Anna Wynne O'Ryan

Anna Wynne O'Ryan (1877 - July 1928) was an American librettist. She collaborated on several plays, including the 1922 musical, Just Because. According to Cait Miller at the Library of Congress, the play "may well have been the first full-length Broadway musical authored entirely by women".[1]

Life and career

O'Ryan was born in 1877 in New York to parents Anna and Francis O'Ryan.[2][3] She had a brother named John F. O'Ryan, who later became a commander of the 27th Division during World War I.[4]

O'Ryan studied Shakespeare. She also wrote books and taught "literary subjects".[5] She was a member of the New York Pen and Brush Players, a group of writers and painters.[6]

O'Ryan collaborated with Helen Smith Woodruff, Madelyn Sheppard, and Annelu Burns on the 1922 musical, Just Because. She wrote the book for the original version of the musical that was copyrighted in 1919. While the play was being readied for production in New York, O'Ryan rewrote parts of the book, and rewrote the comedy lyrics on behalf of the lyricist, Annelu Burns.[7][8] After theater productions took place, the musical received praise.[9]

In 1925, O'Ryan married Colonel James Crooke McLeer in New York City.[10] About a year after their marriage, her husband died. Around July 14, 1928, Anna died with her mother in their home in New York, from asphyxiation due to a gas stove. Their bodies were found about four days after their deaths by her brother.[4]

Selected works
  • The Universal Mother (c. 1918) one-act play, co-written by John Murray Anderson[11]
  • A Case of Kidnapping (c. 1920)[12]
  • Whats in a Name? (c. 1920), musical comedy, co-written by John Murray Anderson and Jack Yellen[13]
  • Just Because (1922), musical, co-written by Helen S. Woodruff and Madelyn Sheppard[1]
  • A Moving Picture (c. 1924), burlesque[6]
  • The Fool and the Blind Man (c. 1926), play[14]

References
  1. Miller, Cait (18 October 2019). "Songwriters, Suffragettes, and the Musical Stage". Library of Congress - In The Muse: Performing Arts Blog. ISSN 2691-6525. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  2. "Maj. Gen O'Ryan Finds Mother and Sister Dead of Gas in Flatbush Home". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 18, 1928. p. 1. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  3. "United States Census, 1880, New York, ED 547". National Archives and Records Administration. p. 3. Retrieved 19 November 2021 – via FamilySearch.
  4. "O'Ryan Women Asphyxiated". Messenger-Inquirer. 18 July 1928. p. 10. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  5. "O'Ryan Funeral Rights Tomorrow". Times Union. July 19, 1928. p. 20. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  6. "Pen and Brush Players to Give Entertainment". Brooklyn Life. 5 April 1924. p. 13. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. "Popular Selma Girl Sells Rights In Musical Comedy "Just Because"". The Montgomery Advertiser. 26 February 1922. p. 2. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  8. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1919. p. 636. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  9. ""Just Because" Highly Praised". The Selma Times-Journal. 2 March 1922. p. 3. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  10. "McLeer-O'Ryan". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 30 June 1925. p. 7. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  11. "Blanche Bates in Red Cross Play". New-York Tribune. 15 December 1918. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  12. "Armitage-O'Ryan-Miller Recital". Musical Courier. 81 (15): 38. October 7, 1920. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  13. Mantle, Burns, ed. (1920). The Best Plays of 1919-20. Small, Maynard & Company. p. 439. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  14. "Anne Wynn O'Ryan Writes New Play". Times Union. 28 November 1926. p. 9A. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
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