Marguerite Merington


Marguerite Merington was an English-born American author of short stories, essays, dramatic works, and biographies.

Early years and education

Marguerite Merington was born in Stoke Newington, England, in 1857, At an early age, she came with her parents to Buffalo, New York where was educated at a convent. Even as a girl, she displayed dramatic talent, and often wrote and acted little parlor plays.

Career

For several years, she was instructor in Greek and Latin in the Normal College in New York. After resigning from this position, Merington pursued the career of a dramatic author. About 1889, E. H. Sothern proposed that Merington should write him a play, the leading character of which should be a captivating Irish gentleman. With a few suggestions from him, the play, Captain Lettarblair was written. It had a trial at an authors' matinee in New York City, and was first presented August 16, 1892, at the Lyceum Theatre. Captain Lettarblair, produced by Daniel Frohman, brought in large audiences and much money, and held a place in Sothern's repertoire. Before it was acted, Joseph Jefferson, who saw the manuscript, praised it highly. Merington wrote other dramas, including Good-Bye, A Lover's Knot, and the libretto of a comic opera, Daphne, or the Pipes of Arcadia. Set to music by Arthur Bird, of London, it gained the prize of from the New York Conservatory of Music. Having served as the private secretary of Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Merington was the editor of The Custer Story: The LIfe and Intimate Letters of General George A. Custer and His Wife Elizabeth.
Merington died on May 20, 1951, in her Manhattan home. Of her life she said: "There is absolutely nothing about me to be told, and that I never tell."

Selected works

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