demanded that the negative and all prints of the film (which she would never actually see) be immediately destroyed. Balcombe launched a lawsuit in which she was represented by the lawyers of the British Incorporated Society of Authors. The suit took some time to resolve; at one point, the German production company Prana Film declared bankruptcy to avoid paying for the adaptation. Finally, she won the case, with the final ruling in July 1925 stating that the negatives and all prints of the film should be handed over to her to be destroyed. Despite this ruling, prints of the film slowly began to resurface in the late 1920s, with the first American screenings taking place in New York City and Detroit in 1929. Balcombe did grant the rights to the stage adaptation of Dracula to Hamilton Deane, who had been a neighbour of hers in Dublin. Deane's play, Dracula, premiered in Derby in 1924. In 1927 Horace Liveright bought the American dramatic rights from Florence and hired John L. Balderston to edit it for the New York stage. The show ran for a year on Broadway and for two more years on tour, breaking all previous records for any show put on tour in the United States. However, Liveright failed to pay Florence all her entitlements for the show – he died shortly afterwards. References External links (September 2016) Dracula's Guest (Hachette Audio, 2013) at WorldCat – summary suggests she was Stoker's literary executor as "Florence Bram Stoker" 1858 births 1937 deaths Bram Stoker Golders Green Crematorium