The Resume

(October 1, 1890-November 5, 1950)
Born in Newport, Rhode Island
Birth name was Blanche Oelrichs
Poet/playwright/stage actress
Published the poetry collections 'Miscellaneous Poems' (1916), 'Resurrecting Life' (1921) and 'Selected Poems' (1928), the play 'Clair de Lune' (1921) and the autobiography 'Who Tells Me True' (1940)
Married John Barrymore (1920-25)
Mother of Diana Barrymore

Why she might be annoying:

She was a member of the Lucy Stone League, which encouraged married women to keep their maiden names, but published her poetry under a male pseudonym.
Alexander Woollcott described 'Clair de Lune' as 'incorrigibly pretentious.'
Editor Maxwell Perkins noted that she would extol Communism and the need for a classless society, interrupting her lectures to yell at the maids in her kitchen for making too much noise.
Daughter Diana said of her and John, 'They were in competition with each other as artists, as lovers, as parents: each insisted on being the only focus, each had a terrible temper.'

Why she might not be annoying:

She had a popular New York radio show reading poetry to musical accompaniment.
Poet John Hall Wheelock noted, 'She was so attractive and magnetic, [she] held audiences spellbound.'
She had lesbian relations with screenwriter Mercedes d'Acosta and 'Goodnight Moon' author Margaret Wise Brown.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Poets
• Barrymore Family
• Bisexuals
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 20]
• Diseased Initials
• Female Writers Who Used Male Pen Names
• I Died in 1950 (Ranked: 60)
• I Have Leukemia
• I Outlived My Child
• I'm Buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx
• Poets
• Profiles 25751-26000 (Ranked: 25922)
• Women Who Kept Their Maiden Name After Marriage [Lucy Stoners]

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 76.92% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 24 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 24 Votes: 50.0% Annoying