Henry Bellamann
| Henry Bellamann | |
|---|---|
| Born | Heinrich Hauer Bellamann April 28, 1882 Fulton, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | June 16, 1945 (aged 63) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, Music educator |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Fiction, poetry |
| Notable works |
Kings Row The Gray Man Walks |
| Spouse | Katherine McKee Jones (m. 1907–45) |
| Children | None |
Heinrich Hauer Bellamann (April 28, 1882 – June 16, 1945) was an American author, whose bestselling novel Kings Row exposed the hypocrisy of small-town life in the midwest, addressing many social taboos. Research suggested that Bellamann was working off resentment of his upbringing in Fulton, Missouri, where he had been ostracised for his German extraction and rumoured illegitimacy. The 1942 film version gave Ronald Reagan a star role, regarded as his most memorable performance.
Bellamann was also a poet and a music professor at Vassar College.
Bellamann was born in Fulton, Missouri, to parents George Henrik and Caroline (Krahenbuhl) Bellamann. After graduation from Fulton High School in 1899, he attended Westminster College in Fulton for a year before moving to Colorado in 1901 to study piano at the University of Denver. Following graduation in 1904, Bellamann began teaching music at a variety of girls' schools in the American South. Bellamann met his future wife, Katherine McKee Jones, while both were teaching at a girls' academy in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The couple would marry on September 3, 1907.
For several years between 1908 and 1913 while on school summer breaks, the Bellamanns would travel to Europe so Henry could study organ and piano with Charles-Marie Widor and Isidor Philipp. From 1907 to 1932, when he began to pursue writing full-time, Bellamann held administrative and teaching positions at several educational institutions, including acting director of the Juilliard Musical Foundation, dean of the Curtis Institute of Music, and professor of music at Vassar College.
With the encouragement of his wife, Bellamann increasingly turned his attention to a writing career. His first of three books of poetry, A Music Teacher's Notebook, was published in 1920. It was followed by Cups of Illusion in 1923 and The Upward Pass in 1928. Although his poetry is today little-known, Bellamann was recognized by David Perkins in his 1976 History of Modern Poetry, in which he ranks Bellamann with the serious minor poets who "adopted the mode" of the Imagists. In addition to his books, Bellamann would serve as editor for the music magazine Overtones and write a weekly literary column, in which he highlighted the works of DuBose Heyward and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Peterkin
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