St. Louis Writers Guild History

Our Founders:
Sam Hellman, Shirley Seifert, Jay Gelzer, William Brennan,
Leonora McPheeters, and Ralph Mooney.

In 1920 six writers got together and founded the St. Louis Writers Guild. It was their intent to share ideas and experiences and encourage each other to write and publish their work. Our six founders were all highly accomplished authors.

Sam Hellman, founding president of the St. Louis Writers Guild, was born in San Francisco, California, in 1885. In 1913 he married Selma Schwartz of St. Louis, MO. He was managing editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a freelance creative writer. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he wrote extensively for the Saturday Evening Post. Most of these publication credits appear to be essays. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he authored Hollywood screenplays, at least 36 of which were produced by filmmakers. Some of Hellman’s screenplays became major films of the era, including Little Miss Marker (1934), Poor Little Rich Girl (1936), Slave Ship (1937), which he co-authored with William Faulkner, Stanley and Livingstone (1939), and My Darling Clementine (1946).  Helman died in August of 1954 of a heart attack.

Sam Hellman’s daughter, Verna Fields, was born in St. Louis n 1918. She lived here and attended school before her father moved the family to Hollywood. She also had an impressive Hollywood career as a film editor. She started editing sound on the television series, Sky King, in 1951, sound effects and also worked for RKO where she edited sound for While The City Sleeps, in 1956. Subsequently, she began editing both sound and picture. Other notable (non-nominated) editing credits include: (for sound) The Savage Eye (1960), El Cid (1961) and Targets (1968); (for picture) Studs Lonigan (1960), Medium Cool (1969), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Paper Moon (1973), The Sugarland Express, Daisy Miller, and Memory Of Us (all in 1974). She was also a 2nd unit director (though uncredited) on Jaws, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1975. Fields died in Hollywood in 1982.

Sam Hellman had another daughter named Emmy Lou Hellman (b.??-death February 1996). Further, Emmy Lou married Arthur Morton (b.1908-d. 2000). He wrote numerous film scores for film and television and is quite famous in his own right. So, it appears that Hellman's decision to move to Hollywood paid substantial dividends to his family's notoriety.

Shirley Seifert, also one of the six founding members of the St. Louis Writers Guild, was born in St. Peters, Missouri, in 1889. She attended public schools in St. Louis and majored in classical and modern languages at Washington University. After teaching in St. Louis public schools for a short while, she began writing short stories and published many in popular periodicals of the time, including Redbook, McCalls, the Ladies Home Journal, and the New York Herald-Tribune Magazine.  She eventually found her niche in historical fiction and, in her lifetime, published fifteen novels, one of which, The Wayfarer, was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. Seifert held an important position in St. Louis literary society and received several distinguished service awards. She died in 1971.

Shirley Seifert’s two sisters, Elizabeth Seifert Gasparotti, and Adele Seifert, were also accomplished Missouri writers. Adele wrote several mystery novels and co-authored a few books with Shirley. Elizabeth wrote stories that focused on the medical professional and in her lifetime published 24 books. Her novel, Young Dr. Galahad, published in 1938, took first prize in a contest sponsored by Redbook magazine and her prize was $10,000.

Jay Gelzer, another of the six founding members of the St. Louis Writers Guild, was born in 1889. Her date of death is unknown, but one source indicates “after 1950.” In her writing career, she published many short stories in popular magazines, including Goodhousekeeping, Collier’s, Woman’s World, and Cosmopolitan. She wrote two books: a collection of stories published under the title, The Street of a Thousand Delights, and Compromise: A Novel. In 1924, she copyrighted a dramatic comedy screenplay called Lonely Woman, and a 1929 major Hollywood film, Broadway Babies, was based on one of her stories.

William Brennan
[Research in progress]
Wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and later became a screenplay writer.

Leonora McPheeters
[Research in progress]
Wrote short stories.

Ralph Mooney
[Research in progress] Ralph Mooney’s Sunday open houses hosted the St. Louis Writers Guild’s earliest meetings. Writers dropped by to talk about their current projects and socilaize. Mooney published short fiction in popular national magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, Argosy All-Story Weekly, The Popular Magazine, Munsey's, and People's Favorite Magazine. He also wrote the book, David Rudd. Some call it a novel while others call it a memoir.

Over the decades, the St. Louis Writers Guild sponsored authors' conferences, writing courses, contests, and critique groups. Meetings featured speakers on virtually every aspect of writing and publishing and holiday parties and picnics continued the friendly, open spirit of the original Guild.

Many gifted and accomplished writers have been members of the Guild, contributing their time and interest to the group. The Guild has always attracted a diverse membership in all genres and they represent a full spectrum of publishing experience. This diversity is one of the Guild's greatest strengths. New writers benefit from contact with successful and seasoned writers. More experienced authors seek new ideas and approaches to their work.

Since the beginning, the Guild often reflected its times. In some years, the Guild flourished and its members consisted of some of the most prolific and admired writers in the country. In other years, the organization survived because of the sheer determination of a handful of dedicated writers. However, the Guild has endured and its legacy continues.

Today, due to rapidly developing technologies, the Guild has expanded its support to its members through email and a website. It continues to bring in authors and other publishing industry experts to inspire and educate members in meetings and workshops and carries on its original purpose to bring writers together to share ideas and experiences and encourage each other to write and publish their work.