Nellie Bly: Editors slammed doors in her face. But with nerve and pluck, Elizabeth J. Cochrane became Nellie Bly--one of the most daring reporters of her time. (American History Play).SCENE 1 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania “Pittsburgh” redirects here. For the region, see Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. Pittsburgh (pronounced IPA: /ˈpɪtsbɚg/) is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. , 1885 Narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. A: Elizabeth J. Cochrane, 20, lives in a cramped row house with her family. One evening, she reads The Pittsburgh Dispatch The Pittsburgh Dispatch was a newspaper for which Nellie Bly worked. while her sister Kate Sister Kate can refer to:
Elizabeth J. Cochrane: Erasmus Wilson makes my blood boil! Narrator A: Wilson writes a popular column called "Quiet Observations." Elizabeth: Listen to this (reading aloud): "The weaker sex is just that. They have no idea how hard a man must work to put food on the table." Kate: It's hopeless, sis. Men can work their way up to good jobs, but women are stuck at the bottom. Elizabeth: I wonder if he's ever mopped a floor or sewed sew v. sewed, sewn or sewed, sew·ing, sews v.tr. 1. To make, repair, or fasten by stitching, as with a needle and thread or a sewing machine: buttons in a factory! I'll show him! Narrator A: A few days later, George Madden mad·den v. mad·dened, mad·den·ing, mad·dens v.tr. 1. To make angry; irritate. 2. To drive insane. v.intr. To become infuriated. , managing editor of the Dispatch, tosses a letter onto Wilson's desk. It is signed "Lonely Orphan Girl." George Madden: She isn't much for style, but what she has to say she says right out. Erasmus Wilson (reading aloud): "I have heard the hard-luck tales of poor young women like myself. I, too, have known the frustration of needing a good job and not being able to find one." Madden: What do you think? Wilson: I bet a man wrote this. Madden: Yeah, it gets to the point quickly. Women usually ramble on Verb 1. ramble on - continue talking or writing in a desultory manner; "This novel rambles on and jogs" jog, ramble proceed, continue, carry on, go on - continue talking; "I know it's hard," he continued, "but there is no choice"; "carry on--pretend we are . Narrator A: A copyboy enters. Madden (holding letter): Who-wrote this? Copyboy: Beats me, sir. There was no return address. Wilson: Let's publish the letter, and ask the writer to come forward. Madden: It's worth a try. SCENE 2 Narrator B: Madden's call for the "Lonely Orphan Girl" appears on January 17, 1885. The next day, Elizabeth climbs four flights to the Dispatch newsroom. Cochrane: Excuse me, sir. Where can I find Mr. George Madden? Copyboy (pointing): Right there. Cochrane (to Madden): Hello, sir. I'm your "Lonely Orphan Girl." Madden: So you're our mysterious correspondent. Cochrane: Yes, I saw your notice. My real name is Elizabeth J. Cochrane. Wilson: Hello, Miss Cochrane. I'm Erasmus Wilson. Cochrane: I read your column, sir. Madden: Cochrane, your grammar's a little rough, but you have a lot to say. Will you write something for us on "the woman's sphere"? Cochrane: I'd be glad to, sir. Narrator B: Cochrane soon has a regular column. She focuses on the struggles of poor working women. Cochrane (outside a boardinghouse): Excuse me, ma'am. Can you answer some questions about your family? Woman: All right, but be quick. I've got to fetch my girls at the factory. Cochrane: Tell me about your husband. Woman: That miserable louse louse, common name for members of either of two distinct orders of wingless, parasitic, disease-carrying insects. Lice of both groups are small and flattened with short legs adapted for clinging to the host. ? He walked out on us a year ago. Narrator B: Cochrane knows the hardships that women in failed marriages face. Her own mother divorced her second husband, a cruel alcoholic. Cochrane: How do you support yourself, ma'am? Woman: I have three children to feed. I wait tables, take in laundry, and do whatever odd jobs odd jobs npl → chapuzas fpl odd jobs npl → petits travaux divers odd jobs odd npl → I can find. Narrator B: Later at the newspaper. Cochrane (reading aloud at her typewriter): "Can a rich man realize what it's like to be a poor working woman?" Madden: Tell me more, Cochrane. Cochrane: "She denies herself food so that her little ones young children. See also: Little won't go hungry." SCENE 3 Narrator C: Cochrane soon becomes more popular than Erasmus Wilson. Madden: Our "Orphan Girl" needs a new byline. Something catchy. Copyboy: How about Nellie Bly Noun 1. Nellie Bly - muckraking United States journalist who exposed bad conditions in mental institutions (1867-1922) Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, Elizabeth Seaman, Seaman ? Madden: That's perfect. Narrator C: Bly is the first woman in the U.S. to get her articles onto a paper's front page. Madden: Now I want you to write about women's fashions. Bly: Not me! Madden: You'll be good at it. Bly: We'll never know. If you want me to write for you, hire me as a foreign correspondent foreign correspondent n. A correspondent who sends news reports or commentary from a foreign country for broadcast or publication. Noun 1. ! I'm leaving for Mexico. Narrator C: Bly plans to spend six months south of the border. But after writing stories critical of the Mexican government, she has to flee the country in order to avoid arrest. SCENE 4 Narrator D: Bly arrives in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. in May 1887. None of the male editors at the big papers will hire her. Bly (picks up the phone): Operator, get me Mr. George Madden at The Pittsburgh Dispatch. Madden: Hello. Bly: Mr. Madden, I have a story for you. About a lady reporter who looks for work at a big city paper. Madden: Sounds interesting. Do it. Narrator D: Bly asks editors why they won't hire women. Some say the work is too dangerous. Others tell her that men make better reporters. SCENE 5 Narrator E: Bly's article gets a lot of attention, but no job offers. She finally storms into the New York World The New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. It played a major role in the history of American newspapers. The newspaper was unsuccessful until it was purchased by Joseph Pulitzer in 1883. offices. Bly: I'd like to see the editor. My name is Nellie Bly. Secretary: Do you have an appointment? Bly: No, but I have several good ideas. And I'll take them to another paper if the editor won't see me. Narrator E: The secretary calls Colonel Cockerill, the World editor. Colonel John A. Cockerill: Please come in, Miss Bly. I'd like you to meet our publisher, Joseph Pulitzer. Bly: The Joseph Pulitzer? Narrator E: Pulitzer is renowned for his crusading journalism. His work has led to reforms in business and politics. Joseph Pulitzer: Hello, Miss Bly. What ideas do you have for us? Bly: I want to go to Europe and return in steerage steer·age n. 1. The act or practice of steering. 2. Nautical a. The effect of the helm on a ship. b. The steering apparatus of a ship. c. with immigrants. Pulitzer: We can't let a woman travel alone. It's too dangerous. Cockerill: Hmm. I have a story for you. Can you get yourself committed to an insane asylum? Bly: An asylum? I'll try. Narrator E: Bly fakes insanity insanity, mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to denote mental aberrations or defects that may relieve a person from to get herself committed to nearby Blackwell's Island. There she meets poor, immigrant women who are crowded into filthy rooms and held against their will. Bly (reading aloud): "Every door is locked, and the windows are heavily barred, so that escape is impossible." Narrator E: Bly's articles help bring reforms to mental hospitals. SCENE 6 The New York World newsroom. Cockerill (to Pulitzer): What shall we have her do next? Bly: I want to circle the globe, Colonel. Cockerill: Did you go mad in that asylum? Bly: Quite the opposite. I intend to break the record set by Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg is the main fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Protagonist Phileas Fogg lives at 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens, a fashionable upmarket area of London in the 1870s. . Narrator F: Fogg is the hero in Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in 1873. . Cockerill: But Fogg isn't real! Bly: It doesn't matter. I want to prove that I can beat his record. My trip will sell newspapers! Pulitzer: I'd rather send a man. Bly: Go ahead, send a man. I'll start the same day for some other paper and beat him. Pulitzer (wearily): You win, Bly. Pack your bags. SCENE 7 A railway station in Amiens (AH-ee-uhnz), France, 1889. Narrator G: Bly rushes from her train to see Jules Verne and his wife. Jules Verne: Delighted to meet you, mademoiselle. Bly: Thank you for seeing me, sir. Verne: Please tell us about the route you'll take. Bly: My next stop is Calais [ka-Lay]. From there, I'll get an overnight train to Brindisi, Italy ... Verne (studying Bly map): It's not an easy trip. Fogg did it in a hot air balloon This article is about hot air balloons themselves. For the associated activity, see Hot air ballooning. The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology, dating back to its invention by the Montgolfier brothers in Annonay, . But you can't do that. Bly: I know--but I'll find a way. In fact, I have a train to catch. Verne: Au revoir, mademoiselle! Narrator G: Bly travels across Europe and Asia by train, ship, donkey-- even by rickshaw. Then she sails from Japan to San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and boards a special train back to New Jersey. Crowds line the tracks. Newsboy: Extra! Extra! Nellie Bly Beats Phileas Fogg by Eight Days! Man in crowd: How'd you do it? Bly: It's not so remarkable--not for a woman who has the energy and independence that I do. Source: Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist, by Brooke Kroeger, Times Books, 1994 Web Click on juniorscholastic.com for related Web sites. RELATED ARTICLE: CHARACTERS Narrators A-G A-G Air-to-Ground Elizabeth J. Cochrane/Nellie Bly, journalist Kate, her sister George Madden, managing editor, The Pittsburgh Dispatch Erasmus Wilson, columnist, The Pittsburgh Dispatch Joseph Pulitzer, publisher, the New York World Colonel John A. Cockerill, editor, the New York World Jules Verne, French author (*) Copyboy, The Pittsburgh Dispatch (*) Secretary, the New York World (*) Woman (*) Newsboy (*) Man in crowd (*.) Starred characters are fictitious. Your Turn Think About It Discuss: Few women worked as reporters in the late 1800s. How did Nellie Bly succeed |
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