Of George Randolph Chester and Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford

January 27 was the birthday of writer George Randolph Chester (1869-1924). We’ve had many occasions to mention his principal works on this blog, for they were adapted for stage and screen many times back in the day.

Chester was a Cincinnati native, who worked for years as a reporter on the Cincinnati Enquirer. With the encouragement and assistance of his first wife Elizabeth, he began to write and publish short stories in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post around the turn of the century. Through most of 1903 he collaborated with Winsor McCay on an illustrated series of humorous poems called A Tale of the Jungle Imp by Felix Fiddle. His best known creation Get Rich Quick Wallingford, a series of tales about the adventures of a con man, was first published in Cosmopolitan magazine. In 1907 a bunch of these stories were gathered and assembled in book form and published as Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford: A Cheerful Account of the Rise and Fall of an American Business Buccaneer. Several Wallingford books followed.

In 1910 the original book was adapted into a Broadway musical by George M. Cohan, starring Hale Hamilton. The Cohan connection was how I first heard of it. Next came films. The Wharton Studio made a serial called The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford starring Burr McIntosh that was released from 1915 to 1916. Some consider this the first comedy serial. Young Oliver Hardy has a supporting part in it. Later in ’16, Cohan’s brother-in-law Fred Niblo directed and starred in his own version Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford in Australia. It was Niblo’s first film as director. Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Pictures also produced a version in 1921, directed by Frank Borzage and starring Sam Hardy. That same year, Chester and his second wife Lillian Josephine Chester co-directed Son of Wallingford for Vitagraph starring Wilfrid North and Tom Gallery, who was then married to Zasu Pitts. A decade later came the only talkie production The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford (1931), produced by MGM, directed by Sam Wood and starring William Haines, with an all-star supporting cast. Apart from some of the 1915 serial, this is the only screen version extant.

Nearly 50 films bore Chester’s name from 1913 through 1931. The Making of Bobby Burnit (1914) was based on the 1910 Broadway adaptation of Chester’s novel, co-written with Winchell Smith. The novel Five Thousand an Hour became a 1918 film starring Hale Hamilton directed by Ralph Ince.

The aforementioned Lillian had become Chester’s second wife in 1911. She was more than that however. She became his writing partner throughout the rest of his career, in addition to her own writings. The pair collaborated on such things as the 1914 Broadway play Cordelia Blossom, the 1914 novel The Ball of Fire, and the first screen adaptation of Black Beauty in 1921.

George Randolph Chester died of a heart attack in 1924 at the age of 55. Lillian retired upon his death and lived until 1961.

For more on silent movies please check out: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube — now also available on audiobook!