36

Mrs. Peattie Will Give
Dramatic Readings Here

Mrs. Elia W. Peattie, former
Omaha newspaper woman, is to appear
in Omaha February 16, at 4 p.m.
at the Fontenelle hotel under
auspices of the Woman's Press club
to give a lecture and read two of
her original plays.

Mrs. Peattie is a well known
figure in the literary life of the nation,
but she is particularly well
known and beloved in Omaha where
for many years she made her home.
For several years she was a member
of the editorial staff of the
World-Herald as was her husband,
Robert B. Peattie, Both left Omaha
at the same time for wider fields
and moved to Chicago where they
both again engaged in newspaper
work, Mrs. Peattie to become literary
critic for the Chicago Tribune,
which position she held for sixteen
years.

As critic novelist and short story
writer Mrs. Peattie won fame that
places her well up in the ranks of
literary celebrities in this country
but her entry into the field of playwriting
is of recent date. It came
about because of the fact that she
and Mr. Peattie took up their residence
in North Carolina a couple of
years ago, after retiring from active
newspaper work. In North Carolina,
Mrs. Peattie found in the long established
and bitter feuds most fertile
subject matter for drama. She proceeded
to write these feuds into dramatic
form and to persuade the
natives to enact them. The result
was that calls came from the outside
world demanding that this new
playwright go beyond her own home
with her plays. She did so and
wherever she has appeared to read
her plays she has been most enthusiastically
received. Chicago welcomed
her back so heartily that she
was compelled to appear there a
number of times.

Mrs. Peattie is an honorary member
of the Woman's Press club
which is sponsoring her appearance
in Omaha. She is also an honorary
member of the Woman's club
which she helped to found and at
which she was president at the
time.