater programs, known as The Brookfield Players in Connecticut. Geddes's contributions to theater and literature highlight his unique journey and the impact he had on the arts during his time.
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Subject Terms
Virgil Geddes
Writer
- Born: May 14, 1897
- Birthplace: Dixon County, Nebraska
- Died: c. 1989
Biography
Playwright and critic Virgil Geddes was born in the 1897 in Nebraska. Although he only attended school through the eighth grade, Geddes was well read and interested in literature. After serving with the U.S. Navy, Geddes found work as a journalist and in the theater in Boston and Chicago. He then moved to Paris, France, where he worked as a stagehand before becoming a writer for the Paris Tribune in 1924. In 1927, Geddes married dancer Minna Besser and returned to the United States a year later.
Geddes’s first widely published work was a collection of poems entitled Forty Poems in 1926. A second poetry collection, Poems Forty-One to Seventy, was published that same year. Geddes gained critical acclaim in the 1930’s with plays such as Pocahontas and the Elders and books such as The Melodramadness of Eugene O’Neill. His most-significant work is considered to be the 1934 Four Comedies from the Life of George Emery Blum, which contains the plays In the Tradition, I Have Seen Myself Before, The Drink in the Body, and By the Soul You May Bury. These plays portray the life of George Emery Blum, who rises in position from an undertaker to a state senator. Geddes was also the founder of one of the earliest summer theater programs, The Brookfield Players in Brookfield, Connecticut.