Tess Slesinger

Tess Slesinger was an American novelist and screenwriter known for her incisive satirical fiction depicting the political and personal tensions of 1930s leftist intellectual circles as well as her notable contributions to Hollywood screenplays during the late 1930s and early 1940s. She is best remembered for her only novel, The Unpossessed (1934), a roman à clef that critiqued radical New York intellectuals, and her short story collection Time: The Present (1935), which included the acclaimed “Missis Flinders,” a semi-autobiographical account of a woman's abortion decision. In Hollywood, she co-wrote screenplays for major films including The Good Earth (1937), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), often exploring themes of class, gender inequality, and social conflict.

Born Theresa Slesinger on July 16, 1905, in New York City to a progressive assimilated Jewish family, she grew up on the Upper West Side with three older brothers. Her mother, Augusta Slesinger, was a social worker who later became a lay analyst, while her father, Anthony Slesinger, worked in the garment business. Educated at the Ethical Culture Society School, she attended Swarthmore College before earning a B.A. in English from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1925. She began her writing career with book reviews for the Menorah Journal and became immersed in left-wing intellectual circles through her first marriage to Herbert Solow in 1928. After their divorce in 1932, she published The Unpossessed, dedicated to her contemporaries, and the stories in Time: The Present, which appeared in outlets such as Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Story.

In 1935, Slesinger moved to Hollywood after being hired by Irving Thalberg at MGM, where she earned a substantial salary and collaborated on several films. She married assistant producer Frank Davis in 1936, and the couple co-wrote multiple screenplays, including The Bride Wore Red (1937), Remember the Day (1941), and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). Committed to leftist causes, she supported organizations such as the League of American Writers and the Screen Writers Guild, remaining active in progressive politics without shifting rightward after leaving earlier anti-Stalinist groups. Slesinger died of cancer on February 21, 1945, at age thirty-nine in Los Angeles, shortly before the release of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She left behind her husband and two children, including son Peter Davis, who later became a documentary filmmaker. Her work continues to be valued for its sharp observation of 1930s American political culture, marriages, sexuality, and the challenges faced by women in intellectual and creative fields.