Stella Wynne Herron

Stella Wynne Herron (April 5, 1885 – March 1, 1966)[1][2] was an American writer and suffragist whose work appeared in a variety of magazines, including Collier's, Sunset, and Weird Tales. She is most known for her 1916 short story "Shoes", which pioneering film director Lois Weber adapted into a film of the same name. The film is now considered a feminist classic in early cinema history.

Early life and education

Estella "Stella" Frances Wynne was born on April 5, 1885,[3] though some sources report the year as 1886. She grew up in San Francisco as the daughter of Irish immigrants.[1] For college, she attended Stanford University and graduated in 1906. It was in school that she began her writing career. She worked as an associate editor for the university's journal 'The Stanford Sequoia',[4] and her play, The Original Miss Tewksberry, was selected to be the senior farce for the 1906 school year.[5][6] She also was an early member of the senior women's society "Cap and Gown", foreshadowing her later activism.[7]

Writing career

As detailed in The Writer, Herron's first piece to be accepted for publication was her short story "The Still of Ballywan." She had written it originally as a sophomore for a school assignment, and she had "written [it] hastily one night at the close of the term[.]" McClure's magazine went on to publish it in 1906.[8] Over the following sixty years, Herron would go on to write many short stories, several plays, a serialized novel, and an illustrated book of protest poetry. Her work was sometimes republished in collected short story volumes. For example, 'The Americanizing of André François', was republished in 'Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Part Two'.[3]

Two of her short stories, "Shoes" and "The Double Room Mystery",[9] were also made into silent films, and filmmaker Thomas H. Ince bought the rights to her short story "An Adventurous Day" in 1920,[10][11] though it never went into production. Ince paid Herron $500, a substantial figure at the time.[12] She was known for her prize-winning stories in various magazines, including "An Adventurous Day", and one trade journal even reported that, "Her work received the personal compliments of the late Theodore Roosevelt."[13]

Personal life

She married William F. Herron, a newspaper writer (later attorney), on September 18, 1907 in Salinas.[14][15] Eight years later, they had their only child, John Wynne Herron.[16] Herron and her husband were divorced by 1920.[17] From the mid-30s to the early forties, she lived in New York City as a poet, though she eventually returned to San Francisco.[18]

Her activism included campaigning for women's suffrage in California in the 1910s, and one point she even worked as the Chairman for the College Equal Suffrage League.[19][20] Her writing and activism connected her to many influential figures including journalist Alma Reed, who considered Herron a "lifelong friend", and painter José Clemente Orozco.[21]

Herron died on March 1, 1966, and she was buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park.[22]

Bibliography*

*list incomplete*

**publication date unknown

See also

References
  1. "Stella Wynne - United States Census, 1900". Family Search.
  2. "Stella W Herron - California Death Index, 1940-1997". Family Search.
  3. "The Milestone Cinematheque" (PDF). The Films of Lois Weber. p. 30.
  4. "The Stanford Sequoia". The Stanford Quad. 13: 153. 1907.
  5. "Calendar - 1906". The Stanford Quad. 14: 364. 1908 – via Google Books.
  6. "Plans Are Complete: 1906 Class Prepares for Graduation Festivities". The Stanford Daily. 31 August 1906. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  7. "New Society Formed". The Stanford Daily. 12 September 1906. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  8. Hills, William H. (October 1908). "Writers of the Day". The Writer: A Monthly Magazine for Literary Workers, Volumes 19-21. 20: 150 – via Google Books.
  9. "The Double Room Mystery". The Moving Picture Weekly. 4: 262–263. 1917 – via Internet Archive.
  10. "Ince Leaves Tuesday". The Film Daily. 11–12. 1920 – via Internet Archive.
  11. "Works of Prominent Authors to be Used by Ince for Stars". Exhibitors Herald. 10. 1920 – via Internet Archive.
  12. Lewis, Tom (1920). "Dollars From The Movie Hopper". The Editor: The Journal of Information for Literary Workers. 54: 171 – via Google Books.
  13. "Ince Buys Three Stories for Early Production". The Moving Picture World. 43: 1258. 21 February 1920 – via Internet Archive.
  14. "Stella Frances Wynne - California, County Marriages, 1850-1952". Family Search.
  15. "W. F. Herron and Miss Stella Wynne Wedded". The San Francisco call. Library of Congress. 21 September 1907.
  16. Herron, William Alfred; Hezlep, W. H. (1960). Our Herron family of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. p. 32.
  17. "United States Census, 1920". Family Search. 1920.
  18. "Stella W Herron - United States Census, 1940". Family Search.
  19. Herron, Stella Wynne (July 1911). "Suffrage During N.E.A. Week". Western Journal of Education. 16: 13.
  20. Johnson, Audrey Mackey (1962). A historical study of the woman suffrage movement in California, 1910-1911. University of the Pacific. p. 123.
  21. Reed, Alma M. (1956). Orozco. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 277.
  22. "Stella Herron". Find a Grave.
  23. Wynne, Stella F. (May–October 1906). "The Still of Ballywan". McClure's Magazine. 27: 266–274 – via Google Books.
  24. "Complete Stories". What's in the Magazines. 2: 33. 1907.
  25. Herron, Stella Wynne (1909–1910). "A Belated Boom". McClure's Magazine. 34: 316 – via HathiTrust.
  26. "Literary Notes". The Morning News. 28 December 1901. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  27. "The Blue Book Magazine". The General Fiction Magazine Index. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  28. Ashley, Mike. "Blue Book – The Slick in Pulp Clothing". Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  29. Herron, Stella W. (1917). "Ashes of Youth". Theatre Arts Magazine. 1: 60 – via Google Books.
  30. Herron, Stella W. (1918). "Ashes of Youth". The Quarterly Journal of Speech. 4: 373 – via Google Books.
  31. Herron, S. W. (1920). "The Ascidian". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. Books, Group 2. 17: 645 – via Google Books.
  32. Herron, Stella Wynne (1920). "Mink Cape". Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. 5: 716 – via Google Books.
  33. "Stories, Listed by Author". The FictionMags Index. 28 July 2019.
  34. Wynne, Stella (January 1924). "First Comes Commerce". Sunset. 24: 28 – via Google Books.
  35. Wynne, Stella (31 May 1925). "The Nob Hill Mystery". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 65. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  36. "Mrs. Stella Herron". Oakland Tribune. 6 March 1966. p. 30. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  37. Herron, Stella Wynne (September 1936). "Bowery Parade and Other Poems of Protest". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1, Books, Group 1. 68: 6615 – via Google Books.
  38. Herron, Estella Wynne (1940). "Entertainment at evening". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. 13: 120 – via Google Books.
  39. Herron, Estella Wynne (13 May 1946). "Hearndon House". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. 19: 85 – via Google Books.
  40. "Bailey Willis Papers: Finding Aid". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  41. Herron, Stella W. (1959). "Ten Blocks Away". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 2. Periodicals. 12: 33 – via Google Books.

Further reading
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