John O’Hara was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania to wealthy Irish-American parents. His upbringing greatly influenced his writing, as he centered many of his works around the perspective of an outsider within the polite WASP society. He studied at Niagara Prep secondary school in Lewiston, New York, where he was named Class Poet in 1924. He dreamed of attending Yale, but when his father passed around the time of his secondary school graduation, he was unable to afford the steep tuition. His family’s fall from a high social status left O’Hara with a lifetime of anxiety and writing focused on classism.
O’Hara began working as a newspaper reporter, moving to New York City to write short stories for magazines. In 1934, O’Hara published his first novel, Appointment in Samarra, which was endorsed by Ernest Hemingway. O’Hara followed with his novel Butterfield 8, a story about the short life of flapper Starr Faithful, whose mysterious death sparked many tabloid rumors.
O’Hara published novels, plays, screenplays, and more than 400 short stories over the course of four decades. O’Hara is best known in the theatre community for his novel Pal Joey, which was adapted in 1940 to a musical by the same name. O’Hara wrote the book and collaborated with Rodgers and Hart. The show was further adapted into a movie in 1957 starring Rita Haywoth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.
O’Hara is considered to be a best-selling author but undervalued in the literary community. His writing was a favorite of authors such as Updike, Shelby Foote, and Hemingway. O’Hara died due to cardiovascular disease in Princeton, New Jersey in 1970. After his death, O’Hara’s works were put on display at Pennsylvania State University and his childhood home in Pottsville was turned into a historic landmark in 1978.
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