G. Sheila Donisthorpe Explained

G. Sheila Donisthorpe
Birth Date:17 December 1898
Birth Place:London
Death Date:1 September 1946
Occupation:Novelist, playwright
Notable Works:Loveliest of Friends! (novel, 1931)
Children to Bless You! (play, 1936)
Spouse:Frank Wordsworth Donisthorpe

Gladys Sheila Donisthorpe (17 December 1898 – 1 September 1946), born Gladys Millie Leon, was a London-born novelist and playwright.

Personal life

Donisthorpe was born as Gladys Millie Leon in London in 1898.

In 1916, Donisthorpe married British inventor and tennis player[1] Frank Wordsworth Donisthorpe, son of Wordsworth Donisthorpe.[2] [3] Donisthorpe was eighteen years old, and the two married in Southwark, England.[4] Her name thus changed to Gladys Sheila Donisthorpe.

Career

Donisthorpe composed advertising copy for Selfridges department stores.[5] Donisthorpe's first novel, You (1928), was called "a childishly immature, pretentious, and trivial book, with no artistic excuse for its existence" in an American newspaper.[6] Her next novel was the pulpy[7] Loveliest of Friends! (1931), a cautionary story about married women seduced into lesbian relationships. "If the book is a trifle wordy, the words are all of a dark, poisonous, decadent beauty, a lush pornography, like the tale," commented a North Carolina reviewer.[8] A Boston reviewer considered it "an unhappy and revolting novel."[9] The novel was popular in the United States and Great Britain, going through several editions.[10]

Of Loveliest of Friends! and its lesbian themes, Neil Pearson wrote: "since everything else Donisthorpe wrote seems to have been drawn from life it’s probably safe to assume that Loveliest of Friends describes a phase in her personal development”, but that with the content of the book in mind and how anti-lesbian it was, “[Donisthorpe] wasn’t gay, and it shows.”[11]

Plays by Donisthorpe included Children to Bless You! (1935-1936),[12] [13] First Night (1937),[14] Guests at Lancaster Gate, Mermaid's Gout, Other People's Houses (1941), Gaily We Set Out, Society Blues, and Fruit of the Tree.[15] One of her novels was adapted for film as First Night (1937); another play by Donisthorpe, Children to Bless You!, was broadcast live on British television.

Donisthorpe published a memoir in 1943 titled Show Business: A Book of the Theatre.

Selected publications

Death

Donisthorpe died in 1946, aged 47 years.[23]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Seddon, Peter. Tennis's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary but true stories from over a century of tennis. 2015-06-04. Pavilion Books. 978-1-910232-46-0. en.
  2. Web site: Frank W. Donisthorpe. 2020-05-29. Historic Camera.
  3. Book: Herbert, Stephen. Industry, Liberty, and a Vision: Wordsworth Donisthorpe's Kinesigraph. 1998. The Projection Box. 978-0-9523941-3-6. 35. en.
  4. "Gladys Leon" in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 1d; Page: 238)
  5. News: 1943-11-17. Books of the Day. 3. The Guardian. 2020-05-29. Newspapers.com.
  6. News: 1928-08-19. An Immature Novel. 54. Hartford Courant. 2020-05-29. Newspapers.com.
  7. Web site: Passions Uncovered: Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Pulps. University of Saskatchewan Library. 2020-05-29.
  8. News: Linney. Ruth. 1931-12-06. Lesbianism is Theme of Well Written Novel. 18. The Charlotte News. 2020-05-29. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1931-12-14. Unhappy Novel about a Group of English Women. 15. The Boston Globe. 2020-05-29. Newspapers.com.
  10. Book: Jeffreys, Sheila. The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality, 1880-1930. 1997. Spinifex Press. 978-1-875559-63-3. 126. en.
  11. Pearson, Neil. “Author Biographies.” Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press, Liverpool University Press, 2007, pg. 352.
  12. Web site: Production of Children, To Bless You! Theatricalia. theatricalia.com. 2020-05-29.
  13. Book: Wearing, J. P.. The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. 2014-05-15. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-8108-9304-7. 507. en.
  14. News: A.D.. 1937-02-22. London Arts Theatre. 8. The Guardian. 2020-05-29. Newspapers.com.
  15. Book: Pearson, Neil. Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press. 2007. Liverpool University Press. 978-1-84631-101-7. 352. en.
  16. Book: Donisthorpe, Gladys Sheila. You.. 1927. London. en. 314955468.
  17. Book: Donisthorpe. G. Sheila. Loveliest of friends!. Savage. Steele. 1952. Arco Pub. Co.. New York, N.Y.. en. 2457167.
  18. Book: Donisthorpe, G. Sheila. The blind journey, a novel. 1933. G.H. Watt. New York. en. 8130648.
  19. Book: Donisthorpe, Gladys Sheila. Sets your star. 1933. Hutchinson. London. en. 635090050.
  20. Book: Donisthorpe, G. Sheila. Children, to bless you: a comedy in three acts. 1936. Samuel French. London; New York. en. 12212918.
  21. Book: Donisthorpe, G. Sheila. Show business; a book of the theatre. 1943. The Fortune Press. London. en. 16737513.
  22. Book: Donisthorpe, G. Sheila. Fruit of the tree: a play in three acts. 1957. S. French. London. en. 13984807.
  23. Web site: Donisthorpe, G. Sheila (1898–1946) Encyclopedia.com. 2020-07-29. www.encyclopedia.com.

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