Margaret Ayer Barnes
Encyclopedia
Margaret Ayer Barnes was an American playwright, novelist, and short-story writer.
She was educated at Bryn Mawr College
, where she earned an A.B. degree in 1907. She married Cecil Barnes in 1910, and had three sons, Cecil Jr., Edward Larrabee and Benjamin Ayer. In 1920, Barnes was elected alumnae director of Bryn Mawr and served three years. As director, she helped to organize the Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, which offered an alternative educational program for women workers within a traditional institution. Consisting mainly of young, single immigrant women with little to no academic background, the summer program offered courses in progressive education, liberal arts and economics. Women in the program were encouraged to develop confidence as speakers, writers and leaders in the workplace.
In 1926, at age 40, she broke her back in a traffic accident, and, with the encouragement of friend and playwright Edward Sheldon
, took up writing as a way to occupy her time. Between 1926 and 1930 she wrote several short stories and three plays, including an adaptation of Edith Wharton
's novel The Age of Innocence. In 1931 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her first novel, Years of Grace.
A 1936 lawsuit against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
for copyright infringement claimed that the script MGM used for the motion picture Letty Lynton
(1932
) plagiarized material from the play Dishonored Lady by Edward Sheldon
and Barnes. The film is still unavailable today because of this lawsuit.
Her son was architect Edward Larrabee Barnes
. Her older sister, Janet Ayer Fairbank
, was also a notable writer, and her niece Janet Fairbank
(1903–1947) was a well-known operatic singer.
She was educated at Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
, where she earned an A.B. degree in 1907. She married Cecil Barnes in 1910, and had three sons, Cecil Jr., Edward Larrabee and Benjamin Ayer. In 1920, Barnes was elected alumnae director of Bryn Mawr and served three years. As director, she helped to organize the Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, which offered an alternative educational program for women workers within a traditional institution. Consisting mainly of young, single immigrant women with little to no academic background, the summer program offered courses in progressive education, liberal arts and economics. Women in the program were encouraged to develop confidence as speakers, writers and leaders in the workplace.
In 1926, at age 40, she broke her back in a traffic accident, and, with the encouragement of friend and playwright Edward Sheldon
Edward Sheldon
Edward Brewster Sheldon was an American dramatist. His plays include Salvation Nell and Romance , which was made into a motion picture with Greta Garbo....
, took up writing as a way to occupy her time. Between 1926 and 1930 she wrote several short stories and three plays, including an adaptation of Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
's novel The Age of Innocence. In 1931 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her first novel, Years of Grace.
A 1936 lawsuit against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
for copyright infringement claimed that the script MGM used for the motion picture Letty Lynton
Letty Lynton
Letty Lynton is a 1932 MGM drama film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery and Nils Asther. The film was directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes. Crawford plays the title character, in a tale of love and blackmail.The film has...
(1932
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
) plagiarized material from the play Dishonored Lady by Edward Sheldon
Edward Sheldon
Edward Brewster Sheldon was an American dramatist. His plays include Salvation Nell and Romance , which was made into a motion picture with Greta Garbo....
and Barnes. The film is still unavailable today because of this lawsuit.
Her son was architect Edward Larrabee Barnes
Edward Larrabee Barnes
Edward Larrabee Barnes was a American architect.Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois into a family he described as "incense-swinging High Episcopalians", consisting of Cecil Barnes, a lawyer, and Margaret Helen Ayer, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for the novel Year of Grace...
. Her older sister, Janet Ayer Fairbank
Janet Ayer Fairbank
Janet Ayer Fairbank was an American author and suffragette, socially and politically active in Chicago and a champion of progressive causes. She attended the University of Chicago and in 1900 married the lawyer Kellogg Fairbank, the son of industrialist N. K. Fairbank...
, was also a notable writer, and her niece Janet Fairbank
Janet Fairbank
Janet Fairbank was an American operatic singer.She was the daughter of novelist and suffragette Janet Ayer Fairbank and Kellogg Fairbank, the son of industrialist N. K...
(1903–1947) was a well-known operatic singer.
Works
- The Age of Innocence, a dramatization of Edith WhartonEdith WhartonEdith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
's novelThe Age of InnocenceThe Age of Innocence is a novel by Edith Wharton published in 1920, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. In 1920, The Age of Innocence was serialized in four parts in the Pictorial Review magazine, and later released by D...
of the same name (produced 1928), made into a 1934 motion picture of the same name. - Jenny, a play, with Edward Sheldon (1929).
- Dishonored LadyDishonored LadyDishonored Lady is a film starring Hedy Lamarr, Dennis O'Keefe, John Loder, William Lundigan, and Natalie Schafer, directed by Robert Stevenson, and released by United Artists...
, a play, also with Sheldon (1930), made into a 1947 motion picture of the same name (aka Sins of Madeleine) starring Hedy LamarrHedy LamarrHedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress celebrated for her great beauty who was a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".Lamarr also co-invented – with composer George Antheil – an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary to wireless...
and released by United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. - Prevailing Winds, short stories (1928).
- Years of GraceYears of GraceYears of Grace is a 1930 novel by Margaret Ayer Barnes. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1931. Despite this, it is not her most well-known work; that honor belongs to Dishonored Lady, a play she co-wrote with Edward Sheldon, which was adapted twice into film .Barnes' alma mater, Bryn Mawr...
, a novel (1930), for which she was awarded the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
. - Westward PassageWestward PassageWestward Passage is a 1932 American drama film directed by Robert Milton and starring Ann Harding, Laurence Olivier, Zasu Pitts and Irving Pichel. A woman falls in love and marries, but soon discovers how unpleasant her new husband is. The film marked Olivier's first major role in the United States...
, a novel (1931), made into a 1932 motion picture of the same name. - Within This Present, a novel (1933).
- Edna, His Wife, a novel (1935), later adapted into a play of the same name by Cornelia Otis SkinnerCornelia Otis SkinnerCornelia Otis Skinner was an American author and actress.-Biography:Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis Skinner and his wife Maud Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage...
. - Wisdom's Gate, a novel (1938).
External links
- Margaret Ayer Barnes collection at Bryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr CollegeBryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
library - Photos of first edition of Years of Grace