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FERBER, EDNA (1885-1968)
FERBER, EDNA (1885-1968)
Born on August is, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Edna Ferber spent her early years in Iowa, a year in Chicago, and then her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. Ferber (1939) wrote, “Appleton represented the American small town at its best . . . curiously modern and free in the best sense of the words.” The Ferber family was a theatergoing family, and Edna repeatedly wrote in her autobiographies that she was “stage-struck.”
Ferber's writing career began at age seventeen, as a newspaper reporter, making rounds on foot. In 1910, she had her first short story published. With her stories of Emma McChesney, a traveling saleswoman, Ferber gained great popularity. They were first published in national magazines and collected in books; then in collaboration with George V. Hobart, a play, Our Mrs. McChesney, was produced on Broadway, on October 19, 1915, and ran for 151 performances.
Ferber's short story “Old Man Minick” caught the attention...