HOPWOOD, AVERY

(1884-1928)

   The playwright was born in Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from Michigan University in 1905, and joined the staff of the Cleveland Leader. Sent to New York as correspondent for the Leader, Hopwood tried to peddle his comedy Clothes, but the agency sent it to Channing Pollock for rewrites, to which Pollock agreed on the understanding that Hopwood had assented to the play doctoring. Pollock recalled in his autobiography that "Avery had written a crisp, witty satire on the society of our day, with touches of excellent melodrama, and I believed care in revision might give us a noteworthy success" (1943, 150).Pollock was surprised at a tryout to meet the playwright, who had never been informed that he had a coauthor. But Hopwood complimented Pollock on the improvements, and the two became friends. The success of the 1906 production initiated Hopwood's switch to playwriting, and his numerous successes brought him a fortune. These include This Woman and This Man (1909), Nobody's Widow (1910), Fair and Warmer (1915), The Gold Diggers (1919), The Demi-Virgin (1921), Why Men Leave Home (1922), Little Miss Bluebeard (1923), The Best People (1924, with David Gray), Naughty Cinderella (1925), The Garden of Eden (1927). With Mary Roberts Rinehart, he wrote Seven Days (1909), The Bat (1920), and Spanish Love (1920). With Willison Collison, he wrote The Girl in the Limousine (1919) and Getting Gertie's Garter (1921). Pollock suggests that Hopwood's death by drowning at Juan-Les-Pins, France, may have been premeditated.