Literature

Handkerchiefs Required: Why ‘Our Town’ Still Moves Audiences to Tears

Playwright Thornton Wilder takes audiences from voyeurs of fiction to the participants in the wonder of existence.
Handkerchiefs Required: Why ‘Our Town’ Still Moves Audiences to Tears
"Our Town" captures our shared humanity. A scene from the original Broadway production of “Our Town” with Frank Craven as the Stage Manager, Martha Scott as Emily Webb, and John Craven as George Gibbs. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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On Feb. 4, 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” opened at Miller’s Theatre in New York City. Its first Broadway appearance attracted several luminaries, including movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

Goldwyn was a hard man, fierce and determined, and blunt when sharing his opinions. Some of his comments became known as Goldwynisms, like “When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you” and “I never liked you, and I always will.” His son, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., said of his father: “He was a very tough guy to work for, very demanding, and he had great respect for talent, but he was difficult for people, even if they were very talented.”
Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.