The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-03-15
Appeals To Writers And
Artists; Will Build In
Year On Southernmost
Property

Miss Thelma Strabel. formerly
of New York but now of Key
West. who will shortly build a
beautiful residence on the prop.
ertY adjacent to the souihernmost
home. likes Key West because it
has more character" than other
resort cities and because here she
can relax in the warm. climate.
The residence she is to build
will be of the Caribbean type,
large open-air style with jalous-
les. 1t will be concrete and con-
struction will begin either this
summer or next winter season.
She had a great deal of delight in
teasing CalifornianS this summer
when she worked over scenarios
for the movies by telling every
one she worked in California to
get money to build a home in
Florida.
Last winter the question of
making the present SouthernmoSt
home into nightclub and gamb-
ling den arose and Miss Strabel
was wrought up that such should
be allowed in a residential section
and especially in her back yard.
So the idea was dropped. Miss
Strabel is still waiting for the
present Florida Legislature to
pass the Zoning Ordinance all
ready in effect in the city, though
lacking the necessary teeth.
Miss Strabel is always a trifle
i'll at ease during interviews To
the point raised that this was
strange in a writer, she replied
that writer's probably know more
about their characters than about
themselves. Which calls for quite
some thought.
Miss Strabel has never written
short story. She writes usually
two long serials year, about 65,-
00G words each, but reviseS care
fully for finished product. She
is a great believer in the help
and aid given by magazine edi-
tors, for whom she writes almost
exclusively. She is at present
under contract to large publish
ing concern, which means that
they have the right to first re-
fuse" her stuff, she says. How
ever, this is always a great step
forward for a writer. Her present
SERIAL, The Bright Face Of Dan
GER, in the Ladies Home Journ-
al, has been highly publicized by
the editors of the Journal as one
of the outstanding serials of the
year. It is running at present.
| Her work is of the light roman
j tic. type. The. reporter pointed
out that there seemed To be a
quality in it which made il. more
outstanding. She quickly replied
! that her work was ALWAYS "sin-
cere".
/ In Key West she finds the best
time to write is early, lin the
cool of the morning. She in
tends to spend a part of each year
in Key West. partly to relax and
partly to revise work she has al
ready turned out. A writer,
however, must needs travel quite
a bit, Miss Strabel thinks, and
this she intends to continue doing.
Miss Strabel, although born in
New York City, began writing
| fashion pages in Paris first. Then
she worked in advertising depart
ments before turning to fiction.
Concerning Key West, she said
that its character comes partly
| from a long and interesting his
tory of momentous iexpA-ience.
This gives the city a background
and an atmosphere which is most
appealing to artists and writer's.
Then, again, the climate here is
wonderful, she says. Miss Stra-
bel, on her present stay. will re-
. main until late April. She is re-
siding at the Pierce residence on
South and Washington streets.