Helen Lawrenson

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Helen Lawrenson (birth name: Helen Brown; born October 1, 1907 in LaFargeville, New York , USA; † April 5, 1982 in New York City ) was an American editor and writer who, with her blunt descriptions of the New York society of the Gained fame in the 1930s.

Life

Helen Brown was born on October 1, 1907 in LaFargeville, New York, seven miles south of the Canadian border, to Lloyd Brown's daughter. Before starting her career as a newspaper reporter in Syracuse, she attended Bradford School and the elite Vassar College . She married Heinz Nordern (musician) in 1931 (divorced in 1932) and also published under the name Helen Brown Norden, before she met the Venezuelan diplomat López-Méndez in 1935 (divorced in 1935) and finally in 1940 Jack Lawrenson (co-founder of the National Maritime Union) (died in November 1957) married. The third marriage had a son, Kevin, and a daughter, Johanna.

Helen Brown Nordern was a senior editor and film critic at Vanity Fair from 1932 to 1935 and also wrote for Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , Look , Esquire and Town and Country . Frank Crowninshield once said of "the somber and colorful Helen Brown Norden" that she was "a decidedly revolutionary spirit, a satirist of a bold, even Rabelaisian rank, and a master of a highly individual style of prose". "Unfortunately she had such a strong aversion to writing that she seldom lifted her pen, and under the most adverse compulsion." Brown was the first woman to write for Esquire men's magazine. Her first article '' Latins Are Lousy Lovers '' (1936), initially published anonymously, in which she ridiculed machism as "quantity rather than quality", caused a sensation and was considered likely in an Esquire collection from 1973 Described as 'most infamous piece' in magazine history. In her 1975 memoir, Stranger at the Party, Lawrenson wrote that she wrote the article to amuse Bernard Baruch . Like Condé Montrose Nast , editor of Vanity Fair and other magazines, Mr. Baruch was a friend and admirer by both Lawrenson and Clare Boothe Luce , their longtime colleague and rival. In Esquire's 60th Anniversary Special, a quote from Lawrenson was chosen to evoke the spirit of the 1930s:

"Very few modern women either like or desire marriage, especially after the ceremony has once been performed. Primarily, women wish attention and affection. Matrimony is something they accept when there is no alternative. Really, it is a waste of time, and hazardous , to marry them. " - Helen Lawrenson "In Defense of the American Gigolo," Esquire , January 1939

Lawrenson, 74, was found dead after failing to appear for lunch with longtime agent Roz Cole and representatives of the Simon & Schuster publishing house on April 6, 1982 . At the time, she was working on her first novel, Dance of Scorpions, which was scheduled for publication in July 1982.

Works

In addition to numerous articles in Vanity Fair , Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , Look , Esquire and Town and Country , the following independent publications by Helen Lawrenson were published:

  • The Hussy's Handbook, Including Latins Are Lousy Lovers and Others . New York: Farrar 1936.
  • Latins Are Still Lousy Lovers . New York: Hawthorn Books 1968.
  • Stranger at the Party: A Memoir. New York: Random House 1972. (See also: Review by Jane O'Reilly in the New York Times " She never cried over spilt milk ", April 20, 1975).
  • Whistling girl. Garden City, NY: Doubleday 1978.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Lawrenson, Helen (b.1907). In: Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Anne Commire / Deborah Klezmer, 1999, p. 235 , accessed December 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c Laurie Johnston: HELEN LAWRENSON, 74, WROTE ABOUT NOTABLE SOCIAL AFFAIRS. In: New York Times. April 8, 1982, accessed December 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ The 1930s. In: Esquire - Special Sixtieth-Anniversary Edition. August 1, 1993, p. 86 , accessed December 30, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Lawrenson, Helen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brown, Helen (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American editor and writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH LaFargeville, New York, USA
DATE OF DEATH April 5th 1982
Place of death New York City