Chapter Six: Dear Jane: Christian Spinster, Feminist Flirt, and Shadow Actress
We may think that the 21st century invented the Jane-Austen-chooses-pen-over-marriage biopic, but the 1920s and 30s had its strikingly similar bioplay, Dear Jane (1919/1932), by Eleanor Holmes Hinkley.
Long neglected and sometimes reported lost, this play survives in an unpublished script. It has a fascinating performance history, previously untold. Learn more about it and the pioneering women who played its Cassandra and Jane in Chapter Six.
We may think that the 21st century invented the Jane-Austen-chooses-pen-over-marriage biopic, but the 1920s and 30s had its strikingly similar bioplay, Dear Jane (1919/1932), by Eleanor Holmes Hinkley.
Long neglected and sometimes reported lost, this play survives in an unpublished script. It has a fascinating performance history, previously untold. Learn more about it and the pioneering women who played its Cassandra and Jane in Chapter Six.
Actors Josephine Hutchinson and Eva Le Gallienne played sisters Jane and Cassandra Austen on stage at the Civic Repertory Theatre in New York. Off stage, they were a romantic couple, a relationship that had been rumored in the periodical press.
In addition to playing Cassandra and Jane, Hutchinson and Le Gallienne also acted opposite each other as Wendy and Peter Pan. This remarkable publicity photo of them in their Peter Pan roles supports the arguments made in The Making of Jane Austen about the love story at the heart of their performances in Dear Jane.
In addition to playing Cassandra and Jane, Hutchinson and Le Gallienne also acted opposite each other as Wendy and Peter Pan. This remarkable publicity photo of them in their Peter Pan roles supports the arguments made in The Making of Jane Austen about the love story at the heart of their performances in Dear Jane.