Mary Coyle Chase (Mary Chase)

Mary Coyle Chase

Playwright, Journalist. She was a pioneering female newspaper reporter, starting with the Denver “Rocky Mountain News” from 1924 to 1931, and later working for United Press International news agency and the International News Service. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for her play “Harvey”, a drama about inebriated drinker ‘Elwood P. Dowd’ and his best friend and constant companion, a six foot tall invisible rabbit named Harvey. Mary Chase would subsequently write the screenplay for the motion picture adaptation of “Harvey”, which starring Jimmy Stewart as Dowd.  She authored a number of other plays, including “Bernardine” (1953), “Cocktails for Mimi” (1974), “Loretta Manson Potts” (adapted from her 1958 novel), “Midgie Purvis” (1963) “Sorority House” (1939), “Mrs. McThing” (1952), and “Too Much Business” (1940), as well as a musical-“The Wicked Pigeon Ladies” (1968). (bio by: GravesScribe)  Family links:  Spouse:  Robert Lamont Chase (1905 – 1990)* *Calculated relationship

Born

  • February, 25, 1906
  • USA

Died

  • October, 10, 1981
  • USA

Cemetery

  • Crown Hill Cemetery
  • Colorado
  • USA

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