Henry Kistemaeckers was a prolific Belgian-born French author and playwright.
Early life and career
Henry Hubert Alexandre Kistemaeckers was born in Floreffe, a small town some forty-five miles southeast of Brussels. He was the son of Henry Kistemaeckers, a controversial Belgian publisher often at odds with the censorship laws of the day. As a young man, Kistemaeckers attended the Royal Athenaeum at Ostend, the University of Brussels and had published his first works while still in his teens. He began as a novelist, but soon turned to playwriting for his livelihood. A vast number of works would flow from his hand over the decades of his life, with Instinct, Marchand de Bonheur, Le Roi de Palaces, La Passante and Un Jour de Amour among his more successful productions. His drama Le Flambée was adapted for the English stage by Peter Le Marchant and produced in London as The Turning Point and in New York as The Spy. The Broadway play Where the Poppies Grow, produced at the Theatre Republic in 1918, was adapted from Kistemaeckers’ Un Soir, au Front by Roi Cooper Megrue. His most successful Broadway production, Woman of Bronze, was written with Eugene Delard 1907 as La Rivale and adapted for the American stage by Paul Kester. The play opened at the Frazee Theatre on September 7, 1920 and had a run of 252 performances. In the summer of 1927 Woman of Bronze returned to the Lyric Theatre for a 30 performance revival.
Private life
Kistemaeckers became a French citizen in 1900 after achieving success in Paris. He was married to Julie Carvés, the daughter of ship’s captain, and among his hobbies were fencing and automobiles. Kistemaeckers was a recipient of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, served as president of the French Society of Authors and was a member of the Society of Playwrights, Society of Men of Letters and the popular committee of the Society of Preservation against Tuberculosis.
Death
Kistemaeckers died in Paris on January 21, 1938, at the age of 65.
Selected works
L'Apprentissage de Lord Will, Moeurs Automobiles,
The Theatre at the Exposition
Plays
Pierrot amoureux,
Idylle Nocturne,
Morale du Siècle,
Accroche-cœurs,
Le Menage Quinquet,
L'amour en Jaune,
Marthe,
La Blessure,
Oedipe,
Le Premier client,
L'Instinct,
La Rivale – with Eugene Delard, – English-language adaptation by Paul Kester: The Woman of Bronze
Le Marchand de Bonheur,
Le Roi des palaces,
La Flambée, – English-language adaptation by Peter Le Marchant: The Turning Point / The Spy
L'Embuscade,
L'Occident, with Gaston Sorbets,
Un Soir, au Front, – English-language adaptation by Roi Cooper Megrue: Where the Poppies Grow
La Passante,
L'Amour,
La nuit est à nous,
Deodat,
Works produced between 1890 and 1913 from Who's Who in the Theatre
