40 Fun Facts About Washington Square (Henry James)

Dr. Austin Sloper of Washington Square is certain Morris Townsend courts his daughter for what?

Her money is the lure, the Doctor decides, since Morris has already run through a small fortune of his own. Morris even warns Catherine that her father will call him mercenary.

What does Dr. Sloper threaten to do if Catherine marries Morris Townsend in Washington Square?

He vows to disinherit her, a threat that frightens Morris far more than Catherine. She has a comfortable income of her own either way.

Under what title did Henry James's Washington Square reach Broadway in 1947 and cinemas two years later?

The Heiress ran for 410 performances on Broadway, and its 1949 screen version went on to win four Oscars.

Who won her second Best Actress Oscar playing Catherine in the 1949 film of Washington Square?

Olivia de Havilland set the film in motion herself: she saw the story on Broadway and asked a director to adapt it for her.

What becomes of Catherine Sloper in Washington Square after Morris Townsend deserts her?

She stays single for life, declining a widower with three little girls and a clever young lawyer. Charity work and her own routines fill her days instead.

Washington Square, where Henry James set Dr. Sloper's house, lies in which Manhattan neighborhood?

Greenwich Village was the author's own first home: Henry James was born in 1843 at 21 Washington Place, just off the square.

Which ghost story about a governess did Henry James publish eighteen years after Washington Square?

The Turn of the Screw first ran as a serial in Collier's Weekly, and readers still argue over whether its ghosts are real or imagined by the governess.

How does the brilliant Dr. Sloper privately regard his daughter Catherine in Washington Square?

Plain and commonplace is his verdict, and he is even glad his dazzling wife did not live to see how their child grew up.

Which Downton Abbey star played meddling Aunt Lavinia in the 1997 film of Washington Square?

Maggie Smith made Aunt Lavinia a comic schemer who meets Morris in secret, thrilled by a romance she treats as her own melodrama.

In the 1949 film of Washington Square, what does Catherine do when Morris returns at night to elope?

She bolts the door and goes up to bed while he pounds on it from the street, a revenge that Henry James's book never gives her.

Catherine Sloper of Washington Square has ten thousand dollars a year of her own, left by whom?

Her mother, a New York belle who chose the young Doctor from a dozen suitors, died within two weeks of Catherine's birth and left her that income.

In Washington Square, Catherine meets Morris Townsend at what kind of gathering at her aunt's house?

An engagement party for her cousin Marian brings them together: Marian is to wed Arthur Townsend, and Morris arrives as Arthur's cousin.

Henry James, the New York-born author of Washington Square, became a citizen of which country in 1915?

Britain had been his home for decades, and he took citizenship during the First World War, a year before his death in London.

Which Henry James novel about Isabel Archer was published the year after Washington Square?

The Portrait of a Lady began its serial run in 1880, the very year Washington Square appeared, in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's.

Which Henry James heroine, an American flirt abroad, made his name two years before Washington Square?

Daisy Miller shocks the Americans in Rome by going about with an Italian admirer, and her 1878 story established James's fame on both sides of the Atlantic.

Which Martin Scorsese film drew on the 1949 film of Washington Square for its central marriage?

Killers of the Flower Moon took its couple from it: Scorsese modelled the bond between Mollie and Ernest Burkhart on Catherine's with Morris.

Before it became a fashionable address, the real Washington Square in New York was used as what?

A burial ground for the city's unclaimed dead lay there from 1797, and the remains of more than 20,000 people still rest beneath the square.

Dr. Sloper of Washington Square quizzes Mrs. Montgomery about Morris Townsend; how is she related to Morris?

His sister is a widow with five children, and she ends the interview by begging the Doctor not to let Catherine marry her brother.

In Washington Square, Dr. Sloper confronts Catherine about Morris in a lonely valley of which mountains?

The Alps suit his purpose: alone with Catherine on a deserted pass, he warns her that he can be very hard, and she still will not yield.

When Morris Townsend backs out in Washington Square, which city does he claim business is calling him to?

New Orleans, he says, to buy cotton. Catherine offers to brave the yellow fever and go with him, which is not the answer he was hoping for.

Where does Aunt Lavinia Penniman hold her secret meeting with Morris Townsend in Washington Square?

An oyster saloon on Seventh Avenue is her choice, after she rules out the Battery as too cold and windy. Morris orders a stew and eats it in front of her.

Aunt Lavinia Penniman of Washington Square was widowed at thirty-three by a husband of which profession?

A clergyman with a sickly constitution and a florid way of preaching, he left her no fortune, so she came to stay with her brother and never went away.

In Washington Square, Catherine's cousin Marian is to marry Arthur Townsend, who works as what?

A stout young stockbroker of only twenty, Arthur soon brings his cousin Morris to call on the Slopers, and the courtship begins.

In Washington Square, what color is the gold-fringed satin gown Catherine wears when she meets Morris?

Red satin trimmed with gold fringe is her one bold purchase, and her ironic father asks whether this magnificent person can really be his child.

In the closing sentence of Washington Square, Catherine Sloper sits down in the parlor and picks up what?

Her needlework, which James calls a morsel of fancy work, is taken up again for life, as he puts it. It is a quiet picture of the years ahead of her.

Dr. Sloper asks Catherine to promise never to marry Morris Townsend once he is dead; how does she reply?

She refuses to give it, though she has no wish to marry him, and the Doctor answers by cutting her share of his fortune to a fifth.

Before Catherine's birth in Washington Square, Dr. Sloper fails to save which member of his family?

His only son died at three, a boy the Doctor expected great things of, and the daughter born two years later struck him as a meagre substitute.

Back in Washington Square, Dr. Sloper guesses Morris has been a regular guest and vows to check what?

His wine is the first thing he thinks of, and with reason: Aunt Lavinia had welcomed Morris so often that he took to sitting in the Doctor's own study.

What did Henry James think of Washington Square, which critic Donald Hall said everybody likes?

He thought it poor, or poorish in his own word, and said the only good thing in the story was the girl.

Which composer of Appalachian Spring won an Oscar for scoring the 1949 film of Washington Square?

Aaron Copland had already been nominated for Of Mice and Men, Our Town and The North Star before this period drama finally won him the statuette.

Which director, later famous for Ben-Hur, made the Oscar-winning 1949 film of Washington Square?

William Wyler agreed after the film's leading actress asked him to direct it, then pressed Paramount to buy the stage rights for $250,000.

Which Fast Times at Ridgemont High actress played Catherine in the 1997 film of Washington Square?

Jennifer Jason Leigh played her opposite Albert Finney as the Doctor and Ben Chaplin as Morris, under the novel's own title this time.

Which screen Sherlock Holmes won a Tony as Dr. Sloper when Washington Square first reached Broadway?

Basil Rathbone shared the 1948 award with two other actors, playing the unyielding father opposite Wendy Hiller as Catherine.

How does Dr. Austin Sloper catch the chill that kills him near the end of Washington Square?

Caught in an April shower in an open buggy, he was on his way to see a patient in a private asylum, and he diagnosed his own congestion of the lungs.

Henry James admits that young Catherine Sloper of Washington Square spent her allowance on which treat?

Cream cakes were her weakness: the narrator confesses, a little awkwardly, that his heroine was something of a glutton as a child.

Which Punch cartoonist, later the author of Trilby, illustrated Washington Square for its first readers?

George du Maurier's drawings ran with the 1880 serial and were reprinted in the first American edition. His granddaughter Daphne became a famous novelist herself.

Washington Square first ran as an 1880 serial in which London monthly, once edited by Thackeray?

The Cornhill Magazine carried it in London while Harper's New Monthly ran it for American readers. The Cornhill had also serialised Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd.

Which English actress gave Henry James the germ of Washington Square with a story about her own brother?

Fanny Kemble told him how her brother had pursued a dull girl with a handsome private fortune, and James wrote the anecdote into his notebook in 1879.

Which married playwrights made Washington Square a Broadway hit and then wrote the 1949 film script?

Ruth and Augustus Goetz first staged it under the novel's own title to little success, then revised the ending, renamed it and tried again.

Which English actor played Dr. Sloper both in the 1949 film of Washington Square and on the London stage?

Ralph Richardson earned an Oscar nomination for the film and played the Doctor in the West End opposite Peggy Ashcroft.