Shaw

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

GEORGE BERNARD, a British playwright, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1856. He attended school until he was fifteen, when he became a clerk in a real estate office, which position he held for five years, until he left his native city to seek a career as a journalist in London. For more than ten years he gained a GEORGE BERNARD SHAW precarious livelihood as a "free lance" journalist, meanwhile devoting his spare time to writing novels. Most of these early works were published serially in Socialist papers and magazines, and attracted little general attention. Among them are "Cashel Byron's Profession" (in book form, 1886); "An Unsocial Socialist" (1899); and "Love Among the Art ists" (1900). In 1885 Shaw became dramatic critic of the "Pall Mall Gazette" and, later, of "The Saturday Review," and began immediately to attract public attention by his masterly reviews. From this first association with the stage, he began to write plays himself, the first few of which were produced and gained him considerable reputation, but did not prove financially successful. Among these were "Widowers' Houses" (produced at the Independent Theater, 1892); and "Arms and the Man" (1894). The turning point in his favor came in 1904, when his "John Bull's Other Island" was produced and immediately became popular. Many of his plays have been presented in this country and have been appreciated by select audiences, but Shaw's plays are of too subtle a style ever to attain broad popularity. He has also been prominent as a Socialist speaker and was one of the founders of the Fabian Society. During the World War Shaw showed himself strongly in favor of the Allied cause, but at the same time his scathing denouncement of many of the inefficiencies at home made him strongly disliked by those who believed that war-time was no time for criticism. Among his most recent plays are: "The Inca of Perusalem" (1915); "Heartbreak House" (1917); and "O'Flaherty V. C." (1919).