Slesinger, Tess (1905–1945)

American novelist and short-story writer. Born in New York City in 1905; died in 1945; daughter of middle-class Jewish immigrant parents; attended the Ethical Culture School; studied at Swarthmore College, 1923–25; attended Columbia School of Journalism, taking Dorothy Scarborough 's course in the short story, B.Litt., 1927; married Herbert Solow (a leftist activist and writer), in 1928; married Frank Davis (a film producer and writer), in 1936; children: two.

After receiving a degree from Columbia, Tess Slesinger worked as an assistant fashion editor on the New York Herald Tribune in 1926, then became assistant on the New York Evening Post Literary Review. By the 1930s, she had cofounded The Menorah Journal with her first husband, had written enough short stories for a collection, Time: The Present (1935), had published her novel The Unpossessed (1934), and was marching in protests and speaking on the inequities of economics and race. With most of her writing well received, Slesinger had become something of a literary celebrity; her strength was in tragicomedy.

In 1935, the writer was invited to Hollywood to work on the screen adaptation of Pearl S. Buck 's The Good Earth (1937), with Talbot Jennings, Claudine West , and an uncredited Frances Marion . That same year, Slesinger wrote The Bride Wore Red (1937) for director Dorothy Arzner . With her second husband, Frank Davis, Slesinger also wrote the screen adaptation of Betty Smith 's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), which was nominated for an Academy Award. Once in Hollywood, Slesinger's literary output slowed down considerably, but her activism continued. She helped establish the Screenwriters Guild.