Ursula Parrott

Katherine Ursula Towle (March 26, 1900 – September 1957) better known by her pen name Ursula Parrott, was an American writer of romantic fiction stories and novels.

Poster for Left Over Ladies (1931), based on an article by Ursula Parrott
Ursula Parrott
BornKatherine Ursula Towle
(1900-03-26)March 26, 1900
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
DiedSeptember 1957 (1957-10) (aged 57)
New York City, United States
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
GenreRomantic fiction
Spouse
Lindesay Marc Parrott Sr.
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(m. 1922; div. 1928)​

Charles Terry Greenwood
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(m. 1931; div. 1932)​

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​
(m. after 1934, div))​

Alfred Coster Schermerhorn
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(m. 1939; div. 1944)​
ChildrenLindesay Marc Parrott Jr.

Personal life

Ursula Parrott was born in Boston in 1900. She graduated from Radcliffe, a small women's liberal arts college in Cambridge Massachusetts. After graduation she moved to Greenwich Village, where she met Lindesay Marc Parrott in 1920.

In 1922, Ursula married Lindesay Marc Parrott, who at the time was a reporter for The New York Times. They had a son named Lindesay Marc Parrott Jr. two years later. However, his existence was kept a secret from her husband, as he never wanted to have a son. So, Ursula left the child in the custody of her father and sister and returned to Lindesay, still not speaking a word about the son. It was until 1924 that Lindesay found out that he was a father. As a result, he immediately divorced her, rejected the existence of his son, and never once went to see him. As for Ursula, she still saw her son often, brought him gifts, and eventually gave him a Harvard education.

Since the divorce, Ursula had married three other men, while she simultaneously continued to stay involved with her first husband: Charles T. Greenwood, a prominent New York banker, in 1934, John Wildberg, an attorney, in 1937, and Air Force Major Coster Schermerhorn in 1945. She was also rumored to have had affairs with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis.

Parrott died in New York in 1957 at the age of 57 due to cancer. She died in the charity ward of a New York City hospital.

Career

Parrott's first novel, Ex-Wife, was published in 1929,[1] and was subsequently adapted for film as The Divorcee starring Norma Shearer (who won an Oscar for her role) in 1930. Shearer also starred in an adaptation of the 1930 Strangers May Kiss. Her novel Next Time We Live was adapted for film as Next Time We Love in 1936.[2] Her first novel sold more than 100,000 copies the first year. MGM paid $20,000 for the film rights as well.[3]

As a writer, Parrott was most successful between 1929 and 1940. Her son estimated that she earned around $700,000 (over $8 million in today's dollars) during that period of time.

In December 1942, Parrott became the subject of national coverage when she was brought up on federal charges of attempting to help the jazz guitarist Michael Neely Bryan escape from the Miami Beach Army stockade,[4][5][6] but was found innocent by the jury at her trial.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. "Books: Man Leaves Woman". Time Magazine. August 26, 1929. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  2. Frank S. Nugent (January 31, 1936). "Next Time We Love (1936) THE SCREEN; Talkative Is the Word for 'Next Time We Love,' Current at the Radio City Music Hall". New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  3. "Formerly Famous: Ursula Parrott ⋆ Cladrite Radio". cladriteradio.com. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  4. "U.S. At War: The New Ursula Parrott Story". Time Magazine. January 11, 1943. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  5. "Ursula Parrott is Indicted On Three Federal Charges". St. Petersburg Times. January 9, 1943. p. 9. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  6. "Novelist Seen Making Love In Army Stockade". The Pittsburgh Press. February 26, 1943. p. 14. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  7. "Ursula Parrott Freed of Federal Charges". The Tuscaloosa News. February 28, 1943. p. 10. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  8. New York Evening Post, Dec. 30, 1942 (AP) "Ursula Parrott, the author, in a press statement today took full responsibility"
Library resources about
Ursula Parrott
By Ursula Parrott
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