Nellie McAleney Revell (March 13, 1873 — August 12, 1958) was an American journalist, novelist, publicist, vaudeville performer, screenwriter, and radio broadcaster.
Early life Nellie McAleney was born in Riverton, Illinois, the daughter of Hamilton Hugh McAleney and Mary Elizabeth Evans McAleney. Her father was an Irish-born Civil War veteran;Report of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1894 (US Government Printing Office 1894): 498. Nellie Revell sometimes said he was a newspaper man, but there is little evidence for this claim.Maurine H. Beasley, "Nellie McAleney Revell" in American National Biography (February 2000). At other times, she claimed her father was a press agent (what we today would call a publicist) who worked for such politicians as Grover Cleveland. "Back to Stage for a Night." Kansas City Star, September 23, 1912, p. 3. In addition, at some times, she told reporters she had been born into a circus family, "But Broadway's Heart is Big." Kansas City Star, June 26, 1920, p. 2. although this too is difficult to verify.
Careers Journalism and publicity McAleney started working for newspapers as a teenager. She worked in Chicago, Denver,Westbrook Pegler, "Nellie Revell was a Denver 'Graduate'" The Tennessean (August 12, 1954): 13. via Newspapers.com Seattle, New York, and San Francisco as a young woman, building a reputation for covering nontraditional stories for women reporters at the time, such as a prize fight, the Haymarket Riot, and the Iroquois Theatre fire. She traveled to Russia in 1895 to cover Czar Nicholas II's coronation, to England for Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901, and the murder trial of Harry K. Thaw in New York City in 1906. She became known for insisting that her work never be put on the women's page (where the work of female reporters was often relegated); she was among the first women reporters to successfully have her work treated equally with her male colleagues. "Nellie Revell, 85, Publicist, Is Dead." New York Times, August 14, 1958, p. 29. Revell moved into publicity work after 1906, with jobs promoting vaudeville shows, circuses, and movie theatres."Woman Press Agent" Editor & Publisher (May 6, 1911): 15. She became the press agent for such performers as Al Jolson, Lillie Langtry, Lillian Russell, and Will Rogers, and had her own act, singing and performing monologues."Nellie Revell, publicist, author, and celebrity" Sangamon Link (February 2, 2016).
"World's most famous invalid" In 1919 Revell became ill with a "spinal trouble"Alice Rohe, "A Message of Courage From Nellie Revell, the Invalid" Moberly Evening Democrat (December 26, 1923): 1. via Newspapers.com that kept her hospitalized in a plaster cast for several years, under the care of orthopedic surgeons Adolf LorenzWestbrook Pegler, "Crippled Girl Reporter Made Dr. Lorenz' Patient" Oregon Daily Journal (December 8, 1921): 20. via Newspapers.com and Reginald Sayre."Dr. Sayre Mourned by his Old Patients" New York Times (June 2, 1929): 26. She worked and wrote newspaper columns from her hospital bed, including a regular column for Variety magazine, which she called "Bed-Side Chats." Nellie Revell. "Bed-Side Chats." Variety, April 7, 1922, p. 17. She embracing the label "the world's most famous invalid".Alice Rohe, "Visit the World's Most Famous Invalid!" Berkshire Eagle (November 4, 1921): 23. via Newspapers.com"Nellie Revell, Noted Writer and Invalid" Washington Post (August 14, 1958): B2. Illustrators Rube Goldberg, Tad Dorgan, James Montgomery Flagg and Grace Drayton made drawings of Revell in her hospital room.Nellie Revell, Right Off the Chest (George H. Doran Company 1923)."Writes Humorous Novel as Broken Back Heals" Indianapolis Star (December 23, 1923): 40. via Newspapers.com Benefit performances by some of her clients and colleagues were held to help her manage expenses."A Benefit for Nellie Revell" New York Times (June 22, 1920)."Revell Benefit Jammed" New York Times (July 12, 1920): 19. Hospitalized and chronically ill women wrote letters to Revell, seeking her advice for keeping hope and a positive attitude.Laura A. Smith, "All of her Sex Not as Plucky as Nellie Revell" Indianapolis Star (May 15, 1924): 5. via Newspapers.com She wrote three books about her ordeal: Right Off the Chest (1923), Fightin' Through (1925),Nellie Revell, Fightin' Through (George H. Doran Company 1925).Leon Blumenfeld, "Nellie Revell Lost the Use of her Back but has More than Usual Amount of Backbone" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (December 6, 1925): 116. via Newspapers.com and Funny Side Out (1925)."Sangamon County History: Nellie Revell was a turn-of-the-century phenom" State Journal-Register (March 12, 2016). She used a wheelchair afterward, but was able to walk again by 1925, when she was planning a lecture tour.Harriett Scanland, "Nellie Revell to Spread Cheer on Lecture Tour" Muncie Daily Star (February 22, 1925): 8. via Newspapers.com
Writing Revell's novel Spangles, about the circus, was adapted for the screen in 1926. She also contributed to screenplays for The Beach Club (1928) and The Mighty (1929, an early "talking" picture), and wrote titles for several silent pictures, including The Magic Flame (1927), The Golf Nut (1927), Smith's Restaurant (1928), and Smith's Farm Days (1928). She also wrote advice for an instructional manual, Writing for Vaudeville (1915, by Brett Page),Brett Page, Writing for Vaudeville (Home Correspondence School 1915): 277. and the introduction to a memoir by Sol Rothschild, It Can Be Done: A True Story (1925).
Radio She worked in radio during the 1930s and 1940s,"Nellie Revell Leads Weekly Funster Parade Over Radio" Shamokin News-Dispatch (April 10, 1931): 5. via Newspapers.com conducting celebrity interviews as host of a show called Neighbor Nell and Nellie Revell Presents, which ran for years on NBC radio.John Dunning, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Oxford University Press 1998): 482-483. Donna Halper, Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting (Routledge 2015): 99. She retired in 1947, when cataracts began to interfere with her vision.Bob Considine, "Nellie Revell Keeps Chin Up Despite Long Run of Bad Luck" Lansing State Journal (March 15, 1957): 8. via Newspapers.com "They've operated on me for everything except dandruff," she joked about her ongoing health issues.
Personal life Nellie McAleney was described as "a large woman, loud and opinionated, not afraid to step face-to-face with any man."Larry J. Hoefling, Nils Thor Granlund: Show Business Entrepreneur and America’s First Radio Star (McFarland 2010): 34-35. She married three times. Her first husband was Charles Smith, a circus agent; they divorced. Her second husband was Joseph Revell, whose name she kept after the marriage ended. She married her third husband, agent Arthur J. Kellar, in 1913; some sources say 1915. She was widowed when Kellar died in 1940."Arthur J. Kellar" New York Times (December 4, 1940): 27. She had twin daughters; daughter Dorothy (known as Dodo Paddack after she was adopted by friends) died in 1935."Nellie Revell's Daughter Dies" New York Times (June 22, 1935): 15. Nellie McAleney Revell died in 1958, aged 85 years."Nellie Revell, 85, Publicist, is Dead" New York Times (August 14, 1958): 29. Her grave in Springfield, Illinois was unmarked until 2016, when two great-granddaughters and a grandnephew dedicated a memorial there.Mike Kienzler, "Family of publicist Nellie Revell raises money to mark her Oak Ridge grave" State Journal-Register (October 1, 2016).
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