Author, Literary Editor, Essayist, Theatrical Producer. Born Christopher Darlington Morley in Haverford, Pennsylvania, he was the son of Math professor Frank and poet and musician Janet Little Bird. He would be a remarkable student, eventually graduating for Haverford College as valedictorian and winning a Rhodes Scholarship so that he could study history at New College at Oxford. While in college he participated in the college theatrical troupe acting and writing. He also would edit the literary magazine and publish a volume of poetry. He began his literary career working for Doubleday, Page and Co. and would go on to edit the “Ladies' Home Journal” and the “Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger”. In 1917, he published his first novel “Parnassus on Wheels” and followed up its success with a continuation called “The Haunted Bookshop”. His success as a novelist would lead him to working as a columnist for the “New York Evening Post.” He would also help to found and would edit for the first 16 years of its existence, “The Saturday Literary Review.” He also got a 12 volume series of his poetry published. Morley’s other works over the next three decades would include satirical essays, celebrated collaborations with Ogden Nash, books of literary analysis, the productions of plays, the editing of works of his favorite authors, the promotion of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and other novels the most famous among these being the controversial “Kitty Foyle.” The latter would be made into an Academy Award winning film starring Ginger Rogers. Ill health in the early 50’s prevented him from working, and he would eventually die in 1957 in his home in Roslyn, New York.
Author, Literary Editor, Essayist, Theatrical Producer. Born Christopher Darlington Morley in Haverford, Pennsylvania, he was the son of Math professor Frank and poet and musician Janet Little Bird. He would be a remarkable student, eventually graduating for Haverford College as valedictorian and winning a Rhodes Scholarship so that he could study history at New College at Oxford. While in college he participated in the college theatrical troupe acting and writing. He also would edit the literary magazine and publish a volume of poetry. He began his literary career working for Doubleday, Page and Co. and would go on to edit the “Ladies' Home Journal” and the “Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger”. In 1917, he published his first novel “Parnassus on Wheels” and followed up its success with a continuation called “The Haunted Bookshop”. His success as a novelist would lead him to working as a columnist for the “New York Evening Post.” He would also help to found and would edit for the first 16 years of its existence, “The Saturday Literary Review.” He also got a 12 volume series of his poetry published. Morley’s other works over the next three decades would include satirical essays, celebrated collaborations with Ogden Nash, books of literary analysis, the productions of plays, the editing of works of his favorite authors, the promotion of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and other novels the most famous among these being the controversial “Kitty Foyle.” The latter would be made into an Academy Award winning film starring Ginger Rogers. Ill health in the early 50’s prevented him from working, and he would eventually die in 1957 in his home in Roslyn, New York.
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