Harold Bell Wright

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Harold Bell Wright (May 4, 1872 – May 24, 1944) was a best-selling American writer of fiction, essays, and nonfiction.

Despite being largely forgotten or ignored after the 20th century, he had a fruitful career; he is credited with being the first American writer to sell a million copies of a book and the first to earn $1 million from writing fiction.

Wright wrote 19 books, several stage plays, and numerous magazine articles between 1902 and 1942.

More than 15 films were produced or claimed to be made from Wright's stories, including Gary Cooper's first major film, The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) and the John Wayne film The Shepherd of the Hills (1941).

Early life

Wright was born in Rome, New York, to Alma Watson and William A. Wright. Wright's book "To My Sons" describes how his father, a retired Civil War lieutenant and lifetime alcoholic, pulled "his wife and children from place to place, sinking deeper and farther as the years progressed.

His mother, on the other hand, paid close attention to the children's moral values and quoted them from the Bible, Shakespeare, The Pilgrim's Progress, and Hiawatha. Wright learned how to appreciate nature's beauty from his mother. His mother nurtured his artistic talents as a neighbor taught young Wright how to draw and paint.

When Wright was 11, his mother died and his father abandoned the children. Wright lived with several relatives or strangers for the remainder of his childhood, mainly in Ohio. He found odd jobs here and there, often sleeping under bridges or in haystacks. In his late teens, he began painting both works of art and houses. Wright spent two years at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, as a minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Pierce, Missouri, according to Wright.

"I've told you, I never set out to be a preacher," he said after the first year of my disillusion at Hiram College. "I did not apply for the Pierce City Church, the job discovered me." pg. 'To My Sons' 204. He pastored other churches in Pittsburg, Kansas; Forest Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri; Lebanon, Missouri; and Redlands, California.

Personal life

In 1899, Harold Bell Wright married Frances Long, who divorced in 1920. Gilbert Munger Wright (b. ) – they had three children from this union: Gilbert Munger Wright (b. Paul Williams Wright (b. April 25, 1966), March 17, 1901. d. (d. April 25, 1966). Norman Hall Wright (b. January 8, 1910, d. July 21, 2001), 1902, d. June 3, 1928, from an undetermined illness). On August 5, 1920, Wright married Winifred Potter Duncan, who was married to her until his death. He also owned a house in Palm Springs, California.

Later life and death

Wright lived in Tucson, Arizona, from 1914 to 1933. On Tucson's east side, Wright's land became the Harold Bell Wright Estates subdivision, and the streets bear the names of several of his fictional characters and book titles, including Printer Udell, Barbara Worth, Shepherd Hills, Brian Kent, and Marta Hillgrove. He is named after a small city park in the neighborhood. His home has been restored and is now a private residence.

Wright lived on his "Quiet Hills Farm" in or near Escondido, California, from 1935 to 1944. In such places as Riverside, San Diego, Palm Springs, and Benbow, California; Hawaii; and the Barbados, he stayed for months at a time in primitive camps, vacation homes, hotels, or resorts. Wright lived in a place for one or two years before using it as the setting for one of his books.

Wright suffered with lung disease for the bulk of his life. He died of bronchial pneumonia in Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, on May 24, 1944, just weeks after his 72nd birthday, and buried in the Cathedral Mausoleum in San Diego's Greenwood Memorial Park.

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Writing and preaching career

He wrote That Printer of Udell's, a melodramatic story set to read at his congregation, one chapter per week, at successive Sunday night meetings. However, the tale was serialized in The Christian Century, his denomination's official journal, before he read it to his congregation.

Wright chastised the magazine version so much that he "hid the broken body in the bottom of my least used drawer and moved on to other things." (To My Sons, p. 23). Nevertheless, parishioners loved the tale so much that they begged him to publish it in book form, which he did. It was Wright's second book, The Shepherd of the Hills, that was published in 1907 and set in Branson, Missouri, which established him as a best-selling author. That book brought a large number of tourists to Branson's little-known town, making it a major tourist destination.

In 1905, Wright accepted the position of pastor at the Christian Church in Lebanon, Missouri. Wright remained there until 1907, when he accepted a new pastoral position in California. Wright resigned as pastor of the Redlands, California, Christian Church, in the same year as the success of The Shepherd of the Hills (his first book to sell one million copies), and dedicated the remainder of his life to writing popular stories. He published The Winning of Barbara Worthy, a historical novel set in southeastern California's Imperial Valley.

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