Dorothy McIlwraith
Dorothy McIlwraith (1891-1976) was born on this date, October 14. She was the editor of Weird Tales from 1940-1954, when the publication died its first “death”.
Most fans of the Unique Magazine don’t consider her tenure at the editorial helm to be as good as that of Farnsworth Wright. I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. By the time Ms. McIlwraith took her position, the greatest three writers were gone: Howard and Lovecraft were dead, and Clark Ashton Smith had pretty much stopped writing fiction. Other writers from the 20’s and 30’s had also passed on, such as Henry S. Whitehead.
But other regulars continued to publish there, such as Seabury Quinn and Carl Jacobi. And look at some of the names that graced the covers and tables of contents in those years. Ray Bradbury. Manly Wade Wellman. Robert Bloch. August Derleth. Theodore Sturgeon. Plus Lee Brown Coye illustrated many of those issues.
Of course the tone and contents of the magazine changed with the passing of the Big Three, but things were changing anyway. That can be seen in the other pulps as well. I, for one, like what McIlwraith published in the magazine. Bradbury’s stories from Weird Tales were some of the first dark fantasy and horror that I read as a kid. There’s a lot noise these days about how women weren’t welcomed in the fields of the fantastic before [insert current Year Zero here].
As I’ve stated elsewhere in more than one place (such as here and here), there were women in the field in the early days, and they and their achievements need to be remembered.
Yes, the golden age of Weird Tales was going to be a hard act to follow. I suspect the McIlwraith also looses points in the Fan community because she was not a ‘genre only’ editor as Wright (and Campbell, and Palmer, and Gold, etc.) were. Not only did she edit WT but also a number of other pulps in the publishers stable — including Short Stories, a magazine often thought to be the third best general adventure pulp, after Adventure and Argosy.
I wouldn’t want to follow Farnsworth, that’s for sure.
How’s this for a weird tale. My grandmother was Alice Dorothy Mcilraith too. She lived around the same time too 1891-1976. I believe she wrote too. She lived in Africa so I’m pretty sure she is NOT the same person.
That’s cool. I agree that she’s probably not the same person. Do you know what she wrote?
Dorothy McIlwraith is my great aunt. She was one of 7? Children of Thomas Forsyth McIlwraith, Hamilton, Ontario. Her sister, jean Newton McIlwraith was a writer. You can Google both women.
Hi, Jean. Thanks for commenting and for the information about Jean Newton McIlraith.