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Subject: [CASantaClara] Charles Gilman NORRIS (d. 7.25.1945)
Date: 5 May 2002 08:59:44 -0600

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Surnames: Norris, Thompson, Hartigan, Fry, Daggett
Classification: Obituary

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/CY.2ADE/3063

Message Board Post:

Charles Gilman Norris Dead

Charles Gilman Norris, noted novelist and husband of the writer, Kathleen Norris, died at the Palo Alto Hospital yesterday afternoon from a heart ailment which had been serious for more than a year and critical for the past four weeks. He was 64.

Mr. Norris was born in Chicago, Apr. 23, 1881, the son of Benjamin Frank and Gertrude G. Norris, the former a jeweler and the latter an artist. He started to write at the age of 10, and his determination to carve out a career in that field was deepened by the fame of his older brother, Frank Norris.

After his graduation from the University of California in 1903, a few years in his father's business, and several years as a reporter and magazine editor, he took up the serious business of creative writing again. He first work, "The Amateur," was sold in 1915.

In the meantime he had met and married Kathleen Thompson, a young San Francisco newspaper woman, whose first novel, "Mother," sold 600,000. He was finding himself not only Frank Norris' brother but Kathleen Norris' husband - and redoubled his efforts to achieve literary success in his own right.

This he did with such works as "Salt," which became a best seller after having been rejected by six publishers; "Brass," written in 1921; "The Route of the Philistines," a poetical drama (1922); "Bread" (1923), "Pig Iron" (1925), "Zelda Marsh" (1927), "A Jest of Robin Hood," a drama (1929), "Seed" (1930), "Zest" (1933), "Hands" (1935), and his last book, a best seller, "Bricks Without Straw," written in 1938.

He once said, "My sole purpose in writing books is to make people think." Painstaking research went into his preparation of material and, unlike his wife, he wrote slowly.

His first work, the one written when he was 10, was an historical novel titled, "In the Reign of Our Monarch." His first writing job was on the editorial staff of Country Life, at $5 a week. After two years of reporting dog shows and flower shows he came back to California to take a post as circulation manager for a Southern Pacific trade journal.

It was then that he met Kathleen Thompson, a writer on a San Francisco newspaper. He needed more money if he was to marry her, so he left for New York again and joined the staff of the American Magazine. In 1909 he and Miss Thompson were married and settled down in New York on a $25 a week salary.

Their years of hardship and happiness have often been written of by Mrs. Norris. He once wrote in a letter to a young writer:

"May one whose early literary aspirations were dragged in the muck, stamped in the face, and kicked about generally, offer a bit of advice. Set fire to all your ships, sell out your business, and resign from your position - and WRITE. If you have the courage to do this - no matter how many people are dependent on you - nothing on God's green earth can stop you.

"The profession of writer is known to me fully. There is no flavor on its menu that I have not tasted. Only two things are necessary to succeed in it - faith and perseverance."

Charles Norris - "Cee Gee" to his relatives and friends - had both, and achieved a high place in American letters. His years of writing were broken only once, when he entered the army as a captain in World War I and advanced to be a major of infantry. It was during this period that "Salt" became a best seller.

He was a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of America, the Bohemian Club and Menlo County Club, the Players and the Dutch Treat of New York and the Elks Lodge.

He is survived by his wife and one son, Dr. Frank Norris of San Francisco. A foster son, William C. Norris, lives in New York. With him at his bedside when he died yesterday were Mrs. Norris and their son, the former's sister, Mrs. C.C. Hartigan, and a niece, Mrs. Blanchard Fry (Kit Benet).

It was June 8, 1944, while on a trip to New York that Mr. Norris was first stricken. Months of slow convalescence followed and he was able to drive out and go to the family's country home at Saratoga earlier in the Summer. Four weeks ago his condition again became critical and he was brought to the hospital here.

Funeral services Friday morning at 10:30 will be private.

The Norrises have been Palo Altans since 1927, when they built "La Casa Abierta" at the corner of Cowper St. and Melville Ave. Prior to that they had lived in New York and Rio de Janeiro before settling on the Saratoga place in 1920.

Both at Saratoga and here, their home was a gathering place for members of the large family and for famous people from all over the world who counted Cee Gee and Kathleeen as friends. Among their visitors in recent years was Alexander Woollcott, who carried on a perennial croquet feud with the Norrises - but usually lost.

Redwood City Tribune, July 26, 1945, Thursday

>From CADI: NORRIS CHARLES GILMAN 04/23/1881 DAGGETT NORRIS M ILLINOIS SANTA CLARA 07/25/1945 64 yrs

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