Ann Head Explained

Ann Head
Image Upright:0.8
Birth Name:Anne Wales Christensen
Birth Date:30 October 1915
Birth Place:Beaufort, South Carolina
Death Place:Beaufort, South Carolina
Occupation:Writer
Notable Works:Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones
Years Active:1945–1967

Ann Head (née Anne Wales Christensen) (1915 – 1968) was an American fiction writer whose work was regularly published in magazines including Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Ladies Home Journal, and others during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

She wrote at least nine novels and two serial novels that were published in magazines, four of which were also published as books, and at least 50 published short stories. Her most famous work, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, a novel about a teen pregnancy, was made into a TV movie and stayed in print for four decades.[1]

She was a mentor to novelist Pat Conroy after teaching him when he was a senior in high school.[2]

Early life and education

Head was born on October 30, 1915, in Beaufort, South Carolina.[2] Her father was Niels Christensen Jr., who owned the Beaufort Gazette newspaper from 1903 to 1922 and served in the South Carolina Senate from 1905 to 1925,[2] [3] and her mother was Katherine (Nancy) Wales Stratton Christensen, from Boston.[4] [5] Head grew up in Beaufort and attended the school founded by her paternal grandmother, Abbie Holmes Christensen,[4] an abolitionist who moved from Boston to Beaufort and started the Port Royal Agricultural School, known locally as the Shanklin School, to educate freed slaves after the Union army occupied Beaufort early in the Civil War.[2] [6] Her grandfather, Niels Christensen,[4] was a Union soldier in the Civil War and served as superintendent of the Beaufort National Cemetery from 1870 to 1876.[7]

Head had three siblings — a younger sister, Andrea (Andy) Christensen Rawson,[4] who became a published poet in her later years; a younger brother, Stratton Christensen,[4] who was the youngest man ever elected to the South Carolina legislature before he was lost at sea while serving as a Navy ensign in June 1942; and an older brother, Niels Christensen III.[4]

In her adolescence, she was sent to Boston to live with her maternal grandparents Solomon Piper Stratton[5] and Annie Wales Stratton and to attend The Cambridge School, though she spent her summers and vacations in Beaufort with her family.[2] Head was a writer from an early age, and completed her first book at age 8. After graduating from high school, she attended Antioch College, Ohio, and studied social work, as part of which she had work experience in an orphanage, a hospital and a reformatory.[2] [8] She was already working as a freelance writer when she met her first husband, engineer and inventor Howard Head, in December 1938. They married on February 26, 1939,[9] and had a daughter. Head divorced her husband in 1944, and later married physician Stanley F. Morse, with whom she had a second daughter.[2]

Career

Head sold her first piece of fiction to Cosmopolitan when she was 28.[8] After her first marriage ended, she continued to write to support herself and her daughter. In 1946, Cosmopolitan used Head's name in their advertisements promoting the magazine to women readers as "filled with the world's greatest emotional writing",[10] saying, "she [the reader] is newly aware of the wonder and beauty of living, thanks to a beautifully told story by Ann Head";[10] "Ann Head's new story in Cosmopolitan Magazine has stirred her impressionable mind."[11]

Head wrote short stories, novelettes, and serials with "charm and gaiety" for magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, and Good Housekeeping. Her goal was to write one story a month in hopes of selling at least three per year.

When the fiction magazine market dried up in the late 1950s she turned to writing books and had four novels published. Her books were published in hard cover and then paperback in many countries. McGraw-Hill, the publishers of her first novel, Fair with Rain (1957), promoted it by sending to book review editors an engraved invitation to the wedding of Angela to David Blair, followed by a handwritten postcard informing them that the wedding was off, and finally, a copy of the novel with a covering letter from a McGraw-Hill representative.[12] The novel is written in the first person, from the point of view of Janet Blair, a mother of four children, the oldest of whom (David) is away at college, and writes to say he is bringing a girl (Angela) home. One reviewer, comparing Head to Betty MacDonald, described it as "a book full of sharp humor, very well assembled", although he thought that Head wrote with "a rambling style". Other reviewers said the book "maintains a light, swift pace ... breezily omitting all dull details"; "Ann Head's humor is ingratiating, and she writes of family life with a whimsicality that never descends to ickiness"; "recommended when you feel like meeting a pleasant and shrewdly observed family".

Although Fair with Rain received positive reviews, one reviewer felt that Head's second novel, Always in August (Doubleday, 1961), was a "vast improvement". Set on a plantation in South Carolina, it is told retrospectively in the first person by the main character, Lucy. Reviewers described it as "a tense romance" with "a good bit of drama .. and several hankies-ful of tears"; "primarily a romance but with a nicely sustained quality of suspense throughout." It received a largely positive response, although one critic said it had "a prosaic plot, written in a stilted style." Other reviewers found some faults: one reviewer considered the heroine "an apologetic door-mat [who] loses admiration if not sympathy by her whimpering", while another thought the villain, Gloria, was unconvincing, saying, "there just doesn't seem to be that much substance there." It was recommended to those who "enjoy entertainment mildly flavoured with tragedy", and its author was described as "skilled in descriptive ability and in setting atmospheres", who "writes of [the South] with [] love and understanding."

Everyone Adored Cara (Doubleday, 1963)

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (Putnam, 1967) became her best-known work and was made into a movie for television in 1971.[13] It was first published as an adult novel, and shortly afterwards marketed towards adolescents.[14] In the early 1970s, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones was included in the curricula and libraries of some schools, and was popular as an ' "adolescent novel" ... dealing with adolescent problems.'[15] There were some calls to remove it from schools due to its subject matter.[16] It was republished by Signet Books and was in print until recently.  

Head taught a creative writing class at Beaufort High School, where she mentored a student named Pat Conroy, who later became a famous novelist.[2] [17] The two spent much time together, and Conroy's autobiography included a chapter about Ann titled "Cookbook (My First Novelist)", noting, “Every time I sell a book, I put a rose on her grave.”[18]

Death

Head died suddenly May 7, 1968, after a cerebral aneurysm at age 52. She was buried the next day at the Parish Church of St. Helena in Beaufort.[17]

Published works

Novels (Books)

Novels (Published in magazines)

Novellas

Short stories

Serials

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Remembering Ann Head: Beaufort's Forgotten Author. Center. Literary. Pat Conroy Literary Center. en-US. 2019-07-17.
  2. News: Lauderdale . David . Lauderdale: Meet Pat Conroy's 'first novelist'. The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette . Bluffton, South Carolina . October 24, 2015 . 2018-12-06.
  3. Web site: Beaufort Gazette. South Carolina Encyclopedia. en-US. 2018-12-06.
  4. News: Auto Accident Wounds Fatal To Christensen . 18 August 2019 . The Greenville News . 20 August 1939 . Greenville, South Carolina . 8C.
  5. News: Miss Stratton Weds Senator . 18 August 2019 . The Boston Globe . 4 December 1912 . Boston, Massachusetts . 11.
  6. Web site: Historic African-American school honored with marker. thestate. en. 2018-12-06.
  7. Book: Johnson . Kristina Dunn . No Holier Spot of Ground: Confederate Monuments & Cemeteries of South Carolina . 2009 . Arcadia Publishing . 9781614232827 . 31 August 2019.
  8. News: Beaufort: An honest to goodness story-book town. Link. Mary. June 7, 1959. The State.
  9. Web site: Christensen Family Papers . ManuscriptsCollections, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina . 31 August 2019 . 21 . Anne Wales Christensen (Head) - 424. Wedding Announcement (Howard Head), 1939.
  10. Cosmopolitan . Tide . January 4, 1946 . 39 . 31 August 2019.
  11. Cosmopolitan . Printers' Ink . 1946 . 217 . 14 . 31 August 2019 . Decker Communications, Incorporated.
  12. News: Babcock . Frederic . Among the Authors . 1 September 2019 . Chicago Tribune . 14 April 1957 . Chicago, Illinois . 4–8.
  13. News: Mahan . Bill . Bo Jo Jones' bumpy past . 22 August 2019 . Independent Press-Telegram . 14 November 1971 . Long Beach, California . 6, Tele-Vues.
  14. Book: Gillis . Bryan . Simpson . Joanna . Sexual Content in Young Adult Literature: Reading between the Sheets . 2015 . Rowman & Littlefield . 9781442246881 . 42–44 . 31 August 2019.
  15. News: Sherman . Tamar Asedo . What do these books have in common? They're the books on THOSE lists . 22 August 2019 . The Ithaca Journal . 2 November 1974 . Ithaca, New York . 1–2 Leisure.
  16. News: Offenburger . Chuck . Red Oak Minister Seeks Removal of Library Books . 22 August 2019 . The Des Moines Register . 15 March 1974 . Des Moines, Iowa . 24.
  17. News: Breed . Allen G. . Pat Conroy. At mid-life, novelist tries to write his own happy ending . 22 August 2019 . The Evening Sun . 18 November 2000 . Hanover, Pennsylvania . C5.
  18. Web site: Pat Conroy: Beaufort native, novelist Ann Head introduced him to the greats. islandpacket. en. 2018-12-06.
  19. News: Trabing . Wally . Book Reviews: Fair With Rain, By Ann Head . 18 August 2019 . Santa Cruz Sentinel . 14 April 1957 . Santa Cruz, California . 16.
  20. News: Alexander . Charles . Hands, Mind & Hearts All Busy: She's Happy So . 18 August 2019 . Albany Democrat-Herald . 13 April 1957 . Albany, Oregon . 7.
  21. News: Goodwin . Van . November Day On Blair Farm In Carolina . 18 August 2019 . Fort Lauderdale News . 4 August 1957 . Fort Lauderdale, Florida . 68.
  22. News: Blair . David . Likeable Princetonian In Pleasant, Light Novel . 18 August 2019 . Chicago Tribune . 14 April 1957 . Chicago, Illinois . 8, Pt 4.
  23. News: Francis . Gen . Breezy, Fast-Paced Family Story Should Be Rewarding to Mothers . 18 August 2019 . The Times . 14 April 1957 . Shreveport, Louisiana . 4F.
  24. News: Johnson . C.W. . Like Visiting Old Friends . 18 August 2019 . Springfield Leader and Press . 14 April 1957 . Springfield, Missouri . B5.
  25. News: Baxter . Maxine . Some of the Recent Fiction. Fair With Rain By Ann Head . 18 August 2019 . The Cincinnati Enquirer . 21 April 1957 . Cincinnati, Ohio . 32.
  26. News: Ahlers . Margaret Ann . Lively Tale Of Family Entertains . 18 August 2019 . The Journal Herald . 18 May 1957 . Dayton, Ohio . 29.
  27. News: Ellis . Frances . Always In August Has S.C. Setting . 18 August 2019 . Florence Morning News . 17 September 1961 . Florence, South Carolina . 4B.
  28. News: Hall . Barbara Hodge . Violence Comes Home. Bad Things Happen 'Always In August' . 20 August 2019 . The Anniston Star . 1 October 1961 . Anniston, Alabama . 10B.
  29. News: Street . Edmond . Strong book does without usual raw sex . 20 August 2019 . The Birmingham News . 1 October 1961 . Birmingham, Alabama . E6.
  30. News: Babb . Stanley E. . 'Always In August' - Ann Head's Tale Of An Old Southern Mansion . 20 August 2019 . The Galveston Daily News . 14 January 1962 . Galveston, Texas . 7C.
  31. News: Donat . Pat . Absorbing Suspense In Novel Of South . 20 August 2019 . Northwest Arkansas Times . 17 November 1961 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 14.
  32. News: Mendy . Paul . This Plot You Know Already . 20 August 2019 . Quad-City Times . 24 December 1961 . 11D.
  33. News: Waller . Ruth . Always In August . 20 August 2019 . The Montgomery Advertiser . 14 October 1961 . Montgomery, Alabama . 4.
  34. News: Suspense Novel Set in the South . 22 August 2019 . Sioux CIty Journal . 11 March 1962 . Sioux City, Iowa . C4.
  35. https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20240704 Everybody Adored Cara at Faded Page
  36. News: B.H.H. . Youngsters Find Love In Tragedy . 22 August 2019 . The Anniston Star . 14 May 1967 . Anniston, Alabama . 10C.
  37. News: B.W. . Family Life Painfully True . 22 August 2019 . San Antonio Express . 14 May 1967 . San Antonio, Texas . 4H.
  38. News: Noyes . Virginia M. . Other Books Briefly . 22 August 2019 . Chicago Tribune . 18 June 1967 . Chicago, Illinois . 14, Books Today.
  39. News: Howe . Marjorie . New Books. Teen-Agers' Problem . 22 August 2019 . The Burlington Free Press . 10 August 1967 . Burlington, Vermont . 15.
  40. News: Bickham . Jack M. . Worth Reading. Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, by Ann Head . 22 August 2019 . The Daily Oklahoman . 9 July 1967 . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . 20.
  41. News: Gay . Alison . Teen Review. Problems Of Forced Marriage Told . 22 August 2019 . The Capital . 5 December 1967 . Annapolis, Maryland . 11.
  42. https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20220619 Carrot Top at Faded Page

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