G. Sheila Donisthorpe

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

G. Sheila Donisthorpe
Born17 December 1898
London
Died1 September 1946
OccupationNovelist, playwright
Notable work
Loveliest of Friends! (novel, 1931)
Children to Bless You! (play, 1936)
Spouse(s)Frank Wordsworth Donisthorpe

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
  • You (1927, novel; serialized in The Smart Set in 1928)[16]
  • Loveliest of Friends! (1931, novel)[17]
  • The Blind Journey (1933, novel)[18]
  • Sets Your Star (1933, novel)[19]
  • Children, to bless you (1936, play)[20]
  • Show business; a book of the theatre (1943, memoir)[21]
  • Fruit of the tree (play)[22]

Death

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

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