Louis N. Parker

Louis Napoleon Parker (21 October 1852 – 21 September 1944) was an English dramatist, composer and translator. Parker wrote many plays, developing a reputation for historical works. His 1911 play Disraeli is one of his best known, written as a vehicle for the actor George Arliss who later won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1929 film adaptation, itself based on his earlier 1921 silent film version. In the 1900s, he staged a series of historical pageants: Sherborne Pageant (1905), the Warwick Pageant (1906) and the Bury Pageant (1907), huge productions involving 800–900 participants. Their success inspired a wave of “pageantitis” in England, including several more by Parker. Biography He was born in Calvados, France, the son of the American Charles Albert Parker, who was a grandson of American congressman and judge Isaac Parker, and the Englishwoman Elizabeth Moray. The father was absent at his birth, and the attending French neighbours were so convinced the newborn would not survive that they christened the child immediately. Parker grew up in several continental European countries. As an adult, he was fluent in Italian, French, and German. He was educated at Freiburg a