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Paul Armstrong (playwright)
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Paul Armstrong (playwright)
Paul Armstrong (April 25, 1869 – August 30, 1915) was an American playwright, whose melodramas provided thrills and comedy to audiences in the first fifteen years of the 20th century. Originally a steamship captain, he went into journalism, became a press agent, then a full time playwright. His period of greatest success was from 1907 through 1911, when his four-act melodramas Salomy Jane (1907), Via Wireless (1908), Going Some (1909), Alias Jimmy Valentine (1909), The Deep Purple (1910), and The Greyhound (1911), had long runs on Broadway and in touring companies. Many of his plays were adapted for silent films between 1914 and 1928.
Armstrong was born April 25, 1869, in Kidder, Missouri. He was the youngest of three children for Richard Armstrong, an Irish-Canadian sailor, and his wife Harriet. When he was six-months old the family left Missouri, and moved to West Bay City, Michigan where Armstrong grew up and went to school. After high school he took up steam navigation on the Great Lakes, earning his Master's license in 1890. Armstrong acted as manager for a steamship line, and helped skipper their excursion vessels from 1890 to 1895.
Armstrong started newspaper work in spring 1896, supplying special features to The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. By January 1897 he was at the Chicago Herald. He then jumped to the New York Journal, where he wrote about prize-fighting under the byline "Right Cross". Having met an art student named Rella Abell from Kansas City, Armstrong carried on a long-distance courtship when she went to Paris for art school. They became engaged in April 1899, and were married in London during July 1899.
Jim Corbett hired Armstrong as press agent for his brief excursion into baseball. Armstrong had Corbett arrested in Boston during October 1900 for refusing to pay the agreed salary and expenses. After Armstrong's one-act plays were produced in vaudeville, he became press agent for the White Rats of America during their February 1901 strike. He fell out with the White Rats when he tried to lease the Circle Theater in May 1901, and by July was fired.
Armstrong's first play was a four-act comic melodrama called Just a Day Dream, produced by William A. Brady. Armstrong had shown it to Joseph Jefferson who suggested some changes. First performed at Boston's Castle Theatre in June 1899, it was revived twice at the same venue. He then wrote a one-act play called My June, that dealt with the ongoing Philippine–American War. It was well-received but commercially unviable for vaudeville. He had more success with a one-act farce, Like Mother Used to Make, which Crimmins and Gore played to good effect.
Armstrong finished the four-act St. Ann by late June 1902. The story concerned Ann Lamont, a bohemian artist from New York who follows her ideal love to the leper colony at Kalawao, Hawaii. Armstrong produced and staged the play, with Barton Pittman from Kirke La Shelle's organization joining as business manager. Armstrong assembled a company for rehearsals in August 1902, with Laura Nelson Hall as lead.
St. Ann opened for a week at the Columbia Theatre in Washington, D.C., on September 1, 1902. It received mixed reviews from critics, but its bookings at Baltimore and Philadelphia went awry, the female lead quit, and thereafter the company performed only a few scattered one-night engagements before collapsing at Newport News. Pittman claimed that Armstrong's loathing of the Theatrical Syndicate, which controlled bookings, undid their production. The failure led to a brawl in Armstrong's New York office, with Pittman pulling a gun and Armstrong decking him. Armstrong was arrested on an assault charge, which a judge dismissed after hearing about the gun.
After the St. Ann failure, Armstrong took on managing the Liberty Theatre, but quit after a season of disappointing productions. Armstrong's one-act play The Blue Grass Handicap was used by Willis P. Sweatnam in vaudeville during 1904. It was a three-character turf racing piece, the lead being played in blackface by a white actor. It was also used as a "curtain-raiser" for Armstrong's new three-act farce. The Superstition of Sue premiered at the Savoy Theatre on April 4, 1904, starring Walter E. Perkins, Wilfred Lucas, and Helen Lackaye. Sue rejects Adrian's proposal, having been made on Friday the 13th. Unwilling to live, Adrian seeks death but fails repeatedly. New York critics were nearly unanimous in panning Sue, with only The Brooklyn Times calling it "interesting". Surprisingly, the production went on to a second week, The Sun speculating the two plays "have been so thoroughly abused that a great many people want to see how bad they are".
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Paul Armstrong (playwright)
Paul Armstrong (April 25, 1869 – August 30, 1915) was an American playwright, whose melodramas provided thrills and comedy to audiences in the first fifteen years of the 20th century. Originally a steamship captain, he went into journalism, became a press agent, then a full time playwright. His period of greatest success was from 1907 through 1911, when his four-act melodramas Salomy Jane (1907), Via Wireless (1908), Going Some (1909), Alias Jimmy Valentine (1909), The Deep Purple (1910), and The Greyhound (1911), had long runs on Broadway and in touring companies. Many of his plays were adapted for silent films between 1914 and 1928.
Armstrong was born April 25, 1869, in Kidder, Missouri. He was the youngest of three children for Richard Armstrong, an Irish-Canadian sailor, and his wife Harriet. When he was six-months old the family left Missouri, and moved to West Bay City, Michigan where Armstrong grew up and went to school. After high school he took up steam navigation on the Great Lakes, earning his Master's license in 1890. Armstrong acted as manager for a steamship line, and helped skipper their excursion vessels from 1890 to 1895.
Armstrong started newspaper work in spring 1896, supplying special features to The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. By January 1897 he was at the Chicago Herald. He then jumped to the New York Journal, where he wrote about prize-fighting under the byline "Right Cross". Having met an art student named Rella Abell from Kansas City, Armstrong carried on a long-distance courtship when she went to Paris for art school. They became engaged in April 1899, and were married in London during July 1899.
Jim Corbett hired Armstrong as press agent for his brief excursion into baseball. Armstrong had Corbett arrested in Boston during October 1900 for refusing to pay the agreed salary and expenses. After Armstrong's one-act plays were produced in vaudeville, he became press agent for the White Rats of America during their February 1901 strike. He fell out with the White Rats when he tried to lease the Circle Theater in May 1901, and by July was fired.
Armstrong's first play was a four-act comic melodrama called Just a Day Dream, produced by William A. Brady. Armstrong had shown it to Joseph Jefferson who suggested some changes. First performed at Boston's Castle Theatre in June 1899, it was revived twice at the same venue. He then wrote a one-act play called My June, that dealt with the ongoing Philippine–American War. It was well-received but commercially unviable for vaudeville. He had more success with a one-act farce, Like Mother Used to Make, which Crimmins and Gore played to good effect.
Armstrong finished the four-act St. Ann by late June 1902. The story concerned Ann Lamont, a bohemian artist from New York who follows her ideal love to the leper colony at Kalawao, Hawaii. Armstrong produced and staged the play, with Barton Pittman from Kirke La Shelle's organization joining as business manager. Armstrong assembled a company for rehearsals in August 1902, with Laura Nelson Hall as lead.
St. Ann opened for a week at the Columbia Theatre in Washington, D.C., on September 1, 1902. It received mixed reviews from critics, but its bookings at Baltimore and Philadelphia went awry, the female lead quit, and thereafter the company performed only a few scattered one-night engagements before collapsing at Newport News. Pittman claimed that Armstrong's loathing of the Theatrical Syndicate, which controlled bookings, undid their production. The failure led to a brawl in Armstrong's New York office, with Pittman pulling a gun and Armstrong decking him. Armstrong was arrested on an assault charge, which a judge dismissed after hearing about the gun.
After the St. Ann failure, Armstrong took on managing the Liberty Theatre, but quit after a season of disappointing productions. Armstrong's one-act play The Blue Grass Handicap was used by Willis P. Sweatnam in vaudeville during 1904. It was a three-character turf racing piece, the lead being played in blackface by a white actor. It was also used as a "curtain-raiser" for Armstrong's new three-act farce. The Superstition of Sue premiered at the Savoy Theatre on April 4, 1904, starring Walter E. Perkins, Wilfred Lucas, and Helen Lackaye. Sue rejects Adrian's proposal, having been made on Friday the 13th. Unwilling to live, Adrian seeks death but fails repeatedly. New York critics were nearly unanimous in panning Sue, with only The Brooklyn Times calling it "interesting". Surprisingly, the production went on to a second week, The Sun speculating the two plays "have been so thoroughly abused that a great many people want to see how bad they are".
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