Laura Z. Hobson, '17.
Author, Social Critic.
(6/19/1900 - 2/28/1986)
(Quote and picture from: Laura Z.: A Life. By Laura Z. Hobson. Arbor House, New York. 1983.)“The first time I wrote anything that I thought might be published, I was fifteen [1916] and a pupil at Jamaica High School. It wasn’t signed, and it wasn’t long, but it did see the bright black sheen of printer’s ink. For I was assistant editor of the Oracle, the school’s monthly magazine.
“I was fifteen, too, when I first earned actual money by writing something… Writing for a real honest-to-goodness New York newspaper, what was more. This was the first one: [Published in the School page of the Evening Mail, April 4, 1916.]JAMAICA HIGH BUYS NEW BANNER
The students of Jamaica High School own their new beaver banner, not only theoretically but practically, because in answer to a recent appeal from the financial managers of the G.O. each student chipped in one cent for it, covering the cost nicely.
The banner is thirty feet long and twenty-four feet broad. On a blue background is a monstrous red beaver – Jamaica High insignia and colors. The banner is striking and artistic.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Laura Kean Zametkin, whose books appeared under the name Laura Z. Hobson, was an American novelist. She is known for her novels Gentleman's Agreement (1947), a study of anti-semitism, and Consenting Adults (1975), about a mother dealing with her son's coming out as gay, which she based on her own experience...
Daughter of Michael and Adella, Jewish socialist immigrants, she studied at Cornell University and married Francis Thayer Hobson in 1930. In the early 1930s she began writing advertising copy and short stories. In 1934 she joined the promotional staff of the magazines published by Henry Luce (Time, Life, and Fortune).
In 1935 her marriage with Hobson ended in divorce, and she refused on principle to accept alimony. In 1937 she decided to adopt a baby and became pregnant in 1941, raising both children on her own. This experience inspired her to write The Tenth Month, about single motherhood.
After 1940 she devoted herself entirely to writing, producing a total of nine novels and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles, as well as co-writing the screenplay for the 1954 film Her Twelve Men, starring Greer Garson.
This alum was suggested by Herb Sollinger, '47, FAC '91.
JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL NOTEWORTHY ALUMNI : : : : : : : : 2/04/07