Lulu Bett, a spinster in her mid-30s, lives with her sister Ina Deacon and her husband Dwight Deacon, and their two daughters Diana and Monona (a key to the author’s Wisconsin roots, as the capital of the state, Madison, sits at the edge of Lake Monona). This was not a fully realized production and was not subject to review. I was curious to find out what made the Pulitzer committee so enthusiastic in 1921, and was not disappointed in the work, the professionalism of the readers, or the direction by Elina De Santos. Miss Lulu Bett was the rarely seen offering on April 30th. The little Sierra Madre Playhouse, close to Pasadena, stages five or six main productions each season, and also presents one-night-only Off the Page stage readings of works they believe audiences might like to know and/or the company might like to fully produce. Seizing the opportunity, she adapted it to the stage, and it was that play that opened on Broadway on December 27, 1920, starring Carroll McComas, and winning Gale the Pulitzer. The work she is best remembered for is her novel Miss Lulu Bett, published in 1920, which became a bestseller.

She supported the progressive politics of the La Follette family in her state, and identified herself with the suffragist and feminist movements of her day. Gale wrote journalism and novels based on her native Wisconsin. Zona Gale (1874-1938) was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, in the year 1921. No? Well, let me tell you something about her.

SIERRA MADRE, Calif.-Ever hear of Zona Gale? A lobby card for the silent film version, with Lois Wilson and Clarence Burton.

Miss lulu bett play