Draft:Lute H. Johnson

• Comment: Being a "world traveler" does not make someone individually notable. There are lots of newspapermen, playrights, and mine owners at this time. Please use inline citations to demonstrate where each piece of information is derived from. Please use page numbers for offline sources, in order to verify this if no online equivalent exists. References written by Lute Johnson to not establish the subject's notability; please stick to the reliable, independent, secondary sources whom significantly cover the subject, per Wikipedia's general notability guidelines. Utopes _{(talk / cont)} 22:22, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

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Lucius Henry Johnson (February 9, 1863 – September 20, 1939), often referred to as Lute H. Johnson, was a Colorado newspaperman, playwright, mine owner, and world traveler.

Early life

Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois to Martha (Boswell) and James David Johnson. He was the oldest of three children. On his twenty-first birthday, he moved to Denver where he got a job with the Denver Republican newspaper and thus started his career in Colorado journalism.

Career

Johnson was a mining-beat editor, Sunday editor and editorial writer for the Denver Republican. He founded newspaper in mining towns around the state including the Cheyenne Wells Gazette, the Gold Run Silvertip, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, and the Creede Candle. He was part owner of the Fort Morgan Times for a while and later worked as a special writer for the Denver Post.

Johnson was not only a newspaperman, but also a playwright. Some of his plays were performed in theaters around Colorado in the early 20th century. His play, Coming Home, was performed at Elitch Theatre the final week of the 1920 summer season. In 1921, Johnson took a playwrighting class at Harvard University from George Pierce Baker.

Johnson's big break came in 1924 when one of his plays was produced by Walker Whiteside. The play originally titled By Law’s Decree, underwent several name changes during its tour around the United States. It first played at the Broadway Theater in Denver under the title Sheep. The title changed to The Desert Man, as it toured the west coast and was known as Maverick by the time it made it to the east. It was produced by Walker Whiteside, starring Walker Whiteside and Sydney Shields. It was performed at the Belasco Theater.

Johnson also published songs including "Little Coon Lullaby", "Mary Carey", and "Colorado Bright Land".

References

1. Carter, Nancy F. Early Music Publishing in Denver: The Tolbert R. Ingram Company. American Music Research Center Journal: Vol II, University of Colorado Boulder, 1992. p 64
2. Dary, David. Red Blood & Black Ink: Journalism in the Old West. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999.
3. Halaas, David Fridtjof. Boom Town Newspapers: Journalism on the Rocky Mountain Mining Frontier, 1859-1881. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981.
4. Johnson, Lute H. Colorado Bright Land: A State Song. Knight-Campbell Music Company, Denver, 1927. (Denver Public Library)
5. Johnson, Lute. Little Coon Lullaby. The Tolbert R. Ingram Music Co, Denver, 1905. (Denver Public Library)
6. Johnson, Lute. Mary Carey Song. The Tolbert R. Ingram Music Co, Denver, 1907. (Denver Public Library)
7. Kania, Alan J. The Denver Press Club: 150 Years of Printer's Devils, Bohemians, and Ghosts. Bloomington: XlibrisUS, 2018.
8. Lawrence, Alberta. Who’s Who Among North American Authors, vol. III. Los Angeles: Golden Syndicate Publishing Company, 1928.
9. Lingenfelter, Richard E. Steamboats on the Colorado River: 1852-1916
10. Memorial Tree Planting Committee. One Hundred Eleven Trees. Fort Morgan: Fort Morgan Heritage Foundation, 1976.
11. Mummy, Nolie. Creede: History of a Colorado Silver Mining Town. Denver: Artcraft Press, 1949.
12. Stone, Wilbur Fisk. History of Colorado, vol. I. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918.
13. Wolle, Muriel Sibell. Stampede to Timberline: The Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Colorado. Denver: Sage Books, 1949.