The_Prodigal_Judge

<i>The Prodigal Judge</i>

The Prodigal Judge

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The Prodigal Judge is a novel written by American novelist Vaughan Kester and published in 1911.[2][3][4][5][6]

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Kester wrote the novel while living at Gunston Hall in Virginia. A best-seller, it was the second-best selling fiction book in the United States in 1911.[7][8][9] Kester died in July 1911, but not before enjoying the knowledge his book had reached the top of the bestseller lists.[10]

To promote the book, publisher Bobbs-Merrill Company held a "book review contest", with prizes of $250, $150, and $100 for the first through third best reviews published in the first month of the book's release, judged by a panel consisting of Yale University professor William Lyon Phelps, magazine editor John Sanborn Phillips, and writer William Allen White.[1] Third place went to H. L. Mencken.[11]

Adaptations

Macklyn Arbuckle in 1922 film version.

It debuted at the Bronx Opera House in December 1913 with George Fawcett playing the judge.[12]

It was also made into a silent film of the same title directed by Edward José, starring Jean Paige and Macklyn Arbuckle (as the judge), released in 1922.[13]

References

  1. [1]
    (5 March 1911). A Book-Review Contest, The New York Times
  2. [2]
    (2 April 1911). "The Prodigal Judge": Mr. Vaughn Kester's Much-Heralded Novel Has a Flavor of All Its Own, The New York Times
  3. [3]
    (12 March 1911). A Tale of Early Days, Salt Lake Tribune, p. 21, col. 1.
  4. [4]
    (13 March 1911). Among the Books (review), Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. 7 col. 4.
  5. [5]
    (11 March 1911). Swift Action Marks 'The Prodigal Judge' (review), New York Herald, p. 16, col. 3.
  6. [6]
    Rich, Amy C. (April 1911). Books of the Day (review), Twentieth Century Magazine, pp. 94-95
  7. [7]
    Hackett, Alice Payne. Seventy Years of Best Sellers 1895-1965, p. 107 (1967) (the lists for 1895-1912 in this volume are derived from the lists published in The Bookman (New York))
  8. [8]
    The "Best Sellers of 1911", in The American library annual 1911-12, pp. 121-24 (1912)
  9. [9]
    (1 April 1911). Quotes about book, Publishers Weekly (a multi-page ad with quotes from booksellers about the book)
  10. [10]
    In Memoriam, The Bookman (New York) (October 1911), pp. 129-30
  11. [11]
    (20 August 2011). A Book Review Contest, Indianapolis Star
  12. [12]
    (9 December 1913). "The Prodigal Judge": George Fawcett Appears in a Dramatization of Vaughn Kester's Novel, The New York Times
  13. [13]
    (11 February 1922). The Prodigal Judge (Review), Exhibitors Trade Review, Vol. 11, No., 11, p. 787
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