Lydia Coyne Fletcher (about 1853 – March 2, 1904) was an Irish-American playwright and novelist.

Early life and education

Fletcher was born in Dublin, Ireland and raised in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

.Babbitt, Juliette M.
"Women Writers in Washington"
''The Midland Monthly'' 3(3)(March 1895): 259. Her uncle Charles Leonard Fletcher was a playwright in New York City, and ran an acting school there. "Coyne" was her grandmother's family name; dramatist Joseph Stirling Coyne was her cousin.

Career

Fletcher was a governess as a young woman. She was a postal clerk in Washington, D.C., and wrote novels and plays. She was a charter member of the Association of American Authors when it was founded in 1892. She adapted her military comedy ''A Bachelor's Baby'' for the stage, and it was produced in Tennessee and Washington in 1895, and on

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in 1897. Olga Nethersole was cast to star in her play ''Yvolna'' (1898)'','' based on '' Salammbo'' by Flaubert''.'' Beyond fiction and plays, Fletcher's 1891 essay on the South Carolina lowlands is still cited as a useful first-hand account of the region a generation after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. She went to court in 1902 concerning 32 acres of land in Washington, known as "Girl's Portion".

Works

* ''The Moonshiners'' (1880) * ''Brother Shadrack'' (1882) * ''Glenflesk'' (1882) * ''Outlawed'' (1882) * ''Madge'' (1882) * ''The Indians'' (1882, with Arthur McKee Rankin) * ''The Americans'' (1883, with Arthur McKee Rankin) * ''Me and Chummy'' (1890) * ''A Bachelor's Baby'' (1886, 1891) * "In the Lowlands of South Carolina" (1891, ''

Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904) was an American popular literary magazine established by Frank Leslie as "the cheapest magazine published in the world." The publisher was Frank Leslie Pub. House which was based in New York City. ...

'') * ''Who Am I?'' (1897) * ''Yvolna'' (1898) * ''An American Alliance'' (1899) * ''Sans Culotte'' (1900) * ''The Cardinal's Love Story'' (1901) * ''A Cavalier of Maryland'' (1901) * ''His Other Self'' (1903) * ''An Irish Nobleman'' (1903) * ''Mirabeau'' (1903) * ''The Silence of the Judge'' (1903)

Personal life and legacy

Fletcher was described as a "tall, handsome woman", a "strong character" and a "bachelor woman", with a knack for decorating and entertaining. She collected steel engravings and souvenir cushions. "As a dialect storyteller, she has no equal among any women I have known," wrote one reporter in 1894. Fletcher died in 1904, at the age of 50, in a hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1909, a play named ''A Bachelor's Baby'' was produced by

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Frohman produced over 700 shows, and among his biggest hits was '' Peter Pan'', both ...

in New York, without credit to Fletcher; her nephew sued to stop the production. The credited playwright, Francis Wilson, claimed that the works only shared a title. Three films were produced with essentially the same title: '' A Bachelor's Baby'' (1922)'','' ''

The Bachelor's Baby ''The Bachelor's Baby'' is a 1927 silent film comedy directed by Frank R. Strayer and produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures. An extant film in European archive. Cast * Helene Chadwick - Eleanor Carter * Harry Myers - Bill Taylor *Midget ...

'' (1927) and '' Bachelor's Baby'' (1932); but none of them credited Fletcher's novel or play as source material.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Coyne 1850s births 1904 deaths Writers from Dublin (city) American women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Baltimore Irish emigrants to the United States American women novelists 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American novelists