author
Walter Ben Hare
1880–1950
A remarkably prolific American playwright, he wrote more than 200 plays while also working as a meteorologist. His best-known hit, Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick, became a favorite of amateur and community theaters across the United States.
1 Audiobook
The White Christmas and other Merry Christmas Plays
by Walter Ben Hare
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1880, Walter Ben Hare built an unusual career that joined science and the stage. He worked as a meteorologist with the U.S. Weather Bureau, but in his spare time he became one of the most widely performed playwrights for amateur groups in early 20th-century America.
Hare wrote under his own name and also used the pseudonyms Lt. Beal Cormack and Mary Modena Burns. His output was enormous—more than 200 plays—and his work was especially popular with schools, churches, and community theater companies looking for lively, accessible entertainment.
Today he is remembered above all for Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick, a hugely successful rural comedy that helped make his name known far beyond professional theater circles. His career shows how a writer can leave a lasting mark not by aiming at elite stages, but by giving everyday performers and audiences something they truly enjoyed.