Daddy Long Legs: The Broadway Play of 1914 (Classic Youth Plays of the Broadway Stage)

Jean Webster s own adaptation of her now classic novel was the much talked about Broadway hit of 1914. Her story Daddy Long Legs was originally published as a serial in the Ladies' Home Journal and when the play opened in September, 1914 it was a bonafide hit with the New York Times rave review calling it "brilliant" "delightful" "pathetic." The play followed closely Webster s original novel. Judy, the orphan in blue gingham, has been kept at the orphan asylum until she is 18 as an unpaid governess and her fortunes are turned when a mysterious benefactor, a Trustee of the orphanage, sends Judy to college. Before transferring to Broadway, the play had a long and prosperous run in Chicago, and after its lengthy Broadway production, the play toured extensive throughout the United States.