Frank Norris Remembered

40. Julie A. Herne

40 / Julie A. Herne Julie Adrienne Herne (1881–1955) was the daughter of Realist playwright James A. Herne, whom Norris had interviewed when writing for The Wave in 1897. Julie, who in this 1952 letter revealed that Norris was the author of the unsigned piece, “Herne, the Unconventional,” was herself a playwright and popu­ lar actress . The Norrises’ friendship with Julie and her mother, Katherine, began in late 1901. Just before the Norrises returned to California in July 1902, they vacationed at the Herne estate on Long Island’s Peconic Bay—Julie’s mother serving then with George D. Moulson as a sponsor at the baptism of daughter ­Jeannette Norris. Source: Julie A. Herne to James D. Hart, letter, Sep­ tem­ ber 30, 1952, James D. Hart Papers, BANC MSS 81/107c, The Bancroft Library, University of California , Berke­ley. Dear Dr. Hart: I have your letter regarding the collection of Frank Norris’s letters and manuscripts which the University is assembling. I think it is a wonderful idea to create this enduring memorial to him. I enclose herewith one of two letters which I received from him, and which I am happy to give to your collection.48 The other letter from Frank Norris I gave to my nephew, Montrose Moses, Jr.,49 some years ago. I have written to him to ask if he wants to give it to the collection, or send it to you to have a photostat made of it. I asked him to write directly to you about it, but if you don’t hear from him and wish to write him, his address is:—Dr. Montrose J. Moses Jr., Honey Lane, Brookhaven, Long Island, N.Y. These are the only two letters I ever received from Frank Norris. He may have written to my mother, but if so, those letters were probably lost in the fire which destroyed our home in 1909, in which many valuable letters and papers and some of my father’s origi­ nal manuscripts were also lost. I have found no letters from Frank Norris among the few papers my mother 174 / Frank Norris Remembered left. I am sorry to say that we never owned a set of the Argonaut Manuscript edition of Norris’s works. I suppose you have already been in touch with Hamlin Garland’s daugh­ ters.50 Garland and Norris were good friends, and probably corresponded. I haven’theardfromthegirlsforyears,butIbelievetheystilllivein­Hollywood. The story of the two letters to me may be of interest. In the fall of 1901, a few months after my father’s death, I read The Octopus which had recently been published, and thought it would make a great play. I wrote to Norris and he replied, in the letter I gave to Montrose. I wrote a sec­ond note, asking for an appointment to talk the matter over, and his reply is the letter I am enclosing. The dramatization never materialized, but our meeting led to a memorable friendship. Frank and Jeannette (now Mrs. Black), lived within a few blocks of our home, and during that winter we saw them frequently.51 They spent nearly all the following summer with us, and my mother was godmother to their little girl, Billy. Frank was writing The Pit when we met, and that summer I read the galleys aloud to him and Jeannette. He died that fall, just as they were about to take a trip around the world. There is one statement about Frank Norris which I should like to see corrected, in the interest of accuracy and in justice to him. Dr. Edwards52 wrote me some time ago that Lars Åhnebrink, in his book, The Beginnings of Naturalism in Ameri­can Fiction,53 refers to the “influence” of my mother on Norris’s writing, and also finds “echoes of James A. Herne in the novels of Norris.” (I am quoting from Dr. Edwards’ letter—I haven’t read the book, but hope to do so.) Much as I would like to believe this, it simply is not so. We did not meet Norris until after my father’s death. Frank told us that he knew my father’s work only by reputation, and he expressed regret that he had never seen any of the Herne plays. He also told us that, as a young reporter on a San Francisco paper he had once interviewed my father, but that was their only meeting.54 In the spring of 1901, a few months...