September/October, 2015

Biblio File Buying a ticket to the glory The Society of Midland Authors will have two tables at the 2015 Chicago Book Expo Saturday, Nov. 21, from 11a.m. to of Chicago’s transit history 5p.m., at 1104 S. Wabash (Columbia College Chicago). Members who want to BY THOMAS FRISBIE stop for people making a cross-country sell their books should pick a time slot of uthors Christopher Lynch and trip. 11-1, 1-3 or 3-5 and Joseph Schwieterman took audi- “There were 1,400 negatives, many of contact Marlene Targ Aence members on a trip to them glass and ... no one had seen these Brill at marlenet- Chicago’s transportation past Sept. 8 at pictures for 80 years,” Lynch said. He [email protected]. the Harold Washington Library Center in understood right away he had material for First come, first served. Chicago. another book about Midway. ... Susan Croce Kelly Schwieterman is author of Terminal Lynch, who grew up sweeping hangars has won the Oklahoma Town, a study of Chicago’s storied train at Midway for his family’s business, Writers Federation’s terminals, and Lynch is author of Now Monarch Air Service, knew that the air- 2015 Best Nonfiction Arriving, a photographic look at of port once was a nexus of transportation Book award for Father Susan Croce Chicago’s Midway Airport in its heyday. for the world. of Route 66, the Story Kelly Neal Samors, Lynch’s co-author, was “If you were a famous movie star, that of Cy Avery. Her book unable to attend the is how you would also won the Walter Williams Award for a event, which was the meet Mike,” Lynch “major work worthy of recognition” from Society of Midland said. “He made his liv- the Missouri Writers Guild and the Miss- Authors’ monthly pro- ing by capturing the ouri Center for the Book. Father of Route gram for September. logo on the plane 66 also was a finalist in the 2015 Okla- Lynch had written [behind a celebrity]. ... homa Center for the Book awards and a an earlier book about If the picture got into biography finalist in the 2014 IndieFab Midway, titled the newspaper, [he awards. ... On Aug. 24, Stan “Tex” Chicago's Midway was] paid. That is how Banash was a guest on Chicago’s WGN- Airport: The First he made his living for Christopher Joe TV Morning News to discuss some of the Seventy-Five Years. Lynch Schwieterman over 50 years.” nuggets that appear in his book, Roadside “The day the book Some of the nega- History of Illinois. ... Diana Petrakis, wife was published in April 2012, I get an tives in the collection were taken else- of Harry Mark Petrakis, celebrated her email from a person [asking], ‘Did you where, such as the 1933 Century of 93rd birthday on Aug. 12. ... Timuel know Mike Rotunno? We bought his Progress in Chicago. Black published a letter to the editor in house, the house he lived in 40 years But many were taken at Midway, of the Sept. 24 Chicago Sun-Times. ... before, and we were going through the such luminaries as Eleanor Roosevelt, Richard Lindberg (See New Books, Page garage, the rafters and we found these John Wayne, Joseph Kennedy, the Marx 4) has posted a memoir of his 38 years of photos.’ ” Brothers, and the Three book writing and publishing on his website. Lynch knew he had a potential treasure Stooges. There also was a photo of a Richard writes to say, “It is titled Bleed- trove on his hands. Rotunno was a pho- woman carrying the Faberge eggs. The ing Between the Lines and is, in effect, tographer who made his living taking book contains more than 200 photos. the ‘confessions of a cynic’ who can't photos of celebrities who landed at One of the surprising elements of the stop writing despite a raft of setbacks and Midway Airport when it was a common Turn to Page 2 disappointments in the business. In it, I recount my recollection of working a suc- cession of 40-hour-a-week jobs with commentary about trying to break out of Literary Landscape Literary Latest Literary Lore the mold of ‘regional writer.’ I discuss Adam Mack New Books Robert Loerzel myriad topics, including agents, universi- PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 8 Turn to Page 2 Biblio File Candidates for SMA offices Continued from Page 1 he Society of Midland Authors Corresponding Secretary: Charles ty presses, small presses, Amazon.com board is recommending this slate Masters reviewers and publishing with presses Tof officers for and directors for the Membership Secretary: Thomas Frisbie that have gone bankrupt. Despite the dis- 2015-2016 year, which ends on June 30. Treasurer: Richard Frisbie appointments, we write because we must This slate will be voted on at our Oct. – it is as simple as that.” ... Craig 13 meeting, unless a member in good Directors (term expires 2018): Sautter was among four writers dramati- standing contacts one of the SMA officers Carla Knorowski cally reading their short stories to a and board members and requests an elec- Allen Salter crowd of about 80 at the Short Story tion by the full membership. Lisa Holton Theatre, staged at the Miramar restaurant in President: Thomas Frisbie Directors (term expires 2017): Highwood. Craig’s Vice President: Marlene Targ Brill Carol Jean Carlson story “Why I Became Recording Secretary: Beverly Offen Walter Podrazik A Coke Addict,” while less scandalous than it sounds, engaged ques- Transportation Continued from Page 1 tions of life and death n that, he reports, kept photos is that in the back- nals built in Chicago that “is the audience in rapt ground of what once was where my heart is,” he said Craig Sautter silence. ... Jane O. called Chicago Municipal Although he had seen all Wayne, the 1997 Airport there are very few the Chicago railroad termi- SMA Poetry Award winner, won the 2015 buildings. nals as a child, he was too Tradition of Literary Excellence Award “There is nothing around young to remember some of from the University City (Mo.) it,” Lynch said. “It is all them. Municipal Commission on Arts & fields. ... I don’t think people “But I did have the chance Letters. ... Clara Bayliss, one of the early ever thought they would to experience four of our six members of the Society of Midland build an airport bigger than great downtown stations,” he Authors, is among the eight women hon- Midway.” said. While Lynch focused his Manhattan had only two Turn to Page 3 book on Midway airport downtown stations, Penn and planes, Schwieterman, Station and Grand Central whose book also has lots of Station, he said. Chicago photos, looked at Chicago’s had six: the North Western airports, bus depots, train terminal, Union Station, stations and steamship land- Grand Central Station, La 2015, Society ings from 1939 to the pres- Salle Street Station, of Midland Authors ent. Dearborn Station and P.O. Box 10419, Chicago IL 60610 “Coming from outside the Central Station. Grand city [people] see what is a Central Station, which had Editor: Thomas Frisbie great transportation center, the largest train shed in the [email protected] while we as locals kind of world, is the one most peo- www.midlandauthors.com take it for granted,” Schwieterman said. ple wish had been preserved, he said. “Midway is a fascinating story because “It was like London. The city was Follow the Society on it was the biggest airport in the world but ringed with railroad stations. ... No city in Twitter@midlandauthors by 1964 it had no flights left. Everything the world had this kind of long-distance had moved to O’Hare,” he said. train role. ,,, Chicago was really the con- But it is the collection of railroad termi- nection point for a while continent.” Society of Midland Authors members can now pay their membership dues, buy tickets to the annual dinner and made contributions since the last newslet- make donations on our website with SMA Support ter: PayPal (there is a $1 fee to help cover Dues cover mailings and other organi- Charles Billington, Timuel Black, PayPal’s fee). To make a donation, visit zational expenses, but the Society always our home page at www.midlandau- Merv Block, Jim Bowman, Liane thors.com and click on the "Donate" needs additional money for programs Clorfene Casten, Aric Lasher, Charles button in the upper right corner. such as the awards at the annual May Masters, Steve Monroe, Michael banquet. Thanks to these members who Norman and Stella Pevsner 2 LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 Recovering the physical Biblio File worlds of past sensations Continued from Page 2 ored by statue titled “Facing the Storm,” Adam Mack, an associate professor in which was unveiled Sept. 12 in Chandler the School of the Art Institute of Oct. 13, 2015, program Park in Macomb, Ill. An author of children’s Chicago’s Liberal Arts Department, is the Cliff Dwellers stories, Bayliss also was a well known author of Sensing Chicago: Noisemakers, 200 S. Michigan Avenue advocate for better child-reading practices. Strikebreakers, and Muckrakers 22nd floor Among those who (University of Illinois Press, 2015). He helped make the will present the Society’s Oct. 13 pro- 6 p.m. - Social Hour statue a reality was gram, and here’s what he tells Literary 7 p.m. - Program SMA member and License: Western Illinois Free - donations accepted iterary License: Is the history of University English the senses something that's been Professor Emeritus Llargely overlooked in scholarship those sensations, which in turn clarifies John Hallwas. ... until recent years? the contours of categories like social class. Crain’s Chicago Adam Mack: The original call for a Literary License: In your book, you Business ran an sensorial “turn” in U.S. history actually examine the Chicago River, the Great Aug. 31 Q&A with came from my predecessor at the School Fire, the 1894 Pullman Strike, Upton Scott Turow. ... of the Art Institute of Chicago, George Sinclair's The Jungle, and the White City The Aug. 30 Roeder Jr., back in the 1990s. He con- Amusement Park. Why did you choose Litchfield County trasted the rather those five? “Facing the Storm” (Conn.) Times sedate atmosphere of Adam Mack: These wrote about Carol university departments Literary are among the best- Ascher’s new book A Call From Spooner with the noises, smells, Landscape known subjects in Street (See New Books, August 2015). and varied sights com- Chicago history. I Carol said, “I hope (the book) gives peo- mon to an art school – selected them because I ple the courage to go through the difficult that is, the sensations Adam wanted to show how moments that are there in any reconcilia- he encountered when Mack even the most studied tion and get enormous satisfaction in their he walked the halls of aspects of the city’s forgiveness.” ... Jonathan Eig is writing the SAIC. That con- history might be a biography of Muhammad Ali. ... Sam trast suggested to him that historians, rethought from a sensory perspective. Weller will give the keynote address creatures of the library and the writing Consider the Chicago Fire – the blinding Nov. 4 as part of Governors State Univ- desk, might try to recover the robust sen- dust, and the roar of the flames, to say ersity’s celebration of Ray Bradbury’s sory landscapes of the past as a research nothing of the terrible heat. Studying the Fahrenheit 451. ... John Wasik’s latest strategy. The irony is that the effort to fire as a sensory event helps to clarify the book is his 15th and his first ebook. It is research past sensations is something that experiential aspects of urban life. In the titled The Debt-Free Degree (See New we accomplish mostly through research in case of the fire, so much of the history is Books, Page 4). John writes to say, “My textual sources, often at a library. about civic myths or the rebuilding of the next book Lightning Strikes, which is Literary License: What records did you city as a kind of legend. I wanted to put about Nikola Tesla, will be published by use to re-create the “smells, sounds and the focus back on the fire itself, Oct. 8-10, Sterling in the third quarter of next year.” tactile miseries of city life” from the past? 1871, and the terrors many Chicagoans ...Beryl Satter has been awarded a John Adam Mack: I was able to write about faced as they evacuated the city. Simon Guggenheim fellowship in the the sensory history of Chicago because Literary License: What’s your next book? humanities to work on a book on the fight historical actors tended to record their Adam Mack: I’m currently editing a against black economic marginalization. sensory experiences in print. Just think of four-volume Encyclopedia of the Senses ... Niagara University's president, the Rev. Upton Sinclair’s description of Packing- for Bloomsbury Publishing that will cata- James J. Maher, in July read the Niagara town in his novel, The Jungle (1906). Sin- log and expand what we know about sen- Falls City School District students the clair’s description tell us much about what sory experience from ancient times to the children's book I Can! Can You? by Packingtown actually smelled like, but it present, and across the globe. My next Carol Adorjan. ... On Sept. 23, Cham- also clarifies the author’s attitudes about single authored book is a sensorial history paign-Urbana’s online magazine Smile those smells, including his attitudes about of southern California in the 1950s – Politely ran a Q&A with Christine Sneed. the workers who smelled. As a sensory Disney World, swimming pools, etc. I Christine said, “Artists and their uncer- historian, I try to recover both the physical hope to get back to writing about Chicago tainties about their talent, the economic and worlds of past sensations and the social after that – maybe a sequel to Sensing emotional challenges of a life in the arts – meanings that historical actors attached to Chicago. these topics interest me very much.” LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 3 Order your Literary Latest Prohibition bootlegging wars; failed reform movements; the rise of post-World War II juvenile criminal gangs and the SMA history rise and fall of the Blackstone Rangers. Gangland Chicago explores the chang- ing patterns of criminal behavior from the early hold-up gangs of the 19th centu- ry; to the political gangs and social athlet- ic clubs that tore asunder race relations on the South Side in the early 20th centu- ry. The disorganized youth gang culture on the South and West Sides in the 1940s and 1950s and the failure of the city, state and county to enact meaningful reform in juv- “We live our lives in the rearview mir- enile correctional institutions and reform ror and make up stories about what hap- schools contributed to “Gangs Becoming pened along the way. ... Paul McComas Nations,” the title of end chapter. and Stephen D. Sullivan are [cultural] mirrors whose images verge on the too- true,” writes Rick Kleffel in the forward to Uncanny Encounters – LIVE! Dark Drama, Sci-Fi Screams, & Horrific Humor (Walkabout, 2015). The book is a suite of short plays all dealing with human relationships (usually romantic) intersecting with otherworldly Society members may obtain a free 28- forces and has a smorgasboard of strange page copy of our full Centennial history. and supernatural shenanigans ranging It contains the background related in from cults to cryogenics, sorcery to sci- Robert Loerzel’s adjoining column and ence-run-amok, and aliens to much more. Armageddon. Send $1 for postage to the Society of Midland Authors, P.O. Box 10419, Chicago IL 60610. More than 40 million people are cur- rently repaying $1.3 trillion in student loans. Since his children were born, John F. Wasik has remained committed to an Letter to the Editor important goal: putting them through col- I received my copy today of A Century lege without taking on any debt. of Winged Words and immediately sat The Debt-Free Degree (Forbes Media, down and read it straight through. (Of Sept. 23) tells how to strategize a plan course, I had read excerpts from it in the against piling up student loans. newsletter.) Divided into three parts, the book What a wonderful legacy the Society explains how to: save for college well has! And what a great keepsake to cele- before you apply; avoid debt after you brate the past century. I’ve been a mem- have been accepted to some schools; and ber for three decades myself and will Rich Lindberg’s 17th book is a tale of greatly reduce the burden of debt if treasure the pictures and history you and gangs and organized criminality spanning you’ve already graduated and are current- your colleagues have thoughtfully provid- the frontier saloons situated in the marshy ly in repayment. Wasik bridges the infor- ed. flats of Chicago to the future world-class mation gap on how pay off loans and pro- Thanks to everyone who contributed to city of the mid-continent. vides multiple strategies on renegotiating this fine effort. Gangland Chicago (Rowman & or consolidating them. He sources tips Littlefield, Oct. 15) recounts the era of from experts all over the country and out- Best literary wishes, parlor gambling, commercialized vice lines his own personal journey of helping David Radavich districts continuing through the bloody his daughter navigate the college maze. 4 LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 Final Chapters Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed New Members (2009) was the IAMA Best (Book) of 2009. Maggie Kast is the author of A Free, Michael Argetsinger He also wrote Mark Donohue: His Life Unsullied Land (Fomite, 2015) and The Motor racing was a joy for Michael in Photographs (2010); Formula One at Crack between the Worlds: A Dancer’s Argetsinger, both as a racer and as author Watkins Glen: 20 Years of the United Memoir of Loss, Faith of five books on auto racing. States Grand Prix, 1961-1980 (2011), a and Family (Wipf and Mr. Argetsinger, a member of and donor finalist for the 2011 Dean Batchelor Stock, 2009). to the Society of Midland Authors, died Award presented by the Motor Press A chapter of her of cancer July 7 at his home in Chicago at Guild, and Watkins Glen International memoir, published in the age of 70. (2013). ACM/Another Mr. Argetsinger, who was born Over nearly 45 years, Mr. Chicago Magazine, in Youngstown, Ohio, and whose Argetsinger also competed in won a Literary Award parents Jean and the late more than 400 races at 54 differ- from the Illinois Arts Cameron Argetsinger brought ent tracks in seven nations and a Maggie Kast Council and a Pushcart Grand Prix racing to America at was a founder of the nomination. A story Watkins Glen, wrote five books International Motor Racing published in Rosebud and judged by on motor racing. Research Center, a library dedicat- Ursula Leguin won an honorable mention Walt Hansgen: His Life and ed to the preservation of the his- in their fantasy fiction contest. Her essays the History of Post-War Michael tory of motorsports. A distance have appeared in America, Image, American Road Racing, his first Argetsinger runner, he also served as vice Writer’s Chronicle and elsewhere. (2006), won a Gold Medal for president of the Chicago Area Kast received an M.F.A. in writing from biography and was named Best of Books Runners Association. In addition, he Vermont College of Fine Arts and has pub- for 2006 at the International Automotive served on the board of the International lished fiction in The Sun, Nimrod, Rose- Media Awards. Trade Club of Chicago and was president bud, Paper Street and other publications. His second, a biography, Mark of the Publicity Club of Chicago. Carla Knorowski is chief executive officer of the Presi- Ruth Duskin Feldman dential Library Foundation and editor of Ruth Duskin Feldman, a longtime Mademoiselle magazine's 1952 College Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds member of the Society of Midland Board issue. A James Alton James schol- to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Authors whose first book at age 13 was ar, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and (Roman & Littlefield, 2015). published by Dodd, Mead & Co., died earned a bachelor of science degree with She has worked more than 30 years in May 18 of apparent heart failure. She was highest distinction from Northwestern in the nonprofit sector. At Northeastern 80. 1954. Illinois University, Knorowski served as As a child, Ms. Feldman appeared on In 1983, she became editor of the quar- vice president for the popular radio show “The Quiz Kids,” terly journal Humanistic Judaism, which institutional advance- and in her teens she was she edited for 32 years. ment and executive quizmistress of the Chicago Sun- SMA Treasurer Richard director of the Times Quizdown. In 1982 she Frisbie, also a former Quiz Kid, Northeastern Illinois wrote a book about her experi- said he once was on the same University Foundation. ence titled Whatever Happened show as Ms. Duskin. At the University of to the Quiz Kids? Perils and “She at the time was one of Illinois at Chicago, she Profits of Growing Up Gifted. the stars,” he said. “I was at served as associate She also co-authored four col- boot camp in the Navy, but had chancellor for alumni Carla lege textbooks, including texts appeared briefly on the show relations for the UIC Knorowski on human and child develop- Ruth Duskin when I was younger. The Quiz campus/vice president ment, and contributed to many Feldman in 1952 Kids and Navy PR people for the University of national and local publications. seemed to think it would sell Illinois Alumni Association and associate In addition, she co-authored two trade war bonds or something if I turned up one dean for external affairs for the UIC books: Communicoding (Donald I. Fine, more time. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 1989; Penguin, 1991) and Rematch: “She began her Quiz Kids career at an Her work in the Chicago cultural com- Winning Legal Battles with Your Ex earlier age than most and enjoyed many munity includes positions as Managing (Chicago Review Press, 1989). years of knowing a lot about everything Director of Development for the Chicago During her sophomore year at and becoming a national celebrity with Humanities Festival and an operations Northwestern University, she was chosen fan mail stacking as high as her head,” manager for the Museum of Science and in a nationwide search as a guest editor of Frisbie said. Industry.

LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 5 A history of the Society This is Part Four of the history of the bling up his fists," Garland wrote. "He has Darrow spoke at the SMA's annual din- Society. It profiles early members of the been forced to fight for every inch of his ner in 1935. "His talk gave our minds SMA. advance. 'Springfield still regards me as a much to think of and our souls much to "nut," he said.'" sorrow over," the SMA forerunner of he fifty-two charter members of the In the years after Harriet Monroe pub- Literary License reported. "'Enjoyed' is Society of Midland Authors in lished Lindsay's poems in her magazine, not the word to use for such a serious T1915 included many of the region's he became known as the "Prairie talk. We 'appreciated' it. We did thorough- leading literary lights. Troubadour." He was one of America's ly enjoy having him with us again." Edna Ferber (1885-1968) won the most popular poets during the last two Pulitzer Prize for her 1920 novel So Big. decades of his life. Zona Gale (1874-1938), of Portage, She also wrote Show Boat (which was Wis., turned from the sentimental made into the popular musical), Cimarron Clarence S. Darrow (1857-1938) is romance of her early fiction to stinging (which became the 1931 film that won the one of the most famous of American realism with her 1920 novel Miss Lulu Oscar for best picture) and Giant (the lawyers of all time, known for defending Bett. Her stage adaptation of that best- basis of the 1956 movie starring Elizabeth thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb in 1924 selling book made her the first woman to Taylor, Rock Hudson and for taking the pro- win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. and James Dean). evolution side at the "She was great-spirited and individual, Fanny Butcher Literary Scopes "Monkey Trial" fearless in her writing and her public recalled interviewing of 1925. He also wrote work," The New York Times noted when Ferber and then realiz- Lore a memoir, The Story of she died in 1940. Fanny Butcher recalled: ing she'd forgotten to My Life, books on legal "What I remember best about her, besides ask all of the questions Robert topics, and two novels: the fact that she was warm-hearted and she'd intended, pouring Farmington and An kind to a young interviewer, was her out her own soul Loerzel Eye for an Eye. telling me that she never wasted a minute, instead. "I believe that "But neither of that when she had to wait in a dentist's what happened that day is the secret of Darrow's novels was commercially suc- office, or was riding on a bus, or was sit- Edna Ferber's tremendous success as a cessful," John A. Farrell writes in his ting between acts at a concert, she always novelist, perhaps the secret of any novel- 2011 biography, Clarence A. Darrow: had her little notebook with her to jot ist's success-being sincerely and deeply Attorney for the Damned. "They were down ideas or paragraphs." interested in what makes any and every- imperfect, written in nooks of his life – one tick," she said. dashed off as after thoughts, almost. George Ade (1866-1944) first Ferber once said: "Life can't defeat a He was discouraged at the public gained popularity as a reporter for writer who is in love with writing, for life reaction, and abandoned the art. the Chicago Record, where he itself is a writer's lover until death." She Had Darrow found the means told anecdotes about city life in was inducted into the Chicago Literary and the dedication, he may his column "Stories of the Hall of Fame in 2013. have emerged as another Streets and of the Town." The Dreiser. Garland certainly Indiana native had come to (1879-1931) created a thought so." Chicago because of his fascina- style of verse that he called "singing poet- Farrell quotes comments that tion for observing other people. ry." Garland wrote in his copy of "If you want to keep tab on the "He chanted his verse and to hear him Farmington, which was inspired human race, you must go where say one of his poems was to hear tom- by Darrow's childhood in rural the interesting specimens are assem- toms, drums in battle, tinkling bells, as he Ohio. "This is very true, very Vachel Lindsay bled," he said. recited 'The Congo,' 'General Booth sad, and very beautiful," In his columns, "Ade wondered Enters Heaven' or 'The Chinese Garland wrote. Garland urged about the place of small-town and Nightingale,'" Butcher recalled. Darrow to continue writing fiction-and to rural migrants in the ethnic urban mix," Born in Springfield, Ill., Lindsay was revise the fragmentary Farmington, Timothy B. Spears wrote in The tramping around the country in 1912, "which has something rich and noble in Encyclopedia of Chicago. Ade's plays and sleeping in barns and handing out sheets its music." Darrow said he didn't have books, including Fables in Slang, earned he'd printed of his "Rhymes to be Traded enough time to devote to writing. Garland him as a reputation as a humorist in the for Bread." later noted in his diary: "I did not tell him tradition of . Hamlin Garland described Lindsay as what I really felt, which was that to "He wrote … in a plain style that let "rough-hewn," noting in 1914 that rewrite Farmington would be worth more human values show through without the Lindsay was growing more confident and than all his work in defense of criminals assertive. "I do not blame him for dou- and fools." Turn to Page 7

6 LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 n History Continued from Page 6 slightest sentimental bid for pity or William Dean Howells, the critic who dent of Kewanee, Ill., wrote popular pot- approval," author Finis Farr observed in was called "The Dean of American boilers and historical novels such as My his 1973 book Chicago: A Personal Letters," once told Butcher about Wyatt: Lady of the North. He wrote one dime History of America's Most American City. "She is the best writer in Chicago." novel with a rather unwieldy title: Wolves By the time Ade was a charter member of of the Sea: Being a Tale of the Colonies the SMA, he was living in Brook, Ind. Alice French (1850-1934), a fiction from the Manuscript of One Geoffry William Howard Taft made a campaign writer in Davenport, Iowa, wrote under Carlyle, Seaman, Narrating Certain stop at Ade's home when he was running the pen name Octave Thanet, using Strange Adventures Which Befell Him for president in 1908, and in 1912, Ade Southern dialect in her short stories and Aboard the Pirate Craft "Namur." hosted a rally for Theodore Roosevelt's nonfiction sketches of Arkansas planta- Bull Moose Party there. tion life. Clara Laughlin (1873-1941) "She was the pioneer in writing wrote biographies, histories, Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945) of the common people of the novels and plays, but she was was a poet, playwright and expert on Midland and especially the work best-known for her travel Japanese art – as well as a "poetic dream- people of the industrial towns," series So You're Going to… boat" and "the Adonis of Davenport," former SMA President John according to Fanny Butcher. "He never Stahl said. "She dignified the William Morton Payne lived here [in Chicago], so we didn't see people of toil by showing that (1858-1919) was a Chicago him often, but hearts went not pit-a-pat they, too, had souls; that they, too, literary critic, including work but bumpety-bump.” loved and suffered and sacrificed; for The Dial. Monroe called him Under the alias Anne Knish, Ficke co- that true nobility may be under coarse "my friendly enemy." authored Spectra, a spoof of experimental garments and be expressed in Maurice The Society's founding mem- verse, which caused a sensation in 1916 illiterate speech." Browne bers also included some major when critics took it seriously. "He is According to Stahl, she took figures in the little theater the farthest removed from the slap- her pseudonym "because Octave was movement that was springing up out of dash newspaper men now com- the name of her dearest girl chum Chicago at the time. ing to notice, a man of training, and she saw Thanet written on a taste, and skill," Garland wrote box car and liked it." Kenneth Sawyer Goodman (1883- in his journal after meeting 1918) was writing "practical little plays," Ficke in late 1914. Margaret Hill McCarter sometimes in collaboration with Ben (1860-1938), who lived in Hecht, the legendary Chicago newspaper- Edith Wyatt (1873-1958), a Topeka, Kansas, wrote popular man of “The Front Page” fame. Goodman Wisconsin native who lived novels such as The Peace of the dreamed of creating a theater that com- most of her life in Chicago, was Solomon Valley. "Her books are bined professional training with high per- a teacher at Hull House and active about plain, everyday people, and formance standards. in the Little Room. Her books, Arthur Davidson are plain everyday language," including the short-story col- Ficke Stahl wrote. She spoke at the Maurice Browne (1881-1955) started lection Every One His Own Republican National Convention the Chicago Little Theatre in 1912, one of Way and the novel True Love, in 1920, becoming the first the first theaters anywhere to produce reflected her commitment to social causes woman to speak at a GOP convention. intellectual and experimental plays in a and dramatized middle-class family life in small space. "We will try to avoid becom- Chicago. Eunice Tietjens (1884-1944), a ing dramatic cranks or to make our enter- Monroe called her "a friend whom I Chicago native, wrote poems that were prise a social fad," the Englishman told could trust and whose actively progres- published in Poetry and served as reporters. "Our fees will be kept as low as sive mind I had long admired." Monroe's associate editor at the magazine possible." Alice Gerstenberg remarked: "Edith's for more than a quarter of a century. She The Little Theatre performed 44 plays, books add information about the develop- also wrote fiction for adults as well as including 18 world premieres and seven ment of women in the first quarter of the children, travel books and a memoir, but American premieres. The biggest hits 20th century. … After a full reading of all she was known less for her own writing with critics and audiences were “The her books one has been steeped in the than her influence she had as friend, critic Trojan Women” by Euripides, “Hedda atmosphere of the Chicago locale. and editor on important writers such as Gabler” by Henrik Ibsen, “Mrs. Warren's Discriminating humor saved her from Edgar Lee Masters and Sara Teasdale. Profession” by George Bernard Shaw and oversentimentality and exaggerated melo- an original version of “The Passion Play.” drama." Randall Parrish (1858-1923), a resi- Turn to Page 8

LITERARY LICENSE, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 7 n History Continued from Page 7 Frank Lloyd Wright, , Gerstenberg joined the company after a nist themes that broke the traditional rules and SMA members Edgar Lee Masters chance encounter at Marshall Field's with of drama. In February 1915, her adapta- and Carl Sandburg took part in discus- a friend who told her about a new group tion of Lewis Carroll's “Alice in sion circles at the theater. that needed actresses. "This was a Wonderland” was the Players Producing "It is not too much to say that Maurice thrilling adventure; this was being part Company of Chicago's first production, Browne quickened the intellectual of an emotional pattern which opening at the Fine Arts Theatre to critical life of Chicago," writer Constance demanded the best that we could praise and large audiences. Thinking back D'Arcy Mackay observed. give," Gerstenberg later recalled on that play decades later, Gerstenberg "I felt a sort of awe for in her unpublished memoir explained her theatrical philosophy: "It is Maurice because of his British from the early 1960s, Come not a question of writing down to an audi- diction and hauteur," recalled Back With Me. (The typed ence, it is a matter of learning how to Alice Gerstenberg (1885- manuscript is at the Chicago obtain, in the highest degree without char- 1972), who acted in the Little History Museum.) "There was latanship, the desired emotional response. Theatre's first production, “The no monetary recompense It is not enough to write a script as you Trojan Women,” and other involved, all was donated talent, first think it out, but author, actor and Browne shows. "We Chicagoans given freely," she said. To director must, before offering the final were always unduly self-con- Edgar Lee Gerstenberg, it was more than a ensemble to view, they must stand off and scious about our frontier begin- Masters theater. "At last Chicago pos- consider their offspring as a whole and nings. Maurice was a blond sessed a focal point for the meet- make sure that its ensemble projection young man with blue eyes, with ing of the creative talents," she will 'click.' 'Clicking' is showmanship. I sort of crooked features and crooked teeth wrote. "It was this value, so precious to urge all theatre workers to attune them- and a kind of bony body. It was his schol- our lack-lustre city, that highlighted this selves to this psychic quality." arly and poetic spiritual dedication to the venture in history." inner essence of beauty which transfig- Gerstenberg became a pioneer of exper- Part 5 of the history will appear in the ured his personality with charm." imental theater, writing plays with femi- next issue of Literary License.

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