Abby Shute Merchant

Abby Shute Merchant
Abby Shute Merchant, from the 1904 yearbook of Smith College
BornFebruary 3, 1882
Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJuly 27, 1982 (age 100)
Tryon, North Carolina, U.S.
OccupationsEditor, poet, playwright

Abby Shute Merchant (February 3, 1882 – July 27, 1982) was an American editor, poet, and playwright.

Early life and education

Merchant was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Lewis H. Merchant and Hannah van P. Merchant. She attended Gloucester High School, where she was a friend of Bertha Mahony Miller,[1] and graduated from Smith College in 1904.[2] She took further courses in drama with George Pierce Baker at Harvard University.[3]

Career

Merchant was an editor at Munsey's Magazine and other magazines after college.[4] She held a MacDowell Resident Fellowship in 1913–1914, to write a three-act play, His Womenfolk.[5] She was briefly co-owner of the Prairie Playhouse in Galesburg, Illinois.[6]

She returned to New York City and wrote plays, often in collaboration with Mark White Reed.[3] Her 1922 comedy The Ever Green Lady[7] had timely themes of tenement life, prohibition, and an influenza epidemic.[8] Her 1941 comedy Your Loving Son[9] starring Frankie Thomas[10] ran for just three performances at the Little Theatre.[11] New York critics called it "skittish but insistently dull",[10] "silly",[12] and "not amusing".[13]

Merchant's stories and poems appeared in national publications including Harper's Magazine,[14] Harper's Bazaar,[15] Story Parade,[16] Good Housekeeping,[17] The Chautauquan,[18] and New Idea.[19]

Works

Plays

  • His Womenfolk (1914, play, 4 acts)[20]
  • Plus and Minus (1919, comedy, 3 acts)[21]
  • The Ever Green Lady (1922, comedy, 4 acts, also known as Irish Dew and The Topshelf)[22][23][24]
  • The New Englander (1924, drama, 4 acts)[25][26]
  • A New Frock for Pierrette (1933, revue)[27][28]
  • Your Loving Son (1941, comedy, also known as The Unbent Twig)[11][29][30]

Poems, stories, and essays

  • "A Sonnet" (1901, poem)[31]
  • "Overheard" (1902, essay)[32]
  • "Ivy Song" (1904, poem)[33]
  • "The Eternal Maternal" (1907, story)[15]
  • "Pernicious Pumps" (1908, story)[19]
  • "Marooned" (1910, essay)[18]
  • "College Girls Preferred" (1910, essay, with Annette Austin)[17]
  • "The Presentiment" (1917, story)[14]
  • "It Happened to Nickolas" (1921, novelette)[34]
  • "The House that Took a Trip" (1946, story)[16]
  • "The Stanley Squirrels" (1947, story)[35]

Personal life

Merchant and her older sister Helen retired to Tryon, North Carolina, together in 1949. She died in 1982, at the age of 100. There is a file of her typescripts at Smith College Archives.[3]

References

  1. ^ Ross, Eulalie Steinmetz; Haviland, Virginia (1973). The spirited life: Bertha Mahony Miller and children's books. Selected bibliography. Internet Archive. Boston, Horn Book. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-87675-057-5.
  2. ^ Smith College, Class of 1904 (1904 yearbook): 33, via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b c Abby Shute Merchant Papers, Smith College Archives.
  4. ^ Homestead, Melissa J. (2021). The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-065287-6.
  5. ^ Harvard University (1914). Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College. Harvard University. p. 252.
  6. ^ Mackay, Constance D'Arcy (1917). The little theatre in the United States. Robarts - University of Toronto. New York H. Holt. p. 126.
  7. ^ ""The Ever Green Lady" Here Oct. 9". The New York Times. September 15, 1922. p. 24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  8. ^ Clark, Larry D. (2009). ""Can't Someone Find Him a Stimulant?": The Treatment of Prohibition on the American Stage, 1920-1933". Theatre History Studies. 29 (1): 135. doi:10.1353/ths.2009.0020. ISSN 2166-9953.
  9. ^ "News of the Stage; Bernard Hayman Plans to Present Ezra Stone in Play --Barbara O'Neill Sought for Anderson Work". The New York Times. June 26, 1940. p. 27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  10. ^ a b Anderson, John (April 5, 1941). "'Loving Son' at Little Theatre". New York Journal and American.
  11. ^ a b "'Your Loving Son Ends a Brief Run'; Initial Production of Jay Kennedy and Others Closes After Three Performances". The New York Times. April 7, 1941. p. 13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  12. ^ Atkinson, Brooks (April 5, 1941). "'Your Loving Son' Opens at the Little". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Kronenberger, Louis (April 6, 1941). "Your Loving Son is Not Amusing". PM.
  14. ^ a b Merchant, Abby (July 1917). "The Presentiment". Harper's Magazine. 135: 281–290.
  15. ^ a b Merchant, Abby (August 1907). "The Eternal Maternal". Harper's Bazar. 41 (8): 758–763.
  16. ^ a b Merchant, Abby (August 1946). "The House that Took a Trip". Story Parade. 11 (8): 4–12 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ a b Merchant, Abby; Austin, Annette (June 1910). "College Girls Preferred". Good Housekeeping. 50 (6): 727–731.
  18. ^ a b Merchant, Abby (December 1910). "Marooned". The Chautauquan. 61 (1): 107–113.
  19. ^ a b Merchant, Abby (February 1908). "Pernicious Pumps". New Idea Woman's Magazine. 17 (2): 18–20.
  20. ^ "Radcliffe College". The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. 22 (88): 628. June 1914.
  21. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1919). Catalog of Copyright Entries. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1214.
  22. ^ Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John; Sherwood, Garrison P. (1923). Best Plays and the Year Book of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead. p. 474.
  23. ^ "Theatrical Notes". The New York Times. April 29, 1921. p. 24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  24. ^ "New Comedy by Abby Merchant". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 1921-11-26. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Engle, S. (2007-12-25). New Women Dramatists in America, 1890-1920. Springer. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-230-60936-5.
  26. ^ "The New Plays". The New Leader. 1 (3): 10. February 2, 1924 – via Internet Archive.
  27. ^ "Theatre Arts Opens with Skit Revue". Detroit Free Press. 1952-11-09. p. 41. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks. Patent Office. 1933. p. 11.
  29. ^ "News of the Stage; Premiere of 'Your Loving Son' Postponed to Friday -- 'They Walk Alone' Closes at the Golden". The New York Times. March 31, 1941. p. 11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  30. ^ "Abby Merchant's New Play Being Held Up". The Daily Reporter. 1940-02-24. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Merchant, Abby Shute (November 1901). "A Sonnet". The Smith College Monthly: 79.
  32. ^ Merchant, Abby Shute (February 1902). "Overheard". The Smith College Monthly: 308.
  33. ^ Merchant, Abby Chute (November 1904). "Ivy Song". University of Virginia Magazine. 48: 171.
  34. ^ Merchant, Abby (March 1921). "It Happened to Nickolas". Smith's Magazine. 32 (5): 641–679 – via Internet Archive.
  35. ^ Merchant, Abby (November 1947). "The Stanley Squirrels". Story Parade. 12 (11): 17–22 – via Internet Archive.
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