Sally Benson, a renowned American writer, was born on September 3, 1897, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her family relocated to New York, where she spent her formative years and received her education at the prestigious Horace Mann School. At the age of seventeen, she began her professional journey by working at the National City Bank, where she would "sing into a dictaphone," as she later humorously described her early job.
Years later, after a divorce, Benson started writing magazine reviews and publishing interviews with the rich and famous, thus launching her writing career. Her breakthrough came in 1930 when she submitted a short story to The New Yorker under the pen name Esther Evarts, which led to a series of requests from the editors. Her subsequent work consisted of a collection of stories about Judy Graves, a quirky adolescent heroine, published under the title "Junior Miss." The stories were later compiled into a book and adapted into a comedy play on Broadway, a movie, and a TV musical.
Benson's most famous work is undoubtedly the nostalgic vignettes about a St. Louis family, titled "Meet Me in St. Louis," which was originally published in The New Yorker under the title "5135 Kensington Avenue." The story, spanning the years from 1903 to 1904, drew heavily from her own life and experiences. The 1944 MGM film adaptation, for which Benson worked on the screenplay, unfortunately did not feature her material, and she was credited only as the original author. However, some of her other contributions fared better, including her collaborative efforts on Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Shadow of a Doubt," the romantic drama "Anna and the King of Siam," and the film noir "No Man of Her Own."
In addition to her literary accomplishments, Benson was a talented musician who enjoyed playing the harp and piano. She was also an avid reader and a fan of horse racing. Benson passed away in July 1972 at the age of 74.
