“During the fighting in Italy, I found a copy of Hamlet in Italian and English, picking it up off the grounds of the palace at Caserta, I taught myself to read Italian by comparing the English and Italian version.”
Imagine this anonymous soldier in the chaos of World War II, in the opulent and enormous Royal Palace of Caserta, using a copy of Hamlet as his own Duolingo. This is one of the stories from the 1945 survey “What of Shakespeare? A questionnaire distributed by Montclair Library in Collaboration with Margaret Webster.” Webster (1905-1972) was a talented and popular theater director that holds the record for Broadway’s longest running Shakespeare play (her 1943 production of Othello) and was directing The Tempest on Broadway during this survey period.
Were the library users in Montclair, New Jersey, reading, watching, and/or performing Shakespeare, and if so what plays, and what were their favorites? Reading the survey results 225 miles away, 70 years in the future, it was interesting to see what has changed and what has stayed the same. People shared stories of when they read Shakespeare, including another World War II memory, and a morning ritual:
“In North Africa, another soldier and myself read King Lear aloud to each other during the nights we were on duty in the message centre.”
“I read Shakespeare, usually in the early morning hours when I want to get my mind off of some pressing problem.”
One interesting thing about then vs. now is that young children were reading Shakespeare or having Shakespeare read to them, and seeing performances of the comedies when they were as young as four and five years old, something that is not unheard of now, but is not common. According to the survey, the Bard’s books made a great gift for kids as well as adults (one person mentioned receiving a facsimile set of Folios for a wedding present; perhaps Folger Shakespeare Library’s gift shop needs to create a wedding registry app).
“I have a handy-volume set of 12 volumes which I treasure because it was given me when I was 9 and I still think it the most wonderful Christmas gift I ever received.” ~ Anne Eaton, NY Times Reviewer of children’s books, and librarian (while most survey responses were anonymous, a few were not)
“My father… used to come to the nursery each night after his dinner, and read to us for an hour or more — bits of Thackeray, Dickens, Shakespeare—and I was always enchanted by the plays to “do the, ‘such a nights’” (which soon grew into the whole 5th act) of the Merchant of Venice with me. He would come in on a brisk night, saying “The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold” and I would pipe up, “It is a nipping and an eager air.” etc. etc.” (From Hamlet)
The most surprising comment was:
“I sincerely wish more younger people would take an interest in Shakespeare. They would I know, find hours of enjoyment. There isn’t a great deal of really “good” modern reading material that young people are exposed to, but if Shakespeare were given a fair chance I know they would find his plays interesting today.”
At first, I thought, people said this type of thing when I was young and still say it about young people today, so it’s universal. But at second glance, I saw this comment didn’t come from an older person, it came from a 17-year-old girl. I wonder where she is today.
Do you prefer to read Shakespeare in a collection or a single volume? In the survey, 3 out of 4 people preferred to read in a single volume. Many had both types in their home, and even in their offices, which was interesting as they’re not the kind of things sold at the office supply store, but perhaps they should be.
“I have an old 4-volume set at home, a modern one-volume Temple in the country, and a Kittredge edition at the office.”
“The apartment is full of them, from weighty tomes published about 50 years ago to one or two pocket books.”
What was the most popular play? Hamlet was the most seen on stage, the most enjoyed on stage, and the most read. Interestingly, the less popular plays for reading and staging were Pericles and Titus Andronicus, both of which are rarely staged today, so this was an area where things have not changed–despite Titus Andronicus being the favorite play of the Folger’s Director, Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper (check out this recording of her Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture at the Folger, where she discusses her love of this play).
I found myself jealous when survey participants listed actors that they had seen perform, including Paul Robeson, John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Maurice Evans, Henry Irving, John Drew, Sarah Bernhardt, and Edwin Booth. Several talked about how much they enjoyed remembering the performances, “For the delightful recollections this questionnaire has brought us, I thank you.” I, too, found myself answering the questionnaire and reminiscing about favorite Shakespeare productions, such as Christopher Lloyd in King Lear at Shakespeare and Company. I encourage you now to take a moment to recall favorite performances and reading.
I encountered this survey while researching As You Like It, which mostly received love in the survey, scoring 11th in staging, and 8th in reading (in general, the tragedies scored higher than the comedies). However, not everyone was a fan, with one person listing many wonderful productions of Shakespeare’s other plays but saying, “I have never seen an interesting production of As You Like It, never expect to see one.”
Montclair Library donated this collection of commentary, memories, and data to the Folger in 1947, through this letter to the Folger’s Director Joseph Quincy Adams (1880-1946) from Montclair’s Director, Margery Quigley (1886-1968). Quigley is best known for her book Portrait of a Library, which was turned into a film that played around the globe. Reading this made me want to learn more about Quigley and Webster, perhaps that will be my next dive down the Folger Shakespeare Library rabbit hole.
Want to read more about soldiers reading Shakespeare, or tips for taking young children to Shakespeare performances? Check out these two articles from Folger:
Will and Jane go to war
During World War I, the works of Shakespeare and Austen reached American troops on active duty through the American Library Association’s “War Service Library” program. Between 1917 and 1920, the program collected donations of used books to help them distribute…
Tips for taking your kids to their first Shakespeare play
Read great tips for helping your kids have a blast watching their very first Shakespeare play.
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Comments
It’s fascinating to read about children’s early encounters with Shakespeare. Four years ago, I showed a 20-minute children’s version of Hamlet to my then seven-year-old granddaughter. The play was new to her. From the beginning, she was deeply absorbed in the story, and full of questions that got to the heart of the matter, sometimes in ways that were revelations to me. I began to suspect that the play was stirring up such intense feelings in her that she asked me to pause the film repeatedly, to slow the pace, in order to process her emotional reactions, and talk about them with me.
For example, she wondered if Gertrude knew at the outset that Claudius had murdered King Hamlet. “I think she did, because she looked happy” in the opening scene, sitting with King Claudius. She asked about the Ghost of King Hamlet–“Is he real?” I explained the different possibilities that Hamlet himself considered. She asked how Ophelia died. After I told her Ophelia drowned, she said, “Maybe she wanted to go be with her father.”
Richard M. Waugaman, M.D. — August 5, 2025