Satan Sanderson

Satan Sanderson
Book cover
AuthorHallie Erminie Rives
IllustratorAlbert Beck Wenzell
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublisherBobbs-Merrill Company
Publication date
August 17, 1907[1]
Media typePrint (hardcover)

Satan Sanderson is a 1907 novel by Hallie Erminie Rives, and ranked as the sixth best-selling novel in the United States in 1907.[2][3]

Reception

The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer wrote that the book was "filled with melodramatic scenes and complicated situations, as the author has put no curb on flights of her imagination, but the story is calculated to make a sensation with the great mass of book buyers, and dealers will probably find it to be one of the six best sellers."[4] The Reader (also published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, who published the book) conceded the book was a melodrama but stated "four hundred critics out of three hundred and ninety-nine will say in concentrated condemnation that it is 'melodramatic', and think they have damned it for the unpardonable sin. Meanwhile four hundred thousand of the unenlightened public will read it with a rush, and enjoy it with a wholesale and wholesome thoroughness."[5] Nevertheless, The New York Times was among those who gave it a positively melodramatic review, annoucing it "the most extravagantly audacious plot and the most sensationally dramatic situations ever indulged in by an American writer of fiction."[6][7]

Though only released on August 17, 1907, the book was ranked as the sixth best-selling novel in the United States for 1907.[2] In the monthly rankings in the The Bookman (which published the "six-best sellers" list), the book was #3 in the country in the October 1907 issue (which was based on sales in August 1907), #2 in November, and #5 in December. In the January 1908 issue it was #4. It dropped off the top six in the February 1908 issue, though it remained on some of the city-specific top six lists through the May 1908 issue.[8]

The book and its adaptations to the stage and film have received scant attention since the 1920s. In 2017, a site reviewing 20th century bestsellers called the novel a "patchwork of implausibilities performed by manikins," noting that with the setup of the novel, the author could have "aimed the plot in any of several directions" but instead "she chose to take them all."[9]

Adaptations

The book was adapted to a stage play featuring Norman Hackett, with the (dramatic) book by Kirk Alexander.[10][11] It debuted in Toledo on September 10, 1911, and toured widely.[12][13]

The book was also adapted to a silent film released on March 29, 1915, directed by John W. Noble and starring Orrin Johnson, Irene Warfield, and Charles Prince. It was the first movie to film scenes at Princeton University,[14] and college students served as extras, which Johnson helped to procure as a graduate of the college.[15][16][17][18][19] The movie is believed to be a lost film.

References

  1. ^ (5 August 1907). Hallie Erminie Rives Has Written Another Novel, Trenton Evening Times
  2. ^ a b Hackett, Alice Payne. Seventy Years of Best Sellers 1895-1965, p. 102 (1967) (the lists for 1895-1912 in this volume are derived from the lists published in The Bookman (New York))
  3. ^ (January 1908). Chronicle and Comment, The Bookman at pp. 465-66
  4. ^ (1 September 1907). Book Notes, The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer
  5. ^ (September 1907). A Word or Two For Melodrama, The Reader
  6. ^ (24 August 1907). "Satan Sanderson" A Real Thriller, The New York Times
  7. ^ (October 1907). Satan Sanderson, Current Literature, pp. 460-61 (canvass of book's reviews)
  8. ^ (May 1908). Sales of Book During the Month, pp. 325-26, The Bookman
  9. ^ Aragona, Linda Gorton (21 January 2017). Satan Sanderson a patchwork of implausibilities, Great Performances (this source is in the nature of a "blog" but one of very few sources to comment on the novel in recent decades)
  10. ^ (17 October 1911). Lyric - Satan Sanderson, Buffalo Evening News
  11. ^ (15 January 1913). Actor and Author Both University Men, Cavalier Daily
  12. ^ (9 August 1911). Norman Hackett Gets New Play, Detroit Evening Times
  13. ^ (11 September 1911). "Satan Sanderson" Proves Big Success, Detroit Free Press'
  14. ^ Kellman, Steven G. (3 November 1999). Princeton in the Movies, Princeton Alumni Weekly, p. 22.
  15. ^ (3 January 1915). "Satan Sanderson" Cast Off For Florida, Motion Picture News, p. 33
  16. ^ (9 January 1915). Princeton Students Play In Pictures, Moving Picture World, p. 244
  17. ^ (6 March 1915). Manufacturers' Advance Notes, Moving Picture World, p. 1467 (states movie will be released March 8, 1915; later articles appear to show it did not released until March 19)
  18. ^ (20 March 1915) [https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor23newy/page/1824/mode/2up Metro Pictures (advertisement), p. 1825 (announcing movie release date of March 29, 1915)
  19. ^ Satan Sanderson. Motion picture copyright descriptions collection. Class L, 1912-1977 (1915) (promotional materials including movie screenshots)
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