Bessie Breuer (October 19, 1893 – September 26, 1975) was an American journalist, novelist, and playwright. She was an O. Henry Award winner.

Biography

Breuer was born with the name Elizabeth Freedman in Cleveland, Ohio to Samuel Aaron Freedman, a cantor and composer, and Julia Freedman. She studied journalism at

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

and then worked as a reporter for the ''St. Louis Times'' in her late teens. She later became an editor for the ''New York Tribune'', first working as the head of the women's department and then, at the age of 22, becoming the Sunday editor. She left that position to become the national director of magazine publicity for the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

at the end of World War I, and subsequently joined the staff of the ''Ladies Home Journal''. She also contributed articles on

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

to ''Harper's Magazine'' and the ''Pictorial Review''. Part of the expatriate movement, Breuer moved to France in the early 1920s and began writing fiction under the encouragement of

Kay Boyle Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and O. Henry Award winner. Early years The granddaughter of a publisher, Boyle was ...

and Laurence Vail. Her first works of fiction to be published were short stories in ''

Story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

'' and ''Harper's'' magazines. She began using the name Bessie Breuer when she began to write fiction to differentiate it from her work as a journalist. In 1925, she married her third husband, the painter

Henry Varnum Poor Henry Varnum Poor (December 8, 1812 – January 4, 1905) was an American financial analyst and founder of H.V. and H.W. Poor Co, which later evolved into the financial research and analysis bellwether, Standard & Poor's. Biography Born in East A ...

(previously she had been married to Mr. Breuer and Carl Kahler). This third marriage of 45 years ended with Poor's death in 1970. Breuer's first novel ''Memory of Love'' (1935) was made into a film in 1939 titled ''

In Name Only ''In Name Only'' is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, and Kay Francis, directed by John Cromwell. It was based on the 1935 novel ''Memory of Love'' by Bessie Breuer. The fictional town where it is set, Bridgefield, Con ...

''. The film starred

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

and

Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 2 ...

. Her other novels include ''The Daughter'' (1938), ''The Actress'' (1955), and ''Take Care of My Roses'' (1961). A prolific writer of short stories, she won four

O. Henry Award The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry. The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...

s between 1943 and 1947. One of her stories is included in ''

55 Short Stories from the New Yorker ''55 Short Stories from the New Yorker'' is a literary anthology of short fiction first published in ''The New Yorker'' magazine from the years 1940 through 1949. Front Cover Although the magazine debuted in February 1925 (so that its 25th anniv ...

'' and a collection of her stories was published, titled ''The Bracelet of Wavia Lea and Other Stories'' (1947). '' Sundown Beach'', her only play, which was about World War II fliers suffering from

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

, premiered on Broadway in 1948. It was directed by

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

. It featured the young, then-unknown actress

Julie Harris Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary stage work, she received five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play. Harris debuted on Broadway in 1945, against the wish ...

and was the first Broadway venue of the Actors' Studio. During World War II, Breuer worked for the United States Office of War Information. She also wrote for periodicals such as ''

World's Work ''The World's Work'' (1900–1932) was a monthly magazine that covered national affairs from a pro-business point of view. It was produced by the publishing house Doubleday, Page and Company, which provided the first editor, Walter Hines Page. Th ...

'', ''House Beautiful'', ''Mademoiselle'', and ''The New Yorker'' until the 1960s. She died at the age of 81 at her home in New City, New York. She had two children, Peter and Anne, and three grandchildren.

References

External links

* *
Bessie Breuer Papers, 1926–1972
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center
Bessie Breuer papers, 1948
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Bessie Breuer Manuscripts
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Breuer, Bessie 1893 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American feminists American Red Cross personnel University of Missouri alumni New-York Tribune personnel Writers from Cleveland American women journalists 20th-century American women writers Journalists from New York City Journalists from Ohio 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists