J. Cheever Goodwin

Goodwin, J. Cheever (1850–1912), librettist and lyricist. The first American to enjoy a long, successful career writing musical librettos, Goodwin was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard. He spent a short time in support of E. A. Sothern before joining forces with E. E. Rice to write Evangeline (1874), the musical burlesque that was to remain a favorite for the rest of the century. He continued to act and also translated French opéra bouffe until H.M.S. Pinafore (1879) began the modern rage for musicals, allowing him to work virtually full time at creating books and lyrics for musical shows. Among his more popular efforts were The Merry Monarch (1890); Wang (1891); Dr. Syntax (1894); Fleur‐De‐Lis (1895); Lost, Strayed or Stolen (1896); and An Arabian Girl and Forty Thieves (1899). Noting that Goodwin had sold his rights in the hugely profitable Wang for a mere fifty dollars a week, De Wolf Hopper in his autobiography said that the librettist never fully realized his abilities because of a lack of business acumen and a certain personal irresponsibility. “Had he possessed a rudder,” Hopper observed, “Goodwin might have become the American Gilbert. Gilbert himself never excelled Goodwin's ‘The Man with an Elephant on His Hands’ song in Wang.” Towards the end of his career Goodwin worked solely as a lyricist. He also wrote several nonmusical plays and was active in politics.