Henriette Alice McCrea Metcalf

Henriette Alice McCrea Metcalf
Willard Metcalf (1917) My Wife and Daughter
Born
Henrietta Alice McCrea

(1888-01-04)January 4, 1888
Chicago, Illinois, US
DiedMay 27, 1981(1981-05-27) (aged 93)
Danbury, Connecticut, US
OccupationTranslator
Spouses
  • Willard Metcalf
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1911; div. 1921)​
  • ​
    (divorced)​
PartnerThelma Wood 1928–1943
Children2

Henrietta Alice "Henriette" McCrea Metcalf[a] (née McCrea; January 4, 1888 – May 27, 1981) was an American and French translator, theatre collector and philanthropist.[1][2] The partner of Thelma Wood from 1928 to 1943, McCrea inspired the character of "Jenny" in the 1936 book Nightwood by Wood's former partner Djuna Barnes.[1][2][3]

Early life

McCrea was born Henrietta Alice McCrea on January 4, 1888 in Chicago to a wealthy Chicagoan family.[1][4][5] McCrea's father, Wylie Solon McCrea, was a public utilities executive and the treasurer of Peoples Energy, and her mother, Alice E. McCrea (née Snell), was the daughter of the millionaire Amos J. Snell.[6][7][8][9] The youngest of two siblings, McCrea's mother filed for divorce on charges of cruelty in October 1888.[1][4]

McCrea subsequently moved to Paris with her mother, and her first language was French.[1][10][11] Initially attended a Catholic convent in Paris, and then, when McCrea was 10 years old, after her mother's death, her father took her back to Chicago where she attended other public schools. Later she attended Mlle. Bouligny's School in Chevy Chase, Maryland. By 1906 she had returned to Europe to attend a girls' school. In Paris she became friends with actress Jane Peyton and her husband Guy Bates Post.[11] By the end of 1910 she was back in Chicago, living at 720 Lincoln Park Boulevard.[12]

Career

A fan of theater and actors her collection of autographed photographs and other memorabilia is at the University of Kentucky.[10][13] She was the dramatic editor for Vanity Fair.[14] Metcalf was a translator from French into English, among her works: Alexandre Dumas' Camille and Anatole France's Our Lady's Juggler.[15] She was a friend of Colette and translated La Dame aux Camélias in 1931 for Eva Le Gallienne and her Civic Repertory Theater.[16][17][18]

In 1926 she was the executive secretary of the Education Committee of the Roosevelt Memorial Association for Women.[19] In the 1950s McCrea lived at 86+1⁄2 Main Street, Newtown.[20][21] She was member of the Board of Directors for the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut.[22] In the 1970s McCrea let people farm four acres of her land in a project to have young people work together with their fathers in a rewarding activity.[23]

She was interested in animal welfare and was an activist of Pet Animal Welfare Service (PAWS),[17][20] Friends of Animals[21] and Humane Society. With other activists she opened "Ye Kit and Kaboodle" at 7 Liberty Street, Bridgeport, CT; the proceedings from the selling of antiques, clothing and paintings, displayed in a colonial-motif, were to go to the care of stray animals in the area.[24]

Personal life

Before her marriage to Willard Metcalf, McCrea was in a sentimental relationship with Ned Sheldon, a leading Broadway's playwright.[11] In 1911, McCrea married the painter Willard Metcalf in Chicago.[1][25][26][27] The couple had two children before divorcing in 1921.[1][26][27] By the time of Metcalf's death in 1925, McCrea was married to the screenwriter and novelist Marcus Goodrich.[1][27][28][10][11][13] McCrea and Goodrich later divorced.[1][28] In 1952, Metcalf became the guardian of Jacobus Arnoldus.[1][29]

On May 27, 1981 McCrea died in Danbury, Connecticut aged 93.[1][5][10]

Relationship with Thelma Wood

McCrea met Thelma Wood in 1928, when the latter was still in a relationship with Djuna Barnes.[10][30][31][32] Wood left Barnes to live with McCrea. In Nightwood by Barnes, modeled the character Jenny Petherbridge on McCrea.[32][33][34] The relationship was acknowledged by McCrea's family to the point that her son, Addison Metcalf, included references to Wood in letters to his mother.[10] McCrea and Wood moved first to Greenwich Village and then in 1932 to Florence, where Wood studied art supported by McCrea.[31] In 1934 they moved to Sandy Hook, Connecticut, where Wood launched a gourmet catering service, always supported by McCrea's money.[10][31] McCrea remained with Wood until 1943 and the relationship ended in a bad way, so much that McCrea rejected the death bed request of Wood to see her.[15][32]

Legacy

Addison Metcalf founded The Henrietta Alice Metcalf Memorial Scholarship at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts to honor his mother love of the theater.[15]

The Henrietta Alice Metcalf Performing Arts Photographic Collection, dated from 1880 to 1955, is hosted at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center.[15][13]

Notes

  1. ↑ McCrea often francized her first name as "Henriette".[1] Throughout her life McCrea used the names "Henrietta Alice Metcalf", "Henriette Alice Metcalf", "Henriette McCrea Metcalf", "Henrietta McCrea Metcalf", "Henrietta Metcalf", and "Henriette Metcalf".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Henrietta Metcalf Theatre Collection". Explore UK. University of Kentucky Libraries, Special Collections Research Center; University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on September 16, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Souhami, Diana (2007). Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, and Art: The Lives and Loves of Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 167. ISBN 978-0753819777.
  3. ↑ Jordison, Sam (May 22, 2018). "Djuna Barnes's writing is exhilarating – but steeped in the worst of its era". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Charges Her Husband With Cruelty. Alice Snell McCrea Asks For A Divorce – Other Litigation". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. October 12, 1888. p. 9. Retrieved January 8, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 "Herrietta Metcalf". Connecticut Death Index, 1949–2012 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1981.
  6. ↑ Boyle, Richard J.; Chambers, Bruce W.; Gerdts, William H. (2003). Willard Metcalf, Yankee impressionist. Ira Spanierman Gallery. p. 48. ISBN 9780945936589. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Son of Amos J. Snell Dead; Had Long Since Exhausted Inheritance from Murdered Millionaire". The New York Times. New York City. May 24, 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  8. ↑ T. S. P. (July 1930). "Obitutires: Willey Solon McCrea". The Auk. 47 (3): 460. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  9. ↑ Derby, George; White, James Terry (1944). The National Cyclopædia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time, Volume 31. J. T. White.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mietka, Helena Budzynska. "Henriette and Henriette: The Life of a Woman". Henriette and Henriette: The Life of a Woman. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 De Veer, Elizabeth; Boyle, Richard J. (1987). Sunlight and shadow: the life and art of Willard L. Metcalf. Abbeville Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780896597532. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "McCrea-Metcalf - 13 Dec 1910, Tue • Page 13". The New York Times: 13. 1910. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 The Kentucky Review, Volume 6. University of Kentucky Library Associates. 1986. p. 86.
  14. ↑ "Evidence Taken for Balm Suit of Carol Frink - 26 May 1936, Tue • Page 6". Chicago Tribune: 6. 1936. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Henrietta Alice Metcalf Performing Arts Photographic Collection". University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  16. ↑ Souhami, Diana (2012). Natalie and Romaine: The Lives and Loves of Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks. Hachette UK. p. 201. ISBN 9781780878836. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  17. 1 2 Herring, Phillip F. (1995). Djuna: The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes. Viking. p. 162. ISBN 9780670849697. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "A New Camille - 25 Jan 1931, Sun • Page 30". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: 30. 1931. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  19. ↑ "Maxwell Unveils Roosevelt Tablet - 25 Jun 1926, Fri • Page 14". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: 14. 1926. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  20. 1 2 "Animal Welfare Bills - 27 Aug 1965, Fri • Page 8". The Bridgeport Post: 8. 1965. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  21. 1 2 "Pet Owners Told of Aid Given in Humane Service - 10 Mar 1960, Thu • Page 24". The Bridgeport Post: 24. 1960. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "Talks Slated of Planned Parenthood - 16 Nov 1954, Tue • Page 13". Hartford Courant: 13. 1954. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  23. ↑ "Farming Is the Fashion Among Newtowners Today - 22 Jun 1975, Sun • Page 112". The Bridgeport Post: 112. 1975. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  24. ↑ "Shop to Benefit Humane Society - 22 Jun 1962, Fri • Page 14". The Bridgeport Post: 14. 1962. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  25. ↑ "22 Jan 1911, Sun • Page 21". Chicago Tribune: 21. 1911. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  26. 1 2 Pierce, Patricia Jobe (February 2000). "Metcalf, Willard Leroy (1858-1925), painter". American National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1700582. Retrieved July 10, 2026. (subscription required)
  27. 1 2 3 "Metcalf's Will Provides for Destruction Of Paintings Save Those Benefiting Estate". The New York Times. New York City. March 17, 1925. p. 1. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  28. 1 2 "The longest story never told: An enigmatic author puzzles over his sequel". Chicago Tribune. December 12, 1982. p. 295. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  29. ↑ "Jacobus Arnoldus, Student, to Wed Christina H. Forde". The Bridgeport Post. Dec 16, 1962. p. 23. Retrieved 8 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ↑ Flahardy, Jason. "Henrietta Alice Metcalf Performing Arts Photographic Collection." Explore UK. University of Kentucky Special Collections, n.d. 19 Dec. 2012, p. 1
  31. 1 2 3 Summers, Claude (2012). The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts. Simon and Schuster. p. 902. ISBN 9781573448741. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  32. 1 2 3 Herring, Philip. "Djuna Barnes and Thelma Wood: The Vengeance of Nightwood." Journal of Modern Literature 18:1 (1992), p. 7
  33. ↑ Greenberg, Jonathan (2011). Modernism, Satire and the Novel. Cambridge University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9781107008496. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  34. ↑ Nair, S. (2011). Secrecy and Sapphic Modernism: Writing Romans à Clef Between the Wars. Springer. p. 92. ISBN 9780230356184. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
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