Vera Caspary
| Vera Caspary | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Vera Louise Caspary November 13, 1899 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | June 13, 1987 (aged 87) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Screenwriter Novelist Playwright |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Isadore Goldsmith (1948–1964) his death |
Vera Louise Caspary (November 13, 1899 – June 13, 1987) was an American writer of novels, plays, screenplays, and short stories. Her best-known novel, Laura, was made into a highly successful movie. Though she claimed she was not a "real" mystery writer, her novels effectively merged women's quest for identity and love with murder plots. Independence is the key to her protagonists, with her novels revolving around women who are menaced, but who turn out to be neither victimized nor rescued damsels.
Following her father's death, the income from Caspary's writing was at times only just sufficient to support both herself and her mother, and during the Great Depression she became interested in Socialist causes. Caspary joined the Communist party under an alias, but not being totally committed and at odds with its code of secrecy, she claimed to have confined her activities to fund-raising and hosting meetings. Caspary visited Russia in an attempt to confirm her beliefs, but became disillusioned and wished to resign from the Party, although she continued to contribute money and support similar causes. She eventually married her lover and writing collaborator of six years, Isidor "Igee" Goldsmith; but despite this being a successful partnership, her Communist connections would later lead to her being "graylisted", temporarily yet significantly affecting their offers of work and income. The couple split their time between Hollywood and Europe until Igee's death in 1964, after which Caspary remained in New York where she would write a further eight books.
Caspary was born prematurely in Chicago – her mother, Julia (née Cohen), already over forty with three other nearly-grown children, had hidden her condition. Her father, Paul. was a buyer for a department store; he and her mother were both second generation German Jewish and Russian Jewish immigrants. Being such a surprise to her family, Caspary was thoroughly spoiled as a child.
After her graduation from high school in 1917, her father enrolled her in a six-month course in a business college, and by January 1918, Caspary found herself working as a stenographer. Caspary went through a string of menial office jobs, looking for one where she could write instead of taking dictation from people with bad grammar. While working at an advertising agency composing copy, she invented the fictitious "Sergei Marinoff School of Classic Dancing", a mail order dance course. Caspary wrote all the materials for this and other correspondence courses she had little knowledge of, including one that taught screenwriting. She was also producing articles for publications such as Finger Print Magazine, and the New York -based Dance Lovers Magazine. By 1922, she had turned down a raise from $50 to $75 to write from home and work on her first novel.
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