The Honeycomb

by Adela Rogers St. Johns

The Honeycomb is the autobiography of Adela Rogers St. Johns. She is the daughter of a noted criminal lawyer, and often went to courtrooms during her youth. She began her career in journalism, as well as her long association with Hearst Publications, in 1913 as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, and she subsequently worked for William Randolph Hearst’s Los Angeles Herald, Chicago American, New York American, and International News Service. She reported on crime, politics, society, and sports news before retiring in the early 1920s. St. Johns then became noted for interviewing movie stars for Photoplay magazine. She also wrote short stories for Cosmopolitan, the Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines and finished 9 of her 13 screenplays before returning to reporting for Hearst newspapers. Writing in a distinctive, emotional style, St. Johns reported on, among other subjects, the controversial Jack Dempsey–Gene Tunney “long-count” fight in 1927, the treatment of the poor during the Great Depression, and the 1935 trial of Richard Bruno Hauptmann for kidnapping and murdering the son of Charles Lindbergh. In the mid-1930s she moved to Washington, D.C., to report on national politics. Her coverage of the assassination of Senator Huey Long in 1935, the abdication of King Edward VIII of Britain in 1936, the Democratic National Convention of 1940, and other major stories made her one of the best-known reporters of the day. She states in this autobiography, that what she did not learn at school she had “learned from pimps, professional prostitutes, gamblers, bank robbers, poets, newspapermen, jury bribers, millionaire dipsomaniacs, and murderers.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Memoir, Autobiography

664 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Rogers St. Johns was an author, screenwriter, and journalist whose long career followed a variety of topics from sports, politics, and the movies.

She won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a life-long reader, I have to be selective of what books I keep. I wish I had unlimited space to keep them all. I was looking at some books I have kept since the nineteen sixties for some information/facts I remembered were there. I found the correct book and started going through it to find the key information. But, I found myself ending up re-reading the book again after all these years. It held my attention just as it did in 1969. The book is “The Honeycomb” by Adela Rogers St. Johns (1894-1988). I was looking for a pearl of information she had written about Jack London (1876-1916). I had read her book “Final Verdict”, a biography about her father, Earl Rodgers (1869-1922). Both books have information about one of his most famous cases, the defense of Clarence Darrow on attempted jury bribery. Earl Rodgers was one of the most famous defense attorneys of his day. Adela worked with him when she was a young woman.

“The Honeycomb” is her memoir. Adela had gone from being her father’s assistant to a newspaper reporter at the San Francisco Examiner in 1912 for Hearst. Then she worked for the Los Angeles Herald starting in 1913. She made her name covering the famous trial of Brum Richard Hauptman who kidnapped the son of Charles Lindbergh. She also covered the assassination of Senator Huey Long as well as many other famous new stories. From journalism she moved into writing screenplays and teleplays where she had a long and successful career. She then wrote many novels and biographies. Because of her famous father, she grew up around many highly successful and famous people such as Jack London. She says this had a great influence on her drive to succeed in her chosen career of writing.

“The Honeycomb” is well written and reads like a who’s who of California in the 1900s to the 1960s. I will keep this book on my bookshelf as it is a treasure trove of famous and also little-known facts. I am glad I re-read this book and refreshed my knowledge about this most interesting woman.

The book is 700 pages and was published in 1969 by Doubleday.

[Babs M · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating life. I highly recommend this book.

[Pam Kirst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was like talking with someone who'd seen things I'd only read about...

https://pamkirst2014.wordpress.com/20...

[JANET · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw Adela Rogers St Johns on the Merv Griffin Show being interviewed at the time this book came out and found her to be a funny, feisty old lady with a lot of great stories and life experiences! I was still in high school but curiously read her book and enjoyed her adventures. My recollection 50+ years later is that I didn't know much of anything about what or who she was talking about, but I enjoyed her enthusiasm in the story telling enough to share the memory all these years later after seeing her name in a crossword puzzle clue! In reading her novels today, one has to remember she was actively writing in the early half of the last century (1900s) when she was a popular columnist and the daily newspaper was the thing to read. A radio was the only in-home entertainment if you were lucky to afford one and could pick up any of only a few nationwide channels. Her writing style is from that bygone era, as are the subjects she wrote about. This can either be an enjoyable novelty for some readers or a nuisance for others. Makes me curious now to check out her other books! 👍

[Jan Kiessling]

Very good book. Lots of insight and history of Golden Years of Hollywood.

[Marilyn Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiography of one of the first female newspaper reporters. Her memoirs of the first half of the 20th century include fascinating inside reports. She covered sports, movies, politics and courtroom drama such as the Lindbergh kidnapping, the first Rose Bowl and her relationships with well-known political and Hollywood acquaintances. A full and fascinating life