John Luther Long (January 1, 1861 – October 31, 1927) was an American lawyer and writer best known for his short story "Madame Butterfly", which was based on the recollections of his sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husband—a Methodist missionary.John Luther Long: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
Biography Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Long had been admitted to the bar in Philadelphia on October 29, 1881, and become a practicing lawyer. On January 17, 1882, he married Mary Jane Sprenkle. He died at age 66 on October 31, 1927, having spent the last two months of his life at a sanatorium in Clifton Springs, New York. The obituary in The New York Times of November 1, 1927, quoted his own interpretation of himself as "a sentimentalist, and a feminist and proud of it"."John Luther Long, Playwright, Dead", New York Times. November 1, 1927.
With David Belasco he wrote the four act play Andrea which starred Mrs. Leslie Carter and which ran for 123 performances at the first Belasco Theatre.Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hishak, The Oxford Companion to American Theatre, Oxford University Press (2004) - Google Books pg. 12 His one act play Dolce was staged at the Manhattan Theater on April 24, 1906, starring Minnie Maddern Fiske."Mrs. Fiske Charming in Charming Short Play", New York Times. April 25, 1906
Legacy The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center has an extensive collection of his papers including correspondence and literary projects.
Plays Andrea, written with David Belasco Dolce, a one act play Kassa The Darling of the Gods and Andrea
References
External links John Luther Long Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
Madame Butterfly, The Century Volume 55 Issue 3 (Jan 1898) pp. 374–393 Madame Butterfly 1903 Grosset and Dunlap "Japanese Edition" with photogravure illustrations by C. Yarnall Abbott (1870–1938) David Belasco's Play Madame Butterfly, A Tragedy of Japan (from "Six Plays" Little, Brown 1928) John Luther Long, American Studies at The University of Virginia.