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Dorothy Copus Brush Fannie Hurt sure made
Today the works of women writers are legion.
Be it fiction or non-fiction, few readers consider whether the
author is male or female. This was not the case in the early
1900s. Few women writers had gained entrance into the writing
field or were respected by publishers. In spite of this unfriendly
environment a young woman from St. Louis had a talent for storytelling
by the written word and she was determined to be heard. Fannie Hurst was the only surviving child
of doting Jewish parents. She led a sheltered life, but her mind
was filled with stories begging to be told. After her 1909 graduation
from Washington University in St. Louis, she had several stories
published but also many rejections. Fannie felt confined living at home and she
finally convinced her parents to allow her to move to New York
City. She was 25 years old and away from home for the first time.
The characters in her stories were ordinary people, immigrants,
shop girls and their struggles with love, drama and trauma. She
took short-term jobs in department stores and in restaurants
as a waitress to experience the kind of lives these people dealt
with and to get to know many of them well. By 1912 more and more of her short stories
were being used in the day's leading magazines and she was described
as the leading "sob sister" of American fiction. That
year the editor of the student newspaper at her alma mater asked
her to write an article for the paper. She included these words,
"Writing is a difficult and too often a thankless game --
particularly for a woman. You have no idea what a peculiar genius
is the 'female writer.'" By 1920 Fannie had the title "world's
highest-paid short-story writer." Over her career she wrote
thousands of short stories, and 26 novels which over a 40-year
period were made into 31 films. Best known were Back Street
and Imitation of Life. As her fame increased so did the demands on
her time, and she took on many causes. Fannie became a pioneer
crusader for women's advancement and the rights of African-Americans.
She was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and a frequent visitor
to the White House. All these details I learned from a new book
published last year called Fannie: The Talent for Success
of Writer Fannie Hurst authored by Brooke Kroeger. As I read
I wished I had known all these things in April 1966 when for
an hour or so I was seated next to her at a luncheon in her honor
held in Hamilton, OH. This luncheon was one of many events planned
during a two-day celebration of Hurst's return to the city of
her birth. Her mother's family were longtime residents of Hamilton,
and Hurst wanted to be with that close-knit family when her child
was born. Fannie spent each summer in her other home of Hamilton.
Now, as she neared the end of her illustrious career as "the
dean of living American women writers" the citizens of that
other home honored her. I had been asked to chair one luncheon so
my mind was involved in that responsibility, and even though
I sat next to her I have few recollections of our conversation.
I did have the book she had written about her life, Anatomy
of Me, and she autographed it. Below her signature she drew
a calla lily. Fannie was never seen without a piece of calla
lily jewelry. Asked often why she was so attracted to this
single flower she explained it suggests a certain inner serenity.
In her book she wrote that as a child she often retreated into
her inner self when her Mama threw tantrums. She wrote, "Be
serene, my heart and serene came to be a quiet little treasure
of a word which I liked to feel upon my lips." Fannie showed no signs of being 80 years old during her short visit filled with warm memories of her childhood. Just two years later she died in February 1968. As this new book chronicles, she had all her affairs in order, including giving her calla lily jewelry collection to the Museum of the City of New York. She was cremated and her ashes placed under a small stone monument adjoining her parent's burial site in St. Louis. The inscription reads simply, "Fannie Hurst, daughter of Samuel and Rose Hurst, wife of Jacques Danielson - gratitude to them and to the world." |