Heloise Bowles Cruse

Heloise
Born
Eloise Bowles

(1919-05-04)May 4, 1919
DiedDecember 28, 1977(1977-12-28) (aged 58)
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Occupation(s)Newspaper columnist, author

Heloise Bowles Cruse (May 4, 1919 – December 28, 1977[1][2][3]) was the original author of the popular syndicated newspaper column "Hints from Heloise."[2][4][5]

Born in Fort Worth, Texas,[1][4] Bowles married Marshal (Mike) Holman Cruse, a United States Air Force captain[4] (later colonel) in 1946. Their daughter Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse, born in 1951, is the current "Heloise".[4]

Bowles Cruse had been exchanging hints with neighboring stay-at-home-wives. While at a party she mentioned her wish to start a newspaper column where housewives could share hints. A colonel with two degrees in journalism laughed and bet her $10 she couldn’t get a newspaper job, for she was "nothing but a housewife." The next day she went to the offices of the Honolulu Advertiser and convinced the editor to try her column on a 30-day, no-pay basis.[6]

The original column was first published as "Readers' Exchange" in 1959.[1][4] In 1961, King Features syndicated it as "Hints from Heloise";[4] nearly 600 newspapers carried the column,[1] and, at the time of her death, it was one of three most popular (in terms of syndication) in the United States.[2]

Her book Heloise's Housekeeping Hints, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., was, at half a million copies total, one of the top 10 selling hardcover books in 1963. The book later became the fastest selling paperback in the history of its publisher Pocket Books.[1]

Books

  • Heloise's Housekeeping Hints (1962)
  • Heloise's Kitchen Hints (1963)
  • Heloise All Around the House (1965)
  • Hints For Working Women (1966)
  • Heloise's Work and Money Savers (1967)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Heloise Bowles Dies at 58. Florence Times Daily. p. 27. Dec 29 1977.
  2. ^ a b c Heloise Bowles of 'Hints' column. St Petersburg Times, Dec 30, 1977. P. 11B
  3. ^ Heloise Bowles Cruise Find a grave entry
  4. ^ a b c d e f HELOISE BOWLES CRUSE—THE ORIGINAL HELOISE
  5. ^ Life Stories: Profiles from the New Yorker. David Remnick, editor. Modern Library. 2001.
  6. ^ Jarboe, Jan, Heloise: Armed and Ingenious, Chicago Tribune, May 14, 1989 (on-line version)