"Nellie Bly" Show - Chautauqua History Comes Alive Festival

Nellie Bly portrayed by Anne Pasquale. Elizabeth Cochrane, better known as stunt reporter Nellie Bly, understood the importance of selective revelation in order to maintain a well-crafted public persona. Bly had many secrets. What was the true nature of her love interests? Was she a closet smoker with a fondness for a fine cigar? Historians do not tell us.

A secret they do reveal is that Bly was chiefly an inventor and entrepreneur. She had the uncanny ability to identify a need, invent a marketable solution and sell it. After marrying Robert Seaman in 1895, she inherited the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company when she was widowed in 1904. As owner and manager, she initiated a social welfare program for her employees, invented the 55-gallon steel drum, the stackable garbage can and held 25 patents in her name. Yet it is her initial creation, the persona of Nellie Bly, whose eyewitness stunt reporting established Elizabeth Cochran on the world stage and catapulted her to fame, that provided what little financial security she and the family to whom she was devoted, knew throughout her lifetime.

Free admission. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Come early to get a seat. Doors open at 1 pm.

ASL interpreted show.