Henry Blossom

Henry Martyn Blossom Jr. (May 10, 1866 – March 23, 1919) was an American playwright, lyricist, librettist, and novelist whose work spanned prose fiction, comic opera, and the Broadway musical stage. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Henry Martyn Blossom and Susan S. Blossom, he received his early education at the Stoddard School in Saint Louis before working at his father's insurance company. He eventually left that position to pursue writing, beginning with short stories published in American magazines. His first novel, Documents in Evidence, appeared in 1893.

Blossom's literary breakthrough came with his second novel, Checkers: A Hard Luck Story, published in 1896. The book centers on a man navigating a love story while attempting to distance himself from gambling and horse racing in order to gain the approval of his prospective father-in-law. Blossom adapted the novel into a stage play in 1903, starring Thomas W. Ross, which became his first theatrical credit and his first critical success in the theatre. The play was subsequently adapted into two silent films: a 1913 version with a screenplay by Eustace Hale Ball and Lawrence McGill, directed by Augustus Thomas, and a second film released in 1919. The play also served as the basis for the 1920 Broadway musical Honey Girl. A second play, A Fair Exchange, reached Broadway in 1905.

His entry into opera and operetta came the same year as Checkers, when he collaborated with fellow St. Louis resident and composer Alfred G. Robyn on the comic opera The Yankee Consul. The work premiered on September 21, 1903, at the Tremont Theatre in Boston in a production organized by impresario Henry Wilson Savage, before transferring to Broadway in 1904. The production earned considerable praise, particularly for its star Raymond Hitchcock in the role of Abijah Booze. Blossom and Robyn later reunited for the 1912 Broadway musical All for the Ladies, for which Blossom contributed both the book and lyrics. The Yankee Consul was also adapted into a silent film in 1921.

The most sustained and celebrated partnership of Blossom's career was with composer Victor Herbert. Their collaboration began with Mlle. Modiste in 1905, an operetta that was later adapted into the 1931 film Kiss Me Again. The Red Mill followed in 1906, and the two continued working together on The Only Girl (1914), The Princess Pat (1915), and Eileen (1917), the last of which also appears among Blossom's verified Broadway credits. Their final collaboration, The Velvet Lady, premiered in 1919 shortly before Blossom's death. For the 1916 musical The Century Girl, Blossom and Herbert joined forces with composer Irving Berlin, a production also listed among Blossom's confirmed Broadway credits. Baron Trenck, another of his verified Broadway credits, had its premiere in London in 1911 before reaching Broadway in 1912.

Beyond his work with Herbert and Robyn, Blossom wrote books and lyrics for musicals created with composers Leslie Stuart, Raymond Hubbell, and Zoel Parenteau. His first musical, The Slim Princess, debuted in 1911 in collaboration with Stuart. Follow the Girls is among his additional verified Broadway credits. He was also involved with several productions that did not reach Broadway. Among the songs he contributed outside of full stage works were "It's Not the Uniform That Makes the Man," written with A. Baldwin Sloane in 1917, and "I Want to Go Back to the War," written with Percival Knight, with music by Raymond Hubbell, in 1919.

Blossom was a member of The Lambs, the theatrical club, which organized his funeral service following his death from pneumonia in New York City on March 23, 1919, at the age of 53.