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Ethel M. Kelley

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Ethel M. Kelley
A white woman with dark hair in a bouffant style, wearing a dark top with a white collar
Ethel M. Kelley, from a 1918 publication
Born
Ethel May Kelley

June 21, 1878
West Harwich, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedAugust 1, 1955 (age 77)
Cambridge, New York, U.S.
Other namesEthel M. Kelly, Barbara Kay, Lucia Whitney
OccupationWriter

Ethel May Kelley (June 21, 1878 – August 1, 1955) was an American writer of novels, stories, and poems, active in the early twentieth century.

Early life and education

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Kelley was born in West Harwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, the daughter of Gersham Hall Kelley and Laura Etta Small Kelley.[1] She began writing for a local newspaper when she was twelve years old, and sold poems to national publications while she was still in her teens.[2][3]

Career

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Kelley wrote novels, stories, and poetry. One of her novels, Turn About Eleanor, was adapted for the screen as The Deciding Kiss (1918). Her bestselling novel Wings (1925) was called a "pop-eyed, nutty book",[4] mainly for its flapper characters and backwards timeline.[5] However, the book was also compared with works by Edith Wharton and Willa Cather.[6] Modern young people were also the main characters of Turn About Eleanor (1917)[7] and Beauty and Mary Blair (1921).[8]

Kelley was fiction editor at Hampton's Magazine from 1906 to 1913,[1] working with Theodore Dreiser.[4][9] She commented on children's literature and recommended books for children.[3][10] In 1927, she was one of the writers in a newspaper roundtable on the subject "Women and Wives—Are they Rebels Against Society?", along with Floyd Dell, Harvey Fergusson, Thyra Samter Winslow, and John Van Alstyne Weaver.[11] She sometimes used the pen names "Barbara Kay" and "Lucia Whitney".[1]

When I Was Little (1915), by Ethel M. Kelley

Publications

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  • "My Heart Hath a Song" (1901, Century)[12]
  • "Refuge" (1901, Century)[13]
  • "The Promised Land" (1901, Lippincott's)[12]
  • "The Artistic Temperament" (1905, poem)[14]
  • When I Was Little (1915, poetry collection for children, illustrated by Maud Hunt Squire)
  • "In the Bath" and "Whose Little Girl?" (1916, poems)[15]
  • Turn About Eleanor (1917, novel)[7][16]
  • Over Here: The Story of a War Bride (1918, novel)[17][18]
  • Outside Inn (1920, novel)[19]
  • "I've Got a Dog" (1920, poem)[20]
  • Elizabeth—Her Friends and Elizabeth—Her Folks (1920, for young readers, as Barbara Kay)[1][21]
  • Beauty and Mary Blair (1921, novel)[22]
  • Heart's Blood (1923)[23]
  • Wings (1924, novel)[5]
  • "De Profundis" (1926, poem)[24]
  • Home, James! (1927, novel)[25][26]
  • "Is Modern Woman a Rebel? Yes, and No" (1927)[11]
  • Strange Avenue (1932)[1][27]
  • Through My Open Door (1935, memoir, as Lucia Whitney)[1][28]

Personal life

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Kelley lived for several years in Detroit with her family.[2][12] She had long spells of illness throughout her life.[2][29] She died in 1955, at the age of 77, in Cambridge, New York.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Lawrence, Alberta (1939). Who's Who Among North American Authors. Golden Syndicate Publishing Company. pp. 538, 540.
  2. ^ a b c Kelley, Ethel M. (June 1918). "Notes and Impressions about Myself". Book News Monthly. 36 (10): 356 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ a b "Give Children Good Books; Ethel M. Kelley Has Decided Theories About Juvenile Literature". The Kansas City Times. 1915-10-05. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b McCommon, Katharan (1925-02-08). "Ethel M. Kelley Vividly Depicts the Flapper Soul". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 91. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Thompson, Charles Willis (1924-09-14). "Ethel M. Kelley's "Wings"". The New York Times. p. 4. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  6. ^ "Author Soon Will Stand with Cather". The Post-Crescent. 1924-09-17. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Turn About Eleanor; Anti-Matrimony Men". San Francisco Bulletin. 1918-03-16. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Steell, Susan (1921-06-26). "America is full of Marys". New York Herald. p. 81. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "The Gossip Shop". The Bookman. 64 (6): 760. February 1927.
  10. ^ "Christmas Book List for Girls/Ethel M. Kelley". The St. Louis Star and Times. 1921-12-14. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Women and Wives--Are They Rebels Against Society?". Corpus Christi Times. 1927-07-09. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b c "Writers of the Day". The Writer. 14 (8): 121. August 1901 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "The Century". Chicago Tribune. 1901-09-27. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Kelley, Ethel M. (Christmas 1905). "The Artistic Temperament". Centre of Vision. 4 (3): 69–70 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ Richards, Waldo (1916). High tide; songs of joy and vision from the present-day poets of America and Great Britain. Internet Archive. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 167–168.
  16. ^ Kelley, Ethel May; Bobbs-Merrill Company, publisher; Braunworth & Co., printer; Cootes, F. Graham (1917). Turn about Eleanor. University of California Libraries. Indianapolis : The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
  17. ^ Kelley, Ethel May (1918). Over here; the story of a war bride. University of California Libraries. Indianapolis : The Bobbs-Merrill company.
  18. ^ "'Over Here', a War Bride's Story". The Sun. 1918-07-28. p. 57. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Kelley, Ethel M. (Ethel May); King, W. B. (2009-11-16). Outside Inn.
  20. ^ Frothingham, Robert (1920). Songs of dogs. Houghton Mifflin company. pp. 91–92.
  21. ^ "Other Books for Children". The Indianapolis Star. 1920-12-24. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Kelley, Ethel May (1921). Beauty and Mary Blair, a novel. University of California Libraries. Boston, New York : Houghton Mifflin company.
  23. ^ "Tragedy, Humor Finely Mixed; 'Heart's Blood' Stands Prominently Among Notable Novels". The Windsor Star. 1923-09-22. p. 23. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Kelley, Ethel M. (1926-01-16). "De Profundis". Buffalo Courier. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Book Chat". The Bookseller and Stationery Trades' Journal (1114): 35. March 25, 1927.
  26. ^ Chamberlain, John R. (May 22, 1927). "Whoops! The Humorists Are Here; Mr. Arno's Drawings Are Funnier Than His Text -- "Home, James," and Mr. Benchley's "Early Worm."". The New York Times. p. 43. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  27. ^ "Psychic Bonds; Strange Avenue. By Ethel Kelley". The New York Times. 1932-03-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  28. ^ "Book of Memories". The Province. 1935-12-07. p. 53. Retrieved 2024-08-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Fiction: Recent Books: Dec. 9, 1935". TIME. 1935-12-09. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
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