Marion Clyde McCarroll (1891-1977) was a writer and journalist. McCarroll was the first woman issued a press pass by the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. She attained the press pass during the 1920s while writing for ''The Commercial'', a daily business newspaper. McCarroll also penned the "Advice for the Lovelorn, a nationally syndicated column, after she inherited it from
Dorothy Dix
Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (November 18, 1861 – December 16, 1951), widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix, was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today's popular advice columnists, Dix was America's highest paid ...
.
Early life and education
McCarroll was born in East Orange, New Jersey, on May 8, 1891, to James Renwick Thompson and Helena Fredericka Stoughton (Loomis) McCarroll. She graduated from the Beard School (now Morristown-Beard School) in
Orange, New Jersey
The City of Orange is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 30,134, reflecting a decline of 2,734 (−8.3%) from the 32,868 counted in 2000.
Orange was original ...
, in 1910. McCarroll then completed her bachelor's degree at Wellesley College in
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...
, in 1914. After graduating from college, McCarroll worked as a social worker for a year.
Journalism and writing career
McCarroll began her journalism career as a reporter for ''The Ridgefield Weekly'' of Ridgefield, New Jersey. She then joined ''The Commercial'' as a columnist for its "Women in Business" column. McCarroll served as the woman's page editor for King Features Syndicate, which distributed her column. She also served as the women's editor at the ''
New York Evening Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established i ...
'' (now ''The New York Post'').
During the 1930s, McCarroll wrote for both ''The New York Evening Post'' and the Sunday edition of '' The New York World''. Her stories during this period included a feature article about a flight she took with pioneering aviator
Ruth Rowland Nichols
Ruth Rowland Nichols (February 23, 1901 – September 25, 1960) was an American aviation pioneer. She is the only woman yet to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance for a female pilot.
Biography
Nichols was born in ...
. McCarroll also worked as a publicity writer for
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
. She served as president of the New York Newspaper Women's Club from 1930 to 1931 and from 1949 to 1950. During her tenure of service at the club, Franklin Roosevelt (then the Governor of New York) visited.
McCarroll earned notoriety for penning the "Advice to the Lovelorn", a syndicated column. After initial reluctance, she started writing the column for the Hearst newspaper chain at the request of Ward Greene. McCarroll continued writing the column under the pen name of Beatrice Fairfax for the next 21 years. (between 1942 and 1963). In 1952, the New York chapter of Theta Sigma Pi, a journalism honor society, awarded her their Women of Achievement Award.
Marriage
McCarroll married journalist Lynn Booth in 1926. They divorced in 1935.
Death
Previously a resident of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,Allendale, New Jersey
Allendale is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,505,"Marion C. McCarroll, Ex‐Columnist" ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', August 5, 1977. Accessed November 16, 2017. "Marion Clyde McCarroll, who for 21 years wrote the nationally syndicated King Features column “Advice to the Lovelorn” under the name Beatrice Fairfax, died Monday in the Allendale Nursing Home, Allendale, N.J., where she had lived since 1970. She was 84 years old, and had formerly resided in Manhattan and in Ridgewood. N.J."
Works
* ''Summer Cookbook'' (1954)
* ''Suzanne of Belgium; the story of a modern girl'', with Suzanne Silvercruys Farnam (1932)