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    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours"
    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours"
    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours"
    Ebook38 pages29 minutes

    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 3, 2016
    ISBN9781535836197
    A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Joseph Hayes's "The Desperate Hours" - Gale

      1

      The Desperate Hours

      Joseph Hayes

      1955

      Introduction

      The Desperate Hours (1955, New York) is a taut drama that follows what happens when the home of an ordinary family living in a Midwest suburb is invaded by a trio of escaped criminals. The author, Joseph Hayes, uses this situation to examine the clash of wills between the forces representing good and evil: Dan Hilliard, the husband and father who has to keep the situation calm for the sake of his wife and two children; and Glenn Griffin, the leader of the criminals, bent on revenge against the policeman who arrested him and willing to do whatever it takes to secure his freedom. The situation is made more volatile by the personalities of Hilliard's son, who is desperate to prove his maturity, and his daughter, a young career woman who will not allow herself to be intimidated. Glenn finds that he cannot count on the support of his fellow convicts, a hard-drinking unconscionable killer named Robish and Glenn's younger brother Hank, who does not know how to react to the crush he has on Cindy Hilliard. Hayes intercuts the action in the house with the developments at the police station, as the local police work with the state police and the FBI, closing in on the convicts and placing the lives of their hostages in mounting danger.

      The Desperate Hours won the Tony Award for best play for 1955, when it ran on Broadway for six months, with a cast that included Paul Newman and Karl Malden. It has been adapted to the silver screen twice, in 1956 and in 1990, with both screenplays co-written by Hayes.

      Author Biography

      Joseph Hayes was born August 2, 1918, in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is where this play takes place. In 1938, he married Marrijane Johnson, a freelance writer, who has been his frequent collaborator throughout the years. He attended Indiana University from 1938 to 1941, and then worked as an assistant editor for Samuel French Inc. of New York from 1941 to 1943. He authored a series of plays, beginning in 1944: The Thompsons (1944); A Woman's Privilege (1945); The Bridegroom Waits and Home for Christmas (both 1946); and Too Young, Too Old (1948). In 1949, for the first time, Hayes had a play produced on Broadway: Leaf and Bough. He is the solo author of eleven plays

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