Leona Dalrymple (1884 – 1968) was an early 20th century American writer of novels, short stories, and plays.

Biography

Leona Dalrymple was on February 11th, 1884 in Passaic, New Jersey as the oldest child of New Jersey Assemblyman and former judge George H. Dalrymple and Carrie V. (Dean) Dalrymple."Leona Dalrymple Wins Reilly & Britton $10,000 Prize". ''Publishers Weekly'' vol. 84, December 13, 1913, p. 2080.Scott, William Winfield. ''History of Passaic and Its Environs''. Vol. 2 (Historical-Biographical). New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1922.Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. "Dalrymple, Leona". ''New International Encyclopedia''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929. She grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, and graduated from Passaic High School in 1902.Haeselbarth, Adam C. "The Winner of a $10,000 Novel Prize." ''The Book News Monthly'', March 1914, pp. 323-24."Book Chat of the Month". ''The Publishers Weekly Book Review'', January 17, 1914, p. 227. On February 7, 1921 she married Clarence Acton Wilson, a lifelong friend, in a Greenwich Village studio apartment ceremony. Dalrymple's first publication was a play in 1905; the firm that published it later issued another dozen of her works, mostly written for amateur theatricals. In 1913, Dalrymple won the then very large prize of $10,000 in a literary competition organized by the publisher

Reilly & Britton The Reilly and Britton Company, known after 1918 as Reilly & Lee, was an American publishing company of the early and middle 20th century, best known for children's and popular culture books from authors like L. Frank Baum and Edgar A. Guest. Found ...

and judged by

Ida Tarbell Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857January 6, 1944) was an American writer, Investigative journalism, investigative journalist, List of biographers, biographer and lecturer. She was one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of th ...

and

S.S. McClure Samuel Sidney McClure (February 17, 1857 – March 21, 1949) was an Irish-American publisher who became known as a key figure in Investigative journalism, investigative, or muckraking, journalism. He co-founded and ran ''McClure's Magazine'' from ...

.Chernaik, Warren, Warwick Gould, and Ian Willison, eds. Advertisement from ''The Little Review'' of March 1914, reprinted in ''Modernist Writers and the Marketplace'', p. 306. The winning entry was her romance novel ''Diane of the Green Van'', published the following year. A second entry in the competition that was highly rated by the judges was also by Dalrymple; though slated for publication under the title ''The Nomad'', it apparently was never issued, or at least not under that title. ''Diane of the Green Van'' is a highly improbable

Ruritanian romance Ruritanian romance is a genre of literature, film and theatre comprising novels, stories, plays and films set in a fictional country, usually in Central or Eastern Europe, such as the "Ruritania" that gave the genre its name. Such stories are typ ...

whose plot involves an heiress who spends a year camping up and down the east coast in a caravan, the intrigues of a European kingdom called Houdania, a missing document, and any number of disguises."Diane of the Green Van"
''Redeeming Qualities'', April 19, 2012. A contemporary reviewer wrote that while it was not very original it was romantic and amusing enough to hold the reader's attention.Gilder, Jeannette L. "Books of the Day". ''McClure's Magazine'', August 1914, p. 208. In 1919 it was made into a movie of the same title starring

Alma Rubens Alma Rubens (born Alma Genevieve Reubens; February 19, 1897 – January 21, 1931) was an American film actress and stage performer. Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s. She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas F ...

. Dalrymple also wrote short stories for magazines like ''The Bohemian'' and

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

. She died on October 22, 1968 in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

Publications

;Novels *''Mrs. Forrester's Crusade'' (1908) *''Träumerei'' (1912) *''Diane of the Green Van'' (1914) *''The Lovable Meddler'' (1915) *''Jimsy, The Christmas Kid'' (1915) *''When the Yule-Log Burns'' (1916) *''Kenny'' (1917) ;Plays *''Tangles: A Farce in One Act'' (1907) *''While Brother Phil was Walking, a Farce in One Act'' (1908) ;Short stories *''Uncle Noah's Christmas Inspiration'' (1912) *''In the Heart of the Christmas Pines'' (1913)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalrymple, Leona 1884 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers American women screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American screenwriters