Dorothy Cameron Disney

Dorothy Cameron Disney MacKaye (November 13, 1903[1] – September 5, 1992) was an American mystery writer and journalist who was born in pre-statehood Oklahoma and died in Guilford, Connecticut.[2]

Not to be confused with Doris Miles Disney, the (unrelated) American mystery writer.
Dorothy Cameron Disney MacKaye
BornNovember 13, 1903[1]
an American territory

that subsequently became Oklahoma

DiedSeptember 5, 1992(1992-09-05) (aged 88)
Guilford, CT
Educationseveral colleges, no degree[2]
Occupation(s)Marriage advice columnist
mystery novelist[2] and biographer
SpouseMilton MacKaye
ChildrenWilliam R. MacKaye
ParentLoren G. Disney

Under the Dorothy Cameron Disney byline (the name she also used in fiction writing) she was the creator of the modern marriage advice column.[3]

Marriage advice columnist

Her column, "Can This Marriage Be Saved", ran in Ladies' Home Journal for 30 years.[2]

Initially the column was done in partnership with a marriage counseling professional, but later she "made it entirely her own", obtaining source material from "counseling agencies across the country."[2]

In an article for her publisher's 100th anniversary, she wrote that "He (or she) never listens" was "the single greatest pitfall" in marriage. Her column sought to address "the inability of husband and wife to communicate".

Biography

She was born in Oklahoma, then still a territory, to Mr. and Mrs. Loren G. Disney. Her father was a lawyer[2] and an American federal civil servant.

She married Milton MacKaye, a magazine writer. She was known formally afterward as Dorothy Disney MacKaye, but wrote under the name Dorothy Cameron Disney. She and her husband were married for 50 years, until his death.[2] They were survived by their son, William R. MacKaye, their daughter-in-law, Mary Anne MacKaye, and five grandchildren.

Earlier career

She began her writing career in 1929 with short stories and eventually wrote nine mystery novels,.[2] Among her novels were:

  • Crime of the Spider (1936)
  • No Orchids for Jenny (1942)
  • The Strawstack Murders (1944)[4]

Disney's novel Death in the Back Seat[5] was reviewed by the New York Times.

Several years later she reviewed a murder mystery for the Times.[6]

Transition from fiction

During the war years, "she was a war correspondent .. for Reader's Digest."[3]

Her last novel was published in 1949, as she specialized more in her journalistic work. But her works continued to be translated and released in French through 1953, the year when work on her Can This Marriage Be Saved advice column became her focus.

Co-publication

Together with her husband, she published "The Game of Categories" in 1927.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Dorothy Cameron Disney MacKaye". .. born in 1903 on November 13 (Friday the 13th)
  2. Bruce Weber (September 8, 1992). "Dorothy D. MacKaye Dies at 88; Ladies' Home Journal Columnist". The New York Times.
  3. "Dorothy Disney Mackaye, marriage columnist, dies". The Washington Post. September 7, 1992. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  4. Dorothy Cameron Disney. "Strawstack Murders Paperback -1944".
  5. "Death in the Back Seat, by Dorothy Cameron Disney. 301 pp. New York: Random House. $2". The New York Times. October 18, 1936. p. 18.
  6. Dorothy Cameron Disney (July 11, 1943). "Murder in an Exotic Background; COLOUR SCHEME. By Ngaio Marsh. 314 pp. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. $2.50". The New York Times.
  7. Bruce Whitehill. "Annotated Bibliography: The Big Game Hunter's Resource Guide to Selected English Language Books on Games & Puzzles".
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