Long before she was a Hemingway, Hadley Richardson was a smart, quiet and talented young lady. The youngest of five children, her mother had been a singer and musician and would pass the gift onto Hadley as a pianist. Due to financial difficulties her father killed himself when she was just twelve years old leaving her with her very overprotective mother.
Hadley enrolled in Bryn Mawr where she was finally able to spread her wings a bit, but it would be short-lived. Her sister Dorthea was married and had a child and another on the way. One day while sitting on her porch the nearby field was on fire. Dorthea wearing a long dress ran to the field to put it out, the flames touched her dress and stockings and she was quickly engulfed in flames. She would sadly die a few days later, causing Hadley’s mother to panic and force her home from Bryn Mawr.
Hadley’s mother Florence, criticized her most of her life and she fought against the inferiority complex her mother instilled in her. After returning from school, it was even worse. Her mother got sick and Hadley spent all her time taking care of her until August 1920 when she would pass.
In October 1920, Hadley was finally free to live her life and went to Chicago to visit her friend Kate Smith for three weeks. One night at a party she would meet the young Ernest Hemingway. Instantly attracted to each other they would see each other often before her return to St Louis. After that they would send letters to each other every day, sometimes 2 to 3 a day. Hadley felt her life had finally begun when she met Hem.
Less than a year after they met, they would get married in Bay Township Michigan on September 3, 1921. Spending a few short months in a small apartment at 1239 North Dearborn in Chicago before leaving for Paris on December 8, 1921.
Much has been written of Hadley’s time in Paris, most of it painting her as the weak woman who went along and was pushed aside. That is far from the truth. Hadley was an amazing, smart, talented and patient woman. Supportive of Hemingway and his writing and travels, but she also had her gift as a wonderful pianist. While Pauline Pfeiffer befriended her, locked in her claws and took advantage of Hadley’s sweet disposition, it was Hadley in the end that would put the screws to Pauline.
Hadley would go on to marry again to a wonderful man, Paul Mowrer and live out her life happy and content. Ernest and Hadley would stay in touch and share a close relationship until he died. Writing “Hadley was the only woman in his life that didn’t give me trouble”, I believe she was his one true love but he figured it out much too late.
Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway out today all about the amazing Hadley RIchardson Hemingway.
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