Kathleen Eaton Cannell
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Eaton Cannell (1891 – 1974) was a Paris
-based American
dance and fashion correspondent for major U.S. papers and periodicals. Before moving to Paris she was the dance critic for The Christian Science Monitor
. During the years of World War I
she was a dancer and performed under the stage name of 'Rihani', inventing a dance style called 'static dances'.
She was a well-known figure in the American community of artists in Paris in the 1920's. She was briefly married to the poet Skipwith Cannell
but divorced him in the spring of 1921. William Carlos Williams
describes her thus: "Kitty Cannell in her squirrel coat and yellow skull cap, which made the French, man and woman, turn in the street and stare seeing a woman, approaching six feet, so accoutered". She had an affair with Harold Loeb
and they socialized with Ernest Hemingway
and his wife Hadley. In A Farewell to Arms
Hemingway based the character Helen Ferguson on Kitty, and also the character Frances Clyne in The Sun Also Rises
, although she denied this, but a reading of her letters to Loeb indicates strong parallels with the story.
She became the Paris fashion correspondent for The New Yorker
, and, during the German occupation, reported on occupying forces' press conferences for the New York Times.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
-based American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dance and fashion correspondent for major U.S. papers and periodicals. Before moving to Paris she was the dance critic for The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
. During the years of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
she was a dancer and performed under the stage name of 'Rihani', inventing a dance style called 'static dances'.
She was a well-known figure in the American community of artists in Paris in the 1920's. She was briefly married to the poet Skipwith Cannell
Skipwith Cannell
Skipwith Cannell was an American poet associated with the Imagist group. His surname is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. He was a friend of William Carlos Williams, and like Ezra Pound he came from Philadelphia...
but divorced him in the spring of 1921. William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
describes her thus: "Kitty Cannell in her squirrel coat and yellow skull cap, which made the French, man and woman, turn in the street and stare seeing a woman, approaching six feet, so accoutered". She had an affair with Harold Loeb
Harold Loeb
Harold Albert Loeb was an American figure active in the arts in Paris in the 1920s. Loeb attended Princeton University where he boxed. Loeb served in World War I and after the War was Ernest Hemingway's sparring partner. Loeb served as co-editor of Broom, An International Magazine of the Arts . He...
and they socialized with Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
and his wife Hadley. In A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway concerning events during the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The book, which was first published in 1929, is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant in the ambulance...
Hemingway based the character Helen Ferguson on Kitty, and also the character Frances Clyne in The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received...
, although she denied this, but a reading of her letters to Loeb indicates strong parallels with the story.
She became the Paris fashion correspondent for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, and, during the German occupation, reported on occupying forces' press conferences for the New York Times.
Sources
- Robert Karoly Sarlos, Jig Cook and the Provincetown Players: Theatre in Ferment, University of Massachusetts Press, 1982
- Humphrey Carpenter, Geniuses Together: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s, Unwin Hyman, 1987. ISBN 0-04-440067-5 (see pp.101, 153, 183)
- Bertram D. Sarason, Hemingway and 'The Sun' set NCR / Microcard Editions, 1972
- James J Wilhelm, Ezra Pound in London and Paris 1908-1925 Penn State Press, 1990. ISBN 0-271-00682-X (see p.301)