Faith Baldwin
Faith Baldwin was a prominent American romance novelist, known for her significant contributions to the genre during the early twentieth century. Born on October 1, 1893, in New Rochelle, New York, she began her writing career at a young age, publishing her first poems at just eleven. Baldwin's literary journey included publishing her first novel, "Mavis of Green Hill," in 1921, and gaining widespread recognition through her serialized works in magazines like Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan. Throughout her career, she wrote more than 30 novels, several of which were adapted into films, including "Wife Versus Secretary" and "Skyscraper Souls."
Her writing often depicted ambitious young women navigating the complexities of career and romance, typically favoring marriage in the end. However, she also explored themes of personal struggle and community re-engagement in some works, reflecting the societal challenges of her time, including the Great Depression. In addition to her novels, Baldwin published poetry, juvenile fiction, and wrote a column for Woman's Day, maintaining a prolific output until shortly before her death on March 19, 1978. Baldwin's legacy includes not only her stories but also her influence on the portrayal of women in literature during a transformative era.
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Faith Baldwin
- Born: October 1, 1893
- Birthplace: New Rochelle, New York
- Died: March 18, 1978
- Place of death: Norwalk, Connecticut
Biography
Arguably the most famous and financially successful American romance writer of the early twentieth century, Faith Baldwin was born October 1, 1893, in New Rochelle, New York. She was the daughter of Stephen Charles Baldwin, a trial attorney, and Edith Hervey Finch Baldwin. She was educated in Brooklyn and Briarcliff Manor, New York. During World War I, she lived in Germany with a family friend. In 1920, she married Hugh Cuthrell, a U.S. Navy pilot who became president of Brooklyn Union Gas Company. They had four children. She began writing as a child, publishing her first poems at age eleven. She published her first novel, Mavis of Green Hill, in 1921, and in 1927 sold her first serial to Good Housekeeping. Her work also appeared in American, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Home Companion, and Cosmopolitan. She wrote a column for Woman’s Day from 1958 through 1965.
Eight of her novels were filmed, the plots sometimes sensationalized for the movies. These include Skyscraper Souls (1932), made from the 1931 Skyscraper (republished in 2003), Week-End Marriage (1932), and Wife Versus Secretary (1936, with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable). ForThe Moon’s Our Home (1936) and Men Are Such Fools! (1936), not only did she write the books, but she also wrote the film scenarios. Baldwin is credited with other screenplays, including Portia on Trial (1937). She also published poetry, including Sign Posts (1924) and Widow’s Walk: Variations on a Theme (1954, following her husband’s death in 1953). Additionally, Baldwin published juvenile fiction and fiction under the pen name Amber Lee. Other works, including American Family (1935) and Testament of Trust (1960) reflect her family history and religious faith.
Baldwin reached the height of her popularity in the 1930’s when, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, women sought escape from economic worries. Her heroines generally consist of young career women, ambitious and proud of their achievements, who are torn between the demands of career and romance. Generally, marriage wins. There are exceptions. In Blaze of Sunlight (1959), the heroine has been alienated from those around her and has deprived her children because of her protracted grief over the death of her husband; the novel’s resolution is not remarriage but reentry into the community around her.
Extreme exceptions are works published in the 1930’s under her name and that of Achmed Abdullah, a screenwriter and writer of adventure and mystery stories. Abdullah apparently was a pen name of adventure story writer Alexander Nicholayevitch Romanoff, a relative of the last Russian czar. Baldwin and Abdullah’s Broadway Interlude (1929), while offering a romance, focuses on an entirely cynical look at success on the commercial Broadway stage, while Girl on the Make (1932) continues that cynicism. This novel, however, illumines the post-Depression anti-Semitism and racism that, in some American circles, paralleled Hitler’s rise in Germany. Baldwin served on the faculty of the Famous Writers School of Westport, Connecticut. She published at least one book a year from 1924 until shortly before her death on March 19, 1978.