Alan March
Beatrice Ashton Vandegrift March was born in 1902 in Philadelphia. She was known as Betty to her friends and family. Throughout her life she displayed her facility with language, spoken and written. While attending Red Bank High School in New Jersey she performed in a school play, debated politics on the school's debate team, was elected as her senior class secretary, and became an editor for the school's first newspaper.
Beginning in 1922, her poems were published the New Jersey newspaper, the Bayonne Daily Times, as a contributor to a regular column. Within a year, Betty was being paid for her poems and short stories. Most of the 100+ pieces she sold appeared in the pulp magazine, "Argosy All-Story." Her work also appeared in "Munsey's" magazine. Many of her short-short stories were syndicated and appeared in newspapers across the USA. Betty's writing displayed her wit, a Jazz Age woman's perspective on beauty, relations between women and men, philosophies of life, and general observations of the world and nature.
This page reveals the genesis of Betty's professional writing career, as her work first appeared in the column titled, "Getting an Earfull with Ken." Written and edited by Nick "Ken" Kenny, "Getting an Earfull," published poems, jokes, stories, and commentary from unpaid contributors, most of whom used noms de plume. More than forty of Betty's poems appeared in the "Earfull" from 1922 to 1929.
Bayonne Times, April 22, 1922
Poetess Augusta Wynde is introduced to the readers of the column "Getting an Earfull with Ken."
Bayonne Times, May 9, 1922
Columnist Nick Kenny may have been be showing romantic interest in Miss Wynde inspiring this brief poem.
Bayonne Times, April 26, 1923
Augusta Wynde's true name is Beatrice Ashton Vandegrift, now a paid writer
Bayonne Times, August 7, 1925 (in two parts.)
Columnist Nick "Ken" Kenny tells how he met Miss Wynde, the writer Beatrice "Betty" Vandegrift.
His affection for Betty is apparent.
When "To His Mother" was published by Argosy All-Story, Betty was engaged to marry Kenneth F. March, then in his fourth year at the US Military Academy at West Point. His mother was Edith Frease March, of Canton, Ohio.
Bayonne Times, July 1, 1927 (in two parts).
Columnist Kenny described himself and Betty as a "romantic pair," as they co-wrote the poem "He She."
Bayonne Times, August 9, 1927.
Columnist Kenny's last reference to Betty as he reprints a poem she wrote about becoming a mother.
The poem refers to her first child, her son, Harry V. "Pat" March, who was born in March of 1927
