Nellie Bly Getting Statue in NYC

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Mar 19, 2019
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Nelly Bly was a pioneering investigative journalist who worked for Joseph Pulitzer.

In 1887, she convinced law enforcement officers that she was mentally ill so that she would be admitted as a patient to the hospital on Blackwell's Island, which is now Roosevelt Island in New York City. She remained as a patient at the hospital for ten days. She wrote an expose for the New York World about the institution's horrendous conditions. Per this Washington Post article, an organization in NYC is going to install a statue in her honor on Roosevelt Island.

The Washington Post only allows non-subscribers to view a limited amount of "free" articles. So, here is a link to another article about Nellie Bly's pending statue.

I am interested in Nellie Bly because she is a Western Pennsylvania native and she started her reporting career in Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) installed a historical marker in front of Bly's childhood home in Apollo, PA. I think that this is purely a coincidence, but this PHMC marker for Bly's childhood home is on the same street in Apollo as actor Jimmy Stuart's maternal grandfather's Victorian house. As this prior CWT post notes, Jimmy Stuart's maternal grandfather was an officer in the Civil War. (I only know this because this particular house was for sale a few years ago, and I toured it at an open house. I parked in front of Nellie Bly's PHMC marker.)
 
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Her parents were likely aware of Stephen Foster's very popular 1850 song hit in naming their little girl, for its title not its lyrics:

Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly!
Bring de broom along
We’ll sweep de kitchen clean, my dear
And hab a little song
Poke de wood, my lady lub
And make de fire burn
And while I take de banjo down
Just gib de mush a turn


(Chorus)
Heigh! Nelly, Ho! Nelly
Listen lub to me
I’ll sing for you, play for you
A dulcem melody
 
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Her parents were likely aware of Stephen Foster's very popular 1850 song hit in naming their little girl, for its title not its lyrics:
Her real name was Elizabeth Cochran. When she began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper the editor told her to choose a pen name, a typical request made of female reporters at the time. Elizabeth chose Nelly Bly - taken from Foster's song. The editor misspelled it as Nellie Bly.
 
Her real name was Elizabeth Cochran. When she began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper the editor told her to choose a pen name, a typical request made of female reporters at the time. Elizabeth chose Nelly Bly - taken from Foster's song. The editor misspelled it as Nellie Bly.


Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, PA, which is now a part of Pittsburgh. Foster is buried in Pittsburgh's historic Allegheny Cemetery. I saw Foster's grave, but I didn't get a good photo of it. Pittsburgh now makes a big deal about being the birthplace of Stephen Foster. I am going to guess that Pittsburgh made a big deal about it back in Elizabeth Cochran's day as well.
 
I have a really neat vintage LP that the Smithsonian Intstitution produced back in 1972 that comprised quite a few of Foster's most popular parlor compositions. All with original period musical instruments within their collection and notable vocalists that were hired to complete the production. There's 14 songs in total. By Nonesuch Records in conjunction with the Smithsonian. This LP is in like brand new shape and still sounds wonderful on my turntable. Titled, "Songs by Stephen Foster." I found it in a Waxie Maxies record store in like 1978 still sealed in its original cellophane wrapper. I think I bought it cause that year I took several courses in music and music history to fulfill some of the requirements for my BA in history. One class dealt specifically with the history of American music in the United states. That was a great course and the professor that instructed it was fabulous. He could play just about anything Scott Joplin on the piano. Live Ragtime, Wow!!!
 
As an Antebellum / CW style fretless banjo player, Foster's Nelly Bly is on my play list, as it is for many of we period musicians. I'm tempted to build lyrics that better fit this namesake.

One other thing; by her portrait here this Nellie Bly is quite beautiful, if no one else will say it. That's in addition to her being gutsy and intelligent. God allows that for some. Anyway this is the image I will recall whenever the song comes up, smitten.
 
I really enjoyed that, too bad someone like Louie Armstrong or Bill "Bojangles" Robinson ever recorded and sang something this, that was accompanied by a piano player back in the late '20s. It's difficult to try to fathom Foster's lyrics spelled as they are which are heard by this vocalist in this rendition, he just doesn't seem have the same homestyle "pizzaz" as a field hand or a house servant that would have entertained everyone back in 1850's......
 
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