Helen Howe

Helen Howe (January 11, 1905 – February 1, 1975) was an American novelist, biographer and monologuist.

Helen Howe
Born	January 11, 1905
Died	February 1, 1975
Nationality	United States of America

Education

Howe was educated in private schools in Boston including Milton Academy where she graduated in 1922 before attending Radcliffe College for a year. She also attended the Theatre Guild School in New York. Howe had a skill in mimicry and discovered she enjoyed writing her own character sketches to perform.

Career

She had a career as a monologuist for over fifteen years with shows across America. She gave several performances in The White House. In 1936 she took her show to both the Arts Theatre and Mercury Theater in London. Howe also produced books exploring the kinds of characters she portrayed in her sketches. Her first published novel was in 1943. She began the second half of her career more as a novelist.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Family

Helen Huntington Howe was born to Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe and Fanny Huntington Quincy Howe on 11 January 1905. Her father was an author and biographer while her mother was known as an essayist and author. Her mother was from a long line of Quincys in Boston, stretching back through her great-great-great-grandfather Josiah Quincy Jr. Her brother Quincy went on to become a writer, editor and radio commentator while Mark became a law professor in Harvard University and a biographer.

Personal life

Howe married Reginald Allen who had worked as a curator of the Gilbert and Sullivan Collection in the Pierpont Morgan Library. She lived in New York, on Fifth Avenue. Howe died in 1975. Her service was at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and her grave is in Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, Massachusetts. Her papers are archived in Harvard.[1][9][10][11][7]

Bibliography

• The whole heart, 1943
• We happy few, 1946
• The circle of the day, 1950
• The success, 1956
• The fires of autumn, 1959
• The gentle Americans, 1864-1960 : biography of a breed, 1965
• Wheels: biographical sketch of John Brooks Wheelwright, 1966

References and sources

1. "Helen Howe, Satiric Monologist Who Became Writer, Dies at 70". The New York Times. 1975-02-02. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
2. Pinzer, M.; Rosen, R.; Davidson, S.; Howe, F.Q.; Howe, F. (1997). The Maimie Papers: Letters from an Ex-prostitute. Helen Rose Scheuer Jewish women's series. Feminist Press at the City University of New York. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-55861-143-6. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
3. Howe, S. (1996). Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979. New Directions. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8112-2376-8. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
4. Merriam-Webster, Inc (1984). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms. A Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. p. 896. ISBN 978-0-87779-341-0. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
5. Heller, Terry (1905-01-11). "Jewett Texts". Coe College - Cedar Rapids Iowa. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
6. Hurley, N. (2018). Circulating Queerness: Before the Gay and Lesbian Novel. University of Minnesota Press. p. 400. ISBN 978-1-4529-5700-5. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
7. Kimball, Sue Laslie (2000). "Howe, Helen (1905-1975), writer and monologuist | American National Biography". www.anb.org. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1602702.
8. "THE LONDON JOURNAL, 1774–1775". Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
9. "Helen Frances Huntington Howe Allen (1905-1975) -..." Find A Grave-gedenkplek (in Dutch). 1905-01-11. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
10. "Collection: Additional papers of Helen Howe, 1872-1975". HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
11. "Collection: Papers of Helen Howe, 1872-1975". HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-01-15.