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"Lillie Alone"

A  one-act play packaged for theatres, libraries and schools
(high-school and adult audiences), available from its premiere performances in 2003:
March 31 at East Meadow Library; April 6 at Jericho Library; April 10 at Port Washington Library.
Appropriate for any season, recommended especially for Women's History month (March) and women's studies.

Written and Directed by David Houston
Developed at the request of the Port Washington, NY, Public Library
Jessica Ley, Program Coordinator

Starring Mary Ellin Kurtz
as Lillie Langtry

Mary Ellin Kurtz has thrilled audiences in the lead roles of musicals (Gypsy, Mame, Sweeney Todd), challenging new work (The Witch of Wall Street), shattering dramas (Death of a Salesman, Dancing at Lughnasa) and poignant comedies (Steel Magnolias, Plaza Suite).  Now she personifies the legendary Lillie Langtry in a new hour-long one-woman play by David Houston (writer/director of Great Scott, and Zelda).  Ms. Kurtz takes us backstage after a performance in 1900, where the courageous and self-made Mrs. Langtry prepares lies and misdirections for an anticipated interviewer; and in the process presents moments, in character, from her international stage successes – including Shakespeare’s Cleopatra and Rosalind in As You Like It, Kate in She Stoops to Conquer, Galatea in W.S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Mrs. Erlynne in Lady Windermere's Fan, a role her friend Oscar Wilde wrote for her and about her, a role she steadfastly refused to play, wrecking their friendship . . . and now she has just told her audience in a tearful curtain speech that Mr. Wilde has died that day in Paris, in disgrace. "The Jersey Lily" is in no mood for an interview! 

Everyone talked about the most beautiful and most famous woman in the world . . .  

George Bernard Shaw:
"I resent Mrs. Langtry.  She has no right to be intelligent, daring and independent
as well as lovely.  It is a frightening combination of attributes." 

Sarah Berhardt:
"Lillie is a superb actress." 

Walt Whitman:
"There shines in Lillie Langtry a purity of spirit.  Therein lies the essence of human poetry." 

Theodore Roosevelt:
“That woman is a real marvel.  And she is so pretty she takes away a man’s breath.”

James McNeil Whistler:

"She is the loveliest thing that ever was; she is perfect."

Michelle Young, Oceanside Library: The feedback was excellent. The audience was intrigued by the story and impressed by Kurtz's acting.  I would highly recommend this show to another interested party.

Pat Brandt, John Jermain Public Library, Sag Harbor: "Excellent program, very well received.  The people who saw the production were very pleased with it; comments ranged from 'very professional,' 'the quality of Guild Hall,' 'amazing actress, ' wonderful script,' 'amazing use of space,' 'so well written.'"

Jessica Ley, Port Washington Library: “LILLIE [Mary Ellin Kurtz] was everything I hoped she would be.  Our audience loved the play and the performance.  You have a great addition to your Literary Entertainments that I’m sure will continue to inform and entertain for years to come.”   

Phyllis Cox, Jericho Library: “Melanie Lipton was incredible as Emily Dickinson.  The production was superb.  The audience was thanking me as they left.  They didn't want it to end.”  And: “I feel privileged that we were among the first to see LILLIE ALONE.  Mary Ellin Kurtz did a splendid job, and the play is wonderful.”

LILLIE ALONE premiered as a climax of Women’s History Month studies, 2003, at East Meadow Public Library.  That evening, from both library personnel and the audience, we were told that the play was “ingenious, beautifully written, literate, amusing, perfect for women’s studies,” and that the performance by Mary Ellin Kurtz was "passionate, wry, and versatile as she bounded from one classic character to another.”      

See also Reviews and Comments for other Literary Entertainments – THE DICKENS! and GREAT SCOTT, AND ZELDA, for example.  (Click titles for more information.)

ADDITIONAL PUBLICITY PHOTOS OF
MARY ELLIN KURTZ AS LILLIE LANGTRY
(All available in b/w or color)

 PHOTOS © DAVID HOUSTON 2003

THE LIFE OF LILLIE LANGTRY
(with emphasis on events relevant to Lillie Alone)

1853—Born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, called "Lillie" by her brothers because of her white skin, in St. Helier, Isle of Jersey (in the English Channel).  Father is William Corbet Le Breton, Rector of St. Savior's Church and Dean of Jersey; mother is Emilie Le Breton.

1872—Meets Edward Langtry, sportsman, yachtsman, extravagant.  "One day there came into the harbor a most beautiful yacht.  To become mistress of the yacht, I married the man, Edward Langtry," Lillie later tells an interviewer in jest; he takes, and publishes, the remark seriously.

1874—Marries Edward Langtry, a 30-year-old widower from Belfast.  "He was my Prince Charming," she wrote.  They spend their honeymoon in his Elizabethan mansion, which he promptly loses to creditors.

1875—Lillie's favorite of her six brothers, the youngest, Reginald, dies in a riding accident.

1876—Lillie and Mr. Langtry move to London.  His money problems become serious.

1877—In London, Lillie meets prominent painters in London Society at a gathering: George Francis Miles, J.E. Millais,  the American James McNeill Whistler, and others—all of them eager to paint this mysterious and beautiful newcomer in the plain black dress (the only evening dress she owned).  One of several sketches by Miles is sold a few weeks later to a printer, and reproductions of it outsell all others of London's "professional beauties."  A portrait painted by Millais titled "The Jersey Lily" quickly becomes a gallery favorite, is later hung in a favored place at the Royal Academy, and gives Lillie a sobriquet that carries her fame to Europe and America.  Millais tells Lillie as she sits for the portrait: "For fifty-five minutes you are just beautiful; but for five you are amazing."  Whistler, explaining the difficulty of capturing her image, says, "She is the loveliest thing that ever was; she is perfect."

1877—Lillie meets Oscar Wilde at the studio of artist George Miles.  She finds Wilde outrageous and brilliant, and later tells friends: "He possessed what in an actor would be termed wonderful stage presence."  He writes a poem in her honor, "To Helen, Formerly of Troy," that is published in The World.  They remain platonic friends until he dies; in later years he states that he wishes he had married her.

1877—On May 24, "Bertie"—the Prince of Wales, eventually to become Edward VII, King of England, meets Mr. and Mrs. Langtry, the next day calls on her, and thereafter for two and a half years Bertie and Lillie are secret lovers.

1880—Lillie meets Prince Louis of Battenberg and falls in love with him.  Mr. Langtry—broke, dependent upon his wife, sinking into alcoholism—refuses to give his wife a divorce, claiming that he never will.  Unknown to him, Lillie is pregnant with Louis' child.  Helped financially by the Prince, Lillie goes to Paris to have her child, daughter Jeanne Marie.  While there, Lillie meets legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt. 

1881—Lillie and Jeanne Marie travel home to Jersey, where it is decided that Lillie's mother will care for the baby.  Lillie returns, her financial future uncertain, to London and to her husband, whose time is now spent largely alone, mainly fishing.  "I saw little or nothing of him in those days," Lillie wrote.  Her friends suggest occupations for Lillie.  Whistler sees talent in her drawings and suggests a life in visual arts.  Another suggests she become a fashion designer.  Oscar Wilde insists she become an actress.  At a country party, she is introduced to actress Henrietta Hodson, wife of a well-known Member of Parliament, who manages an acting company.  "Henrietta had heard a rumor that I was studying for the stage."

1881—In November, the one-act play, "A Fair Encounter," opens.  Lillie co-stars with her tutor, Henrietta.  The play is highly successful as people arrive from far and wide to glimpse The Jersey Lily in person.  In December, Lillie attempts the more difficult role of Kate Hardcastle in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer—and completely conquers her audience.

1882—In January, Lillie has the starring role in Ours, a melodrama.  Critical acclaim reaches New York.  In October, Lillie travels to America with a repertory of plays.  Producers hire a boat to meet her as her ship enters New York harbor; with them are their staff, about 30 reporters, a brass band playing "God Save the Queen," and Oscar Wilde who is there on a lecture tour.  Lillie breaks with Henrietta Hodson and forms her own company.

1883—The American tour extended, Lillie adds a new play by W.S. Gilbert, Pygmalion and Galatea, alternating it with She Stoops to Conquer.  All performances sold out.  Tour concludes in June and Lillie returns to London substantially richer and internationally famous.

1884—In April, Lillie fires actor Arthur Elwood, who sues for breach of verbal contract, and loses.  Lillie acts as her own defense attorney.  Producer Abe Hummel sues Lillie claiming she was not really ill when she missed a performance; again Lillie defended herself and won.  In August, returns to London.

1884—Prince Louis of Battenberg, the father of Jeanne Marie, Lillie's child, marries Princess Victoria of Hess.

1885—Lillie's company hired to open the season at the new Prince Edward Theatre (named for Bertie) with three plays: Princess George by Alexandre Dumas the younger, Sheridan's School For Scandal, and Sardou's Peril, in which she created a popular and critical sensation playing a beautiful woman of culture and means.  Peril ultimately becomes the heart of Lillie's repertoire and gains her the highest critical praise in America.

1886—A new tour of the United States.  Her new lover, Fred Gebhard, presents a gift: the brownstone at 362 West 23rd in Manhattan.  The house had been built by Clement Clarke Moore, author of the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Langtry still refuses to grant Lillie a divorce.  Her productions were the three plays from the previous season in London.  Lasting until March of 1887, this was the longest and most successful American tour. 

1887—Transcontinental tour of major American cities, her most ambitious tour ever.  For it, Lillie had a luxurious private railroad car built—paid for by Fred Gebhard.  When she reaches San Francisco in July, she buys a ranch on which she plans to breed race horses.  And with this residence, applies for and gets American citizenship—with which she gets an American divorce from Edward Langtry. 

1888—Lillie's father dies; her mother and daughter, who believes Lillie to be her aunt, move in with Lillie at 2 Cadogan Place, London—the house bought for Lillie by the Prince of Wales. 

1894—Jeanne Marie learns that Lillie is her mother, not her aunt, but believes her father to be Mr. Langtry.

1895—Oscar Wilde's reputation as a great playwright is established when The Importance of Being Earnest opens on St. Valentine's Day; and his catastrophic decline begins that same night when Lord Douglas publicly accuses him of maintaining an unnatural relationship with his son.  Lillie attends the premiere performance.

1897—Edward Langtry dies penniless, an alcoholic, in an insane asylum in England.

1899—Lillie marries Hugo de Bathe in St. Savior's Church back home on the Isle of Jersey.  Returns to New York to star in As In A Looking Glass with co-star Maurice Barrymore (who was married to actress Joanna Drew).  Lillie sends money to Oscar, who is out of prison in self-imposed exile in Paris.

1900—Performs scandalous The Degenerates in England and America; Oscar Wilde dies in November.

1901—Queen Victoria, Bertie's mother, dies in October; Bertie becomes King of England.

1902—Jeanne Marie learns by accident that Edward Langtry is not her father, that Prince Louis is, as she prepares to marry Ian Malcolm in June.  After the marriage she refuses to speak to her mother ever again.

1903—Judge Roy Bean, the Texas lawman who named his town Langtry in Lillie's honor, dies three months before Lillie travels to her namesake town hoping to meet him.  The new mayor presents Bean's gun to her.

1907—Hugo's father dies; Hugo becomes Sir Hugo, and Lillie becomes Lady de Bathe.  Now titled nobility, Lillie retires to her home, Le Lys, in Monaco. 

1910—Bertie, King Edward VII of England, dies on May 6

1929—At age 75, The Jersey Lily dies in Monaco and is buried in the graveyard of St. Savior's Church, Isle of Jersey. 

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