January 24th

Born this day in 1888, Hedwig "Vicki" Baum, who is considered the first contemporary "bestselling" author. While working in Berlin, Germany as an editor, Baum wrote and published her first novel, translated "People in a Hotel" published in 1929. It was a huge success. So much so, Baum was invited to Hollywood to adapt it into a screenplay.
Which it became the academy award winning film "Grand Hotel", yes that film. Greta Grabo says, "I want to be alone..." Baum wrote that famous line! She wrote more than fifty novels in her life time and ten of them were adapted into films.

Born this day in 1850, Mary Murfree or Charles Egbert Craddock. Murfree wrote novels and short stories based on Appalachia she grew up with in her childhood. Murfree choose to use a man's name as her pen, to be taken seriously. She wrote for the Atlantic Monthly for seven before revealing her true nature. Murfree's work is considered the first Appalachian literature written from a woman's point of view even if it began as a man's. I wonder....