Smilin' Through

Smilin' Through is a play by Allan Langdon Martin (the pseudonym used by Jane Cowl (1883-1950)[1] and Jane Murfin (1884-1955)[2]).

The original text

A sentimental melodrama about a young Irish woman, Kathleen Dungannon, and her thwarted romantic attachment to Kenneth Wayne, which is resolved through the appearance of the ghost of her aunt. Written in 1919 and first produced at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway on December 30, 1919, co-directed by Jane Cowl and Priestly Morrison.

Translations and adaptations

Circa 1938 the play was translated into Afrikaans as By die ou Meulstroom for production by André Huguenet

The story was first filmed in 1922 by First National Pictures, then remade twice by MGM, once in 1932 and again in 1941.

In 1932 it became the basis for an operetta called Through the Years, with music by Vincent Youmans.

Performance history in South Africa

1938: Produced in Afrikaans as By die ou Meulstroom by André Huguenet on his return from his European trip, with Wena Naudé, Johann Nel, Ria Olivier. (The same year that the MGM film version was being shown in the country.)