Cecil Dorrian Explained

Cecil Inslee Dorrian was one of eighteen women whom the American Expeditionary Forces accredited as visiting war correspondents during World War I.[1] [2] She wrote about the war in France and England for the Newark Evening News, beginning in 1914, and her work often ran on the front page.[3] When Dorrian died, in 1926, a front-page article in the Newark Evening News claimed that she had been “the first accredited American woman war correspondent to reachthe battlefront in France in 1918.”[4]

Cecil Inslee Dorrian
Birth Date:20 September 1882
Birth Place:New York, US
Death Place:Baltimore, Maryland, US

Early life

Dorrian was born September 20, 1882, in Troy, New York, to Joseph and Marie Dorrian.[5] [6] Her father was a secretary to Edward Weston.[7] Dorrian attended Barnard College and graduated in 1905.[8] In the Barnard yearbooks Dorrian participates in activities from dance committee and theater, to basketball, journalism and pingpong.[9] In 1907 she accepted a job with the Ladies' Home Companion.[10] Sometime after this she worked as drama critic for the New York Tribune, also writing other pieces. [11] [12] From 1912 to 1914, Dorrian wrote for the New York Tribune as a theater critic and European representative of the Oscar Morosco Theater Company.[13]

War correspondent

Dorrian began writing for the Newark Evening News as a war correspondent in 1914.[14] She wrote about the war in France and England for the Newark Evening News, beginning in 1914, and her work often ran on the front page.[15] When Dorrian died, in 1926, a front-page article in the Newark Evening News noted that she had been “the first accredited American woman war correspondent to reachthe battlefront in France in 1918.”[16] In October 1918, while she and two other women war correspondents were touring a battlefront with the Press Department of the Foreign Office, their guide was killed by a hand grenade.[17] She went to the front lines with the 78th Division sending the News "a firsthand account".[18]

Captain Arthur Hartzell wrote of Dorrian, "Miss..Dorian writes more intelligently about the operations of the Army than any other woman correspondent if one judges her writing from a military viewpoint”. Her articles for the Newark News were often weekly and often on the front page .[19]

Playwright

Dorrian wrote the play "The Age of Reason -- a Divorce Problem Play for Modern Children" .[20] It ran on Broadway from 1915 to 1916[21] and was published in Vanity Fair in July 1916.[22] It then played around the country with the Los Angeles Times calling it "a brilliant satire on divorce".[23]

Later work and death

Dorrian provided extensive international coverage for the Newark Evening News through the mid-1920s.[24] She died Aug 18, 1926 of pneumonia at a sanitorium near Baltimore, Md. with her mother by her side.[25] [26]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Edy, Carolyn. The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. 2017. Lexington Books. 35–38. 978-1-4985-3927-2. en.
  2. Edy . Carolyn. Trust but Verify: Myths and Misinformation in the History of Women War Correspondents . American Journalism . 2019. 36. 2. 242–251. 10.1080/08821127.2019.1602420. 197843479.
  3. Book: Edy, Carolyn. The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. 2017. Lexington Books. 35–38. 978-1-4985-3927-2. en.
  4. News: "Death Comes to Cecil I. Dorrian: News's European Correspondent Saw Thrilling Events in Great War". Newark Evening News. August 17, 1918.
  5. Web site: U.S. Passport Applications. 2021-12-31. www.ancestry.com.
  6. Web site: 26 Aug 1926, 4 - The San Francisco Examiner at Newspapers.com. 2021-12-31. Newspapers.com. en.
  7. News: 1926-08-19. Cecil I Dorrian Dies. 30. Times Union. 2021-12-31.
  8. Web site: Mortarboard Barnard Digital Collections. 2021-12-31. digitalcollections.barnard.edu.
  9. Web site: Mortarboard Barnard Digital Collections. 2021-12-31. digitalcollections.barnard.edu.
  10. News: 1907-09-25. Personal. 1. Barnard Bulletin. 2021-12-31.
  11. Web site: 12 Feb 1910, 10 - Sioux City Journal at Newspapers.com. 2021-12-31. Newspapers.com. en.
  12. Book: Editor & Publisher. 1913. Editor & Publisher Company. en.
  13. Web site: Inventory of the Cecil Dorrian papers. 2021-12-31. oac.cdlib.org.
  14. Web site: Inventory of the Cecil Dorrian papers. 2021-12-31. oac.cdlib.org.
  15. Book: Edy, Carolyn. The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. 2017. Lexington Books. 35–38. 978-1-4985-3927-2. en.
  16. News: Death Comes to Cecil I. Dorrian: News's European Correspondent Saw Thrilling Events in Great War. Newark Evening News. August 17, 1918.
  17. News: 1918-10-22. Woman Killed by Grenade. 4. Democrat and Chronicle. 2021-12-31.
  18. News: 1926-08-19. Miss C I Dorrian Dies. Trenton Times.
  19. Web site: Newark Evening News (search for "Dorrian"). Newark Public Library.
  20. Web site: Dorrian. Cecil I.. THE AGE OF REASON Vanity Fair July 1916. 2021-12-31. Vanity Fair The Complete Archive. en-US.
  21. Web site: The Age of Reason. live. Internet Broadway Database. https://web.archive.org/web/20200329193247/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-age-of-reason-7747 . 2020-03-29 .
  22. Web site: Dorrian. Cecil I.. THE AGE OF REASON Vanity Fair July 1916. 2021-12-31. Vanity Fair The Complete Archive. en-US.
  23. Web site: 25 Jan 1917, 6 - Los Angeles Evening Express at Newspapers.com. 2021-12-31. Newspapers.com. en.
  24. Book: Edy, Carolyn. The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846-1947. 2017. Lexington Books. 35–38. 978-1-4985-3927-2. en.
  25. News: 1926-08-19. Miss C I Dorrian Dies. Trenton Times.
  26. News: 1926-08-19. Cecil I Dorrian Dies. 30. Times Union. 2021-12-31.

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