page_title: Sheilah Graham
section_title: Marriage to John Graham Gillam
hierarchical_section_title: Sheilah Graham / Early life / Marriage to John Graham Gillam
caption_attribution_description: Drawing of Stage Door Johnnies
context_page_description: Sheilah Graham was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Fleet Street in London. These early experiences would converge in her career in Hollywood, which spanned nearly four decades, as a successful columnist and author.
  Graham also was known for her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a relationship she played a significant role in immortalizing through the autobiographical Beloved Infidel, a bestseller that was made into a film.
context_section_description: Upon her mother's death, the 16-year-old took a job in a department store demonstrating a speciality toothbrush and moved into a tiny flat in London's West End. At 18, she married John Graham Gillam, whom her daughter describes as "a kindly older man who proved impotent, went bankrupt, and looked the other way when she went out with other men." During this marriage, largely through the tutelage of her husband, she improved her speech and manners. She also enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, changed her name, and became a music hall dancer as a "Cochran's girl."
  It was during her time in the British musical theater that Graham began to write professionally, anecdotally receiving two guineas (£2.10) from the Daily Express for an article entitled "The Stage Door Johnnies, by a Chorus Girl," which she wrote on a challenge by her husband. While still in Britain, she attained some success as a freelance writer and published two novels, both of which sold poorly.
caption: Stage Door Johnnies wait for the lady performers at the stage door after Edwardian musical comedies
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