NELLIE ON PAGE, STAGE AND SCREEN
September 04 2010
by Tri Fritz
With the release of THE ALCHEMY OF MURDER, I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of the other fictional accounts of Nellie Bly.
ON THE PAGE:
SPIDER DANCE - Nellie Bly is a minor character in this Victorian murder mystery from author Carole Nelson Douglas (2005). The real stars are Irene Adler and master-sleuth Sherlock Holmes.
THE ALCHEMY OF MURDER - Nellie is the central character in Carol McCleary's debut novel (2010). She scours the streets and sewers of Paris, with cohorts Jules Verne and Louis Pasteur, searching for a serial-killer who may be Jack The Ripper!
ON THE STAGE:
NELLIE BLY - The Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen musical landed on the boards of Boston's Shubert Theater in 1945. The show eventually went on to New York's Adelphi Theater, but was roundly criticized and closed after only 16 performances.
STUNT GIRL - In 2009, Seattle's Village Theater debuted an all-new Nellie Bly musical. Perhaps atoning for the previous production, this show was widely praised for its story, music and the performance of actress Sarah Chalfy as Nellie Bly.
ON THE SCREEN:
AROUND THE WORLD WITH NELLIE BLY - A TV movie from 1960 with Janet Blair playing Nellie.
THE GREAT RACE - Although not referred to by name, Natalie Wood plays a feminist, daredevil reporter for a New York newspaper clearly inspired by Nellie Bly. In the film, also starring Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis (1965), she covers an around-the-world car race during the late 1890's. (A personal note here: this film is not to be missed. Fun, family-friendly and oh-so-funny!)
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THE LONE RANGER AND ZORRO - Nellie meets the Lone Ranger in an episode of this half-hour animated series from 1980 entitled "The Great Balloon Race."
THE ADVENTURES OF NELLIE BLY - Linda Purl stars as Nellie Bly in this "Classics Illustrated" TV movie from 1981. Turning New York on its ear with her investigative reports, "Nellie learns that making headlines can also mean making enemies."
VOYAGERS - This early 1980's TV series featured two characters who time-travel through history. In the episode "Jack's Back" (1983), the Voyagers save Nellie Bly (played by Julia Duffy) from Jack The Ripper with the help of Arthur Conan Doyle.
AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST - From 1991, a sequel to an earlier animated feature, Fievel Mousekewitz meets mouse reporter Nellie Brie when his family decides to move to the West.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 72 DAYS - From PBS's American Experience series (1997), this documentary charts the Nellie's true-life story with archival pictures and interviews with historians and authors.
THE WEST WING - From the episode "And Surely To Their Credit" (2000), First Lady Abigail Bartlett educates her husband, the President, on the importance of Nellie Bly with lines such as... "When it comes to historical figures being memorialized in this country, women have been largely overlooked. Nellie Bly is just the tip of the iceberg."
BLACKWELL - IMDB.com lists this film, focusing on Nellie's stay at the asylum, as scheduled for 2012. However, no cast or production information could be found.
1
Bob Stepno
2011 08 02
In addition to SPIDER DANCE by Carole Nelson Douglas, Nellie Bly is a recurring character in three of Ms. Douglas’s earlier “Irene Adler” (and Sherlock Holmes) mystery/romance novels, starting with a two-novel Jack the Ripper story, “Chapel Noir” and “Castle Rouge,” and Spider Dance’s prequel, “Femme Fatale.”
For example, Chapel Noir opens with Nellie undercover working on a story about Paris brothels. “Spider Dance” includes a fictionalized version of her investigation of baby-sellers in New York.
Incidentally, your readers might enjoy this radio-drama version of Nellie’s biography: http://jheroes.com/2011/03/05/nellie-bly/
And if anyone runs into other old-time-radio portrayals of Nellie, please let me know through that site.
2
Suren Oganessian
2011 12 11
Nellie Brie, the mouse personification of Nellie Bly, does not appear in Fievel Goes West, but in a later sequel to An American Tail called The Mystery of the Night Monster.
3
Ulia
2012 01 21
Очень хороший сайт!Много чего узнала нового о Nelie Bly. Огромное спасибо создателям сайта!!!!)))
