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t5 .THE TRIUMPH OF INDUSTRY: WOMEN IN LOVE It seems to me that the girl who goes out and becomes financially independent and acquires a profession by which she is always able to earn her living eventually gets it in the neck.... I am going so far as to . advocate keeping the unmarried woman out ofbusiness or ifshe decides to accept the office life, she must renounce at the same time all thoughts of marriage.... I can't get the whole idea over to you, but of course it engrosses me.-~Charles G. Norris to Fannie Hurst, 1923 "GOD MADE LITTLE ApPLES" U ndaunted by brickbats of hostile critics, Fannie Hurst sailed into the 1930S buoyed not only by her army of dedicated readers but also by the lasting literary friendships she had made and the sociopolitical connections she had forged. Her longtime affection for and association with the Norrises, Charles G. (CeeGee) and Kathleen-Hurst referred to them as "Dear Both"-had always generated mutual support.I Her interest in supporting Black artists drawn to New York by the Harlem Renaissance carried with it not simply Fannie Hurst's well-studied relationship with Zora Neale Hurston but the friendship of Carl Van Vechten, who praised Hurst's work and who appreciated her recommendations for reading that might enrich his leisure.2 Beginning in the late 1920S, too, Theodore Dreiser had begun to tempt Hurst to many of his literary soirees, often suggesting that she simply "step in" to meet "various interesting people" and "to trade a few ideas."3 Delighted with such attention, Hurst was not shy about expressing her pleasure-"Would I like to come to tea Friday afternoon? I would! And will"4-once apologizing for a prior dinner engagement with an academic by vowing to "concentrate on the early departure of my college president ... and look in on you and your intimate group:,j Valuing her good sense and per- THE TRIUMPH OF INDUSTRY ception, Dreiser, having sued Paramount Pictures over his dissatisfaction with Hollywood's version of AnAmerican Tragedy, requested that Hurst serve on the impartial committee ofjudges along with literati Floyd Dell, Burton Rascoe, George Jean Nathan, and Harry Hansen. 'Ib be held in such esteem by the intimidating Dreiser no doubt provided Fannie Hurst significant insulation against criticism ofher work by less prestigious pens. . Similarly, Hurst's name had come to be a valued political asset, respected for her activities in the social arena as much as for the huge audience her writing commanded. Asked to serve on a nonpartisan committee for the election of Heywood Broun, Socialist, for Congress -"Your support won't obligate you to any political action,,6Hurst , two months later, saw her name prominently listed alongside others' whose achievement in letters was impressive: Robert Benchley, Dell, Dreiser, Edna Ferber, George S. Kaufman, and Elmer Rice.7 By the early 1930s, Hurst had become good friends with Eleanor Roosevelt , then First Lady ofNew York State, through their mutual concern over the plight of domestic workers, Mrs. Roosevelt having praised Lummox in a letter: "You have done much more than any of us could do in many years through that book."s Fannie Hurst thereupon visited Hyde Park to discuss social concerns; she soon became friends with FDR and later became a frequent guest of the Roosevelts in the White House, her real or imagined proximity to the president not going unnoticed by other writers.9 Indeed, when Rex Beach believed he had formulated a plan "for stirrlUlating recovery in Alaska;' he solicited the aid of Hurst: "If you feel like dropping a note to President Roosevelt, it would be greatly appreciated."IO Her arch reply preserved the mystery of her possible power in Washington: "For whatever it is worth, and I hope something ... I will be very glad to write."1I Fannie Hurst's sociopolitics, dearly, had now assumed marathon proportions , the press reporting her assortm.ent of causes and crusades: raising money for striking textile workers in North Carolina,12 urging passage of the Griffin Bill to allow aliens who are pacifists to enter the country,13 speaking on behalf of unemployed musicians,'4 open- . ing the drive for a disarmament petition,15 appealing for funds for the Sal . A r6 • , . h 17 N h· 18 h vatlon. rmy, supportmg women s ng ts, egro ousmg, t e organizing ofwhite-collar workers,19 and birth controL20 She opposed stage censorship.21 Throughout her catholicity of interests, though, Hurst kept...

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