Clyde Fitch was the most popular and successful American dramatist in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Born William Clyde Fitch in Elmira, New York, in 1865, he graduated from Amherst College where he was active in collegiate dramatic productions. Fitch embarked on an immediately successful career as a playwright. His first piece, Beau Brummel, a historical drama, was performed in 1890 in New York to huge popular acclaim. Over the next decade, Fitch continued to turn out romantic historical dramas, with a decided emphasis on the romance and almost none on the history. From 1900 on, Fitch was reputedly earning up to $250,000 a year for his productions.

By the early years of the twentieth century, Fitch was turning from historical to social drama. Plays like The Climbers (1901), The Girl with Green Eyes (1902) and Her Own Way (1907) featured contemporary settings, usually New York high society, and a more realistic representation of motive. In 1906, he collaborated with Edith Wharton on the dramatization of her House of Mirth, which flopped on the stage but established an appreciative friendship between the two. The Truth (1907) was hugely successful in Europe and earned Fitch an international reputation on par with his American popularity. His final play, The City, produced posthumously in 1909, introduced a new degree of moral complexity. Treating the taboo theme of incest in language that was considered "coarse," the play employed a large dose of realism to build its dramatic tension. Fitch died in 1909.

Percy Stickney Grant (1860–1927) was an American priest of the Episcopal Church.

Grant was born in Boston and was educated at Harvard University (A.B., 1883; A.M., 1886) and at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge (B.D., 1886). He was a curate of the church of the Ascension (1886) and incumbent of St. Mark's Church (1887-93 (both in Fall River, Massachusetts) and was also rector at Swansea, Massachusetts in 1890-93.

In 1893 he became incumbent of the Church of the Ascension in New York City. He became known for his support of socialism and for his "forum" for the expression of views on labor and living conditions. Advocates of all political and social doctrines were permitted to speak freely. This was widely criticized and finally, in 1923, following action taken by Bishop Manning, the forum was greatly modified in its character. He also came in controversy with Bishop Manning on the question of divorce. He became engaged to Rita de Acosta Lydig who had been divorced. Bishop Manning refused to authorize the marriage and it did not take place. In June 1924, he resigned his rectorship.

Biographical text adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Stickney_Grant, accessed 2017 July 11.