Roi Cooper Megrue

Roi Cooper Megrue (June 12, 1882 – February 27, 1927) was an American playwright, producer, and director active on Broadway from 1914 to 1921.

Biography

Roi Cooper Megrue was born on June 12, 1882, in New York City, the son of the son of Frank Newton Megrue, a stockbroker, and Stella Georgiana Cooper.

He attended Trinity School (New York City) and graduated (A.B.) in 1903 from Columbia University, where he engaged in college theatricals. He wrote the libretto for The Isle of Illusia, an all-male operetta that included a caricature of Clyde Fitch, of whom Megrue became a close friend.

At Columbia he met, and became a friend, of future Broadway actor Ralph Morgan.

Cooper worked with Elisabeth Marbury as a play broker before starting his career as playwright. He had a key role in the Dramatists Guild.

He never married and died on February 27, 1927, in New York City. According to the obituary on Variety, his "affectionate relationship with his mother was epic" and they shared an artistically furnished apartment. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) with his mother.

Columbia College awards the Roi Cooper Megrue Scholarship annually to a self-supporting student.

Career

The 1912 play White Magic was written by Roi Cooper Megrue and David Graham Phillips and produced Liebler & Co. It opened at the Criterion Theatre on 24 January 1912. It closed after 21 performances, in February 1912. It starred Florence Brian, Ruth Chester, Charles Dowd, Gertrude Elliott, Ben Johnson, George Le Guere, Julian L'Estrange, Suzanne Perry, Alexander Scott-Gatty, and Suzanne Sheldon.