"Clipt Wings" - a forgotten play about Francis Bacon written in 1930 by William R Leigh

[Eric Roberts]

The name William Robinson Leigh will be familiar to Lawrence and Rob as the name of the artist who painted the famous picture, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

Less well known perhaps is his series of illustrations for H G Wells's book "The Things that Live on Mars" published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, March 1908.

Famous for his many depictions of the Wild West, in his early sixties during the late-1920s Leigh wrote the first of several plays:

"CLIPT WINGS: A Drama in Five Acts. Being an Explanation of the Mystery Concerning the Authorship of the Works Attributed to Shakespeare, the Parentage of Francis Bacon, and the Character of Shaxper"

It can be read, page by page (no download) here: https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/40272449

Here is a sample of the dialogue, which strikes a happy balance between Elizabethan English and contemporary understandability.

The scene is where Ben Jonson and Francis Bacon coerce William Shaxper to impersonate the author of Bacon's theatrical productions.

As can be seen from the cast list above, the only thing that spoils the play is Leigh's assertion that Robert Cecil, not Robert Devereux, was Francis Bacon's biological brother and that Elizabeth was their mother. A weird scenario, given the enmity between Francis and Robert Cecil.

The reason for my wanting to mention "Clipt Wings" is because someone out there might see the potential in either writing about Leigh's failed play about Bacon (due largely to the Depression in the 1930s) or mounting a production of the stage play, maybe with a few changes (e.g. Robert Devereux as Francis's brother). Otherwise, I think it's a fascinating attempt to bring Bacon as Shakespeare into popular culture.

There is also a PhD thesis on the life of William R Leigh: 

 

 

 

 

[Eric Roberts]

3 hours ago, Eric Roberts said:

The name William Robinson Leigh will be familiar to Lawrence and Rob as the name of the artist who painted the famous picture, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

Less well known perhaps is his series of illustrations for H G Wells's book "The Things that Live on Mars" published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, March 1908.

Famous for his many depictions of the Wild West, in his early sixties during the late-1920s Leigh wrote the first of several plays:

"CLIPT WINGS: A Drama in Five Acts. Being an Explanation of the Mystery Concerning the Authorship of the Works Attributed to Shakespeare, the Parentage of Francis Bacon, and the Character of Shaxper"

It can be read, page by page (no download) here: https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/40272449

Here is a sample of the dialogue, which strikes a happy balance between Elizabethan English and contemporary understandability.

The scene is where Ben Jonson and Francis Bacon coerce William Shaxper to impersonate the author of Bacon's theatrical productions.

As can be seen from the cast list above, the only thing that spoils the play is Leigh's assertion that Robert Cecil, not Robert Devereux, was Francis Bacon's biological brother and that Elizabeth was their mother. A weird scenario, given the enmity between Francis and Robert Cecil.

The reason for my wanting to mention "Clipt Wings" is because someone out there might see the potential in either writing about Leigh's failed play about Bacon (due largely to the Depression in the 1930s) or mounting a production of the stage play, maybe with a few changes (e.g. Robert Devereux as Francis's brother). Otherwise, I think it's a fascinating attempt to bring Bacon as Shakespeare into popular culture.

There is also a PhD thesis on the life of William R Leigh: 

 

 

 

 

There's also the introduction from "Clipt Wings" on SirBacon.org: https://sirbacon.org/links/whack.htm

[Christie Waldman]

The first scene is wonderful fun!

Edited July 11 by Christie Waldman
scene instead of act

[Christie Waldman]

On 7/11/2023 at 6:42 AM, Eric Roberts said:

There's also the introduction from "Clipt Wings" on SirBacon.org: https://sirbacon.org/links/whack.htm

That was also a good read. The author, Whack, makes much of Shaxpere's father being a butcher. I've seen him referred to more often these days as a glover (sounds nicer) who may have slaughtered his own animals for the skins to tan and make gloves out of. Which led me to this (Stratfordian) piece by Ron Rosenbaum, "Glove Me Tender," the Observer, (1998), https://observer.com/1998/07/glove-me-tender-shakespeare-in-the-skin-trade/, in which he searches the plays for related imagery to try to connect Shaxpere to the plays via his father's occupation. This is interesting in light of what I wrote about Bacon and his slaughtered calf imagery (his true identity sacrificed, ) and musical imagery in my piece, “Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, and the “Secrets of Nature”: Violence, Violins, and—One Day—Vindication?” May 21, 2021 (updated version), https://sirbacon.org/waldman/Waldman Violence Violins Vindication final 5-21-21.pdf. 

[Lawrence Gerald]

On one of Bacon's birthdays I got a group of people together to read "Clipped Wings" together. It was a fun night with Cake.