Harry Leon Wilson

Harry Leon Wilson (May 1, 1867 – June 28, 1939) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels Ruggles of Red Gap and Merton of the Movies. Another of his works, Bunker Bean, helped popularize the term "flapper". It was adapted into a play and film. Several of his other novels were also adapted to film, some more than once.

Early life

Harry Leon Wilson was born in Oregon, Illinois to Samuel and Adeline (née Kidder). His father was a newspaper publisher, and Harry learned to set type at an early age. He went to public schools and enjoyed reading Bret Harte and Mark Twain. He learned shorthand and secretarial skills.

Biography and career

Wilson left home at 16 and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a stenographer in Topeka, Kansas, Omaha, Nebraska, Denver, Colorado, and eventually he came to California in 1887. He was a contributor to the histories of Hubert Howe Bancroft, and became the private secretary to Virgil Bogue.

In December 1886, Wilson's story "The Elusive Dollar Bill" was accepted by Puck magazine. He continued to contribute to Puck and became assistant editor in 1892. Henry Cuyler Bunner died in 1896 and Wilson replaced him as editor.

Wilson's first wife was Wilbertine Nesselrode Teters Worden, whom he married in 1898. The marriage ended in divorce in 1900. In 1902, he married Rose Cecil O'Neill Latham. O'Neill and Wilson worked together at Puck, and she was the illustrator for four of his books; they divorced in 1907. Wilson's black and white pit bull dog named Sprangle was the inspiration for Rose O'Neill's biscuit porcelain Kewpie dog figure, known to the world as "Kewpiedoodle dog" and sold worldwide by importer George Borgfeldt.