Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Rex Ryan addendum

Further to the post below, Rex Ryan's granddaughter, Elspeth Caton, discovered the following fascinating newspaper article, probably from the Fleetwood Chronicle.  The date is uncertain, but judging from the evidence of other articles in the clipping, it appears to date to about May 1926.

The relevant section of the article reads: "Next week the company [The Fleetwood Palace Stock Co.] will present "David Garrick." The rare comedy of this famous play should endear it to every patron of "Our home of drama." The production will witness the return to Fleetwood of Rex Ryan, who will be remembered as a member of last year's dramatic company. Mr Ryan will be the David Garrick, as well as the producer of the play. He has had a unique experience in repertory of every kind, including all Shakespeare's plays. He is himself an author, not only of many successful plays, but of two or three novels of which the best known is "The Tyranny of Virtue," a best-seller in Australia and by no means unknown in this country."

So it appears there are still a couple of Rex Ryan novels to be found.  Kudos to the first person to discover these books!

A note of caution, though - I'm not sure that The Tyranny of Virtue was a bestseller in Australia - there are only two references to it in the NLA's digitised Australian newspapers - for the copies sent to The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Argus. And no copy exists at any library in the UK, which might suggest it is unknown in this country!


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