Edna Ferber, Part 4: Broadway and the Wisconsin Sophisticate

 

In previous posts for this blog series on Edna Ferber's work, we've touched on a childhood full of moves from one place to another, and on her late-in-life work for Hollywood. 

In between those two phases of Ferber's life: New York City.

How'd she get there? From age of twelve onward, young Edna was involved in the arts and theater community of Appleton, Wisconsin. Might sound like nowhere to you and me, but compared to the previous stop in Iowa, Appleton was a bustling metropolis full of life and people. Edna wrote, directed, and acted in plays and wrote for school and community newspapers. 

As many talented young unmarried women did in Ferber's era, she found work as a city newspaper reporter, first in Appleton and then in Milwaukee. She also did political reporting for the United Press Association during her journalism career. But Ferber was forced to turn her hand to a quieter line of work -- fiction writing -- during a bout of ill health. 

Working from home, Ferber sold stories, and had some of these compiled and published in book form, She then got two huge boosts to her reputation as a writer, first when her novel So Big won a Pulitzer Prize. Following close on that success, Ferber's novel Show Boat was adapted for the stage became a hit musical. 

The success of  "Show Boat" brought Ferber into contact with New York's cultural scene, and she co-wrote two plays about New York theatre life. One of these, "Stage Door," was from the emerging-performer point of view, while the other, "Dinner at Eight," showed us the kind of people who invest in stage shows, attend the premieres, and write the reviews. 

The UPI website has a good article on "Dinner at Eight." And of course YouTube has the trailer. 

Lots of snappy dialogue and big names in "Stage Door," the trailer for which is also on YouTube. 

Ferber, of course, was a member of the Algonquin Round Table. This earned her the doubtful prize of a Hirschfield caricature. In the cartoon below, the author's at the right, with oversize jutting jaw and unbecoming hat.

I prefer this kinder -- and more accurate -- caricature of Edna Ferber, which I found on this site. 

Edna Ferber makes a brief appearance, played by Lili Taylor, in the 1980s film "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," though onscreen she's mostly a deliverer of a pointed and probably mythical bon mot. 

Next week: Looking at Edna

                                   Garbo