Souderton High School Graduate – Author of “The Desk Set”
William Marchant Davis transferred from Allentown High School to Souderton High School for his junior and senior years, graduating in 1940. Evidently the school celebrated two “firsts” that year – the first year that a yearbook, Unaliyi, was published, and the first year that a school magazine, The Indian Echo, was organized. William Davis was the Editor-in-Chief of the latter.
While a senior, William participated in two theatrical productions – Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, and in a comedy, And Let Who Will Be Clever (author unknown). The yearbook also states that he received an award in an oratorical contest.
Following high school he attended Temple University for one year and graduated from Yale University School of Drama. During World War II he spent three years in the Army Air Force teaching aerial photography. After his service commitment, Davis worked in the Montgomery County Courthouse and in 1948 began devoting himself full time to writing. From that period on, having shortened his name, he was known professionally as William Marchant.
William Marchant Davis was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1923, the son of Frederick S. and Elizabeth T. Davis. His parents married in April 1918 when his father was in the Army, en route to France. They later divorced in 1935. William’s mother married Walter W. Cassel in 1937 and he went to live with her in Souderton.
Prior to moving to the Souderton area, Hess’s Department Store, in Allentown, gave him an important introduction to literature. “They had a marvelous lending library, run by a colorful Hungarian woman. She greatly influenced my reading habits and directed me to books she felt I should read. Later in life, when I had the opportunity to meet the authors of some of these books, I’d think of that wonderful woman.”
He credited his first interest in the theatre to a “free-spirited” paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Davis. She took him to New York City to see Noel Coward’s Private Lives when he was eight years old. The cast included Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, and a young Laurence Olivier. It is ironic that years later Marchant wrote The Privilege of His Company, a book about his 23-year friendship with Noel Coward!
Marchant was a struggling playwright when he met Noel Coward. “He was literally my guide, a mentor. I felt like his offspring. He was quite bossy with me!”
Mr. Marchant received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1951, selected from 300 applicants as the “most promising young playwright.” The award was for his first play, Within a Glass Bell. It ran for one week in Westport, Connecticut, but never reached Broadway. This award gave him the financial cushion to write his next play, To Be Continued. It was presented at the Booth Theatre on Broadway, and included a cast of fine actors, which included Dorothy Stickney and a young Grace Kelly. Due to negative reviews, it closed after 13 performances.
He was principally known as the author of The Desk Set, which ran on Broadway in 1955 for 297 performances. The main star, Shirley Booth, gave a witty performance as the head librarian of a television and radio company. In 1957, with a screenplay by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, The Desk Set became a 20th Century-Fox movie, starring Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. The movie rights brought Marchant $200,000.
Marchant’s first novel, Gondolier, based on his experiences in Venice, was published in 1961. “I went to Venice for a five-day visit, and stayed for three years,” he said in 1975. In all, he spent eleven years in Europe, chiefly in England, but also in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece.
He had film credits for scripts in this country and television credits both here and in London. The film adaptations included Dark at the Top of the Stairs, based on a William Inge play; Fanny, based on a play by S.N. Behrmann and Joshua Logan; In Which We Serve, by Noel Coward; and The Great Brink’s Robbery, by the FBI.
William Marchant’s book, The Privilege of His Company – Noel Coward Remembered, was published in 1975. Many people of the current generation may not be aware that Noel Coward, born in London in 1899, catapulted from being a child actor on the London stage to international celebrity, and was especially known for his comedic talents. During World War II he ran the British propaganda office in Paris and also worked with the Secret Service. He published over 50 plays and was a renowned composer, director, actor and singer. A few of his famous songs include “I’ll See You Again,” “Mad About the Boy,” and “Mad Dogs and Englishmen.” He was knighted in 1969.
In addition to Coward, Mr. Marchant surrounded himself with many of the most famous actors of the time. These included: Shirley Booth, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Martin, Lunt and Fontanne, Lilli Palmer, Elaine Stritch, Clifton Webb, Edith Evans, Maureen Stapleton, and the Redgraves (Sir Michael and Lynn).
Mildred Barndt (Mitchell), a Souderton High School classmate of William Davis, told me about the sad circumstances that surrounded his passing. Following William’s November 5, 1995 death, his body remained unclaimed for six weeks at Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus, New Jersey – until a persistent hospital social worker was able to finally contact a few of his present and former friends. His hospital records listed his next of kin as actress Dorothy Stickney, a co-star of his 1952 play, To Be Continued. Marchant lived on her New Jersey farm for several years. Attempts were made to reach Stickney, but to no avail. Just prior to his death Marchant had been in a long-term care facility at Paramus for a year, having moved after a two-year stay at the Actors Fund of America Nursing and Retirement Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Mildred said that she and a group of his classmates transferred his body to a funeral home and helped pay the funeral expenses.
Incidentally, the late Mildred Barndt Mitchell left an amazing bequest in her will that benefits five area churches. Quarterly payments, stipulated for music, of approximately $700, are given to each congregation throughout the year. I estimate that over $320,000 has been awarded thus far since her death in 1997.
I feel grateful that I have been given the opportunity to honor the life of William Marchant Davis. Ms. Elizabeth Fisher was William’s English teacher at Souderton High School. She was understandably very proud of him. Mr. Marchant inscribed the following in Elizabeth’s copy of The Privilege of His Company:
“For Elizabeth, with more gratitude than I have words to express. Love, William Marchant – May 8, 1975.”
Source material for this article: The Privilege of His Company (William Marchant); Unaliyi (Souderton High School 1940 Yearbook); The Morning Call Obituary (Dick Cowan); and The Chicago Tribune (author unknown).
Jon Leight
(jonsings@verizon.net)
