Miss Lulu Bett

Miss Lulu Bett (1920), a play by Zona Gale. [Belmont Theatre, 201 perf.; Pulitzer Prize.] Lulu Bett ( Carroll McComas) is a drudge in the home of her sister Ina ( Catherine Calhoun Doucet) and brother‐in‐law, Dwight Deacon ( William E. Holden). When Dwight's brother Ninian ( Brigham Royce) visits, he jokingly flirts with Lulu. Dwight reads the civil marriage ceremony, and Lulu and Ninian respond accordingly, before Dwight realizes that he has inadvertently married them. The newlyweds go off on a honeymoon, from which Lulu returns after she learns that Ninian is already married. But Ninian follows her with assurances that his first wife has died. Based by the author on her own novel of the same name, the Brock Pemberton production was perceived as an observant, warmly written drama of midwestern life of the time. Zona GALE (1874–1938) was born in Portage, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin. She became best known as a novelist, although she was also the author of several respected dramas, none as successful as Miss Lulu Bett. The Neighbors (1917) and Mr. Pitt (1924) were presented in New York, but the others were produced by amateur groups and never reached Broadway. Biography: Still Small Voice, August W. Delreth, 1940.