View source for Hell-Bent Fer Heaven

{{Short description|1924 melodrama play by Hatcher Hughes}}
{{Infobox play
| name       = Hell-Bent fer Heaven
| image      = Federal Theatre, La Cadena and Mt. Vernon, presents "Hell-bent fer heaven!" LCCN98517730.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption    = Poster for 1936 production
| writer     = [[Hatcher Hughes]]
| characters = 
| setting    = The Hunt family home in the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]]
| premiere   = January 4, 1924
| place      = [[Klaw Theatre]]<br />[[New York City, New York]]
| orig_lang  = English
| subject    =
| genre      = [[melodrama]]
}}

'''''Hell-Bent fer Heaven''''' is a [[melodrama]] play by [[Hatcher Hughes]].

==Production==
The play ran at the [[Klaw Theatre]] from January 4  to April 1924 and was produced by [[Marc Klaw]]. The cast featured [[George Abbott]], [[Glenn Anders]] and Margaret Borough.<ref>[http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/6314/Hell-Bent-Fer-Heaven "'Hell-Bent Fer Heaven' Broadway"] playbillvault.com, accessed December 21, 2015</ref> The play was staged by Augustin Duncan.<ref name=book>Fischer, Heinz Dietrich and Fischer, Erika J. (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=kN0X2c9JqcUC&dq=%22Clara+Blandick%22+%22Hell-Bent+Fer+Heaven%22&pg=PA28 "1924 Award"] ''Drama/comedy Awards, 1917-1996: From Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams to Richard Rodgers and Edward Albee'', [[Walter de Gruyter]], 1998, {{ISBN|3598301820}}, {{pp.|27-30}}</ref>

It also helped launch the career of [[Clara Blandick]], who later appeared as Auntie Em in the classic 1939 adaptation of ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''.<ref>[https://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2011/01/tragedy-of-aunt-em.html "The Tragedy Of Aunt Em"] greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com, January 30, 2011</ref>

The play was included in [[Burns Mantle]]'s ''The Best Plays of 1923-1924''.

===Pulitzer Prize===
The play won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] in 1924.<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Drama "Pulitzer Prize for Drama"] pulitzer.org, accessed December 21, 2015</ref> The choice sparked controversy in literary circles and the media because the prize jury had actually selected George Kelly's ''[[The Show-Off (play)|The Show-Off]]'', but was overruled by [[Columbia University]], which was administering that year's Pulitzers as Hatcher Hughes was a professor there.<ref>Mordden, Ethan, All That Glittered, St. Martin's Press, 2007, pg. 101</ref><ref>Fischer, Heinz-D. [https://books.google.com/books?id=F_OMeGB0mroC&dq=Pulitzer+%22Hell-Bent+Fer+Heaven%22&pg=PA5 "Development of the Pulitzer Drama Prize, p. 5"] ''Chronicle of the Pulitzer Prizes for Drama: Discussions, Decisions and Documents'', Walter de Gruyter, 2008, {{ISBN|3598441207}}</ref>

==Plot==
Set in the [[Carolinas|Carolina]] mountains, late one afternoon to 9 o'clock that evening during the summer. Rufe Pryor is a religious fanatic who works for the Hunts. Sid Hunt returns to the family home from the war. He has a girlfriend, Jude Lowry, who Rufe also is interested in.  Rufe inspires old clan rivalry between the Hunts and the Lowrys, in an attempt to remove Sid from the picture. When Rufe's plans are discovered, the two families reconcile. (The play was billed as "A High Spirited Tale of the Blue Ridge.")

==Cast==
* [[George Abbott]] as Sid Hunt
* [[Clara Blandick]] as Meg Hunt
* [[Augustin Duncan]] as David Hunt
* Burke Clarke as Matt Hunt
* [[Glenn Anders]] as Andy Lowry
* Margaret Borough as Jude Lowry
* [[John F. Hamilton]] as Rufe Pryor

==Film==
The play was made into the motion picture ''[[Hell-Bent for Heaven]]'' in 1926.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/495522/hell-bent-fer-heaven ''Hell-Bent Fer Heaven''] tcm.com, accessed December 21, 2015</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Hell-Bent fer Heaven}}
* {{wikisource-inline|Hell-Bent fer Heaven (1924)|Hell-Bent fer Heaven|single=true}}
* [http://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/9453 ''Hell-bent Fer Heaven'' at the Internet Broadway Database]
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016955/ ''Hell-Bent for Heaven''] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]
* [http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=DirectSearch&KWID=24UADMWSLUP "Hell-bent Fer Heaven" Museum of the City of New York]

{{Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1918-1925}}

[[Category:1924 plays]]
[[Category:American plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama–winning works]]