2002 83c Distinguished Americans: Edna Ferber

In school, Ferber had acted in several school plays and had dreams of becoming a professional actor.  However, when her father fell ill Ferber had to set those dreams aside and find a job to help support the family.  At age 17, she got a job working as a reporter for the Appleton Daily Crescent.  She worked there for a year, during which time she interviewed Harry Houdini for an article.   Ferber then got a job with the larger Milwaukee Journal. She would work there for four years, but overworked herself and had to leave the job due to exhaustion.   During her recovery time, Ferber wrote the short story, “The Homely Heroine,” which was published in Everybody’s Magazine.  The success of that story led Ferber to write her first novel, Dawn O’Hara, and the first installment in a series of stories about traveling saleswoman Emma McChesney.  Ferber’s stories proved quite popular and earned her national attention.  Spurred on by her success, Ferber moved to New York in 1912 to become a full-time writer.