贝蒂·史密斯

贝蒂·史密斯（1896年12月15日 - 1972年1月17日）是一位美国剧作家和小说家，她生于纽约布鲁克林。父亲是第一代德裔美国人。1943年出版了畅销书《布鲁克林有棵树》。

Betty Smith (born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner; December 15, 1896 – January 17, 1972) was an American playwright and novelist. She is best known for writing the 1943 bestseller A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Early years

Smith was born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner on December 15, 1896, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York to first-generation German-Americans John C. Wehner, a waiter, and Katherine (or Catherine) Hummel. She had a younger brother, William, and a younger sister, Regina. At the time of her birth, the family was living at 207 Ewen Street (now Manhattan Avenue). When she was four, they were living at 227 Stagg Street, and would move several times to various tenements on Montrose Avenue and Hopkins Street before settling in a tenement on the top floor of 702 Grand Street. It was the Grand Street tenement that served as the setting for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Smith developed an early passion for the written word. At age eight, she received an A for a school composition. "I knew then," she was reported as saying, "that I would write a book one day." She made great use of the then-new public library near her home on Leonard Street, and at age 11, had two poems published in a school publication. Smith attended Public School 49 through fourth grade, then transferred to PS 18, which she disliked, before wrangling her way into out-of-district PS 23 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she finished eighth grade. At this point in her life, at age 14, she was compelled by her mother to quit school and go to work to support the family. From 1910 to 1915, Smith worked a series of odd jobs, including a factory making tissue paper and at a clipping station, where she read more than 200 newspapers a day. At age 18, endeavoring to further her education, she discovered she could attend Girls' High School in Brooklyn during the day while continuing to work a night job in Manhattan. Smith also became editor of the school newspaper. But after two years of this rigorous schedule, she quit school because she received a well-paying day job with the United States Postal Service.

In her teenage years, Smith was an active member at the Jackson Street Settlement House, operated by the School Settlement Association. Offering a diverse range of after school social activities, the settlement house became one of Smith's favorite destinations. Of particular interest were classes in play writing, as well as acting and other theatrical activities. It was at the settlement house in 1917 that she met her future first husband, George H. E. Smith, the coach of her debate team and a fellow German-American, whose family name had been changed during WWI from Schmidt. Some claim that it was near the Jackson Street Settlement House, rather than near her apartment, that the tree grew which gave name to her best-known novel, but this assertion is unsubstantiated.

Marriage and motherhood

In 1919, after moving briefly to Richmond Hill, Queens, with her mother and stepfather, she joined George Smith in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. They married October 18, 1919. During the couple's extended stay in Ann Arbor, Smith gave birth to two girls and then waited until they were in school before endeavoring to complete her education. Because she had only completed two years of high school, Smith first enrolled in Ann Arbor High School, even though the principal thought it "unusual for a married woman to be a high school junior but could find no law against it." However, once again she was not able to graduate due to her husband finding work in Belding, Michigan, and later Detroit.