Justus Forman

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Justus Forman (1910).

Justus Miles Forman (born November 1, 1875 in Le Roy , New York , † May 7, 1915 in the North Atlantic ) was an American writer and an active playwright on Broadway in New York .

Life and work

Portrait, no later than 1903.

Forman was the son of Jonathan Miles Forman (1803-1890) and his second wife Mary Melissa (Cole) Forman (1834-1879). After the untimely death of his mother, he moved to Minneapolis (US state Minnesota ) to live with his half-brother Frank W. Forman, who came from his father's first marriage. Forman studied at Yale University in New Haven , Connecticut and graduated in 1898. He then went to Paris and continued his studies. There he began writing short stories, which he himself called "little cheerful things" and which were published in various American magazines. He received fan mail from many women who asked him if he was just as attractive as his novel heroes. Forman never married.

Cover of the novel A Stumbling Block , Harper & Brothers , 1907.

He quickly got used to spending half of the year in Minneapolis and the other half in New York . He often toured the Pacific Ocean . He successfully sold the colored travelogues that arose on these trips to American magazines. His best-known novels include The Unknown Lady , Journey's End and Garden Of Lies . He was one of the most widely read American authors at the time, and the copyrights on his works sold better abroad than any other American writer.

Forman later became interested in the theater and wrote his first play, The Hyphen , at the start of the war . It wasn't difficult for him to get into the theater scene, as he was well acquainted with Charles Frohman , the popular New York theater director. The play is about German-Americans (hence the hyphen), of whom there were very many in the USA in the age of immigration and who were particularly controversial in times of the outbreak of war. The Hyphen was premiered on April 19, 1915 in the renowned Knickerbocker Hotel in New York , but was not very well received by the general public. Forman was disappointed with this failure, but nevertheless convinced enough of the appeal of the piece to ask Charles Frohman to join him in looking for a more suitable audience in Europe.

Death on the Lusitania

On May 1, 1915, Forman, Frohman, and other members of the New York art scene such as playwright and producer Charles Klein , opera singer Josephine Brandell, and actress Rita Jolivet went with her brother-in-law George LP Butler, a businessman who used the stage name in his younger years George Vernon had worked as a singer and artist agent on board the British luxury liner RMS Lusitania , which was supposed to arrive in Liverpool on the afternoon of May 7th . Forman wanted to look around England for a suitable venue for his Broadway play.

Shortly before leaving, Forman received a mysterious call from a stranger with a strong German accent who warned him not to take the Lusitania . The man said that if Forman went on the ship, he would be "blown up" with him. Forman didn't take him seriously and was convinced that a friend was playing a prank on him. When he arrived at Pier 54, however, he discovered that some of his fellow travelers had received similar calls or anonymous postcards.

On board the Lusitania , Forman occupied the first-class cabin D-2 (ticket no. 14469). The artist group spent a lot of time together on board; they dined together in the dining room, played cards, and were often seen together on deck. On May 6th, he and the others were guests at George Kessler's party in his suite on the B-deck. On May 7, the Germans carried out their warning and sank the Lusitania eleven nautical miles off the southern Irish coast. Justus Forman was killed in the accident. Nothing is known about his last moments, as almost all of his companions lost their lives. His body, if found, has never been identified.

Novels (selection)

  • The Garden of Lies (1902)
  • Journey's End: A Romance of Today (1903)
  • Buchanan's Wife (1906)
  • A stumbling block (1907)
  • Jason: A Romance (1908)
  • The Unknown Lady (1911)
  • The Opening Door: A Story of the Woman's Movement (1913)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Forman, Justus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Forman, Justus Miles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer and Broadway playwright
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Le Roy , New York
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1915
Place of death North Atlantic