Myrtle Reed

Myrtle Reed (September 27, 1874 – August 17, 1911) was an American author, poet, journalist, and philanthropist, the daughter of author Elizabeth Armstrong Reed and the preacher Hiram von Reed. She wrote a number of bestsellers and even published a series of cookbooks under the pseudonym Olive Green.

She was born in Illinois and graduated from the West Division High School, Chicago, Illinois where she edited the school's newspaper called The Voice. In 1906, she married James Sydney McCullough, a Canadian pen-pal who edited a college newspaper in Toronto. She was a diagnosed insomniac with prescribed sleeping drafts. She died August 17, 1911 of an overdose of sleeping powder taken with suicidal intent in her flat, called "Paradise Flat" at 5120 Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Her suicide letter, written to her maid, Annie Larsen, was published the following day. Her will directed her estate be divided among eight charities which, for several years, had been favorites of their benefactor, however her estate was subjected to at least two different lawsuits. Paradise Flat, the residence in which she died, was burgled during her funeral; among the stolen items were several de luxe or limited edition novels written by the decedent. A famous epigram of Myrtle Reed, taken from Threads of Gray and Gold: "The only way to test a man is to marry him. If you live, it's a mushroom. If you die, it's a toadstool."

Selected works

Novels

• Love Letters of a Musician (1899)
• Later Love Letters of a Musician (1900)
• The Spinster Book (1901)
• Lavender and Old Lace (1902; new edition, 1907), long a running play adapted by the American playwright David G. Fischer
• The Shadow of Victory (1903)
• Pickaback Songs (1903)
• The Book of Clever Beasts (1904)
• The Master's Violin (1904)
• At the Sign of the Jack o' Lantern (1905), made into a silent film directed by Lloyd Ingraham in 1922
• A Spinner in the Sun (1906, new edition, 1909)
• Love Affairs of Literary Men (1907; non fiction; biographical)
• Flower of the Dusk (1908), made into a silent film directed by John Hancock Collins in 1918
• Old Rose and Silver (1909)
• Master of the Vineyard (1910; new edition, 1911)
• Sonnets to a Lover (1910)
• A Weaver of Dreams (1911), made into a silent film starring Viola Dana in 1918
• Threads of Gray and Gold (1913)

Nonfiction

She also published a series of cook books under the pseudonym of Olive Green.

• What to Have for Breakfast (1905)
• Everyday Luncheons (1906)
• How to Cook Fish (1908)
• How to Cook Meat and Poultry
• One Thousand Simple Soups (1907)
• One Thousand Salads (1909)

The following works were published posthumously:

• Everyday Desserts (1911)
• Myrtle Reed Cookbook (1916)
• Myrtle Reed Yearbook (1911)
• A Weaver of Dreams (1911)
• Threads of Grey and Gold(1913)
• The White Shield, a collection of short sketches by Myrtle Reed (1912)
• Happy Women (1913)

Autobiography

• Myrtle Reed Yearbook (1911) containing biographical forwards

Works about Reed

• Myrtle Reed As Her Friends Knew Her by Ethel S. Colson (1911)
• To You a collection of songs by J.C. Rodenbeck (1919)
• Papers, 1856-1922 by Chicago Bishop Samuel Fallows (1919) containing correspondence with Myrtle Reed

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Moore, F., eds. (1905). "^{article name needed}". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. 

External links

• The Literature Network
• Works by Myrtle Reed at Project Gutenberg
• Myrtle Reed public domain audiobooks from LibriVox
• Olive Green public domain audiobooks from LibriVox
• "Hell in Paradise Flat" from Chicago Magazine, Aug 2006