'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS

When you are told as a child that a chubby benevolent old man is going to bring you presents for free, you don't question it. You go to bed and in the morning - wish fulfillment galore. But why do we see Santa as we do : 

He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf...

Our modern image of Santa was aided by a poem called A Visit From Saint Nicholas. The first line : "'Twas the night before Christmas" is often quoted as the poem's title.  A Visit From Saint Nicholas was published anonymously in the Troy, New York newspaper The Sentinel on December 23, 1823. By 1837 Clement Clark Moore to credit for writing the poem. Moore was a professor of oriental, Greek and biblical literature at a Theological Seminary in New York city, and became wealthy due to a person off and developing of a largest state of land he had inherited.

New Year's Day had been the main celebratory holiday, with Christmas being a day of pious reflection - not revelry and gift-giving. Gifts were given, but not in the child-centric magical sense we have today. A Visit From Saint Nicholas gave and named Santa's reindeer, but Blitzen maybe a misnomer. Sinterklaas, the Dutch Christmas figure, was one of the models for American Santa. New York City was an Old Dutch city. Giving the reindeer Dutch base names is logical, but Blixem should be paired with Donder, as they are the Dutch terms for thunder and lightning. Santa had never had a jolly robust appearance prior to the poem, and certainly never arrived via chimney. In the poem Santa only fills stockings - gifts piled under trees came from Victorian era traditions instilled by German Prince Albert.  A Visit From Saint Nicholas is cemented in the American Christmas tradition.

SOURCES :

A Visit From St. Nicholas. Wikipedia.

Clement Clarke Moore. Wikipedia.

A Visit From St. Nicholas. Poets.Org.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

GIVING THANKS FOR FASHION AND TURKEY

Imagine Anna Wintour campaigning President Biden to make the Met Gala a national holiday and you basically have Sarah Josepha Hale. A widowed mother of five children became American ladies' arbiter of taste and style. She wrote to every sitting president until one agreed and turned Thanksgiving into a national holiday. Her career spans 70 years, astonishing when women rarely held paying jobs outside the home. She also wrote a poem EVERYONE knows.

Sarah Josepha Buell, born in 1788, was raised by her parents to believe girls should be educated the same as boys. Sarah became a teacher. In 1813 she married David Hale. The couple had five children. David died in 1822 ; Sarah wore black the rest of her life. 

Sarah and her children moved to Boston in 1828. Sarah was asked to edit Lady's Magazine. The magazine was purchased by another magazine and merged to become Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's Lady's Book was the Vogue of the 1800s. (In the Little House on the Prairie books Caroline Ingalls is psyched one of the church barrels contains an issue of G L B .) 

Sarah Hale published work by women ; the magazine advocated for women's education and offered a column about women in the workforce. G L B was the arbiter of 1800s taste and style. Colored fashion plates were the first thing ladies would see in the magazine, so they would know what was new in fashion up front. Each issue contained sheet music for a recent popular song, and a pattern for some type of garment ladies could sew themselves. Women anywhere in the U. S.

could be au courrant in fashion, food, and home decor.

The magazine was not without controversy. A yearly subscription cost $3 - outrageous for the era. G L B Lost 1/3 of its subscribers for being neutral and  never mentioning the Civil war. But G L B showed women were an economic force. Instead of just offering clothing ideas by season or occasion, they offered clothes for individual activities - a walking suit or riding clothes. Women clamored to purchase any item any item G L B labeled as fashionable.

The magazine published work by leading intellectuals of the day. Poe had one of his earliest stories published in G L B, and the magazine printed work by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving. G L B heralded Queen Victoria as the ideal of feminine morality. The magazine regularly reported on royal life in London. A Christmas issue reprinted an image of the royal family (minus Q. V.'s crown and Prince Albert's mustache) gathered around a decorated Christmas tree. Most Americans had never seen a decorated tree, and so trees with decorations became an American Christmas standard.

Sarah Josepha Hale edited the magazine until her retirement at age 89 in 1877. She edited G L B for 40 years. Astonishing, when most women had difficulty finding writing jobs. Sarah Josepha Hale did more than just work at the magazine. She was instrumental in founding Vassar college. She published a book of poems for children featuring a verse called "Mary's Lamb," which became the tune "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  Thomas Edison spoke the first lines of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as the first words ever put on a sound recording.

And, if you love turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, thank Sarah Josepha Hale that one day a year is dedicated to those specific delights. Thanksgiving was primarily celebrated in New England (cause, pilgrims) ; the holiday wasn't known at all in the south. Sarah Josepha Hale wrote letters to every President - for 17 years - until Lincoln wrote back. He proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday in an effort to heal a post Civil War nation. And as for the aforementioned menu as the de rigeur dishes of the day? That came from a Sarah Josepha Hale novel. On this day give thanks for Sarah Josepha Hale.

SOURCES :

Sarah Josepha Hale. Wikipedia.

Godey's Lady's Book. Wikipedia.

Maranzani, Barbara. How the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’ Lobbied Abraham Lincoln to Proclaim the National Holiday. History. 5 October 2023.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

Frey, Holly / Wilson, Tracy V., hosts. "Sarah Josepha Hale" Stuff You Missed In History Class, iheartradio,18 November 2023.

DON'T BUY A TICKET TO HER LOTTERY

 

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality." So wrote author Shirley Jackson in The Haunting of Hill House. Shirley Jackson's reality was one of mental hardship and cruelty inflicted on her by those close to her. She chose to make that her millieu - that it is not monsters human should fear, but ordinary humans. Her works reflected a variety of societal ills and the need for natural separation from society.

Born December 14h, 1916 in San 

Francisco, Shirley Jackson never fit in with other children. She preferred to read or write instead of pursuing friendships. Her mother became pregnant early in her marriage and resented Shirley for taking her focus away from her husband. She berated Shirley for her weight and appearance and for being an outcast. The family moved to New York when she was a senior in high school. After graduation in 1934, Shirley studied journalism at Syracuse. She met her future husband while they both wrote for the school literary magazine, and they married in 1940.

Her husband became a professor at Bennington College in Vermont. He often carried on affairs with his young female students. Shirley and her husband had four children and Shirley balanced her family, being a writer, being a faculty wife and being well read - their home library contained 25,000 books. In 1948 she published her short story The Lottery in the New Yorker. The magazine and Jackson received hate mail, as the story exposed a darker side of humanity. (I read the story for eighth grade 36 years ago and still can't shake it. )

Shirley wrote several novels and short story collections. She based her second book on the Paula Jean Weldon disappearance (still unsolved today.) Jackson's work continued into the 1950s. In 1959's The Haunting of Hill House, four people (a Paranormal Investigator, a wallflower young woman, a Bohemian artist, and a young man) must stay in a haunted house. The four experience supernatural events in the home. The Haunting of Hill House was made into a film in 1963 and 1999, and as a TV series in 2018.

Jackson wrote her final novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle in 1962. Two sisters live alone in a crumbling old mansion.  One sister is suspected of murdering their family. When a long lost relative arrives, the sisters resent the intrusion. Jackson's health began to decline. She developed chronic asthma due to her smoking habit. She faced severe anxiety and agoraphobia exacerbated by her illnesses. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep in 1965 at 48 years old. Jackson was a master in fear and taught the world not to be afraid of  outcasts - instead be afraid of those who cast out.

SOURCES ~

shirleyjackson.org

Shirley Jackson. Wikipedia.

FURTHER MEDIA ~

BOOKS :

The Haunting of Hill House

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

"WELL THIS IS JUST A LITTLE PEYTON PLACE..."

Every author has the same dream : they sit at a typewriter and the words pour out of them. The story is cohesive without a struggle. They make a statement the world needs to hear. The world speaks back by making the book a smash success. That happened to Grace Metalious, author of Peyton Place. But literary success trapped Grace Metalious into living a life as tawdry as one of her characters. Grace Metalious died an alcoholic victim of her own fame.

Born into a life of poverty, Mary Grace de Repentingy was raised by her grandmother and mother after Grace's father deserted the family in 1934 when Grace was 10. Grace's mother held literary ambitions that never came to fruition. Grace married George Metalious, her high school sweetheart at 18. George went to college on the GI Bill to become a teacher. Grace stayed at home with their three kids and wrote, often neglecting housework and mothering. Grace had chosen a name at random from a directory of New York City literary agents - Jacques Chambrun. Previously she sent him a manuscript that received no attention. By the summer of 1955 at 30 years old, Grace Metalious would change popular literature with a pot boiler book.

Chambrun sent Grace's new manuscript, The Tree and The Blossom, to Lippincott publishing. Lippincott's reader loved the book, but editors passed. The reader mentioned the book to the head of Julian Messner books. She loved the book, but wanted to change the title. Peyton Place became the book's new moniker, to evoke the idea that the book was anchored in a town. Grace was returning home from swimming with her kids, arms full of groceries when she spotted a telegram from Chambrun.

Two days later she and Chambrun celebrated at New York City's Swanky 21 to toast Grace's book deal. A friend of Grace later noted - "Grace Metalious would never be really poor or really happy again." The publishers put the word out early about the corker of a story, creating what is now termed as buzz. The book hit the best seller list before its release date of September 24, 1956. Peyton Place sold 100,000 copies in its first month. Reviews were unkind, with one critic saying Peyton Place was literary sewage. Grace fired back if "I'm a lousy writer, then a hell of a lot of people have lousy taste."

The novel turned life in a sleepy New England hamlet into a soap opera. Characters made their lives on lies. Women had sex (and liked it!) The novel forced taboo topics of abortion, incest, alcohol addiction, and murder onto readers. Polite society would never discuss these topics publicly, but they sure would read about them privately. Peyton Place became a term for secrecy and judgment - the country music hit Harper Valley P.T.A. includes the line "Well this is just a little Peyton Place..." to expose Harper Valley's hypocrisy.

Grace was asked in nearly every interview she gave if Peyton Place was her autobiography. It wasn't, but Grace's life began to imitate her art. The money she earned allowed her to drink more than before. She and George both had affairs. Rumors and innuendo followed Grace wherever she went, like the gossip that she had shopped in the local supermarket naked underneath a mink coat. Publicity played up the housewives / mother / wife of a school teacher angle of Grace's life, but townsfolk didn't like being reminded their high school principal was married to a scandalous celebrity author. Grace and George separated after George lost his job. Their kids lost friends. Grace slipped further and further into a bottle.

(Side note - Grace once gave an interview to a young a young TV journalist named Mike Wallace. At the television station an up-and-coming young actress, the girl who announced station breaks, helped Grace with a fashion crisis. Ten years later that actress would follow in Grace's saucy, sassy literary footsteps with her own salacious scribblings, when Jacqueline Suzanne released Valley of the Dolls.  Grace Metalious stomped about in jeans and sneakers so Jacqueline Suzann could strut in couture and heels.)

As with any literary smash Hollywood bought the rights to Peyton Place and turned the novel into a film.  Fittingly the deal was signed at the Alogonquin, drinking grounds of Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley. Grace Metalious netted $250,000 for the film rights. The Metalious family traveled to Los Angeles to watch the filming. The studio shelled out for luxury accommodations, limos, and fine dining. Grace's daughter met Elvis on the set of one of his films. But that was nearly the end of Grace's commitment to Peyton Place. The film netted nine Oscar nominations but zero wins. Peyton Place then became television's first dramatic serial. Peyton Place aired three nights a week for five years.  The show netted the network $62 million, but Grace Metalious signed away the TV rights, never earning any money from the novel's television success.

Grace Metalious burned through nearly $1 million. She bought and renovated a home, bought a cadillac, fancy clothes, and took Island vacations. Grace met a D.J. named T. J. and began an affair. T. J. encouraged her outrageous spending. George burst in on the two and took photos as proof of an affair to be able to divorce grace. Grace filed for divorce, promising to fund George's Master's Degree in exchange for the illlicit pictures. Their kids went to live with George in Massachusetts. By 1960 Grace was left without a lover (T. J .split), her family, and her money.

She accepted a $165,000 advance for Return to Peyton Place, but turned in 98 pages of pages of gobbledygook that needed to be ghost written.  Return to Peyton Place and two other non-Peyton Place novels flopped. The sequel's film version did not see as much success as the original. Return to Peyton Place became a daytime soap opera, airing from 1972 to 1974. By that time Grace Metalious had been dead for nearly 10 years. She met a British journalist, John Rees, in 1963. Rees kept friends away from Grace. Grace changed her will so Rees would inherit her (now meager) estate. Upon embarking on a trip to Boston, Grace's liver gave out. Her children contested her will and discovered Rees was married and a father. He backed off his claim to Grace's estate. Her agent had stolen from Grace for the 10 years they worked together. Grace's drinking burned up the rest of the money.

The woman who literally wrote the book on small town scandal became the biggest scandal her small town had ever seen.

SOURCES :

Callahan, Michael. Peyton Place's Real Victim. Vanity Fair, 2006.

Grace Metalious. Wikipedia.

Peyton Place ~ Novel. Wikipedia.

Peyton Place ~ Film. Wikipedia.

Peyton Place ~ Television Series. Wikipedia.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

Peyton Place ~ Film Trailer

OH THOSE BEAUTIFUL DOLLS

Any reader has probably gone to see their favorite writer on a book tour. But, have those readers questioned how book tours came about? Well, we readers can thank a brassy former actress who wrote a scintillating book about Hollywood performers popping pills. Jacqueline Susann promoted her books in bookstores, giving readings and signings, meeting fans of her sassy and salacious showbiz stories. She was her own brand, her novel selling because of her personality rather than her talent.

Jacqueline Susann was the only child of Jewish parents; her father was a painter and her mother, a teacher. Despite one of her teachers encouraging her to become a writer, Susann felt the stage to be her calling. Upon her high school graduation in 1936 Susann trod the boards in unsuccessful plays. She also wrote a few unsuccessful plays. She worked steadily in television, even writing commercials she appeared in. She hosted a TV show designed to help people in need find jobs. She married press agent Irving Mansfield. The couple had a severely autistic son who was institutionalized ; devoted parents, Irving and Jacqueline visited him weekly.

In 1966 Jacqueline Susann wrote Valley of The Dolls, a roman-a-clef about three gals who start their showbiz careers together. Their careers go in different directions, but these ladies all abuse "dolls" - amphetamines and barbiturates to retain a career edge. The book was sexy and trashy. Gloria Steinem gave Valley of the Dolls a poor review. And readers gave the book 65 weeks on the best seller list, making it the most sold book of 1966. In fact Valley of the Dolls was the largest selling novel as of 2016, with 17 million copies sold. Of course Valley of the Dolls became a film ; of course the film was poorly reviewed. (Susann was purported to not like the film version.) Susann's other novel sold well enough. She was the first author to have three consecutive novels top the New York Times bestseller list.

Suzanne's brash nature made her a popular and frequent talk show guest. Both Gore Vidal and Truman Capote sassed Jacqueline Susann (when they weren't sassing each other.) Susanne marketed her books with talk show visits and ads in entertainment sections of major newspapers. She toured in support of each of her books. Suzanne also wrote thank you letters to every bookstore owner who hosted book events for her novels. Jacqueline Suzanne died of cancer September 21st 1974. She lived a life of literary fame that made her far more famous than her characters.

SOURCES :

Jacqueline Susann. Wikipedia.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

Valley of the Dolls ~ Film Trailer

HOW TO SIN ON A TIGER SKIN

Would you like to sin

With Eleanor Glyn 

On a tiger skin? 

Or would you prefer 

To err 

With her 

On some other fur?

That doggerel was written about Elinor Glyn, who wrote trashy books long before there was more than one shade of gray. Elinor Glyn created the concept of "IT," an undefinable magnetism that draws people to an "IT" person. Elinor Glyn wrote novels, short stories, and screenplays. She directed adaptations of her own films. Elinor Glynn was a woman far ahead of her time.

Elinor Glynn was British but raised in Canada. Her father died when Elinor and her sister Lucille were young. Their mother remarried and the family returned to England. Her grandmother raised Elinor and Lucille to be of the upper class. Lucille married and took on the title of Lady. Elinor married wealthy barrister and landowner Clayton Glyn. They had two daughters, Margot and Juliet. Elinor's marriage was troubled and Elinor had affairs, including an affair with politician George (husband of penny princess and past TYDKYNTK subject Mary Leiter.)

Lucille had always been interested in fashion. She eventually married Cosmo Duff-Gordon and started a fashion empire. The two survived the Titanic. Elinor had always loved books and writing. She wrote Visits of Elizabeth in 1900. She toured America in 1907 to promote the book, sailing on the Lusitania. She took a three week train trip across America, journeying as far as California. After visiting Hollywood Elinor decided to dramatize her novel. Upon returning to the UK she wrote a sequel - Elizabeth Visits America.

Glyn continued to pioneer romantic erotic fiction, a new literary concept for the era. In her novel The Man and the Moment she created "IT," an undefinable concept of mystique and interest, a magnetism that draws people to a particular person, but is not specifically sex appeal. When World War I broke out she became a war correspondent in France. She was one of only two women present at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. She returned to Hollywood for the filming of her novel The Great Moment. She signed with Hurst International Magazine Company, writing about health, beauty, fashion and relationships and sex for Cosmopolitan magazine.

Glyn was offered a screenwriting contract with Famous Players Laskey for 10,000 pounds. She began calling herself Madam Glyn. (She had no claim to an aristocratic title like her sister Lady Lucy.) Glyn cultivated a persona of elegant sexuality, decorating her suite at the Hollywood Hotel with silk, satin, and animal skins. When her contract expired in 1922 she signed with MGM to write screen plays and direct films. She directed the film version of "IT" to box office success ; the film starred Clara Bow, who came to personify the "IT" girl.

With an aling mother and owing a great deal of taxes in the states, Elinor Glyn returned to England and opened her own film company in 1929. Her British films did not fare as well as her American ones. England had stricter censorship codes than America at the time. She closed her studio soon after. Elinor Glyn had always sold herself as a product as much as her novels and films, but England had no concept of celebrity as did America. 

She continued to write for film magazines, but her novels did not seem as titillating as they had before World War I, given the freedoms women took on in the 1920s. Elinor Glyn died in 1943 at the age of 79. Since then she's been mostly forgotten (but was name checked by Tom Branson in an episode of Downton Abbey.) Elinor Glyn created the idea of the media star, using whatever talent and appeal you have to impress yourself on the public through all available media platforms. Anytime an influencer is mentioned in the mainstream press, they should thank Elinor Glyn; whatever "IT" is that a celebrity has they have "IT"  thanks to Elinor Glyn.

SOURCES :

Elinor Glyn. Wikipedia.

Cummings, Denise K. / Kuhn, Annette. Her British Career / Her American Career. Women Film Pioneers Project.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

BOOKS : 

The It Girls ~ Karen Harper

VIDEO :

Elinor Glyn Explains "IT"

NANCY DREW SOLVES THE MYSTERY OF WHY SHE'S NAKED IN PLAYBOY

 Y A lit was redefined by an adventuring set of brothers and one sleuthing young lady. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew created an ideal of teen hood for readers : be smart and aware of your surroundings, be polite, but don't let adults tell you you know nothing because you're a kid. You too can solve mysteries with a bit of pluck and luck. The group united in the 1970s for a TV series, but the girl sleuth edged out the boys to reign as Queen Supreme of the kid lit set. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are some of the best known literary characters worldwide.

Edward Sratmeyer created Frank and Joe Hardy in 1927 (pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.) Wanting to take his boy adventurers further, Sratmeyer added a mystery solving element. True to Sratmeyer Syndicate form the boys were teens : Frank, 18 - Joe, 16. One had dark hair - Frank, one blonde - Joe. Frank was logical, Joe was impetuous. They had a father - Fenton, a police detective. The mother figure role was filled by Aunt Gertrude, and an actual mother, Laura. 

Leslie McFarlane was given the task of writing The Hardy Boys books after Stratemeyer's initial run. His Hardy Boys were darker and more cynical ; adults and authorities were corrupt. McFarlane, upon being censured for this disregard for adults, stated he wanted to steer kids away from blind adherence to authority.

(Author opinion - considering the books were written when Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini were rising to power, McFarlane was correct.) The 1950s Syndicate purge expunged any mention of persons of color from The Hardy Boys, instead of correcting the racist and xenophobic portrayals of non-white characters in earlier books. The Hardy Boys were spun off into a series of television episodes aired on the Mickey Mouse club, one of the first kid centered TV shows. The Hardy Boys books were rebooted in 2005 for a generation of modern kids.

Stella Strong - Diana Dare - Nan Nelson - became legendary Nancy Drew in 1930. Stratemeyer wanted a female version of the Hardy Boys. Mildred Wirt Benton won the ghostwriter contract (pseudonym Carolyn Keene.) Stratemeyer died before Nancy Drew and became a phenomenon. One of his last directives was for Wirt to make Nancy "less bold" - thank goodness she didn't listen!

Nancy, in her first books, was 16 - already graduated from high school. Attractive, blonde haired and blue-eyed, Nancy lived in a world where money, and all it bought, was plentiful and seemingly unimportant - quite different from the lives of the depression era teens devouring every page. Nancy was an instant hit. Girl readers finally had a heroine who, of course while remaining a polite, feminine ideal, ran head first into danger. Nancy had two best friends - delicate and feminine Bess, and "Tomboy" George, and a beau - college student Ned Nickerson. Her father Carson Drew was an attorney, and her mother figure was housekeeper Hannah Gruen. The Stratmeyer overhaul of their books in the early 1950s made Nancy Titian-haired (red) and 18.

Nancy Drew sold 80 million books, published in 45 languages. She has inspired films, TV series, and video games. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sandra Sotomayor count Nancy Drew as an influence. She has been modernized and updated for future generations.

In 1977 The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries debuted on ABC. The stories were original, with only a few episodes coming from the books. The show alternated weeks in its first season, one week the Hardy Boys, the next week Nancy. The Hardy Boys episodes edged out Nancy Drew in popularity, due to Sean Cassidy's (Joe) teen idol status. For the record, if I had been a teen (and not 2 years old,) I would have been all about Parker Stevens / Frank Hardy. Nancy Drew was played by model Pamela Sue Martin. Producers decided the second season should be slightly more Hardy Boys centric, with a few Nancy Drew focused episodes, but should have more Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew crossover episodes.  Pamela Sue Martin posed for a Playboy pictorial, causing a great deal of controversy. In the interview Martin said she had decided to leave the show based on the phasing out of Nancy Drew. Martin was replaced with another actress, but the show lost viewers. The third season was Hardy Boys only, but was canceled soon into the season.

Nancy Drew has been the focus of films since 1938. She has been portrayed cinematically by Bonita Granville, Emma Roberts and Sophia Lillis. The CW revived her in 2019, but added a supernatural element and darkened the atmosphere, capitalizing on the success of Riverdale. Nancy Drew has stood the test of time. Girls see her intrepidness, her ingenuity, her intelligence, her inquisitiveness and her kindness as aspirational. For years to come, whenever there's a mystery at a spooky old house, Nancy and Company will pile into her roadster, and head off bravely into danger.

SOURCES :

The Hardy Boys. Wikipedia. 

Nancy Drew. Wikipedia.

FURTHER READING :

Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her 

GIRL DETECTIVES WHO DON'T REALLY DELIGHT

 

After Edward Stratmeyer's death his daughters Edna Squier and Harriet Stratmeyer Adams took over the syndicate. Edna and Harriet could not find a buyer for the syndicate due to the depression. Edna covered daily business operations and Harriet worked with writers and outlined future novels like her father. Edna chose not to continue her work with the company, leaving full control to Harriet. 

Harriet introduced new series to the Stratemeyer world, focusing on strong female characters. Perhaps because Harriet never wanted to be a proper young lady. Born to Edward and his wife in 1892, Harriet climbed trees and read books. She attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1914. She edited manuscripts, but did not write herself. She married in 1915 and had four children.

In the 1950s and '60s Harriet Adams was forced by the publisher Gossett and Dunlop to revise past books, changing racist language and situations to reflect "modern" times. Rewrites caused some plots to change entirely and whole books had to be rewritten. In the late 1970s Adams wanted the two most popular series to go into paperback. Gossett and Dunlop to offence, and sued. For the first time the public learned of the syndicate and its pseudonymic ghost writers. Adams died in 1982, and Simon and Schuster bought the syndicate in 1984.

Before his death in 1930, Edward Stratemeyer created a new character and outlined the first four books in a series, but died shortly after she hit the page. Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghost writer chosen to bring this character to life, as she did other girl characters for the syndicate. Benson gave readers girls who acted bravely, and intelligently, who never gave a thought to being proper, though they were well-mannered and polite. She had her own separate journalism career under her own name. But the work she did under one particular pseudonym will live on for generations.

Mildred Wirt Benson was born in 1905 in Ladora, Iowa. In 1925 she earned an English degree from the University of Iowa. In 1927 she earned a Masters in Journalism degree. In 1928 she married Asa Wirt ; the couple had one child. Asa Wirt died in 1947 ; Mildred married George Benson, the editor of the newspaper for which she wrote, in 1950. He died in 1959. Benson traveled and learned to fly planes, never backing down from an adventure. She died in age 96 in 2002.

Wirt sold stories to several magazines and in 1926 she applied to the Stratmeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer was impressed by the portfolio Wirt sent in. She was offered the Ruth Fielding series (pseudonym Alice Emerson.) After meeting Edward Stratmeyer at her interview, she never spoke to him again. Ghost writers submitted their work through correspondence. She was paid $125 - $250 per book (equal to three months pay at her newspaper job.) She could not claim rights to her published works nor any pseudonym she wrote under. She wrote Ruth Fielding books until 1934 when Gossett and Dunlop canceled the series. She picked up two more series - Kay Tracy and The Dana Girls. She worked for the syndicate until the changes of the 1950s. When Gossett and Dunlop sued the syndicate Wirt refuted Harriet Stratmeyer Adams claims that Harriet wrote the most noted series of girl books.

Wirt was an early day girl power champion. Heroines - albeit ruled by syndicate regulations - relied on their wits to get them out of trouble ; no being rescued by a dreamy boy. But boys were part of the story, as allies and admirers. Her Kay Tracy series (pseudonym Francis K. Judd,) about a teen girl detective, began in 1934. Kay was a teenage sleuth attending high school. She faced interference from jealous classmate Ethel Eaton - the perfect moniker for a teen bitch. Kate has two friends and a boyfriend. She solved mysteries with the help of friends, but did little else. Wirt wrote volumes 3 through 12 and volume 14. Outlines were extremely detailed, making the writing somewhat abrupt. Kay Tracy was found to be a bit drab, but that is probably a result of the syndicate wanting to repeat the success of their most famous creation. But that teen sleuth was lightning-in-a-bottle one of a kind and any similar character seemed a pale imitator. Still, Kay Tracy lasted almost ten years, ending in 1942.

Another pale imitator was Wirt's third series for the syndicate, The Dana Girls (pseudonym Carolyn Keene.) Sisters Jean and Louise Dana solve mysteries near the boarding school where they reside. This time around the protagonists were orphans - they are looked after by a sea captain uncle and his sister, their spinster aunt, and a maid. Louise, dark haired, 17 is more serious than 16 year old fair "gay-hearted" Jean. The girls face off against a nemesis / hench girl duo - Lettie Briggs and Ina Mason. Wirt did not enjoy writing the series, and lack of enthusiasm shone through. Though lasting from 1934 to 1979 the series never really sparked with readers.

Even though other girl characters would never reach the heights of the most famous syndicate success, they set a presidence for teen girl Y A lit. Female readers found sharp, smart girls who earned the co-operation and respect of the adults in their lives. Adult supported their crime solving, but intervened only when necessary. Away at boarding school the Dana sisters could be themselves without pressure to be what parents or guardians wanted them to be. Marriage was most certainly not an aspiration to these young girls. They were admired for their intellect, which few past literary girls had been. Both series ran their course and were discontinued due to the depression and the onset of World War II. Times were tough, there was only room for one teen sleuth heroine.

ARTICLES :

Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Wikipedia. 

Mildred Wirt Benson. Wikipedia.

Kay Tracey. Wikipedia. 

The Dana Girls. Wikipedia.

FURTHER READING :