Alice Hegan Rice

Alice Hegan Rice, also known as Alice Caldwell Hegan, (January 11, 1870 – February 10, 1942) was an American novelist.

Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, she wrote over two dozen books, the most famous of which is Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. The book was a best seller in 1902 and is set in Louisville, Kentucky where she then lived. It was made into a successful play in 1903, and there were three Hollywood movie versions of it. The best known is the 1934 film starring Pauline Lord and W. C. Fields.

Hegan was married to poet and dramatist Cale Young Rice. The house they lived in at 1444 St. James Court is still standing. She was a niece of author Frances Little (pseud.).

Several of Alice Rice's earlier works were translated into German, French, Danish, and Swedish, and three (Mrs. Wiggs, Mr. Opp, and the Romance of Billy-Goat Hill) were dramatized. Both before and after she became a novelist she was favorably known also for short stories contributed to the magazines.

She died at her home in Louisville in 1942.

This is not an edit, but a observation from the copy of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. My copy of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, has the year its copyright 1901, by The Century Co, The front page reads in all caps "PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK . .MCMII" the Roman Numerals denotes the year it was published was 1902. Still below the copyright, the 2nd page has a list of the months and year it was printed as: "July, October, November, and December, 1901,". Then the dates that followed was: "January (twice), February (Twice), March, April, June, July (twice), August(twice),September, October, November, 1902." I may be in error to take this to mean that it was printed, as in a magazine, rather than in a publish book form. Also, much further down it has "The De Vinne Press." The latter was in upper case, but its font looks like 8pt. Well, I just thought that the above discovery was needed, just in case there's a controversy as to when Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch was published/printed?????

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