Heshele --
We’re not going to be able to add to the McIntyre legacy on the web
with an epitaph. A stone bench near his gravesite bears the
inscription "Beloved of a Nation," a fact confirmed by Mary Lee
Marchi, director of the Gallia County Historical Society:
http://www.zoomnet.net/~histsoc/
After you’d posted your question on Friday, Aceresearcher-GA called
Mary Lee and she volunteered to doublecheck what’s on his tombstone.
This morning’s response, indicates that this account of the
inscription is accurate:
Southeast Ohio Regional Free Library
"O.O. McIntyre Reading Room" (undated)
http://www.seorf.ohiou.edu/~xx129/mcintyre.html
Rootsweb has a wonderful collection of old penny postcards from Ohio,
with historic locations from the state. One depicts the gravesite of
McIntire:
Penny Postcards from Ohio
"Birdseye View of Ohio River and Gallipolis, OH Showing the Grave of
O.O. McIntyre, Mound Hill Cemetery" (undated)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/gallia/postcards/mcinty.jpg
Though we can’t add a McIntyre epitaph, perhaps we can add a bit of
his lore. McIntyre’s name was indeed Odd McIntyre. He was born Oscar
Odd McIntyre, with his middle name given him in honor of an uncle. He
preferred the name growing up in Gallipolis, Ohio, so it stuck.
McIntyre was born Feb. 18, 1884 and died Feb. 14, 1938, just four days
short of his 54th birthday and his 30th wedding anniversary to
Maybelle Hope Small. McIntyre died of a heart after two years of
illness. He was a Christian Scientist for the last 20 years of his
life. His wife was present when he died and he told her, "Turn your
face towards me so I can see you." The couple had no children.
McIntyre was an early failure in the hotel business of his father. He
worked for the East Liverpool (Ohio) Morning Tribune and later the
Dayton Herald and Cincinnati Post. In 1912 he went to New York as
associate editor of Hampton’s Magazine, which folded shortly
thereafter.
At age 28 he was doing public relations work and freelancing when he
decided in 1912 to do a daily column about life in New York City for
"the home folks." Initially he mimeographed it and sent it by mail.
Then the Bridgeport Post was the first newspaper to syndicate it for
$8 per year. Within two years, 26 papers were purchasing it for
$600/year.
In a society that was modernizing but still largely rural, his column
"New York Day by Day" became increasingly popular in syndication.
McIntyre continued his publicity work, becoming agent for the Hotel
Majestic and living there. Mrs. McIntyre took over management of his
business affairs, including syndication deals with Scripps-Howard and
McNaught, raising his income to more than $200,000 each year. More
than 380 newspapers reaching 7 million people printed his column in
1938.
Eventually McIntyre and his wife would move to the Ritz in New York.
His love of fancy clothing (and collection of more than 200 canes)
required 26 trucks to accomplish the move.
The New York Times obituary dubs him the "Hans Christian Anderson of
Manhattan," who wrote about the glamorous show life of Broadway and
Times Square. Being the publicist for a number of actors and
comedians, including the producer Florenz Ziegfield, enhanced his
contacts. McIntyre also made several trips to London and Paris,
writing of those cities much as he did about New York City.
McIntyre also wrote more elaborate versions of his daily column for
Cosmopolitan magazine. There are four collections of his writings in
book form:
White Light Nights (1924)
Twenty-five Selected Stories (1929)
Another 'Odd' Book (1932)
The Big Town (1935)
Within 7 months of his death Charles B. Driscoll’s 'The Life of O.O.
McIntyre' (1938) was on the New York Times bestseller list. Jack
Warner, of Warner Brothers studio, had a movie option on McIntyre's
life and was considering putting the movie into production in 1938,
but as far as I can tell it never happened.
Google search strategy:
"O.O. McIntire" + Gallipolis
I also did a search of The Gale Group’s Biography Resource Center, a
fee-based service available for free from many public libraries.
The search also included the New York Times (via Proquest Historical
newspaper database) from 1938 to 1950.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
