Stella Wynne Herron (April 5, 1885 – March 1, 1966) was an American writer and suffragist whose work appeared in a variety of magazines, including Collier's, Sunset, and Weird Tales. She is most known for her 1916 short story "

Shoes A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture t ...

", which pioneering film director

Lois Weber Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the e ...

adapted into a film of the same name. The film is now considered a feminist classic in early cinema history.

Early life and education

Estella "Stella" Frances Wynne was born on April 5, 1885, though some sources report the year as 1886. She grew up in San Francisco as the daughter of Irish immigrants. For college, she attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and graduated in 1906. It was in school that she began her writing career. She worked as an associate editor for the university's journal 'The Stanford Sequoia', and her play, ''The Original Miss Tewksberry'', was selected to be the senior farce for the 1906 school year. She also was an early member of the senior women's society "Cap and Gown", foreshadowing her later activism.

Writing career

As detailed in ''The Writer'', Herron's first piece to be accepted for publication was her short story "The Still of Ballywan." She had written it originally as a sophomore for a school assignment, and she had "written thastily one night at the close of the term McClure's magazine went on to publish it in 1906. Over the following sixty years, Herron would go on to write many short stories, several plays, a serialized novel, and an illustrated book of protest poetry. Her work was sometimes republished in collected short story volumes. For example, 'The Americanizing of André François', was republished in 'Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Part Two'''.'' Two of her short stories, "Shoes" and "The Double Room Mystery", were also made into silent films, and filmmaker

Thomas H. Ince Thomas Harper Ince (November 16, 1880 – November 19, 1924) was an American silent film - era filmmaker and media proprietor. Ince was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for making over 800 films. He revolutionized the mo ...

bought the rights to her short story "An Adventurous Day" in 1920, though it never went into production. Ince paid Herron $500, a substantial figure at the time. She was known for her prize-winning stories in various magazines, including "An Adventurous Day", and one trade journal even reported that, "Her work received the personal compliments of the late

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Personal life

She married William F. Herron, a newspaper writer (later attorney), on September 18, 1907 in Salinas. Eight years later, they had their only child, John Wynne Herron. Herron and her husband were divorced by 1920. From the mid-30s to the early forties, she lived in New York City as a poet, though she eventually returned to San Francisco. Her activism included campaigning for women's suffrage in California in the 1910s, and one point she even worked as the Chairman for the College Equal Suffrage League. Her writing and activism connected her to many influential figures including journalist

Alma Reed Alma Marie Sullivan Reed (1889–1966) was an American journalist. While working in Mexico in the 1920s, she fell in love with the Governor of Yucatán, Felipe Carrillo Puerto; however, he was assassinated while she was home in San Francisco pre ...

, who considered Herron a "lifelong friend", and painter

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sique ...

. Herron died on March 1, 1966, and she was buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park.

Bibliography*

The Still of Ballywan
(short story) (1906) * An Idyll of the Circle L. (short story) (1907) *Cane and Coffee (short story) (1907)
The Record Breaker
(short story) (1907)
The Americanizing of André François
(short story) (1908)
A Belated Boom
(short story) (1910) *Suffrage During N.E.A. Week (article) (1911)
Palace Hotel
(article) (1911/1913) * The Ghost of the Almaden (short story) (1912) *Minds Versus Millions (short story (1913) *

(short story) (1916) * The Advent of the Majority (short story) (1916) *Ashes of Youth (1917) *The Ascidian (a drama in three acts) (1920) *Mink Cape (short story) (1920)
The Exiles of Corinto
(short story) (1923)
To a Parrakeet
(poem) (1923) *First Comes Commerce (short story) (1924) *The Nob Hill Mystery (serialized novel) (1925) * Ebony Magic (short story) (1928) * The Strange Interlude (review) (1929) * A Romance of Insurance (review) (1929) * Manly P. Hall's Lectures on Ancient Philosophy (review) (1929) *Bowery Parade and Other Poems of Protest (poetry collection) (1936) *Entertainment at evening (dramatic composition) (1940) * Hearndon House (a drama in three acts) (1946) *My Faith (interview/article) (1948) *Ten Blocks Away (a drama in three acts) (1958) *An Adventurous Day (short story)** *The Chinese Calendar (poem)** *list incomplete* **publication date unknown

References

External links

* *Stella Wynne Herron'

* ''The Original Miss Tewksberry'
cast
*''The Original Miss Tewksberry'
production photo
*

California Writers Club The California Writers Club traces its founding to the San Francisco Bay Area literary movement in the early part of the 20th century. The informal gatherings of Jack London, George Sterling, and Herman Whitaker, along with others, eventually became ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herron, Stella Wynne 1885 births 1966 deaths American women short story writers Writers from San Francisco Stanford University alumni 20th-century American women writers American suffragists 20th-century American short story writers