January 22, 1938: "Our Town" Premieres

Left to right: Frank Craven, Martha Scott, John Craven

January 22, 1938: Our Town, a play by Thornton Wilder, premieres at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. It debuts on Broadway on February 4, at Henry Miller's Theatre, and later moves to the Morosco Theatre. It wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Edward Albee, one of America's greatest playwrights, called it "the greatest American play ever written."

The town in Our Town is the fictional Clinton Corners, New Hampshire. It begins on May 7, 1901, when George Gibbs, son of the town doctor, and Emily Webb, daughter of the editor of the town newspaper, are children and next-door neighbors. In Act II, it is 1904, and they get married. In Act III, it is 1913, and Emily has died, giving birth to her 2nd child.

The play is narrated by the Stage Manager, who also serves as the soda shop owner, the minister at the wedding of Emily and George, and other characters. At the end, Emily's spirit, getting depressed while walking through the town and observing the people, asks the Stage Manager -- who appears to be more an angel than God --  if anyone truly understands the value of life while they live it. He says, "No. The saints and poets, maybe. They do, some." Emily returns to her grave next to her mother, and watches impassively as George kneels weeping over her. The Stage Manager concludes the play and wishes the audience a good night.

Wilder, born in 1897 in Madison, Wisconsin, won 2 other Pulitzers: For his 1928 novel The Bridge at San Luis Rey, and for his 1942 play The Skin of Our Teeth. He died in 1975. His siblings were also accomplished: Brother Amos and sisters Isabel and Charlotte were writers, and sister Janet was a zoologist.

In the original production, the Stage Manager was played by Frank Craven, who lived until 1945; George by his son John Craven, 1995; and Emily by Martha Scott, 2003. The play was filmed in 1940, with Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprising their roles, but John Craven being replaced as George by William Holden.

In 1955, a version was broadcast live on NBC. Frank Sinatra played the Stage Manager, and also introduced the song "Love and Marriage," which Jimmy van Heusen and Sammy Cahn wrote specifically for this production. Eva Marie Saint and Paul Newman starred in what remains the only musical version of the play. Another version was done for NBC in 1977, with Hal Holbrook, Glynnis O'Connor and Robby Benson. And in 2002, Paul Newman, by this point 77 years old, played the Stage Manager on Broadway, in a production shown the next year on PBS as part of Masterpiece Theatre.

The McCarter Theatre is still in operation. It was named for Thomas N. McCarter, a Princeton University graduate, an Attorney General of New Jersey, and the founder of the company now known as Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), which runs the electricity for most of northern New Jersey. New Jersey Route 21 is known as the McCarter Highway.

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January 22, 1938 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Two NHL games were played. The New York Americans lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 9-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, one of the worst home losses in NHL history. And yet, only Charlie Sands scored as many as 2 goals.