Henry Hubert Alexandre Kistemaeckers (October 13, 1872 – January 21, 1938) was a prolific Belgian-born French author and playwright.
Early life and career
Henry Hubert Alexandre Kistemaeckers was born in
Floreffe,[1] a small town some forty-five miles southeast of Brussels. He was the son of Henry Kistemaeckers (1851–1934), a controversial Belgian publisher often at odds with the censorship laws of the day.[2] 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.[3][4]
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.
[5] 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.[3][4][6][7]
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.[3][4]
Death
Kistemaeckers died in Paris on January 21, 1938, at the age of 65.[3]
Selected works
L'Apprentissage de Lord Will, Moeurs Automobiles, (1903)[8]