NOTE ON SOURCES
The back matter for this volume is constructed in large part from Thornton Wilder’s words in published material not easy to come by. Unless otherwise identified, all unpublished material and many of the news clips are from holdings in the Wilder Family Archives in the Yale Collection of American Literature in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale (YCAL), or records held by the Wilder family. Wilder’s legal and dramatic agency files have been especially useful sources for telling the story. When deemed appropriate, minor corrections of spelling, punctuation, and format have been made silently. Wilder’s correspondence with Lady Sybil Colefax is held in Special Collections, The Fales Library & Special Collections at New York University, and his letters to Ruth Gordon by the Garson Kanin Estate.
PUBLICATIONS
The Reinhardt citation is from Huntly Carter’s The Theatre of Max Reinhardt (New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1914). Donald Haberman’s quote is taken from The Plays of Thornton Wilder: A Critical Study (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1967), 23; Richard Maney’s from Fanfare: The Confessions of a Press Agent (New York: Harper & Row 1957), 329; and the quoted lines from The Merchant of Yonkers (New York: Harper & Brothers), 173, 180. Wilder’s lyrics appeared in “Old Father Hudson” published by W. A. Quincke & Co., Hollywood, CA, 1939.
An earlier version of this Afterword appeared in the 2006 HarperCollins edition of Three Plays. Since that time, two foundational works for understanding Thornton Wilder’s life and art have been published by HarperCollins: Robin G. Wilder and Jackson R. Bryer edited The Selected Letters of Thornton Wilder (2008) and Penelope Niven’s definitive Wilder biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life (2012). Readers interested in learning more about Wilder are invited to consult these two important texts. We also invite readers to visit www.thorntonwilder.com for extensive materials including theater programs, photos, Wilder’s 1938 essay, “Noting the Nature of Farce,” his preface to Three Plays, and his Foreword to Johann Nestroy: Three Comedies, translated by Max Knight and Joseph Fabry (New York, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1967). The Beaux’ Stratagem, referenced in Ken Ludwig’s Introduction, is published by Samuel French (2007), and The Bride of Torozko has not yet been published.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I extend special thanks to Barbara Hogenson, Rosey Strub, and Jim Knable for their invaluable support in preparing this version of The Matchmaker Afterword. Sofia Groopman, the book’s editor at HarperCollins, also deserves a special bow. Plaudits aside, I take full responsibility for errors and welcome corrections and comments.
Since 2003, ten notable novelists and playwrights have contributed Introductions to the HarperCollins editions of Thornton Wilder’s novels and plays. The Wilder family is honored that Ken Ludwig accepted the invitation to join this group. To Ken goes a very deep bow.
TAPPAN WILDER