Theresa "Tess" Slesinger (July 16, 1905 – February 21, 1945) was an American writer and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and a member of the New York intellectual scene.

Life and career

She was born as Theresa Slesinger in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as the fourth child of Anthony Slesinger, a Hungarian-born dress manufacturer, and Augusta ( Singer) Slesinger, a welfare worker who later (after 1931) became a prominent psychoanalyst. Her family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. . This article is the introduction to the NYRB edition of the novel. She was the younger sister of three brothers, including

Stephen Slesinger Stephen Slesinger (December 25, 1901 – December 17, 1953) was an American radio, television and film producer, creator of comic strip characters and the father of the licensing industry. From 1923 to 1953, he created, produced, published, develo ...

, later the creator of

Red Ryder Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. She was educated at

Ethical Culture Fieldston School Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 facult ...

from September 1912 until June 1922,

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of Journalism in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In December 1932, ''

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 ...

'' magazine published her short story "Missis Flinders", which was based on Slesinger's own experience of having an abortion, and may have been the first short story to appear in a large-circulation periodical to address the theme explicitly. Encouraged to expand the story, Slesinger incorporated it as the final chapter of her only novel, ''The Unpossessed'' (1934). The novel also satirizes the New York left-wing milieu in which she then lived. A modern edition describes it as "a cutting comedy about hard times, bad jobs, lousy marriages, little magazines, high principles, and the morning after" with "a cast of litterateurs, layabouts, lotharios, academic activists, and fur-clad patrons of protest and the arts." She helped to establish the

Screen Writers Guild The Screen Writers Guild was an organization of Hollywood screenplay authors, formed as a union in 1933. In 1954, it became two different organizations: Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East. Founding Screenwriter ...

in 1933. Her first husband was Herbert Solow, who was a staff writer on the ''

Menorah Journal ''The Menorah Journal'' (1915–1962) was a Jewish-American magazine, founded in New York City. Some have called it "the leading English-language Jewish intellectual and literary journal of its era." The journal lasted from 1915 until 1 ...

''. After marrying her second husband, screenwriter Frank Davis, she moved to California in 1935; with Davis she had two children. Slesinger was responsible for the screenplays, among others, of ''

The Good Earth ''The Good Earth'' is a historical fiction novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 that dramatizes family life in a Chinese village in the early 20th century. It is the first book in her ''House of Earth'' trilogy, continued in ''Sons'' (1932) ...

'' (1937) and, at the end of her life, she adapted '' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1946) with Davis, which won them an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. During the era of the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

, Slesinger was a supporter of the

American Communist Party The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

. Her name was among those included on the letter denouncing the

Dewey Commission The Dewey Commission (officially the "Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials") was initiated in March 1937 by the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky. It was named after its chairman, the ...

's investigation of the

Moscow Trials The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against "Trotskyists" and members of "Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of th ...

, and she also endorsed the CP-initiated call for the Third American Writers' Congress in 1939. However, like many other leftist intellectuals of the time, Slesinger grew disillusioned with the Soviet Union in the wake of the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939.

Maxim Lieber Maxim Lieber (October 15, 1897 – April 10, 1993) was a prominent American literary agent in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. The Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers named him as an accomplice in 1949, and Lieber fled first to Mexico and then ...

served as her literary agent, 1933–1937, and in 1941.

Death

Tess Slesinger died from cancer at the age of 39. The children from her second marriage are Peter Davis, who is the writer, filmmaker and director of the Academy Award-winning documentary '' Hearts and Minds '' (1974), and Jane Davis, a wellness and mind-body specialist.

Legacy

James T. Farrell James Thomas Farrell (February 27, 1904 – August 22, 1979) was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet. He is most remembered for the ''Studs Lonigan'' trilogy, which was made into a film in 1960 and a television series in 1979. B ...

's novel ''Sam Holman'' (1983), there are thinly-veiled fictional portraits of many prominent New York intellectuals; the character of "Frances Dunsky" is reportedly based on Slesinger.

Works

;Books *''The Unpossessed'' (Simon & Schuster, 1934) novel, reprinted 1984, 1993, 2012 *''Time: the Present'' (Simon and Schuster, 1935) short story collection *''On Being Told That Her Second Husband Has Taken His First Lover and Other Stories'' (Quadrangle Books, 1971, reprinted 1975, 1990), a reprint of ''Time: the Present'' with one additional story ;Screenplays *''

The Bride Wore Red ''The Bride Wore Red'' is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Billie Burke. It was based on the unproduced play ''The Bride from Trieste'' by Ferenc Molnár.

'' (1937) *''

Girls' School Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

'' (1938) *''

Dance, Girl, Dance ''Dance, Girl, Dance'' is a 1940 American comedy-drama film directed by Dorothy Arzner and starring Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, and Ralph Bellamy. The film follows two dancers who strive to preserve their own integrity while fi ...

'' (1940) *'' Remember the Day'' (1941) *'' Are Husbands Necessary?'' (1942) *'' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1946)

References

External links

*
Image of Tess Slesinger at her typewriter, Hollywood, California, 1935.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...