The musical DADDY LONG LEGS isbased on the work of Jean Webster, aprolific American author whose worksoften reflected her unique mixture ofwhimsy and activism. Webster was asuffragist and an active advocate of social reform for orphans and prisons.Her best-known books feature lively andlikeable young female protagonists whocome of age intellectually, morally andsocially, but with enough humor, snappydialogue and gently biting social com-mentary to make her books palatableand enjoyable to contemporary readers.She was born Alice Jane Chandler Webster to a renowned family in Fredonia, New York in 1876. Her greatuncle was Mark Twain, and her fatherwas the publisher Charles Webster. Shewas raised in a strongly matriarchal and activist setting, with her great-grand-mother, grandmother and mother all living under the same roof. Her greatgrandmother worked on temperance issues and her grandmother on racialequality and women's suffrage.Her father was Mark Twain's businessmanager and published many of hisbooks. Initially the business was successful, and when Alice was five thefamily moved to a large brownstone inNew York City, with a summer house onLong Island. However, the company,along with the relationship with Twain,ran into difficulties. In 1888, her fatherhad a breakdown and took a leave of absence, and the family moved back toFredonia. In 1891, he committed suicidefrom a drug overdose.Alice attended the Fredonia NormalSchool and graduated in 1894 with aconcentration in china painting, develop-ing a skill which she later put to use in illustrating her own works. From 1894 to1896, she attended the Lady Jane GreySchool in Binghamton as a boarder. During her time there, the school taughtacademics, music, art, letter-writing, diction and manners to about 20 girls. The Lady Jane Grey School inspiredmany of the details in Webster's novelJUST PATTY, including the layout of theschool, the names of rooms (Sky Parlour,Paradise Alley), uniforms and the girls'daily schedule and teachers.

It was at the school that Alice becameknown as Jean. Since her roommatewas also called Alice, the school asked ifshe could use another name. She chose"Jean," a variation on her middle name. Jean graduated from the school in June1896 and returned to the Fredonia Normal School for a year in the collegedivision.In 1897, Webster entered Vassar Col-lege, majoring in English and econom-ics. She took a course in welfare andpenal reform which included visiting institutions for "delinquent and destitutechildren." She became involved in theCollege Settlement House that servedpoorer communities in New York, an in-terest she would maintain throughout herlife. Her experiences at Vassar providedmaterial for her books WHEN PATTYWENT TO COLLEGE and DADDY LONGLEGS. Webster began a close friendship withthe future poet Adelaide Crapsey, whoremained her friend until Crapsey'sdeath in 1914. She participated withCrapsey in many extracurricular activi-ties, including writing, drama and poli-tics. Webster and Crapsey supported the socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs dur-ing the 1900 presidential election, although as women they were not

Audience Guide

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Edited by Ray Jivoff414-299-4965rayj@skylightmusictheatre.orgwww.skylightmusictheatre.org

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Jean Webster (1876-1916)

2011-2012Our 52nd SeasonIssue 4, March/April 2012IN THIS ISSUE

Jean Webster: A Woman Long Before Her Time

This production is proudly sponsoredin part by

allowed to vote. She was a contributor ofstories to the Vassar Miscellany and, inher sophomore year, began writing aweekly column of Vassar news and sto-ries for the Poughkeepsie SundayCourier. Webster reported that she was"a shark in English" but her spelling wasreportedly quite eccentric, and when ahorrified teacher asked her authorizationfor a spelling error, she replied "Web-ster," a play on words of her own nameand Webster’s Dictionary.In her junior year she traveled to Italy,where she became friends with EthelynMcKinney. While in Italy, Webster researched her senior economics thesis"Pauperism in Italy." She also wrotecolumns about her travels for the Pough-keepsie Sunday Courier, and gatheredmaterial for a short story, "Villa Gianini,"which was published in the Vassar Miscellany in 1901. She later expandedit into a novel, THE WHEAT PRINCESS,published in 1905. Returning to Vassarfor her senior year, she was literary edi-tor for her class yearbook, and gradu-ated in June 1901.

Returning to Fredonia, she wrote WHENPATTY WENT TO COLLEGE, in which shedescribed contemporary women's col-lege life. After some struggles finding apublisher, it was issued in March 1903 togood reviews. Webster then started writ-ing short stories that would make upMUCH ADO ABOUT PETER and visitedItaly for the winter of 1903 including asix-week stay in a convent in Palestrina.The following years included another tripto Italy and an eight-month world tour toEgypt, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Indone-sia, Hong Kong, China and Japan withEthelyn McKinney, Lena Weinstein andtwo other friends. During this time, twomore books were published: JERRY JUNIOR in 1907 and THE FOUR POOLSMYSTERY in 1908.Meanwhile, she became secretly engaged to Glenn Ford McKinney, Ethe-lyn McKinney's brother. A lawyer, he hadstruggled to live up to the expectationsof his wealthy and successful father. Mir-roring a subplot of DEAR ENEMY, he hadan unhappy marriage to an unstablewoman, Annette Reynaud, who wasfrequently hospitalized for depression.The McKinneys son John also showedsigns of mental instability. McKinney struggled with alcohol abuse,and entered sanatoriums on several occasions. The McKinneys separated in1909, but in an era when divorce wasuncommon and difficult to obtain, werenot divorced until 1915. During this period, Webster continued towrite short stories and began adaptingsome of her books for the stage. In 1911,JUST PATTY was published and Websterbegan writing the novel DADDY LONGLEGS while staying at an old farmhousein Tyringham, Massachusetts. Webster'smost famous work was originally pub-lished as a serial in the Ladies' HomeJournal and tells the story of a girlnamed Jerusha Abbott, an orphanwhose attendance at a women's collegeis sponsored by an anonymous benefac-tor. Apart from an introductory chapter,the novel takes the form of letters writtenby Jerusha (nick-named Judy), to herbenefactor. It was published in October1912 to popular and critical acclaim.Webster’s works, though light and witty,were subversive commentaries againstthe patriarchal Victorian society of theearly 1900s when women still did not

have the vote. Many of Webster’s worksaddressed social ills of the day, such asthe state of orphan asylums in the country. DADDY LONG LEGS directlychallenged this issue. The promotion ofDaddy Long Legs leagues and the sale ofDaddy Long Legs dolls went toward placing orphans in suitable families.In June 1915, Glenn Ford McKinney wasgranted a divorce, and he and Websterwere married in a quiet ceremony inWashington, Connecticut.They honey-mooned at McKinney's camp near Que-bec City, Canada, and were visited byformer president Theodore Roosevelt,who invited himself, saying "I've alwayswanted to meet Jean Webster. We canput up a partition in the cabin.”

DADDY LONG LEGSillustrationsby the author, Jean Webster

Returning to the U.S., the newlywedsshared Webster's apartment overlookingCentral Park and McKinney's TymorFarm, in Dutchess County, New York. InNovember 1915, DEAR ENEMY, a sequelto DADDY LONG LEGS, was published,and it too proved to be a bestseller. Alsoepistolary in form, it chronicles the adventures of a college friend of Judy'swho becomes the superintendent of theorphanage in which Judy was raised.Webster became pregnant and waswarned that her pregnancy might bedangerous. She suffered severely frommorning sickness, but by February 1916was feeling better and was able to returnto her many activities: social events,prison visits and meetings about orphan-age reform and women's suffrage. Shealso began a book and play set in SriLanka. Her friends reported that theyhad never seen her happier.Webster entered the Sloan Hospital forWomen in New York City on June 10,1916 and gave birth to a six-and-a-quar-ter-pound daughter. All was well initially,but Jean Webster became ill and diedfrom complications of childbirth. Herdaughter was named Jean (Little Jean)in her honor.Webster’s editor, Douglas Doty, described her as “an artist without the artistic temperament.” She wasrenowned for her good humor, and herstories, which, even when addressingserious matters, were always accessibleand warm, as were the quirky line draw-ings that often accompanied her workand were well loved in their own right.

AdaptationsDADDY LONG LEGS was Jean Webster'sbest-known work and has been adaptedmany times for stage and screen. Web-ster dramatized DADDY LONG LEGS andin 1914 spent four months on tour withthe play, which starred a young RuthChatterton as Judy. It hit the stage againin 1952 in a British musical comedycalled LOVE FROM JUDY, with music andlyrics by Hugh Martin, best known for thesongs in MEET ME IN ST LOUIS.Webster’s popular story was also amovie favorite. It was made into a silentfilm in 1919 starring Mary Pickford and in1931 it was an early talkie starring JanetGaynor and Warner Baxter. It returned tothe big screen in 1935 as a Shirley Tem-ple vehicle called CURLY TOP. In 1938,the fourth film adaptation was made inthe Netherlands. Jerusha Abbott becameJudy Aalders and Jervis Pendleton wastranslated to Albert van Woudenberg, oras the Dutch movie title called him,VADERTJE LAANGBEEN. Probably themost famous film version was the 1955Hollywood movie, DADDY LONG LEGS,starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron,which, like CURLY TOP, departed con-siderably from the plot of the originalnovel.The story has also been seen aroundthe world in various versions. In Japan,DADDY LONG LEGS was made into amusical anime TV special in 1979, followed in 1990 by the TV serialWATASHI NO ASHINAGA OJISAN (MYDADDY LONG LEGS). One of Japan'slongstanding charities, The Foundationfor Orphans from Automobile Accidents,takes its inspiration as well as its nick-name from the novel. It provides finan-cial support to fatherless children, callingitself the Ashinaga Ojisan Bokin, orDaddy-Long-Legs Fund.In 2005, the Korean movie KIDARIAJEOSSI (DADDY LONG LEGS) was re-leased. In India, the novel was adaptedinto a Malayalam movie, KANAMARAY-ATHU in 1984. In 2009, DADDY LONG LEGS was madeinto a two-person musical play by JohnCaird (book) and Paul Gordon (music),which premiered at the Rubicon TheatreCompany in Ventura, California and isthe current production at the SkylightMusic Theatre.

Set in New England in the first decadeof the 20th century, DADDY LONG LEGStells the story of Jerusha Abbott, a smart,ambitious girl who has grown up in anorphanage. She introduces herself inthe opening number (The Oldest Orphan in the John Grier Home). She has turned eighteen and is prepar-ing to leave the only home she’s everknown when she is saved from a drearyfuture by an astonishing proposal. Anessay the teenager has written catchesthe eye of Jervis Pendleton, one of thehome’s trustees. He decides to send herto college in the hope that she will pur-sue a career as a writer. There are a fewstrings attached, however. She mustwrite him a letter each month reportingher progress and he will remain anony-mous, known to her only as Mr. Smith.He will never answer her letters, nor takethe slightest notice of them.Jerusha assumes that her patron is anoctogenarian. He is, in fact, an eligible,millionaire bachelor and a man of con-siderable intellect who believes Jerushahas the makings of an author. When shecatches a glimpse of him as he exits theJohn Grier Home, she sees only his longshadow, and so addresses him in herletters with the nickname “Daddy LongLegs.’’ The musical unfolds as the two charac-ters "sing" the letters written or received.As she pours out her thoughts, we recognize her struggle to fit in (LikeOther Girls). In her freshman year, she

meets two other girls on her dormitoryfloor, Sallie McBride and Julia Pendle-ton, Jervis’ niece. Sallie is “the most en-tertaining person in the world...and JuliaRutledge Pendleton the least so.”Jerusha describes her embarrasment ather lack of education and her excitementabout learning (Things I Didn’t Know).As her freshman year progresses, Jervisfinds her affection-filled letters discon-certing (What Does She Mean ByLove?) and Jerusha is frustrated by hislack of response to her letters (I’m A Beast).At the end of her first year, Jervis visitshis niece, Julia, and Jerusha is immed-tately drawn to him. She writes to herbenefactor about Jervis saying, “He’s areal human being, not a Pendleton atall...he looked at me as if he really knewme, almost better than I know myself.But he doesn’t know anything about mereally. You’re the only man who knowsme even though I don’t know you at all.”(The Color of Your Eyes).At the end of her first year, with no hometo return to for the summer, she is ex-pected to return to work at the JohnGrier Home. Instead, Mr. Smith arrangesfor her to spend the summer at Lock Willow Farm, where he spent summersin his youth. In response to an argumentwith her hosts about religion she realizesthat, “It isn't the big troubles in life thatrequire character. Anybody can rise to acrisis and face a crushing tragedy withcourage, but to meet the petty hazardsof the day with a laugh, I really think thatrequires spirit.” (Secret of Happiness).At the end of her sophmore year,Jerusha is invited to spend the summerin the Adirondack Mountains with SallieMcBride and her attractive brother Jim-mie . Mr. Smith insists that she spendthe summer at Lock Willow Farm, andJerusha writes an angry letter in re-sponse to his strict controls. When Jervisvisits her that summer, their friendshipdeepens.Upon returning to college for her junioryear, Jerusha takes a class called Char-ity and Reform and begins thinking of acareer in orphanage reform. Jervis strug-gles to reveal his identity and true feel-ings (The Man I’ll Never Be).

They argue again over her summerplans when Jerusha refuses SallieMcBride’s offer of a trip to Paris and de-cides instead to work as a governess. In her senior year, Jerusha tries to gether work published and looks forward tothe future (Graduation Day). As her reliance on his financial support comesto an end, Jervis wonders, “For what youhave given me came out of the blue,what you have done for me I never coulddo, charity, just who is helping who?”(Charity).Will Daddy Long Legs be unmasked? Sorry, no spoilers here. You’ll just haveto wait and see.

Synopsis

Note: In the book, Jerusha takes the nickname“Judy,” but in the musical, she remains “Jerusha.”

Tony Award-winning director John Cairdis best known for his work on suchsweeping Broadway fare as LES MIS-ÉRABLES, THE LIFE AND ADVEN-TURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY andJANE EYRE. Caird was born in Canada to British sub-jects George Bradford Caird, Oxford the-ologian and Principal of MansfieldCollege, Oxford and Viola Mary Newport,poet and librarian. The family moved toOxford, England in 1959. He studied act-ing at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Schoolfrom 1967 to 1969. Caird worked as anactor and stage manager at various Eng-lish repertory theatres and in London’sWest End. In 1977 Caird joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC) asassistant director, becoming an associ-ate director in 1980. At the RSC, Caird co-directed four pro-ductions with Trevor Nunn. The first wasMERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR in 1978with Ben Kingsley. Next was NICHOLASNICKLEBY in 1980, a nine-hour adaptionfrom Dickens by David Edgar that ran forthree seasons and then transferred tothe Plymouth Theatre on Broadway. Caird and Nunn then collaborated on anew version of J.M.Barrie’s PETER PAN,the first production of the play to use amale actor in the title role. Probably his most famous productionwas LES MISÉRABLES in 1985, thesmash musical by Claude-Michel Schön-berg and Alain Boublil, a co-productionbetween the RSC and Cameron Mackin-tosh. Caird wrote the libretto and

co-directed the production. It ran foreight weeks at the Barbican Theatre be-fore transferring to the Palace Theatre,then moved to the Queen’s Theatre in2004 where it is still running. It openedat The Broadway Theatre in New York in1987 and has played all over the world.In 2007 he wrote the libretto for BRIEFENCOUNTER, a new opera by AndréPrevin based on the Noël Coward playSTILL LIFE and the movie BRIEF EN-COUNTER by Coward and David Lean.The opera had its world première atHouston Grand Opera in 2009. He has also written libretti for a numberof new musicals, all of which he also di-rected including CHILDREN OF EDENwith music by Stephen Schwartz, JANEEYRE with music by Paul Gordon, whichplayed on Broadway from 1998–2000and Bernstein’s CANDIDE, which headapted from the original Voltaire novelfor the National Theatre season of 1999. Caird also wrote and directed, with thedesigner John Napier, THE SIEGFRIEDAND ROY SPECTACULAR, a magic showfor the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, star-ring Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Hornand their menagerie of white tigers. Theshow opened in February 1991 and ranuntil October 2004, finally closing whenRoy was injured by one of his belovedtigers.In 2001 he set up the Caird Company toencourage young playwrights and direc-tors. The company produced a numberof play-reading festivals in fringe the-atres and rehearsal spaces all aroundLondon, organized writing and directingworkshops and seminars and producedTheatre Café, a festival of EuropeanTheatre at the Arcola Theatre, THEARAB-ISRAELI COOKBOOK, a verbatimplay by Robin Soans at the Gate Theatreand THE LEMON PRINCESS by RachelMcGill for West Yorkshire Playhouse.Caird’s book about directing for thestage, THEATRE CRAFT, was publishedby Faber and Faber in March 2010 inLondon and New York.

Paul Gordon is a Tony-nominated composer and lyricist. Besides DADDYLONG LEGS, his collaborations with JohnCaird include the musical JANE EYRE,which ran on Broadway in 2000 and wasnominated for five Tony Awards includingBest Musical. Gordon won the 2011Ovation Award for his score of DADDYLONG LEGS. The other musicals he isdeveloping include ANALOG AND VINYL,DEATH: THE MUSICAL, BEING ERNEST,THE CIRCLE and LUCKY BREAK.His musical EMMA was produced at theOld Globe Theatre in San Diego, Califor-nia in 2011. He is currently working onLITTLE MISS SCROOGE.The stage musical THE FRONT, forwhich Gordon wrote the music and lyricswith Jay Gruska, had a reading at theManhattan Theatre Club in April 2007,and private industry readings in 2008. Gordon has written popular songs, in-cluding the #1 songs Next Time I Fall,recorded by Peter Cetera and AmyGrant, and Friends and Lovers, whichwas #1 on both pop and country charts.He has also written for television andfilms including GHOSTBUSTERS II.

Meet the Award-Winning Creators of DADDY-LONG-LEGS

Author Jean Webster’s strong commit-ment to women’s rights is evident in herworks. She lived in an era of great strug-gle, turmoil and change. The early 20thcentury was a formative one for womenin the United States. With the onset ofthe Industrial Revolution, women beganworking outside the home in large num-bers for the first time. As industrial inno-vation continued, workers’ rights becamea relevant issue to the American woman. Women were often prohibited member-ship in the newly evolving trade unions,and thus The National Women’s TradeUnion League was formed in 1903 tohelp women organize and protect theirrights as workers and as women. Highnumbers of women in textile and gar-ment shops known for poor working con-ditions led to strikes in New York andChicago in 1909 and 1910.The New York Shirtwaist Strike of 1909,also known as the Uprising of the20,000, was the first and largest suc-cessful uprising of female workers inAmerica. It began as a movement byJewish shirtwaist workers at the TriangleShirtwaist Factory, and spread to a gen-eral strike of the entire New York gar-ment industry. The strike began inNovember 1909 and was settled with im-provements to working conditions,wages and hours. However, the TriangleShirtwaist Factory became a beacon ofworkers’ rights a year later, when a devastating fire broke out in 1911, killing146 garment workers, the vast majorityof them women. The fire remained thedeadliest industrial disaster in NYC untilthe destruction of the World Trade Cen-ter nearly a century later.The US women’s suffrage movementwas also gaining momentum. In 1900,only four states allowed women the rightto vote: Idaho, Colorado, Utah, andWyoming. The National AmericanWomen Suffrage Association wasfounded by Susan B. Anthony in 1890.Its goal was to enact a constitutionalamendment to grant women the right tovote. Through street rallies, parades,and alliances with labor unions, celebri-ties, and wealthy donors, they advertisedthe women’s suffrage movement that ledto the passage of the 19th Amendmentto the Constitution in 1920, finally allow-ing women the right to vote in the UnitedStates.Written by Katherine Monberg, Artistic Intern, Arizona Theatre Company

Susan B. Anthony (1820 – 1906)

New York Women Textile Workers, 1909

New York Herald coverage of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911.

1900: By now, every state had passedlegislation modeled after New York’sMarried Women’s Property Act (1848),granting married women some controlover their property and earnings.1904: Helen Keller graduates from Rad-cliffe College. In 1904, women made up2.8% of the college population.

1916: Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first American womanelected to the United States Congress.1920: The 19th Amendment to the U.S.Constitution is ratified. It states “Theright of citizens of the United States tovote shall not be denied or abridged bythe United States or by any State on account of sex.”1921: Margaret Sanger founds theAmerican Birth Control League, workingto establish the rights of women to control their own bodies.

1923: National Woman’s Party proposesConstitutional amendment: “Men andwomen shall have equal rights through-out the United States and in every placesubject to its jurisdiction. Congress shallhave power to enforce this article by ap-propriate legislation.”

1932: Amelia Earhart is the first womanto fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.During an attempt to circumnavigate theglobe in 1937, she disappears over thePacific Ocean.

1933: Frances Perkins is the the firstwoman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet.She serves as secretary of labor inFranklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act establishes minimum wage without regard to gender.

1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up herseat to a white man on a bus in Mont-gomery, Alabama.1963: Betty Friedan’s revolutionarybook, THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE is published.1968: Executive Order 11246 prohibitssex discrimination by government con-tractors and requires affirmative actionplans for hiring women.1971: The U.S. Supreme Court outlawsthe practice of employers refusing to hirewomen with pre-school children.1978: The Pregnancy Discrimination Actbans employment discrimination againstpregnant women.

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor becomesthe first woman appointed to the UnitedStates Supreme Court.1992: Mae Jemison becomes the firstwoman of color to go into space.1993: The Family and Medical Leave Actgoes into effect. The act deals with jobprotection for individuals who must takea period of unpaid time off of work tocare for a family member (such as thebirth of a child or a spouse’s illness).1997: Elaborating on Title IX, the U.S.Supreme Court rules that college athlet-ics programs must actively involveroughly equal numbers of men andwomen to qualify for federal support.2009: Harvard University names DrewGilpin Faust its first woman president inthe school’s 371-year history. By 2009,women made up 55% of the entire col-lege population.

Reprinted with permission from Cleveland PlayHouse’s Student Guide for DADDY LONG LEGS.

It's the hard-knock life for us No one cares for you a smidgeWhen you’re in an orphanage The noisy complaint of the orphans inthe musical ANNIE is humorously plain-tive, but not necessarily true. Authorsthroughout the world and across theages have continued to care more thana smidge for orphans. Consider themany classic books that revolve aroundan orphan: PETER PAN, DAVID COPPER-FIELD, OLIVER TWIST, HUCKLEBERRYFINN, TOM SAWYER, JANE EYRE, Maryin THE SECRET GARDEN, ANNE OFGREEN GABLES, PIPPI LONGSTOCKING,POLLYANNA, TARZAN OF THE APES,HEIDI and REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOKFARM, to name a few. Orphans are prevalent in folktales andfairy tales, in popular literature such asJ. K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER series,

cartoon characters including Little OrphanAnnie, Superman, Batman and Robin, andLuke Skywalker in the STAR WARSmovies. More recent orphan-loving authors include Gertrude ChandlerWarner’s THE BOXCAR CHILDREN,Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl’sJAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH.What is it about orphans that make thema favorite with writers? Orphans do notbelong to even the most basic of groups,the family unit. They are at once pitiableand noble. Perhaps it’s the absence ofparents. With no familial obligations andcontrols, orphans seem free to pursuemore interesting and adventurous lives.Philip Nel in his guide to HARRY POTTERwrote, “The literary orphan dramatizesthe difficulty of being a child.” Orphans are a manifestation of loneli-ness, but they also represent the possi-bility for humans to reinvent themselves.When they succeed against all odds,their success ultimately becomes ours.We can look to orphans and say, ‘Yousee, there is hope for all of us, if eventhis orphan child can overcome obsta-cles and succeed.” When Jean Webster created JerushaAbbott, the orphanage system in theUnited States was a firmly entrenchedpart of society. As opposed to today,where orphaned or abandoned childrenare placed into homes through fostercare, historians estimate that in 1900there were approximately 1,000 orphan-ages across the country, providing for100,000 children. Life in an early 20th century orphanageoften came with many difficulties. Manychildren faced a regimented lifestyle thatcould include marching drills, strict disci-pline and rigorous chores and responsi-bilities.Throughout DADDY LONG LEGS,Jerusha expresses concern over her sta-tus as an orphan and keeps secret fromher classmates that she was raised in anorphanage. During the time period inwhich DADDY LONG LEGS was written,the strident Eugenics Movement had aprofound effect on the perception of or-phans.The word eugenics derives from theGreek words eu (well) and genes (born)

and was first coined in 1883. Many re-spected people and even scientists ofthe day believed that orphans were morelikely to suffer from "bad blood" thanother children. A child being orphanedcould indicate that the parents either didnot possess the natural instinct for care-taking, or they had died from a diseasethat could be genetic.Jean Webster was involved in a move-ment for orphanage reform. Progres-sives of the age encountered manysocial ills with which they took issue, butabandoned children proved the mostemotional rallying call. In 1908, Presi-dent Theodore Roosevelt called for aconference on the care of "dependentchildren." He also announced his beliefthat homes were the best place to raisechildren. Orphanages were phased outas society moved away from institutionalto home-based solutions for raising dependent children. Reprinted with permission from the Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide and The OrphanPerspective by Emily Robin Jackson.

Illustration from HARRY POTTER

Little Orphan Annie and Sandy

The Thing About Orphans