Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 - April 16, 1968), was an American novelist, author and playwright. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about the day of the year. ... Year 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Kalamazoo redirects here. ... is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... This article is about work. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... This article is about the day of the year. ... Year 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ...

Life and works

Edna Ferber was born in 1885 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper and his Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born wife, Jacob Charles and Julia (Neumann) Ferber. She would become a leading American author who wrote a number of successful books and plays. Kalamazoo redirects here. ... For other places with the same name, see Milwaukee (disambiguation). ...

After living in Chicago, Illinois and Ottumwa, Iowa, at age 12 Ferber and her family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where she graduated from high school and briefly attended Lawrence University. She took newspaper jobs at the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal before publishing her first novel. She covered the 1920 Republican and Democratic national conventions for the United Press Association. Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Ottumwa (pronounced Uh-tuhm-wa) is a city in Wapello County, Iowa. ... Appleton is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, on the Fox River, 100 miles (161 km) north of Milwaukee. ... Lawrence University, located in Appleton, Wisconsin, is a private undergraduate college founded in 1847. ... The Post-Crescent (also Appleton Post-Crescent) is a daily newspaper based in Appleton, Wisconsin. ... The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

Her novels generally featured a strong female as the protagonist, although she fleshed out multiple characters in each book. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination ethnically or for other reasons; through this technique, Ferber demonstrated her belief that people are people and that the not-so-pretty persons have the best character.

Due to her imagination in scene, characterization and plot, several theatrical and film productions have been made based on her works, including Show Boat, Giant, Saratoga Trunk, Cimarron (which won an Oscar) and the 1960 remake. Two of these works - Show Boat and Saratoga Trunk - were developed into musicals. When composer Jerome Kern proposed turning the very serious Show Boat into a musical, Ferber was shocked, thinking it would be transformed into a typical light entertainment of the 1920s, and it was not until Kern explained that he and Oscar Hammerstein II wanted to create a different type of musical that Ferber granted him the rights. Saratoga (musical) was written at a much later date, after serious plots had become acceptable in stage musicals. For films based on the musical, see Show Boat (film). ... Giant is a 1956 drama film and was directed by George Stevens. ... Saratoga Trunk is a 1946 film with Flora Robson. ... Hollywood had long since taken notice of writer Edna Ferbers talents. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The 1950s brought renewed interest in Edna Ferbers works. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... Saratoga is a musical with a book by Morton DaCosta, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and music by Harold Arlen. ...

In 1925, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book So Big, which was made into a silent film starring Colleen Moore that same year. An early talkie movie remake followed, in 1932, starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent, with Bette Davis in a supporting role. It was the only movie Stanwyck and Davis ever appeared in together, and Stanwyck played Davis' mother-in-law, although only a year older in real life, which allegedly displeased her, as did the attitude of the hoydenish Davis. A 1953 remake of So Big starred Jane Wyman in the Stanwyck role, and is the version most often seen today. The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... So Big! is a 1932 film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Bette Davis. ... Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was a four-time Academy Award-nominated, three-time Emmy Award-winning, and Golden Globe-winning American actress of film, stage, and screen. ... Brent (right) in Experiment Perilous George Brent (March 15, 1904 - May 26, 1979 was an actor in American cinema. ... This article is about the actress. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... Jane Wyman (January 5, 1917[1]– September 10, 2007) was an Oscar, Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actress. ...

Ferber was a member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of wits who met for lunch every day at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. Ferber and another member of the Round Table, Alexander Woollcott, were long-time enemies, their antipathy lasting until Woollcott's death in 1943, although Howard Teichmann states in his biography of Woollcott that this was due to a misunderstanding. According to Teichmann, Ferber once described Woollcott as "a New Jersey Nero who has mistaken his pinafore for a toga." The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits that met from 1919 until about 1929, though its legacy endured long afterward. ... The Algonquin Hotel opened in 1902. ... Alexander Woollcott, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was a critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. ...

Edna Ferber died on April 16, 1968, at her home in New York City, of cancer, at the age of 82. The New York Times said, "she was among the best-read novelists in the nation, and critics of the 1920s and 1930s did not hesitate to call her the greatest American woman novelist of her day." Said second cousin Jonathan Ferber of her passing, "The legacy of dear Edna shall live on in her words. We must never forget all that she has given to us." is the 106th day of the year (107th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Ferber had no children, never married, and is not known to have engaged in a romance or sexual relationship with anyone of either gender. In her early novel Dawn O'Hara, the title character's aunt is said to have remarked, "Being an old maid was a great deal like death by drowning -- a really delightful sensation when you ceased struggling." Ferber did take a maternal interest in the career of her niece Janet Fox, an actress who performed in the original Broadway casts of Ferber's plays Dinner at Eight and Stage Door.

Ferber was portrayed by Lili Taylor in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. In 2002 in her hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin, the U.S. Postal Service issued an 83-cent commemorative stamp as part of the "Distinguished Americans" series. Artist Mark Summers, well known for his scratchboard technique, created this portrait for the stamp referencing a black-and-white photograph of Ferber taken in 1927.[1] Lili Anne Taylor (born February 20, 1967) is an American theater, film and television actress. ... Mrs. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Appleton is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, on the Fox River, 100 miles (161 km) north of Milwaukee. ...

Partial bibliography

• 1911 Dawn O'Hara
• 1913 Roast Beef, Medium
• 1914 Personality Plus
• 1915 Emma Mc Chesney and Co.
• 1915 Our Mrs. McChesney (with George V. Hobart)
• 1917 Fanny Herself
• 1918 Cheerful - By Request
• 1919 Half Portions
• 1921 The Girls
• 1922 Gigolo
• 1924 So Big ( won Pulitzer Prize)
• 1924 Minick (with G. S. Kaufman)
• 1926 Show Boat
• 1927 The Royal Family (with G. S. Kaufman)
  • Revived in 1975
• 1929 Cimarron
• 1931 American Beauty
• 1932 Dinner at Eight (with G. S. Kaufman)
  • Revived in 1966, 2002
• 1933 They Brought Their Women
• 1935 Come and Get It
• 1926 Stage Door (with G. S. Kaufman)
• 1938 Nobody's in Town
• 1939 A Peculiar Treasure
• 1941 Saratoga Trunk
• 1941 No Room at the Inn
• 1941 The Land Is Bright (with G. S. Kaufman)
• 1945 Great Son
• 1945 Saratoga Trunk (with Casey Robinson)
• 1948 Bravo! (play with G. S. Kaufman)
• 1949 Bravo (novel with G. S. Kaufman)
• 1952 Giant
• 1958 Ice Palace
• 1963 A Kind of Magic

Musical productions based on novels by Ferber include: Personality Plus is the name of a book by Florence Littauer (ISBN 1-85424-509-0). ... So Big! is a 1932 film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Bette Davis. ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... For films based on the musical, see Show Boat (film). ... A play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, The Royal Family lampooned the famous Barrymore family acting clan. ... A recent printing of Edna Ferbers Cimarron. ... Dinner at Eight is a 1932 Broadway play written George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. ... Come and Get It is a 1935 novel by American author Edna Ferber. ... Stage Door is a 1937 film that tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a single boarding house. ... Saratoga Trunk is a 1946 film with Flora Robson. ... Saratoga Trunk is a 1946 film with Flora Robson. ... Look up bravo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ...

• 1927 Show Boat - music by Jerome Kern, lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld
  • Revived in 1932, 1946, 1983 and 1994
• 1959 Saratoga - music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, dramatized by Morton Da Costa

For films based on the musical, see Show Boat (film). ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. ... Harold Arlen (February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music. ... John Herndon Johnny Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was a popular American songwriter and singer. ...

External links

• Works by Edna Ferber at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Edna Ferber at Internet Archive
• Algonquin Round Table page at the Algonquin Hotel's web site
• Biography, photos, bibliography, etc. from the Appleton Public Library
• Edna Ferber at the Internet Broadway Database