George Davis (editor)

George Garfield Davis
Born	(1906-02-04)February 4, 1906 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	November 25, 1957(1957-11-25) (aged 51) Berlin, Germany
Resting place	Ludington, Michigan
Occupation	Novelist and Editor
Notable works	The Opening of a Door (1931)
Spouse	Lotte Lenya ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 1957)​

George Davis (February 4, 1906 – November 25, 1957) was an American magazine editor active in the mid-20th century. He held editorial roles at Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle. In addition to his editorial work, Davis was also a fiction writer.

Early life

Davis was born on February 4, 1906, in Chicago, Illinois to Canadian immigrants. He was the youngest son out of five boys; an older sister died of diphtheria before his birth. His father worked nights as a pharmacist while attending medical school at the University of Illinois' College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. His father graduated on June 4, 1909, when Davis was 3. In 1910, the family moved to Clinton, Michigan.

The family moved to Highland Park, Michigan, in central Detroit in 1918. Soon after, Davis enrolled in Tilden Elementary School. After graduating from Tilden in 1919, Davis attended Central High School.

The wife of Davis' eldest brother Harold taught Davis how to speak French. Upon graduating from high school in 1923, he was fluent in the language.

He entered Detroit's City College (now Wayne State University) but soon left for Chicago, where he worked in the office of a steel company before taking a job in Marshall Field's book department. In December 1926, Davis returned to Highland Park to ask his father for permission and funds to go to Paris and join the growing post-war community of American expatriate writers and artists there. In 1927, he travelled to France and wrote his novel, The Opening of a Door, published by Harper in 1931.

Literary career

The Opening of a Door

His only novel, The Opening of a Door, was published in 1931. The novel explores the hypocrisies and tragedies of midwestern middle-class life. Clifton Fadiman wrote that "the smoothness of the prose, the unity of the tone… are all the marks of a practiced craftsman. It is one of the most unfirstish [sic] first novels I have ever read. It is difficult to believe it is the work of one so young." Davis was twenty-four when the novel was published by Harper Brothers. It received critical acclaim in 1931.

Editorship

Davis served as fiction editor for Harper's Bazaar from 1936 to 1941. After leaving Harper's, he served as an editor for Mademoiselle for eight years. Davis, who was homosexual, helped to introduce literature to women's magazines. He supported literary figures such as Truman Capote, Ray Bradbury, Jane Bowles, and Robert Lowry early in their careers.

February House

In October 1940, Davis and several friends, including Gypsy Rose Lee, founded an art commune at 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York. It was dubbed February House by Anaïs Nin for many of its residents' February birthdays. The house was a hub of cultural activities, with figures like Benjamin Britten, W. H. Auden, and Carson McCullers as live-in guests. Sherill Tippins wrote a study of 7 Middagh Street, entitled February House, which was published in 2005.

Death

Davis died of a heart attack in Berlin, Germany, on November 25, 1957. He had been helping his wife, singer Lotte Lenya, make recordings.

Davis in literature

Truman Capote satirized George Davis in the character "Boaty" in his unfinished novel Answered Prayers.

References

• Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf, 2005.
• Tippins, Sherill. February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof In Wartime America. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.