His Majesty Bunker Bean (play)

[1] Led by actor Taylor Holmes in the title role, the farce premiered in Detroit in 1915 prior to touring the Midwestern United States during the 1915-1916 season.

After a hiatus in the summer 1916, the play resumed performances in Atlantic City in September before transferring to Broadway in October 1916 where it ran for three months at the Astor Theatre.

He is transformed after a meeting with the Countess, a psychic, who convinces him that he is the reincarnation of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ram-Tah, a king of allegedly great historic importance.

This false belief instills in Bunker Bean a renewed sense of confidence and self importance which allow him to go boldly into the world with kingly resolve.

[12][13] Chicago Examiner critic Ashton Stevens wrote the following in his review: "The amount of loose writing that Mr. Dodd has left out of the play is to be reckoned as more than a negative virtue.

Mr. Dodd is delectably temperate; his sobriety enhances the inherent humor of plot and person; he writes a rollicking tale apparently not with pen and ink, but with flesh and blood.

"[14]After a six month long run in Chicago, the Bunker Bean production resumed touring at the end of March 1916 with its first stop being at the Oliver Opera House in South Bend, Indiana.

[25] After a summer hiatus, the His Majesty Bunker Bean company resumed performances at the end of September 1916 in Atlantic City.

Taylor Holmes is an excellent comedian, and in the present instance he has a part which gives him a better opportunity for the display of his talents than any play in which he has appeared for five years.

[43] The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune reported in April 1917 that Currie had acquired the rights to His Majesty Bunker Bean following Brooks's death.

[49] Dodd 's play and Wilson's novel were the basis for the 1918 silent film His Majesty, Bunker Bean which starred Jack Pickford in the title role.