Pauline Phelps
{{short description|American dramatist}}
{{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.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5622950/two_women_dramatists_1901/ "Two Women Dramatists"] Minneapolis Journal (November 27, 1901): 5. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Early life
Pauline Isabelle Phelps was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, the daughter of George Mortimer Phelps and Abigail Case Phelps.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=001HAAAAIBAJ&sjid=df4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4378%2C5146000 "Miss Phelps' Reception"] Meriden Morning Record (November 14, 1900): 4.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.
Career
Popular recitation pieces by Pauline Phelps included historical works such as Rosalind's Surrender (1901)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). and As the Moon Rose, comic pieces with titles like Aunt Sarah on Bicycles and Telephone Romance (1899),Pauline Phelps, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DYsyAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Pauline%20Phelps%22&pg=PP5 Telephone Romance] (E. S. Werner 1899). 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.[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}} Her Daughters of the Revolution starred vaudevillian performer Neil Burgess as Hannah Thurber, in a 1903 production.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5622925/neil_burgess_himself_as_hannah/ Advertisement], Fitchburg Sentinel (April 22, 1903): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Phelps often collaborated with her partner Marion Short on writing plays, sometimes using the joint pen-name Paul Marion.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). Works by the duo included When a Woman Loves (1900), The Girl from Out Yonder (1906),[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}} A Grand Army Man (co-authored with David Belasco and performed on Broadway in 1907, with David Warfield and Antoinette Perry in the cast),[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). As Molly Told It (1909), Jack's Brother's Sister (1916),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). The Flour Girl (1920),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"). Shavings (1920, based on a novel by Joseph C. Lincoln),[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5623428/pauline_phelps_and_marion_short/ "Shavings"] Morning News (November 25, 1920): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} The Belle of Philadelphia Town (1925), Cosy Corners (1922),Pauline Phelps and Marion Short, [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007669413 Cosy Corners: A Comedy in Four Acts] (S. French 1922). Stop! Go! (1930), The Wistful Widow (1932), and Sweet Clover.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. They also adapted some works by English playwright Ina Leon Cassilis for American performance.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}}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.
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. Actress Adelaide Thurston starred in two early Phelps/Short plays in the 1900s, Sweet Clover and The Girl from Out Yonder.
Late in her career, Phelps turned to adaptations. She adapted Louisa May Alcott's Little Women for performance in 1939,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}} and wrote a stage adaptation of Jane Eyre in 1941,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}} as well as stage adaptations of J. M. Barrie's The Little Minister (1940)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). 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).Pauline Phelps, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hUL8AAAACAAJ&q=%22Pauline+Phelps%22 Madame Butterfly] (Wetmore Declamation Bureau 1954).
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
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Category:American dramatists and playwrights