Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst (* October 19, 1889 in Hamilton, Ohio; † February 23, 1968 in New York City ) was an American writer and journalist at the beginning of the 20th century. She was known by a large number of novels and short stories, some of which were filmed with great success. Among her most famous works include Back Street, Imitation of Life and Humoresque.
Life
Fannie Hurst grew up in St. Louis as the second child of a German - Jewish immigrant family. Her older sister died in an accident. Her father, Samuel Hurst, had emigrated to America in the 1860s and become a successful shoe manufacturer. Her mother, Rose Koppel grew up on a farm in Ohio.
The education Fannie was closely monitored by the parents. It was considered a precocious and highly intelligent. In high school, she began to write their stories and handed one to the national newspapers, including in The Saturday Evening Post and in Reedy 's Mirror. In 1909, Hurst received his doctorate at Washington University in St. Louis and the following year she celebrated her first literary success with the publication of the story It's not a Wonderful Life. Against the wishes of her parents, she went to New York City to study at Columbia University. Without financial support from their parents Hurst worked as a nanny, waitress and sold smaller stories to various magazines. In 1915, she secretly married the Russian pianist Jacque Danielson ( 1885-1952 ), the marriage was not until around 1920 publicly known. In the 1930s they maintained a long-standing affair with the Canadian Arctic explorer Vilhjálmur Stefánsson.
Hurst was one of 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 Blanche Oelrichs. In the following years she became involved with her friend Eleanor Roosevelt in several social organizations, including the National Urban League, National Advisory Committee, Works Progress Administration and the World Health Organization (English World Health Organization, WHO).
Fannie Hurst died aged 78 after a short illness in her apartment at the Hotel des Artistes in New York City. After the announcement of her death, the New York Times published an obituary on its first page. Hurst wrote between 1909 to 1968 eighteen novels and over 300 short stories, as well as plays, screenplays, memoirs, essays and newspaper articles. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages , and 1918-1961 were their stories and novels to the literary source of nearly 30 films.
Imitation of Life was filmed first time in 1934 with Claudette Colbert, under the title Imitation of Life and again in 1959 under the same title with Lana Turner in the lead role. Other adaptations were made for example by Backstreet (1932, 1941, 1961) Four Daughters ( 1938) Five and Ten (1931 ) as well as Humoresque (1920, 1946).