author
Blanche Upright
1880–1948
A little-known American writer of the early 20th century, she is best remembered for The Valley of Content, a novel that made its way to both the screen and the stage. Her career also reached into silent film, where she appeared on screen as well as writing for adaptation.
1 Audiobook
The Valley of Content
by Blanche Upright
About the author
Born in San Francisco in 1880 as Blanche Sarah Caro, she later became known as Blanche Upright after marrying Louis Childs Upright. She wrote during the early decades of the 20th century and is chiefly associated with The Valley of Content, published in 1922.
That novel had an afterlife beyond the page: it was adapted into the 1923 silent film Pleasure Mad and later staged in 1925. She also appeared as an actress in the 1927 silent comedy Your Wife and Mine, giving her a small but interesting place in both literary and film history.
Blanche Upright died in Palm Springs, California, on April 3, 1948. Although not widely known today, her work offers a glimpse of popular American storytelling in the years when novels, theater, and silent film often overlapped.