Lucia Chamberlain
American novelist (1882–1978)
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Lucia Chamberlain (February 16, 1882 – December 3, 1978) was an American novelist. Her 1909 book The Other Side of the Door was the basis of a 1916 film of the same name,[1] and her 1917 short story "The Underside" formed the basis of the 1920 film Blackmail.[2][3] The 1916 film The Wedding Guest is also based on her writing.[4]
Lucia Chamberlain | |
|---|---|
Chamberlain, photographed by Zaida Ben-Yusuf in c. 1908 | |
| Born | February 16, 1882 San Francisco, California, US |
| Died | December 3, 1978 (aged 96) Santa Cruz, California, US |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Relatives | Mary Curtis Richardson (aunt) |
Early life
Chamberlain was born in San Francisco,[5][6] the daughter of John Chamberlain and Leila Curtis Chamberlain. Her maternal grandfather Lucien Curtis was an engraver from Connecticut,[7] and her mother had a wood engraving business in the city in the 1870s.[8][9] Her aunt, Mary Curtis Richardson, was a noted portrait artist.[10][11] She and her sister were encouraged to write by Canadian poet Bliss Carman.[12]
Career
WorldCat lists Chamberlain's genres of writing as fiction, detective and mystery fiction, short stories,[13] and Western fiction.[14] At least two of her books were translated into Swedish and published as Den stulna ringen (The Stolen Ring)[15] and Falska indicier (False Clues).[16]
H. L. Mencken, writing in The Smart Set in 1909, described The Other Side of the Door as: "A mildly diverting tale of adventure, with the scene laid in early San Francisco, and a fiery Latin flavor in some of the characters."[17]
Chamberlain wrote her first two books, Mrs. Essington and The Coast of Chance, in collaboration with her older sister, Esther,[18] who owned an advertising agency in New York.[19][20] Mrs. Essington was reviewed in The New York Times.[21] Esther died in 1908.[12]
In 1932, Chamberlain co-organized an exhibition of works by Mary Curtis Richardson, at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.[10]
Personal life
Lucia Chamberlain lived on Russian Hill in San Francisco.[22] She died in 1978, in Santa Cruz, California, aged 96 years.[23]
Selected publications
- Chamberlain, Esther; Chamberlain, Lucia (1905). Mrs Essington: The Romance of a House-Party. New York: Century.
- Chamberlain, Esther; Chamberlain, Lucia (1908). The Coast of Chance. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
- Chamberlain, Lucia (1909). The Other Side of the Door. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
- Chamberlain, Lucia (1910). Son of the Wind. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.[24]
- Chamberlain, Lucia. Connors at Shungopovi. (From Everybody's Magazine, September 1905.)[25]
