My Official Wife
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Cover for 1892 English edition
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| Author | Richard Henry Savage |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Home Publishing (United States); Routledge (United Kingdom) |
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Publication date
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May 1891 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) (231 p.) |
| My Official Wife | |
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| Written by | Archibald Clavering Gunter, from Savage novel |
| Date premiered | 23 January 1893 (Broadway) |
| Place premiered | Standard Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| My Official Wife | |
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Title card
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| Directed by | Paul L. Stein |
| Written by | Gunter; Graham Baker (scenario) |
| Starring | Irene Rich, Conway Tearle |
| Cinematography | David Abel |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. (as Warner Brothers Production) |
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Release date
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Running time
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7,846 feet |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent English intertitles |
My Official Wife is an 1891 novel by Richard Henry Savage, popular in its day, soon after adapted for the stage, and for silent films in 1914 and 1926, and a German-language film in 1936.
Savage wrote the first draft of his first novel in 1890, while recovering in New York after being struck by illness in Honduras. Encouraged by friends who lauded his five-chapter tale of adventure set in contemporary Russia, Savage was inspired to rewrite and expand the story into a novel. First published by Archibald Clavering Gunter's Home Publishing Company in May 1891, it was a quick best-seller, and was translated into multiple languages, but not Russian, as it was reportedly banned in Russia. Though not every review was so glowing,The Times in London notably called it "a wonderful and clever tour de force, in which improbabilities and impossibilities disappear, under an air that is irresistible." Buoyed by the novel's success, Savage began producing more books at a rapid rate, about three a year.
In 1913, the Bookman noted that while few Americans may know Pushkin, Chehkov, or Korolenko, "very many Americans have, at some time in their lives, dipped into the pages of Colonel Savage's perfectly trivial story."
An 1896 synopsis of the novel:
This clever skit is permeated by a Russian atmosphere, in which visions of the secret police, the Nihilists, and social life in St. Petersburg, are blended like the vague fancies of a trouble dream.
Colonel Arthur Lenox, with passports made out for himself and wife, meets at the Russian frontier a strikingly beautiful woman whom he is induced to pass over the border as his own wife, who has remained in Paris.
At St. Petersburg, Helene, the "official wife", receives mail addressed to Mrs. Lenox, shares the Colonel's apartments, and is introduced everywhere as his wife. But he has learned that she is a prominent and dangerous Nihilist, and is in daily fear of discovery and punishment.
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Wikipedia