Lula Vollmer

Lula Smith Vollmer (née Louisa Smith Vollmer; March 7, 1889 – May 2, 1955) was an American writer and dramatist, from North Carolina. Her work was mostly folk dramas and includes plays, short stories, and radio serials; and some of her plays were adapted to film. Vollmer is one of the first Americans who was devoted entirely to the creation of works about Appalachian mountain people. Her best known plays were Sun-Up, and The Shame Woman (1923). She was also known as Lulu Vollmer.

Early life and education

Louisa Smith Vollmer was born in 1889, in Keyser in Moore County, North Carolina (what later became Addor, North Carolina), to parents Virginia (née Smith) and of William Sherman Vollmer. She travelled in the Southern United States with her machinist father who worked for lumber companies. She attended boarding school starting at age 8.

Career In the early 1920s, she relocated to New York City and, while employed as a ticket seller at the Theatre Guild, completed her debut play, Sun-Up. It opened on March 24, 1923, at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City, which was her Broadway debut. The play was subsequently adapted into a film in 1925, and a television production in 1939. The Sun-Up play travelled to Chicago, London, and Amsterdam, and raised $40000 US ($ US with inflation) for an Appalachian educational fund.

The Shame Woman, play opened October 16, 1923 at Greenwich Village Theatre, and was shown for 278 shows. It focused on the character Lize Burns (Florence Rittenhouse), who was violated by her neighbor Craig Anson (Edward Pawley), and shunned by her community as a result of his bragging. She was buried in Attalla, Alabama.

Filmography When Love Forgives (1913) Sun-Up (1925), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Spitfire (1934), RKO Pictures Sun-Up (1939), made for TV movie; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Theater Sun-Up (1923) Moonshine and Honeysuckle (1934), Samuel French, Inc. The Hill Between (1938) She Put Out To Go (1946)

Radio shows The Widow's Son Grits and Gravy Moonshine and Honeysuckle (1931), NBC Radio It's Your Business