Ben-Hur ran on Broadway for 24 weeks and was, according to the New York Clipper, a "triumphant success," generating "enormous business" and "record-breaking attendance." It continued to tour nationally and abroad for some 20 years, making it the first play seen by many Americans. In 1899 he settled on a production adapted by William Young of Chicago, directed by Joseph Brooks, and featuring later cowboy film star William S. Wallace, a retired Union general from Indiana and one-time governor of the Territory of New Mexico, was quickly besieged with offers to dramatize his work. It was also the first book featured in the Sears Catalogue. For many Americans, Ben-Hur was an example of edifying reading, the first work of fiction often allowed on their bookshelves. Sales swelled to 1,000,000 by 1911, with translations appearing in German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Arabic, among other languages. By 1889, 400,000 copies had been sold, outstripping Uncle Tom's Cabin, but falling just short of the Bible. Eventually, word of mouth spread across America, particularly through schools and clubs. The book moved slowly at first, selling only some 2,800 copies in its first seven months. Converted to Christianity, Ben-Hur resolves to help fellow Christians in Rome suffering persecution. Jesus refuses his offer of military assistance, but cures his family. They finally meet on the road to Calvary. Discovering that his mother and sister are now lepers, Ben-Hur searches for Jesus, hoping for a miraculous cure. Meeting Messala again, Ben-Hur beats him in a dramatic chariot race during which the Roman is crippled. Searches for his family and also raises a militia for the Messiah. As pirates attack Ben-Hur's ship, he manages to escape. When the Roman governor's life is threatened, Messala blames Ben-Hur, unjustly condemning him to the galleys and imprisoning Ben-Hur's mother and sister. The latter's contempt for Jews, however, ends their friendship. The book begins with the Messiah's birth and then moves ahead 30 years to Ben-Hur's reunion with his boyhood friend, Messala, now a Roman officer. Published in 1880, the novel tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur, a young, aristocratic Jew, and his encounter with Jesus of Nazareth. As a novel, a play, two silent films, and a wide screen spectacular, Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ set the standard for the religious epic, inaugurating an amazing series of firsts in American popular culture.
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