Blanche Oelrichs

Blanche Marie Louise Oelrichs ( born October 1, 1890 in Newport, Rhode Iceland, † November 5, 1950 in Boston, Massachusetts) was a popular American poet, writer and theater actress during the first half of the 20th century.

Life

Blanche Marie Louise Oelrichs was the youngest daughter of four children of the wealthy mining magnate Charles May Oelrichs and his wife Blanche Pauline Emilie DeLoosey. In addition to the families of the Astors, Vanderbilts, Rothschilds, Morgans Belmonts and whose family was one of the " Four Hundred ." Her childhood revolved around perfect behavior and the social representation. She was taught entirely at home by governesses and tutors with the help of her father's library. In addition to geography, history, mathematics, art, dance and music - Blanche also learned French.

On January 26, 1910 Blanche Oelrichs married on the family property in Newport Leonard Moorhead Thomas ( 1889-1937 ), son of a banker from Philadelphia. From the common connection went two sons, Leonard Jr. (1911-1968) and Robin May (1915-1944), out. After her husband got the degree from Yale University, he went into the diplomatic service in Rome and Madrid. At the same time, Blanche committed together with Anna Howard Shaw, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, and a number of other women 1912-1920 in the successful struggle for women's suffrage in the United States. She organized events and also financed the National American Woman Suffrage Association ( NAWSA ). Even after the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guaranteed women the right to vote, Blanche remained politically active woman until the mid- 1920s. Politics aside, they also found the love of literature and poetry, especially the works of Walt Whitman. Under the pseudonym Michael Strange, she published her first book of poems (1916).

Blanche was among the first members of the women's organization founded by Ruth Hale Lucy Stone League, which aimed, among other things, that women after marriage can retain their birth name. Among the co-founders were among other Jane Grant, wife of Harold Ross, and Beatrice Kaufman, wife of playwright George Simon Kaufman. Other members were Neysa McMein, Janet Flanner, Franklin Pierce Adams, Solita Solano, Anita Loos and Fannie Hurst.

Through their social activities learned Blanche originating from a theatrical dynasty John Barrymore (1882-1942) know and love. After her divorce, she went with him a new marriage, from the common union a daughter, Diana Blanche (1921-1960), out. The marriage with Barrymore, who was considered a manipulative and pathological egomaniac failed. A year later she married the prominent New York attorney Harrison Tweed (1885-1969), the marriage lasted until 1942. Blanche Oelrichs died of leukemia disease and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York.

Marriages

Broadway productions, under the pseudonym Michael Strange

Works under the pseudonym Michael Strange

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