C.M.S. McLellan

McLellan was born on September 4, 1865, in Bath, Maine to William H. and Florida (née McLanathan) McLellan. McLellan began as a journalist, eventually rising to become editor of the publication Town Topics. After finding success in the late 1890s, he left journalism to write full-time for the stage. Over the remainder of his life, McLellan produced a steady stream of mostly light and often popular musical comedies, frequently in collaboration with the composer Gustave Kerker and later Ivan Caryll.

McLellan’s first major success, The Belle of New York, opened at the Casino Theatre on September 28, 1897, to mixed reviews and closed after a two-month run. The following year the show was brought to London, where it opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on April 12, 1898, and went on to have an extremely successful run of 697 consecutive performances, closing on December 30, 1899. The Belle of New York later proved successful on tours of Australia, New Zealand and the British provinces and returned to Broadway for revival engagements in 1900 and 1921. In 1911 he collaborated with Ivan Caryll to write the libretto for The Pink Lady.  McLellan died on September 21, 1916, at his long-time residence in Esher, a small town on the outskirts of Greater London.