Pauline Phelps

{{Infobox person | name = Pauline Phelps | image = PaulinePhelps1903.png | alt = A young white woman with long loose dark hair, wearing a white lacy dress with an open neckline | caption = Pauline Phelps, from a 1903 publication | other_names = Pauline Short | birth_date = November 13, 1870 | birth_place = Simsbury, Connecticut | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|01|6|1870|11|13}} | death_place = Medical Lake, Washington | nationality = | occupation = Stenographer, Writer, Playwright }}

'''Pauline Phelps''' (November 13, 1870 – January 6, 1963) was an American writer and playwright, known for writing short monologues for recitation, and for her collaborations with partner Marion Short.<ref name="Two">[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5622950/two_women_dramatists_1901/ "Two Women Dramatists"] ''Minneapolis Journal'' (November 27, 1901): 5. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref>

==Early life== Pauline Isabelle Phelps was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, the daughter of George Mortimer Phelps and Abigail Case Phelps.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=001HAAAAIBAJ&sjid=df4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4378%2C5146000 "Miss Phelps' Reception"] ''Meriden Morning Record'' (November 14, 1900): 4.</ref><ref>John William Leonard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PMQ-AQAAMAAJ&dq=Phelps+Woman%27s+Who%27s+Who+of+America&pg=PA644 ''Woman's Who's Who of America''] (American Commonwealth Publishing Company 1914): 644.</ref>

==Career== Popular recitation pieces by Pauline Phelps included historical works such as ''Rosalind's Surrender'' (1901)<ref>Pauline Phelps, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100593094?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Phelps%2C%20Pauline.%22&ft= ''Rosalind's Surrender''] (E. S. Werner 1901).</ref> and ''As the Moon Rose'', comic pieces with titles like ''Aunt Sarah on Bicycles'' and ''Telephone Romance'' (1899),<ref>Pauline Phelps, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DYsyAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Pauline%20Phelps%22&pg=PP5 ''Telephone Romance''] (E. S. Werner 1899).</ref> and the unusual ''Shakespearian Conference'', in which a cast of Shakespeare's tragic characters gather to discuss the ways to increase the audience for Shakespeare plays. Phelps's plays were often performed by amateur community and school drama programs.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5623117/glass_dishes_by_pauline_phelps_1937/ "Junior Class Play"] ''Dixon Evening Telegraph'' (October 30, 1937): 4. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> Her ''Daughters of the Revolution'' starred vaudevillian performer Neil Burgess as Hannah Thurber, in a 1903 production.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5622925/neil_burgess_himself_as_hannah/ Advertisement], ''Fitchburg Sentinel'' (April 22, 1903): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> Phelps often collaborated with her partner Marion Short on writing plays, sometimes using the joint pen-name ''Paul Marion.''<ref>Paul Marion, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011920699?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Phelps%2C%20Pauline.%22&ft= ''County Fair at Punkinville''] (E. S. Werner 1912).</ref> Works by the duo included ''When a Woman Loves'' (1900), ''The Girl from Out Yonder'' (1906; adapted as the 1919 film ''Out Yonder''),<ref name="Out">[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5622885/the_girl_from_out_yonder_starring/ {{"'}}The Girl from Out Yonder': Adelaide Thurston's New Play"] ''Emporia Gazette'' (January 16, 1907): 1. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> ''A Grand Army Man'' (co-authored with David Belasco and performed on Broadway in 1907, with David Warfield and Antoinette Perry in the cast),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4SftwAACAAJ ''David Belasco presents David Warfield in A Grand Army Man, a New American Play by David Belasco, Pauline Phelps, and Marion Short''] (F. V. Strauss 1908).</ref> ''As Molly Told It'' (1909), ''Jack's Brother's Sister'' (1916),<ref>Pauline Phelps and Marion Short, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bwRAAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pauline%20Phelps%22&pg=PA1 ''Jack's Brother's Sister''] (Walter H. Baker & Co. 1916).</ref> ''The Flour Girl'' (1920),<ref>Pauline Phelps and Marion Short, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100926665?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Phelps%2C%20Pauline.%22&ft= ''The Flour Girl''] (S. French 1927; copyright 1920 as "Hot Pancakes").</ref> ''Shavings'' (1920, based on a novel by Joseph C. Lincoln),<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5623428/pauline_phelps_and_marion_short/ "Shavings"] ''Morning News'' (November 25, 1920): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> ''The Belle of Philadelphia Town'' (1925), ''Cosy Corners'' (1922),<ref>Pauline Phelps and Marion Short, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007669413 ''Cosy Corners: A Comedy in Four Acts''] (S. French 1922).</ref> ''Stop! Go!'' (1930), ''The Wistful Widow'' (1932), and ''Sweet Clover''.<ref>Mrs. John A. Logan, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hnIEAAAAYAAJ&dq=Pauline%20Phelps%20playwright&pg=PA792 ''The Part Taken by Women in American History''] (Perry-Nalle Publishing Company 1912): 792-3.</ref> They also adapted some works by English playwright Ina Leon Cassilis for American performance.<ref>Sherry Engle and Susan Croft, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=wTziCgAAQBAJ&dq=Pauline%20Phelps%20playwright&pg=PT432 ''Thousands of Noras: Short Plays by Women, 1875-1920''] (iUniverse 2015): 432. {{ISBN|9781491768037}}</ref><ref>Ina Leon Cassilis, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100223892?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Phelps%2C%20Pauline.%22&ft= ''Those Landladies: Boarding House Comedy for Two Females''] (E. S. Werner 1906), edited and revised by Pauline Phelps and Marion Short.</ref>

''Sweet Clover'', one of the first of her collaborations with Marion Short to reach the stage, was called "by far the strongest play turned out yet by American female dramatists" by a critic from the ''Philadelphia Record''.<ref name="Two" /> Actress Adelaide Thurston starred in two early Phelps/Short plays in the 1900s, ''Sweet Clover'' and ''The Girl from Out Yonder.''<ref name="Two" /><ref name="Out" />

Late in her career, Phelps turned to adaptations. She adapted Louisa May Alcott's ''Little Women'' for performance in 1939,<ref>Beverly Lyon Clark, [https://books.google.com/books?id=z3sZBQAAQBAJ&dq=Pauline%20Phelps%20playwright&pg=PA118 ''The Afterlife of'' Little Women] (JHU Press 2014): 118. {{ISBN|9781421415581}}</ref> and wrote a stage adaptation of ''Jane Eyre'' in 1941,<ref>Amnon Kabatchnik, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Cbfq1zm-2sC&dq=Pauline%20Phelps%20playwright&pg=PA486 ''Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection''] (Rowman & Littlefield 2012): 486. {{ISBN|9780810883543}}</ref> as well as stage adaptations of J. M. Barrie's ''The Little Minister'' (1940)<ref>Pauline Phelps, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006058034?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Phelps%2C%20Pauline.%22&ft= ''The little minister, a play based upon J. M. Barrie's book of the same name, in three acts''] (Wetmore Declamation Bureau 1940).</ref> and Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1941). After World War II several further short plays and adaptations by Phelps appeared, including ''Madame Butterfly'' (1954).<ref>Pauline Phelps, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hUL8AAAACAAJ&q=%22Pauline+Phelps%22 ''Madame Butterfly''] (Wetmore Declamation Bureau 1954).</ref>

==Later life== Pauline Phelps traveled to North Dakota to marry Hugh Connoran Short and reside in rural Billings County. They were married in Dawson County Montana in 1942. Social security records list her death in the town of Medical Lake, Spokane County, Washington in January, 1963.

==References== {{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Pauline}} Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:1870 births Category:People from Simsbury, Connecticut Category:1963 deaths