Almanac of Story Tellers: Marie Manning

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is a story of January 22nd.

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    It is the 22nd day of the year, leaving 343 days remaining in 2023.

   

    On this date in 1872 (or maybe 1873), the newspaper writer Marie Manning was born. And in 26 years or so, the advice to the lovelorn column would be created.

    She told her stories as advice and answers. The questions came from thousands of people. And Manning, who when her story-telling advice began in 1898 went by the name of Beatrice Fairfax, offered cautious, if sometimes unconventional, answers.

    It was unconventional because she was, well unconventional. She was one of the early women in journalism, and at more than six-feet tall, skinny with a pompadour of long brown hair, she stood out. She also took little guff from her editors or sources.

    It was cautious, though, because her gig was new. Working at the New York World, she was a part of the city desk, covering crime and interviewing presidents. But moving on to a better paying stint at the New York Evening Journal, she had been relegated to the "women's desk."

     So when the chance came to answer a few letters that readers had sent in, Manning leapt at the task. And she was good at it.

    She is believed to be the first modern U.S.-based advice columnist. Oh sure, there were a few in the distant past. The Athenian Mercury, a bi-weekly, London-based newspaper in the late 17th Century, started the trend. A few other journals over the years kept the format of readers asking questions and experts answering them, but most questions were about the scientific or political matters of the day. 

    "Ask Beatrice Fairfax "dealt with love. And within weeks of starting the column, the Evening Journal was getting thousands of letters a day. Beatrice was pictured as a coy young woman who would advise "on the troubles of the heart."

    After Manning resigned from the newspaper in 1920, the column continued with another writer.  Manning returned sometime after the stock market crashed in 1929, and continued writing the column until her death in 1945.