Popular last-century writer a longtime state worker

Even her name dripped with mystery and romance.

Belle K. Maniates worked quietly as a clerk in Michigan state government despite her double life as one of the most popular romance writers of the early 20th century.

Belle K. Maniates, who lived in Lansing for 30 years and worked as a clerk in Michigan state government, published more than 160 romantic short …

Maniates published more than 160 romantic short stories in newspapers across the country and eight popular novels, three of which were made into silent movies. Yet, she was mostly forgotten until Patricia Oman, an English professor at Hastings College in Nebraska, stumbled across one of her books in a used bookstore and researched this lost Midwestern writer.

Hastings College Press republished two of Maniates’ novels, “Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley” and “Our Next-Door Neighbors,” and is preparing a 1,000-page collection of her short stories, which appeared in daily newspapers across the United States, including African American publications such as the Chicago Defender.

“Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley,” which came out in 1915, propelled her popularity three years later when it was made into a movie starring silent film star Mary Pickford.

“Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley,” which came out in 1915, propelled Maniates’ popularity three years later when it was made into a movie …

Today, Maniates’ books and short stories would be considered pollyannish. They had a simple, formulaic theme: The plucky young girl overcomes everything thrown in her way to find chaste romance. And the books were light with humor and timely plot twists. In one short story, a young girl travels to Mexico to search for someone she is attracted to and coincidentally runs into him on the street. They have coffee, and a budding love story begins. Oh, shucks.

Often, popular books of the time, including Maniates’, were laced with what were referred to as “American orphan” themes, perhaps influenced by the trains of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that sent orphaned children across the country looking for foster parents. Consider “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” (1876), L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” (1900), or even the popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie.”

Popular books of Maniates’ time were often laced with what were referred to as “American orphan” themes, perhaps influenced by the trains of …

Maniates’ first book, “David Dunne,” (1912), about an orphan boy who grows up to become governor, fit nicely in that genre.

“It was clearly inspired by her time in the Capitol, and although not set specifically in Lansing, you can recognize the offices and the furniture,” Valerie Marvin, state Capitol historian and archivist, said.

Maniates’ fifth novel, “Our Next-Door Neighbors,” from 1917, is a comedic adventure of two families and offers an unusual twist to the orphan trope.

Maniates, who was born in Marshall, Michigan, at the outset of the Civil War in 1861, herself lost a parent when her father, a Greek immigrant, died when she was 1 year old. She was raised by a single mother and extended family.

Despite her popularity in World War I years and her employment in the state’s military department, Maniates never fell into using military tropes, perhaps because her father had fled war-torn Greece during the revolution. She may have also been influenced by her first job as the chief of the U.S. war widow office in Detroit. Oman says this may have influenced her opinion.

Maniates herself did not follow common gender norms of the era. She never married, had no children and was self-supporting.

Oman discovered in publishing correspondence held by Harvard University that Maniates could be quite forceful in her opinions about her writing. For example, she refused to write a series based on “Amarilly” even though it was successful, selling more than 32,000 copies.

However, Maniates’ thematic approach to writing could have gone in a different direction when her fiancé in Lansing died of tuberculosis after moving to Arizona to recover. The young couple had already gotten their marriage license. She inherited his house.

Maniates’ writing may have been on the edge of “soft feminism,” Marvin, who has also studied the author’s career, said. “She held a job, was self-sufficient and owned property.”

In 1917, Maniates penned “Little Boy Bear,” a children’s book about a little bear cub that was saved by a young boy and later returns the favor. (Hmm, was she reading James Oliver Curwood’s “The Grizzly King,” (1916), later adapted into the movie “The Bear,” in which an orphaned bear returns a similar favor?)

In 1917, Maniates penned “Little Boy Bear,” a children’s book about a bear cub that was saved by a young boy and later returns the favor. A …

A review in the Lansing State Journal said, “She pilots her readers into the very heart of the tale she is telling, a writer’s trick that is indeed difficult of mastery.”

“Little Boy Bear” was dedicated to John Brisbin, a 4-year-old boy whose family Maniates rented from.

Maniates, who died in 1931, lived in Lansing for 30 years, typically renting and living in boarding houses, which was common for young women at the time. Maniates moved to Lansing to be a secretary to the colonel who headed the office of the Michigan adjutant general.

Maniates began writing her popular 1,000- to 1,500-word short stories in the early 1900s but later morphed into writing novels.

Several of Maniates’ books were also produced as plays, including “Mildew Manse,” which is about the comedic experiences of a family who remain in their home while it is being moved. In her tongue-in-cheek style, Maniates named the family Hazard, and they assume the nickname “haphazard” for their living style. The Philadelphia Telegraph compared the book to “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott.

In an interview in a Santa Barbara, California, newspaper, Maniates said, “I don’t use a typewriter for my stories because I think it makes sentences so short and choppy. I use a pencil and then afterwards I type it so I can read it more easily.”

She also told the newspaper, “I don’t write out a plot before I start writing, but maybe write four chapters and then if the last seems to be better for a beginning turn it into the first.”

“Amarilly” is about a large Irish immigrant family whose single mother is a washer woman whose sons are all messengers or newsboys. Amarilly meets a young, wealthy socialite and begins an oft-repeated plot line of a poor girl and a rich boy, but in the end, Amarilly does not marry him. The book drips with class status. A video of the movie is available on YouTube. Oman, who is writing an article on the book’s publishing history for an academic publication on literature, discovered that two films were made from the book. Maniates first suspected making both movies was somehow a scheme, but she was later satisfied with its propriety.

Oman said the letters to the publisher are the only material left behind by Maniates, but she’s still looking. The publisher made several requests to write a series based on “Amarilly” but they went unheeded.

Maniates was especially popular with Greek immigrants in the United States despite being born in Marshall. Greek readers may have remembered her great uncle, Constantine Kanaris, who was immortalized in a poem by Victor Hugo recognizing his role in a naval battle. He was also prime minister of Greece. His naval exploits against the Turks in the War were legendary.

Hugo writes, “But good Canaris (sic), whose daring boat/is followed by a burning wake/ on the vessels he seizes.”

As a younger woman, Maniates was active in Lansing social clubs and often gave readings to literary groups. As she grew more successful, she retreated to spending her time writing.

In 1920, Maniates’ fame was recognized when she was named to the “who’s who” of Lansing along with Ransom E. Olds and governors Albert Sleeper and Woodbridge N. Ferris. She retired from state government in 1921 and died 10 years later at the age of 70.