Edna Ferber was an American novelist, author and playwright. She worked she worked in newspapers -- specifically at the Appleton Daily Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal -- before publishing her first novel. She covered the 1920 Republican and Democratic national conventions for the United Press Association, in fact. Her works Show Boat, Giant, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron were made into films, and Show Boat and Saratoga Trunk also became musicals. In 1925, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book So Big. The Gigolo is the title story of a collection that demonstrates her abilities. Gideon Gore is the scion of a wealthy family who has fallen on hard times. His father has died, his mother has taken him to Europe, and war has broken out. Enlisting as a pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille, he is shot down, wounded, and captured. Released after the war he discovers his mother dead and the money all gone. He is reduced to making a living as a gigolo in Paris. His downfall appears complete when his services are engaged by a visiting family he knew as a boy back home.

Author Biography

Edna Ferber (1885 - 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie) and Ice Palace (1958), filmed in 1960. Ferber's novels generally featured strong female protagonists, along with a rich and diverse collection of supporting characters. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination ethnically or for other reasons; through this technique, Ferber demonstrated her belief that people are people and that the not-so-pretty people have the best character.