Michael Strange (1890-1950)

She was brought up predominantly between New York City and Newport by parents who were members of Mrs Astor's "Four Hundred". She was considered one of the most beautiful debutantes of her era and in 1910 she married her first husband, Leonard Thomas. She soon became involved in the suffragist movement and shocked society when she gave herself a bobbed haircut. Influenced by the works of Walt Whitman, she began writing poetry from 1914 and two years later published "Miscellaneous Poems" under the pen-name 'Michael Strange' which she used thereafter first for all her professional work and then later as the name by which she introduced herself. In 1918, she adapted Leo Tolstoy's "The Living Corpse," which was successfully produced on Broadway with John Barrymore playing the lead. She and Barrymore began an affair which led to her and Thomas divorcing in 1919 and they were married in 1920. In the same year she wrote "Claire de Lune," another Broadway hit starring John and Ethel Barrymore. She and Barrymore divorced in 1928 and the following year she married Harrison Tweed. From 1936, she was given a radio slot on New York radio station WOR for her music and poetry. It soon became a regular feature and she was given a full orchestra to accompany her readings. She died in 1950 and had three children including the actress Diana Barrymore. She is buried with her younger son from her first marriage.