Samuel French Inc.
| private | |
| Founded | 1830 |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Website | Main site |
Samuel French, Inc. is an American company, founded by Samuel French and Thomas Hailes Lacy, who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in London and New York City. It publishes plays, represents authors, and sells scripts from their Los Angeles, UK, and online bookstores.
The firm has offices in New York City; London; Hollywood, California; and Studio City, California.
The company's London subsidiary, Samuel French Ltd., publishes stage plays for the UK market, mostly acting editions, serves as licensing agent for performance rights, and runs a theatrical bookshop on its premises at Fitzrovia in central London, England.
Samuel French was born in Massachusetts shortly after the turn of the 19th century and began publishing French’s American Drama in the mid 1800s in New York. It soon became the most widely distributed catalogue of dramatic prose in the US. French soon acquired a London dramatic publishing company founded by Thomas Hailes Lacey, and continued to expand his business on both sides of the Atlantic - Samuel French managing the London business while his son, Thomas Henry, took control of the New York operations.
In the late 1800s, Samuel French began publishing contemporary American dramas, and helped the amateur theatre movement by making more plays available to “Little Theatres” – a rewarding concept that had never before been done in the industry. By the turn of the century, amateur interest in acting had increased enormously. As the quality and quantity of available plays improved, so the number of amateur groups increased. The seeds of the Little Theatre movement were sown. By the time of the World War I, such groups along with the High School societies were the firm’s best customers. Although father and son had long since died, the NY and London entities continued under the capable hands of their managing partners.
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