Alice Hegan Rice

Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice

Alice Hegan Rice, also known as Alice Caldwell Hegan, (January 11, 1870 – February 10, 1942) was an American novelist.

Biography

Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, she wrote over two dozen books, the most famous of which is Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. The book was a best seller in 1902 and is set in Louisville, Kentucky where she then lived. It was made into a successful play in 1903, and there were three Hollywood movie versions of it. The best known is the 1934 film starring Pauline Lord and W. C. Fields.

Hegan was married to poet and dramatist Cale Young Rice. The house they lived in at 1444 St. James Court is still standing. She was a niece of author Frances Little (pseud.).

Several of Alice Rice's earlier works were translated into German, French, Danish, and Swedish, and three (Mrs. Wiggs, Mr. Opp, and the Romance of Billy-Goat Hill) were dramatized. Both before and after she became a novelist she was favorably known also for short stories contributed to the magazines.

She died at her home in Louisville in 1942.

List of works

• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1902)
• Lovey Mary (1903)
• Sandy (1905)
• Captain June (1907)
• Mr. Opp (1909)
• A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill (1912)
• The Honorable Percival (1914)
• Calvary Alley (1917)
• Miss Mink's Soldier and Other Stories (1918)
• Turn About Tales (with Cale Young Rice) (1920)
• Quin (1921)
• Winners and Losers (with Cale Young Rice) (1925)
• The Buffer (1929)
• Mr. Pete & Co. (1933)
• The Lark Legacy (1935)
• Passionate Follies (1936)
• My Pillow Book (1937)
• Our Ernie (1939)
• The Inky Way (1940)
• Happiness Road (1942) (posthumous)

Filmography

• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (dir. Harold Entwistle, 1914)
• A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill (dir. Lynn Reynolds, 1916)
• Mr. Opp (dir. Lynn Reynolds, 1917)
• Sunshine Nan (dir. Charles Giblyn, 1918)
• Sandy (dir. George Melford, 1918)
• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (dir. Hugh Ford, 1919)
• Lovey Mary (dir. King Baggot, 1926)
• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (dir. Norman Taurog, 1934)
• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (dir. Ralph Murphy, 1942)

Further reading

• Boewe, Mary (2010). Beyond the Cabbage Patch; the Literary World of Alice Hegan Rice. Louisville: Butler Books. ISBN 978-1-935497-33-2.

External links

• Guide to the JAlice Caldwell Hegan Rice letters, 1925-1929; undated housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center

• Works by or about Alice Hegan Rice at Wikisource
• Alice Hegan Rice in The Literature Network
• Alice Hegan Rice in "Old Louisville in Literature
• Works by Alice Hegan Rice at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Alice Hegan Rice at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by or about Alice Caldwell Hegan at Internet Archive
• Works by Alice Hegan Rice at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Alice Hegan Rice at Find a Grave
• National Book League (Great Britain) (1902). Book News. - Brief biographical information

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)