Manuscripts for a Play by a Los Angeles Attorney

Los Angeles, CA, undated. Layng, John R[ose] Manuscripts for a Play by a Los Angeles Attorney, undated

(1) 43 pp. typed manuscript + handwritten title page and cast of characters on typing paper with a few handwritten amendments
(2) [13] pp. handwritten notes and hand-drawn set designs on versos of insurance forms + handwritten title page + list of characters on notebook paper, followed by 43 pp. typed script on onion skin paper with copious handwritten pencil corrections and amendments
Loose 8.5" x 11" sheets

Very good with some oxidation marks from former clips, light edge wear, a few faint creases and some light foxing.

A set of manuscripts and notes for a play, "Sweet Swan of Avon: A Play in Four Acts Based on Some Incidents In The Life of William Shakespeare" by John R. Layng. Two copies of the full script plus Layng's hand-drawn "Diagrams for Stage Settings" and handwritten "Outline by Acts" and other notes.

John Rose Layng was born in 1875 in Atchison, Kansas. His family moved to California in 1886 and he enrolled at the University of Southern California in 1895, graduating from their law school in 1901. He practiced in Los Angeles, specializing in fire insurance law, and served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of California in 1933. Layng died in 1958.

The play opens to the "Interior of Shakespeare's glove making shop. Time around 1585." The "trend-story": "Shakespeare in debt - hiding from his creditors - result of plunge on wool. Now glove trade bad from French and Spanish competition." His friend Richard Burbage "bids Will to come to London and become an actor, promises to assist him." Noteworthy for the work of Layng the hobbyist appearing on the versos of insurance forms; an interesting "double life." We were unable to find any evidence of the play being performed.

There are also two sheets of letterhead for the Law Offices of John R. Layng with a Board of Trade Building address. The Board of Trade Building is a historic building in downtown Los Angeles that opened in 1929.