Woollcott, Alexander (1887-1943). American critic and radio personality. Born in Phalanx, NJ, Alexander Woollcott graduated from Hamilton College in 1909. Joining the New York Times as a cub reporter after graduation, he became drama critic in 1914. After serving in the U.S. Army as a reporter for the Stars and Stripes (1917-1918), he returned to the Times and subsequently worked for the New York Herald, the New York World, and the New Yorker and was associated with the Algonquin Round Table group in the 1920s and 30s. Throughout his career Woollcott was known for his flamboyance and acerbic wit. He became host of “The Town Crier” radio program in 1929. He retired to an estate in Vermont in the 1930s, but he returned to New York City in 1940 to play Sheridan Whiteside, the title character of George Kaufman and Moss Hart’s play The Man Who Came to Dinner, an annoying New York critic and radio celebrity modeled on himself. It is not clear when Cather met Woollcott, but she called him “one of my best friends” (#1633) and was pleased when he “serenaded” her on his radio program and responded positively to his request that her Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) be put into an Armed Services Edition. However, she declined to allow him to anthologize her work or have it read over the air.

Pottle, Frederick A. (1898-1987). American scholar and biographer. Born in Center Lovell, ME, Frederick Pottle earned his BA from Colby College in 1917 and taught at the Hebron Academy. After earning his PhD from Yale University in 1925, he taught there and devoted his scholarship to the life and work of James Boswell, editing the “Yale Boswell Papers” and producing thirteen volumes of Boswell’s journals, beginning with Boswell’s London Journal (1950). Willa Cather read some of Pottle’s scholarship and appreciated its “convincing picture of town life in the eighteenth century” (#1533).

Knopf, Alfred A. (1892-1984). President of New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Knopf received his BA from Columbia University in New York City in 1912 and founded Alfred Knopf, Inc., in 1915 with his future wife Blanche Wolf. They married in 1916, and their son Alfred “Pat” Knopf was born in 1918. Cather chose him as her publisher beginning with Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920) and One of Ours (1922), partly because she was dissatisfied with the promotion of her books by Houghton Mifflin but also because she recognized the high quality of Knopf's books, as well as what she regarded as his intelligent advertising. Knopf was noted for publishing the work of leading European and South American writers in translation, as well as original works. Knopf and Cather’s extensive correspondence testifies to their mutual professional respect and to what also became an important personal friendship.

Kingsmill, Hugh (1889-1949). British writer and journalist. Born Hugh Kingsmill Lunn in London and educated at Harrow and Oxford, writing as Hugh Kingsmill he had a long and varied career as a writer. After serving in the British Army in World War I, he first wrote science fiction and crime fiction but then shifted primarily to non-fiction, displaying his acerbic wit as a regular contributor to the English Review Magazine. Cather admired his edited volume Johnson without Boswell: A Contemporary Portrait of Samuel Johnson (1940).

Barrymore, Ethel (1879-1959). American actress. Born into two prominent acting families, the Barrymores and the Drews, Ethel Barrymore made her stage debut in 1895. Known for her beauty, she became a star in 1901 in Clyde Fitch’s Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, and went on to play many roles in comedies and serious plays, occasionally co-starring with her brothers Lionel and John. One of her lines, “That’s all there is, there isn’t any more,” became a popular tag-line. Cather followed Barrymore’s career with interest but apparently did not meet her.

Alessandri, Rosa Ester Rodríguez Velasco (1872-1936). First Lady of Chile. Born in Santiago, Chile, Rosa Ester Rodríguez married Arturo Alessandri in 1893; they had 9 children. Rodríguez served as the First Lady of Chile during her husband’s two terms as president (1920–1925, 1932–1938).

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945). American president. Roosevelt was elected the 32nd president of the United States in 1932. He began his presidency during the Great Depression and served for four terms (longer than any other president before him or since) up until his death near the end of World War II. As president, Roosevelt greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through the New Deal. Cather felt “satisfied” with his election, although she did not consider him to be a “giant intellect” (#1504, #2104).