Title	Finding aid for Plays of Melcena Burns Denny, 1946-1966 (bulk 1946-1949).
Creator	Denny, Melcena Burns.
Extent	37 pieces. 2 boxes.
Biographical Note	Melcena Burns Denny was a member of the San Diego Writers' Club, the Authors' League of America, and the Dramatists' Guild. She was a native of California and a graduate of San Jose State Teachers College. In addition to her short stories and poems purchased by Collier's, Woman's Home Companion, and Youth's Companion magazines, Denny was the author of two plays, "Black Bart, The Lone Robber of Calaveras" and "Lola Montez, The Spider Dancer."
Scope and Content	This small group consists mainly of materials dealing with the production of Denny's two plays. There are multiple copies of each of these plays, but each has slight variations. "Black Bart, The Lone Robber of Calaveras" was performed at California's First Theatre by the Troupers of the Gold Coast in 1946 and 1952, then at the Balboa Park Puppet Theatre in San Diego by the Junior Theatre Summer Work Shop in 1950, and finally in 1961 by the Triangle Club at the three-day Apple Festival in Julian, California. Included are scripts of her play and an essay written by Denny about Black Bart (b. 1829). Her other play, "Lola Montez, The Spider Dancer" was performed at California's First Theatre in 1948 and 1949 by the Troupers of the Gold Coast; and included are scripts of the play, an incomplete short story about Lola Montez (1818-1861), song lyrics, and the music written by Edward C. Hopkins.
Notes	All inquiries about this collection should be directed to the H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator, Western American Manuscripts.
Date	1946-1966.
Provenance	Gift of Estate of Mrs. Melcena Burns Denny, August 29, 1974.
Subject	Black Bart, b. 1829. Denny, Melcena Burns. Montez, Lola, 1818-1861. Melodrama. Popular culture -- California. Women authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
Form/Genre	Scripts (documents) California 20th century. (aat)
Department	Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscripts Department.
Call Number	mssHM 65643-65679
Accession Number	mss 00091.
Physical Collection	Melcena Burns Denny Plays.
Digital Collection	Finding Aids, Huntington Digital Library
Physical Description	6 p.
Digitization Specifications	Original finding aid converted into PDF document by B. Black, 2011-12-22.
Date Digital	2011-12-22. 0
DCMI Type	text
Digital Format	pdf
Original Finding Aid	Finding aid prepared by Mitchell W. K. Toda, January 13, 2003.
Citation Information	Finding aid for Melcena Burns Denny Plays, Huntington Digital Library, San Marino, California.
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Cataloging Notes	The Bancroft Library has a copy of each of these plays as well, BANC MSS C-H 21.