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Ethel Smith Dorrance

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Ethel Smith Dorrance
Born1880 Edit this on Wikidata
Pennsylvania Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationWriter Edit this on Wikidata
Damned: The Intimate Story Of A Girl (1923)

Ethel Arnold Smith Dorrance Hickey (born 1880) was an American writer.

Ethel Smith Dorrance was born in 1880 in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Rev. William John Smith, a Presbyterian minister.[1]

Her most famous work was Damned: The Intimate Story Of A Girl (1923). It is the story of Dolores Trent, a woman consigned to Hell for her sexual activity who recounts her life story to Satan in a series of stories a la One Thousand and One Nights. Initially published anonymously, her name was publicly revealed when Universal Pictures purchased the film rights. When Universal declined to adapt the film, Dorrance publicly blamed the Hays Code, leading the Authors League of America to unsuccessfully intervene on her behalf. [2]

With her husband James French Dorrance, she wrote novels and short stories in a variety of genres, mostly Westerns. These included two novels featuring Mountie Sergeant Alfred Rawson, Get Your Man (1921) and Back of Beyond (1925).[3] Several of their works were adapted for film: His Robe of Honor (1918) from their novel of the same name and Whitewashed Walls (1919) and Who Knows? (1917) from their short stories of the same name.[4]

Personal life[edit]

She married James French Dorrance in 1906.[5] They divorced in 1922.[6] She married lawyer James H. Hickey in 1923.[7]

Bibliography[edit]

  • A maid and a man. Illustrations by Charlotte Weber-Ditzler. New York, Moffat, Yard, 1909.[8]
  • Damned: the intimate story of a girl. Macaulay, New York, 1923[9]

with James French Dorrance:

  • His Robe of Honor. Moffat Yard & Company,1916.[10]
  • Flames of the Blue Ridge. Macaulay, New York, 1919.[11]
  • Glory Rides the Range. Macaulay, New York, 1920.[12]
  • Get Your Man: A Canadian Mounted Mystery.  Macaulay, 1921.[10][13]
  • Lonesome Town. Macaulay, 1922.[11]
  • Back of Beyond: An Adventure Story. Chelsea House, New York, 1925.[13][14]
  • The Rim O' The Range. Chelsea House, New York, 1926.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Writer's Digest. Writer's Digest. 1921.
  2. ^ Movie censorship and American culture. Internet Archive. Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press. 1996. ISBN 978-1-56098-668-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Nevins, Jess (2017). The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes.
  4. ^ The complete index to literary sources in film. Internet Archive. London : Bowker-Saur. 1999. ISBN 978-3-11-095194-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Oakland Tribune Sun, Aug 05, 1906 ·Page 7
  6. ^ Carpinteria Herald Thu, Aug 30, 1923
  7. ^ Dayton Daily News Sun, Jul 15, 1923 ·Page 37
  8. ^ American fiction, 1901-1910 : cumulative author index to the microfilm collection. Internet Archive. Woodbridge, CT : Research Publications. 1984. ISBN 978-0-89235-082-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ Reginald, R. (1979). Science fiction and fantasy literature : a checklist, 1700-1974 : with Contemporary science fiction authors II. Internet Archive. Detroit : Gale Research Co. ISBN 978-0-8103-1051-3.
  10. ^ a b R.R. Bowker Company. Dept. of Bibliography; R.R. Bowker Company. Publications Systems Dept (1983). Fiction, 1876-1983 : a bibliography of United States editions : classified author index, main author index, title index, key to publishers and distributors abbreviations/directory of publishers and distributors. Internet Archive. New York : Bowker. ISBN 978-0-8352-1880-1.
  11. ^ a b Smith, Geoffrey D. (Geoffrey Dayton) (1997). American fiction, 1901-1925 : a bibliography. Internet Archive. Cambridge, U.K. : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43469-0.
  12. ^ Van Derhoof, Jack Warner cn (1971). A bibliography of novels related to American frontier and colonial history. Internet Archive. Troy, N.Y., Whitston Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87875-007-8.
  13. ^ a b Simkin, John E. (1998). The whole story : 3000 years of sequels and sequences. Internet Archive. Port Melbourne, Vic., Australia : Thorpe. ISBN 978-1-86452-022-4.
  14. ^ Smith, Geoffrey D. (Geoffrey Dayton) (1997). American fiction, 1901-1925 : a bibliography. Internet Archive. Cambridge, U.K. : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43469-0.
  15. ^ Baym, Nina (2011). Women writers of the American West, 1833-1927. Internet Archive. Urbana, Chicago : University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03597-5.