The Bat is a three-act comedy-mystery play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood that was first produced by Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper. The play opened on Broadway on August 23, 1920. At a rented summer home, Cornelia Van Gorder and guests search for stolen money while being stalked by a masked criminal known as "the Bat". The play originated as an adaptation of Rinehart's 1908 mystery novel The Circular Staircase. It was a critical and commercial success, running for 867 performances in New York and 327 in London, with tours by several road companies. It was revived twice on Broadway, in 1937 and 1953. It had several adaptations, including a 1926 novelization credited to Rinehart and Hopwood but ghostwritten by Stephen Vincent Benét. Three film adaptations were produced: The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). The play and its adaptations inspired other comedy-mysteries with similar settings, and influenced the creation of the comic-book superhero Batman.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat_%28play%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1896:

Andrés Bonifacio and his Katipunan comrades in what is now Quezon City rose up in revolt against Spanish rule, marking the beginning of the Philippine Revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_Pugad_Lawin

1921:

The Royal Navy's R-38, the world's largest airship at the time, was destroyed by a structural failure while in flight over Hull, killing 44 of the 49 crew aboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship

1943:

World War II: The decisive Soviet victory in the Battle of Kursk (German tanks and soldiers pictured) gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk

2011:

A 5.8 MW earthquake struck the Piedmont region of Virginia, and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

make a big thing out of: To call attention to or publicize; to make a fuss about, especially unnecessarily. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_a_big_thing_out_of

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Think on the shame of dreams for deeds, The scandal of unnatural strife, The slur upon immortal needs, The treason done to life: Arise! no more a living lie, And with me quicken and control Some memory that shall magnify The universal Soul.   --William Ernest Henley https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Henley