Babette Hughes Explained

Babette Hughes (1905–1982) was an American playwright of one-act plays and mystery novelist. She was born in Seattle, Washington and while an English student at the University of Washington she met the American playwright Glenn Hugheswhom she married in 1924 for around 20 years. Hughes wrote comedic one-act plays, mysteries, and non-fiction works.

Personal life

She was born Helen Babette Plechner in Seattle, Washington on December 28, 1905.^[1] In 1923, while an English student at the University of Washington she met the American playwright Glenn Hughes, who had joined the university as an assistant professor of drama in 1919.^[2] Secretly married in 1924, they were together for around 20 years. After their divorce in 1944 or 1946, she relocated from Seattle to New York City and married Benn Hall, a public relations executive. Her daughter Mary Anne remained in Seattle, and she returned to Seattle several times to visit. Once Hall died, Hughes took over his public relations firm.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Plays

Hughes frequently wrote comedic one-act plays, particularly in the subgenre of 10-minute plays. Her writing was reviewed positively, and she was known for her sophisticated characters.^[6] As well as writing her own plays, she worked with her husband to translate other monologues and plays from French into English.^[2]

She wrote more than 20 plays,^[3] including:

• March Heir (1925)^[7]
• No More Americans (1925)^{[7] [8]}
• Three Players, a Fop and a Duchess (1925)^[7]
• One Egg (1926)^{[9] [10]}
• Bound for Mexico (1926)^[7]
• Money for Jam (1928)^[7]
• Backstage (1929)^[11]
• Columbine in the Country (1930)^[7]
• Murderer! Murderer! Murderer! (1931)^[12]
• Please Do Not Pick the Flowers (1931)^[13]
• Safety Pins First (1932)^{[7] [14]}
• The First White Woman (1932)^[15]
• Too Many Cakes (1934)^[7]
• Fit as a Fiddle (1936)^[16]
• Daisy Won't Tell (1937)^[7]
• If the Shoe Pinches (1937)^[7]
• Mrs Harper's Bazaar (1937)^[7]
• Early Victorian (1938)^[7]
• Greek to You (1938)^[7]
• Spring Scene (1939)^[7]
• Because It's June (1940)^[7]
• The Lady Who Came to Lunch (1942)^[7]
• Life with Mother (1942)^{[17] [18]}
• Sisters Under the Skin (1949)^[19]

The Oakland Tribune called her play One Egg "a rather clever farce".^[10] In 1936, she was published in a collection of One-Act plays in a 2 volume collection, The One Act Theater, along with Ethel van der Veer and her husband, Glen Hughes and published by Samuel French, Inc.^[20] Her 1937 one-act-play If the Shoe Pinches was published in the 1938 anthology The Best One-Act Plays of 1937, which features work by "the best-known playwrights".^[21] If the Shoe Pinches was performed in 1938 with blind actresses performing the six roles.^[22]

Other works

Another of Hughes' earliest works was Christopher Morley, multi ex uno (University of Washington chapbooks, no. 12, 1928), a work based on the life and personality of American poet and novelist Christopher Morley.^[23] It was published as part a series of chapbooks developed by her husband at the University of Washington.^{[2] [3]} Hughes presents different aspects of Morley as different characters in the book, which was reviewed positively in the Oakland Tribune in 1928.^[24]

She wrote two mysteries about a fictional detective from Stanford University, Murder in the Zoo in 1932 and Murder in Church in 1934. In May 1935, she wrote a fictional ending to the actual George Weyerhaeuser kidnapping in a piece for the Seattle Daily Times, in which the poet Egbert Lobe rescues the nine-year-old boy.^[3]

Hughes' 1946 semi-autobiographical novel Last Night When We Were Young features a character named Julie who experiences similar things to the author.^[3] Kenneth Horan, writing for the Chicago Tribune on February 22, 1948, said in a review of the book, "There is sufficient talent in Miss Hughes' charming head to write any number of novels. But she seems to be in a hurry. She glosses over incidents with the wide broad sweep of a scythe, and she rushes headlong into the great moments of reconciliation or regret or accomplishment, without waiting to explain. But her writing has a quality of entertainment and for that, all else is forgiven".^[25] The book was followed the next year by Magic Penny, which was also about a playwright in a relationship with a much younger woman.^[26]

She also wrote a non-fiction book based on her work in public relations, The right angles; how to do successful publicity (New York: Ives Washburn, 1965).^[27]

Notes and References

1. Washington Birth Records, 1870-1935 (via Ancestry.com), viewed on May 3, 2018.
2. http://www.historylink.org/File/3694 Hughes, Glenn (1894–1964)
3. Last Night When We Were Young, By Babette Hughes . Donahue . Peter . Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History. 2015. 28–29 . May 6, 2017.
4. Web site: Hughes, Glenn (1894–1964) . Tate . Cassandra . February 14, 2002 . History Link . May 6, 2017.
5. News: Divorce filings were announced in November 1944, Playwrights Part. Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. November 21, 1944. 27. May 6, 2017.
6. News: Clipping from Greeley Daily Tribune . Greeley Daily Tribune . 26 February 1938. 2 . June 6, 2017.
7. http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsH/hughes-babette.html Babette Hughes (1906–)
8. Adapted into a radio play and presented on-air on KFAC in 1935 by players from Los Angeles City College: see 1935. News and notes. Quarterly Journal of Speech. 21. 4. 629–639. 10.1080/00335633509380154.
9. Published in 1926 as a part of a collection of twelve plays in The Appleton Book of Short Plays edited by Kenyon Nicholson and published by D. Appleton & Company
10. News: Twelve One-Act Plays. Oakland Tribune. April 18, 1926. 68. May 6, 2017.
11. News: Clipping from The Morning Herald . The Morning Herald . 4 May 1946. 6 . June 6, 2017.
12. Book: Bullard, Catharine. 1937 . One-Act Plays for Junior High School. 21–38.
13. Web site: Spearfish News, Deadwood Pioneer-Times . . October 28, 1932 . 4 . Newspapers.com . June 6, 2017.
14. Performed 1940 at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania: see Book: 1940. The Carontawan. 121. Mansfield State Teachers College .
15. Web site: Garden City-Hempstead. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. May 8, 1932. 26. May 8, 2017.
16. The One-act Theater: New Comedies and Dramas, Samuel French, 1936, p177
17. Included as one of two plays in Glenn Hughes' book on the history of the Penthouse Theatre at the University of Washington, The Penthouse Theatre, its History and Technique, Samuel French, 1942.
18. News: The Argus. Illinois Wesleyan University. Students Present One-Act Comedies for Celebration. 52. 3. October 10, 1945. 1. A sprightly comedy ... a story of a scatter-brained woman who tries to become better acquainted with her family [while] laid up with a sprained ankle.
19. News: Woman's Club to Have Program Meet Tuesday. Ironwood Daily Globe. Ironwood, Michigan. January 27, 1966. 6. May 8, 2017.
20. Web site: Short Play, Also, Oakland Tribune . . March 15, 1936 . 32 . Newspapers.com. June 6, 2017.
21. Book: Mayorga, Margaret . 1938 . The Best One-Act Plays of 1937 . Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. . v.
22. Book: Mantle, Burns . 1939 . The Best Plays of 1938–1939 . Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc . 488.
23. Web site: Christopher Morley Collection . Stony Brook University . May 6, 2017.
24. News: Kit Morley is Done in Critical Verse. Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. January 15, 1928. 30. May 6, 2017.
25. Web site: Babette Hughes' Bright Novel of a Fearful Writer . Horan . Kenneth . February 22, 1948 . Chicago Tribune . May 6, 2017.
26. Web site: Hughes . Babette . MAGIC PENNY by Babette Hughes . Kirkus Reviews . June 2, 2017 . June 6, 2017.
27. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/179783203/ Book News