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Babette Rosmond (November 4, 1917 – October 23, 1997) was an American author.


Biography

Rosmond sold her first short story to ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' at age seventeen. She published short fiction of her own and with Leonard M. Lake. She worked as an editor at the magazine publisher
Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks. Among t ...
, editing two of their most famous
pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
s, ''
Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...
'' (from 1944 to 1948) and ''
The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...
'' (from 1946 to 1948). Fellow Street & Smith editor
John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...
, the legendary science fiction editor, published Rosmond's sf debut, a story co-written by Lake called "Are You Run-Down, Tired-," in the October 1942 issue of '' Unknown Worlds'' and included her story "One Man's Harp" from the August 1943 issue in ''From Unknown Worlds'' (1948), an anthology of the best stories from that magazine. In 1944, she married lawyer Henry Stone, brother of Louis Stone of the brokerage firm Haydn Stone, and uncle of director Oliver Stone. They would be married for the rest of her life and they had two children, one of whom is the writer Gene Stone
www.genestone.com
the other is James Stone, founder, CEO and Chairman of The Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation. Rosmond set her debut novel, ''The Dewy Dewy Eyes'' (1946), in the world of pulp magazine publishing, featuring a heroine fresh out of college and an editor-in-chief who plans a new glossy paper publication. Her second novel, ''A Party for Grown-Ups'' (1948), was about an affair between a married doctor and a wealthy divorcee. ''Lucy, or the Delaware Dialogues'' (1952) was about infighting amongst the suburban Delaware family. She also wrote ''The Children: A Comedy for Grown-Ups'' (1956), ''The Lawyers'' (1962), ''Error Hurled'' (1976), and ''Monarch'' (1978). She published the satirical novel ''Diary of a Candid Lady'' (1964) under the name Francis M. Arroway. She served as fiction editor of '' Today's Family'' (from 1952 to 1953) then worked at ''
Better Living ''Better Living'' is a 1998 American film featured in the Hamptons International Film Festival. It stars Roy Scheider and Olympia Dukakis, and includes Edward Herrmann. Cast *Olympia Dukakis as Nora *Roy Scheider as Tom *Edward Herrmann as Jack ...
'' (from 1953 to 1956), and ''
Seventeen Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
'' (from 1957 to 1975). At ''Seventeen'' she was fiction editor and edited a series of anthologies of fiction published in the magazine: ''Seventeen's Stories'' (1958), ''Seventeen from Seventeen'' (1967), ''Seventeen Book of Prize Stories'' (1968), and ''Today's Stories from Seventeen'' (1971). With actor
Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wea ...
she published a collection of the work of humorist
Ring Lardner Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...
, ''Shut Up, He Explained: A Ring Lardner Selection'' (1962). She also wrote a well-received biography of author and humorist
Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...
, whom she had met as a teenager, ''Robert Benchley: His Life and Good Times'' (1970). In the 1970s, Rosmond became an important early activist against traditional treatments for breast cancer. In February 1971 she found an
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
-sized lump in her breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer. The traditional treatment was a
radical mastectomy Radical mastectomy is a surgical procedure involving the removal of breast, underlying chest muscle (including pectoralis major and pectoralis minor), and lymph nodes of the axilla as a treatment for breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most comm ...
, which required removal of the entire breast as well as surrounding tissue, muscle, and
lymph nodes A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphocytes that includ ...
. Two of her friends had that procedure and reported being unhappy with their choice and the resulting side effects. In response to her refusal to undergo a radical mastectomy, her doctor was condescending and insulting and told her she would be dead within three weeks. Through an article in ''
McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...
'' by Dr. William A. Nolen she learned about Dr.
George Crile, Jr. George Washington "Barney" Crile Jr. (November 3, 1907 – September 11, 1992)"George Crile Jr." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 26 July 2011. was an American surgeon. He was a significant inf ...
at the
Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...
. Crile was a leading advocate in the United States for procedures that removed much less material, a simple mastectomy, which only removes the breast, and a
lumpectomy Lumpectomy (sometimes known as a tylectomy, partial mastectomy, breast segmental resection or breast wide local excision) is a surgical removal of a discrete portion or "lump" of breast tissue, usually in the treatment of a malignant tumor or brea ...
, which removes only a small amount of tissue. Then extremely controversial, these treatments are now standard instead of using a radical mastectomy in all cases. Crile performed a successful lumpectomy on Rosmond and her cancer did not reappear until the late 1990s. She said "I think what I did was the highest level of
women's liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
. I said 'No' to a group of doctors who told me, 'You must sign this paper, you don't have to know what it's all about. Under the name Rosamond Campion, she began writing about her experiences. Her article in the February 1972 issue of ''McCall's'', "The Right to Choose", generated more mail than any article in that publication's history. Some 80 percent of the mail was in support of her decision and many of the letters were from women who asked how to contact Dr. Crile, whose name she had withheld at his request. She told her story in a book, ''The Invisible Worm'' (1972), which takes its title from the poem "
The Sick Rose "The Sick Rose" is a poem by William Blake, originally published in ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' as the 39th plate; the incipit of the poem is O Rose thou art sick. Blake composed the poem sometime after 1789, and presented it with a ...
" by
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
. She appeared on a number of television programs, including a 1973 episode of ''
The David Susskind Show ''The David Susskind Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by David Susskind which was broadcast from 1958 to 1986. The program began locally in New York City in 1958 as ''Open End,'' which referred to the fact that the program was open ...
'' where she and Crile debated two surgeons and two breast cancer survivors all opposed to her position. Public activism like Rosamond's caused a drastic transformation in how patients and doctors interacted regarding breast cancer and prompted a growing rejection of more radical procedures in favor of more informed decision making by the patient. Rosmond died in 1997. Her breast cancer never recurred.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosmond, Babette 1917 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American novelists American editors American science fiction writers American women novelists Doc Savage The Shadow Street & Smith Unknown (magazine) Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American biographers American women biographers