People often ask "If you could have dinner with someone in history, who would it be?" Needless to say I get a blank stare from many inquirers when I say "
Elinor Glyn." The absolutely scandalous, razor-tongued Brit came to the United States in the early 1900's, spent time at the Russion court at St. Petersburg and Moscow, attended the fateful (and deadly) birthday weekend of Thomas Ince upon
William Randolph Hearst's yacht and literally defined the "
It Girl" for the 20's.
Upon her death in 1943, Moira Petty sliced her life into one unflattering sentence, "the chick-lit author of the early 1900s, with a dash of
Dorothy Parker and a dollop of
Barbara Cartland." Ms. Glyn would have swiftly and silently scratched her eyes out.
Glyn was born Elinor Sutherland in 1864 in Jersey, England. Upon her father's death her mother, older sister (fashion designer
Lady Lucy Duff Gordon) and French Grandmother moved to Canada. From an aristocratic background, she was strong headed, and rebellious and although she didn't receive much of an education because she did not like her Governesses, she did read everything she could get her hands on in her step-father's library.
Glyn married in her late 20's to a landowner and member of the gentry. The marriage was not a good one. Clayton Glyn was a drunk and abusive, and while they bore two daughters (Margot and Juliet) it was not unusual for Elynor to seek comfort in the arms of others such as
Lord Milner and
Lord Curzon.
She began writing during her marriage and first published
The Visits of Elizabeth in 1900. The book, which was serialized in The World was very popular and successful. Glyn used the money she made to travel throughout Egypt, France and Italy. She followed up her first success with
Reflections of Ambrosine. Her popular use of a autobiographic style which reads more like a diary than a novel was adored by her readers.
As she continued to write, her plots became less realistic and featured dominating heroes and sexually charged heroines. In the book which nearly ended her career and scandalized society (
Three Weeks) she blatantly depicts and affair between an older woman and a younger man. The couple makes love on a tiger-skin rug and produces an illigitimate son. These were NOT things that were discussed by "proper" people. That being said-it was one of the most successful books of the decade selling an unbelievable 2 million copies by 1916. Sadly, Glyn didn't make much money on the book because she trusted her drunkard husband's financial advice. His debts bankrupted the family by 1908, forcing his wife to write for money to support herself and her daughters. Despite continuing money problems, she was determined to live in a comfortable fashion and pursued other avenues of attaining such comfort. She had an affair with Curzon, a former viceroy of India, probably with her husband's consent.
For better or worse, Clayton Glyn died in 1907 and Glyn moved to Paris, where her literary output increased. She had another big seller with
The Man and the Moment, which was written in the popular romance style of the time in which the couple destined to be together does not get together until the very end. Glyn also expanded beyond novel-writing to publish stories and articles in popular magazines. She also was a war correspondent in France during World War I, visiting the trenches but wrote from the safety of the Ritz hotel.
Her finances improved in 1917 after she signed a contract with William Randolph Hearst for the U.S. rights to her novels. One of the first books to published under the agreement was The
Career of Katherine Bush (1916). While the book sparked a disagreement with Hearst, who wanted the heroine to be more agreeable, Glyn refused to change her text.
Because of her popularity as a novelist Glyn was asked to come to Hollywood and write screenplays by
Jesse Lasky of
Famous Players-Lasky. She proved to be very successful at screenwriting, because her scripts, much like her novels, were daring and sexy. Her first script was written in 1920 for leading star
Gloria Swanson. Her second screenplay,
Beyond the Rocks, paired Swanson with costar
Rudolph Valentino to provide another hit film.
Glyn produced a number of screenplays in the 1920s. She wrote
Six Hours and
The Romance of a Queen in 1923; the
King Vidor-directed
His Hour in 1924;
Man and Maid and
Love's Blindness in 1925; and
The Only Thing in 1926. Both
Man and Maid and
The Only Thing were of the same genre as The Great Moment, but failed at the box office. These failures forced Glyn to attempt a different kind of story. Based on her own short story,
Ritzy (1927)--a farce about a woman hunting a duke who pretends he is poor though he loves her--did not do well at the box office either.
While working on screenplays for Hollywood Glyn continued to write novels, one of which was
It (1926). The screenplay version of this story of liberated female sexuality restored Glyn's reputation as a screenwriter, although she was credited only as author, adapter, and co-producer;
Hope Loring and
Louis D. Leighton actually adapted the screenplay from her novel. The 1928 film starred
Clara Bow, whose sultry performance as a store clerk who has a crush on her boss and ultimately wins his affections earned her the name the "
It Girl." Bow's new label inspired a catch phrase of the time describing the liberated, jazz-aged, new woman and It became a definitive jazz age film.
Glyn followed It with another film starring Bow,
Red Hair (1928). A redhead herself, she used the hair color as a symbol for passionate women, though the movie did not have much of a plot. Up to this point, all of Glyn's scripts had been for silent films. She wrote her first non-silent script,
Such Men Are Dangerous, in 1929. That same year the 65- year-old novelist and screenwriter decided to return to England, in part because of tax demands.
Describing Glyn's role in Hollywood,
Victoria Glendinning wrote in the
Washington Post: "Elinor had a triumphant last chapter as the social arbitrator of Hollywood. Aging now, her hair dyed, her make-up over-bright, she worked on scenarios and instructed ignorant American actors on how real ladies and gentleman walked and dressed and decorated their houses. She was immensely grand."
