Paul Armstrong (April 25, 1869 – August 30, 1915) was an American playwright, whose melodramas provided thrills and comedy to audiences in the first fifteen years of the 20th century.

His period of greatest success was from 1907 through 1911, when his four-act melodramas Salomy Jane (1907), Via Wireless (1908), Going Some (1909), Alias Jimmy Valentine (1909), The Deep Purple (1910), and The Greyhound (1911), had long runs on Broadway and in touring companies.

[23] The story concerned Ann Lamont, a bohemian artist from New York who follows her ideal love to the leper colony at Kalawao, Hawaii.

Armstrong produced and staged the play, with Barton Pittman from Kirke La Shelle's organization joining as business manager.

[27] It received mixed reviews from critics,[28] but its bookings at Baltimore and Philadelphia went awry, the female lead quit,[29] and thereafter the company performed only a few scattered one-night engagements[fn 2][30][31] before collapsing at Newport News.

[35] The Superstition of Sue premiered at the Savoy Theatre on April 4, 1904, starring Walter E. Perkins, Wilfred Lucas, and Helen Lackaye.

[45] Producer George C. Tyler of Liebler & Company[fn 5] hired Armstrong in November 1906 to write a play for Eleanor Robson.

[46] The resulting Salomy Jane, based on a Bret Harte story, was completed in a week,[47] enabling a premiere at the Liberty Theatre on January 19, 1907.

[56] During March and April 1908 Liebler & Company produced tryouts for a new play by Armstrong and Rex Beach called Going Some, but the work, though well-received,[57][58] was withdrawn over casting issues.

[60] It was completed a month late,[61] never produced, and later became the subject of a lawsuit as Klaw and Erlanger attempted to get their advance payment to Armstrong returned.

[63] The plot concerned the sabotage of a new naval artillery gun, and the rescue of passengers from a wrecked yacht using wireless sets during a storm at sea.

[71] Sub-titled "A Tragi-Comedy in Four Acts", it told the story of a Harvard-educated Native American, whom the US government employs as a bridge to his unpacified tribe, but who falls afoul of a flirtatious white widow.

Burns Mantle summed it up: "It is not a well built play",[71] while Charles W. Collins was wholly dismissive of Armstrong's clumsy attempt to dramatize the tragedy of Native Americans.

[76] Later that year Armstrong had an even bigger hit with Alias Jimmy Valentine, which opened in Chicago on Christmas night starring H. B. Warner and Laurette Taylor.

[79] Alias Jimmy Valentine was Armstrong's most lasting legacy: it had a Broadway revival during December 1921,[80] was adapted for motion pictures in 1915, 1920, 1928 and 1942, and was turned into a radio program during 1938–1939.

The first of two successful collaborations with Wilson Mizner, The Deep Purple was also the last Paul Armstrong play produced by Liebler & Company.

The New York Times reviewer said "Mr. Armstrong appears to be the sort of playwright who when he does go wrong covers the whole distance", while Calvert's performance was that of "a carefully drilled amateur".

Rella Abell Armstrong, who had discontinued her initial suit for divorce, now won a final decree in December 1913, giving her custody of their three young daughters and $7,500 annual support.

[98] Armstrong's final work was a one-act play called The Bank's Half Million, written and performed for the first time during July 1915.

He described Armstrong as having "a personality which stands out in any kind of company... A bull-dog tenacity of purpose, a truculence in demanding punctilious observance of his rights, and a sardonic humor are the traits written on his face".

[102] Collins also said of Armstrong: "His talk is pungent and picturesque; he has a wealth of fascinating anecdote about things seen and heard in the rough romantic world; and his humor is often grim".

[103] Producer George C. Tyler of Liebler & Company mentioned three personal traits of Paul Armstrong: an ability to write plays in a speedy manner, a fondness for making curtain speeches, and a tendency to stop speaking with someone after a disagreement.

[104] On at least three occasions Armstrong was formally charged with assault over theatrical disputes: by business manager Barton Pittman,[34] by reporter Henry M. Friend,[105] and by actor James Young.

On August 30, 1915, he had gone with two friends to Penn Station in Manhattan to greet his wife and young son, back from a visit to her mother in Baltimore.

[107][108] His funeral service was held at his home, with just family and a few others in attendance, among whom were Rex Beach and Wilson Mizner,[109] the latter having escaped from a sanitorium a few weeks earlier.

From a more distant vantage, Alan Havig in the Dictionary of Missouri Biography said of him: "A financially successful storyteller, Armstrong wrote nothing of permanent importance".