{{short description|American novelist (1891–1946)}} '''Lyle Saxon''' (September 4, 1891{{snd}}April 9, 1946) was a writer and journalist who reported for ''The Times-Picayune'' in New Orleans, Louisiana. He directed the Federal Writers' Project Works Progress Administration (WPA) guide to Louisiana. He wrote stories and several books including a novel set among the Creoles who lived along the Cane River, a book on New Orleans, a book about pirate Jean Lafitte, and a book about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, and co-authored a book on Louisiana folk tales. His book ''The Friends of Joe Gilmore'' is about his experiences and friendship with his black valet. Writer, suffragette, poet, and abolitionist Elizabeth Lyle Saxon was his grandmother. Saxon was gay and had an active social life including with various authors.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Archived copy | url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/literature/saxon_lc_L.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127204829/http://www.glbtqarchive.com:80/literature/saxon_lc_L.pdf | archive-date=2016-01-27}}</ref>
==Life== Saxon was born on September 4, 1891, either in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, or in New Whatcom, Washington, now incorporated into Bellingham, Washington, while his mother was traveling away from home; the early history of his life is "as evasive as the histories that frustrated Saxon in writing ''Old Louisiana''".{{sfn|Thomas|1991|p=1}} The confusion is based on Saxon's alleging he was born in Baton Rouge, but his birth certificate stating New Whatcom, Washington.<ref>{{cite book|first=James Michael|last=Warner|date=2018|title=A Lyle Saxon Reader|publisher=Cultured Oak Press|location=Saint Louis, Missouri|isbn=978-0-692-14152-6|page=xii}}</ref>
thumb|Elizabeth Lyle Saxon It is possible that his parents, from distinguished families with connections to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, were unmarried, although the birth certificate lists the birth as "legitimate"; Saxon said little about his background and early years, and never met his father.{{sfn|Thomas|1991|p=1}} He was raised, however, in Baton Rouge, and made frequent trips to New Orleans throughout his early life, where his paternal uncle and grandmother lived.{{sfn|Thomas|1991|p=10}}
Saxon moved to New Orleans not long after college in 1914 or 1915 and, after moving again several times, settled there permanently in 1918.{{sfn|Thomas|1991|pp=15–18}} Saxon lived in the French Quarter at 612 Royal St. starting in 1918;{{sfn|Thomas|1991|p=30}} Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Roark Bradford, and Edmund Wilson visited.<ref name="LSU Press">{{cite book|last=Bonner Jr.|first=Thomas|chapter=Lyle Saxon (1891{{snd}}1946)| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EpX4H4JdZOgC&dq=Lyle+Saxon&pg=PA398| title=Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary|editor1-first=Robert|editor1-last=Bain |editor2-first=Joseph M.|editor2-last=Flora |editor3-first=Louis Decimus|editor3-last=Rubin| publisher=LSU Press|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana| year=1979| isbn=978-0-8071-0390-6|pages=398–399 }}</ref>
He was an ardent student of the history of New Orleans and wrote six books on the subject. His most popular titles include ''Fabulous New Orleans'', recounting the city's past as set against his memories of his first Mardi Gras during the turn of the 20th century; ''Gumbo Ya-Ya'', a compilation of native folk stories from Louisiana, including the Loup Garou and the LaLaurie House; and ''Old Louisiana'', a local bestseller from its introduction in 1929.
Saxon was an enthusiastic participant in the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition.
{{blockquote|text = Yet there was in his life, too, much fun. He was a major proponent of masking at Mardi Gras. He describes his 1940 custom thusly: "I was a white rabbit that year—six feet, two inches tall with a skin tight costume of white imitation rabbit fur, a simpering rabbit face, ears two feet long, standing upright and lined with pink satin, a large bow of pink ribbon tied around my neck, and a small bushy tail." When the time came to enter the streets, Saxon climbed into a baby carriage, and [his manservant] Joe [Gilmore] wheeled the infant bunny through the crowd as Saxon drank from a nursing bottle of whisky."{{sfn|Chance|2003|p=198}} }}
Saxon's fiction included short stories: "Cane River" was published in ''The Dial'' magazine edited by Marianne Moore, and "The Centaur Plays Croquet" included in the ''American Caravan'' anthology in 1927. Saxon's 1930 novel ''Lafitte the Pirate'' was the basis for the 1938 Cecil B. DeMille film The Buccaneer.<ref name=filmsdefrance>{{cite web|title=The Buccaneer (1938)|url=http://filmsdefrance.com/revs/FDF_The_Buccaneer_1938_review.html|publisher=filmsdefrance.com|access-date=16 March 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140330171006/http://filmsdefrance.com/revs/FDF_The_Buccaneer_1938_review.html|archive-date=2014-03-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> His 1937 novel ''Children of Strangers'' sold well.
He was a director to the Federal Writers' Project, WPA guide to Louisiana.<ref name="LSU Press"/>
He is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.
{{external media | width = 250px | float = right | title = External images | topic = Photographs related to Lyle Saxon | image1 = [https://flickr.com/photos/julianen/3885159695/in/photolist-9Nyzrw-HQgzp6-2iVFLGS-2hB1S6n-2anXubm-23UuHZ-96sjcm-wNSwy9-bBMbMv-VRmXMP-5Xwf5Z-nNq3tW-5EjVd6-ouNjhM-5EpcRu-2m6nUNS-6xVPYx-DCzT7-oe5Cja-cCdUM-ovuhwg-wJcxGJ-jKZZLE-842met-odYMkE-oe2ive-6VjsBZ-oe1uet Photo of Saxon], as seen on Flickr | image2 = [https://www.flickr.com/photos/robert_trudeau/5777769036 Saxon's signature], as seen on Flickr | image3 = [https://64parishes.org/entry/lyle-saxon Photo of Saxon], as part of Saxon's biography published by ''64 Parishes'' }}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cc-OC6cxHrwC&dq=Lyle+Saxon&pg=PA480| chapter=A Journey Through Mardi Gras| title=Louisiana sojourns: travelers' tales and literary journeys|editor1-first=John James|editor1-last=Audubon |editor2-first=F.A.|editor2-last=De Caro |editor3-first=Rosan A.|editor3-last=Jordan| publisher=LSU Press|location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana|year=1998| isbn=978-0-8071-2240-2 }} *{{cite book| title=Father Mississippi: The Story of the Great Flood of 1927| year=1927| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCVCbYeUVR0C&q=Lyle+Saxon| publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| isbn=978-1-56554-795-7 }} reprint 2006 *{{cite book| title=Fabulous New Orleans | year=1928| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aO5ObIGBsIEC&q=Lyle+Saxon| publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| isbn=978-0-88289-706-6 }} reprint 1988 *{{cite book| title=Old Louisiana | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epnV4jTboOQC&q=Lyle+Saxon| publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| year=1929| isbn=978-0-88289-705-9 }} reprint 1989 *{{cite book| title=Lafitte the Pirate | year=1930| url=https://archive.org/details/lafittepirate00saxo| url-access=registration | quote=Lyle Saxon. | publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| isbn=978-0-88289-395-2 }} reprint 1989 *{{cite book| title=Children of Strangers (novel) | year=1937| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Euyj9JH5SX8C&q=Lyle+Saxon| publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| isbn=978-0-88289-397-6 }} reprint 1989 *{{cite book|title=Gumbo Ya-Ya | year=1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1nezXt18KIC&q=lyle+saxon+gumbo+ya+ya|editor1-first=Lyle|editor1-last=Saxon |editor2-first=Edward|editor2-last=Dreyer|editor3-first=Robert|editor3-last=Tallant| publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana| isbn=0-88289-645-8 }} reprint 1987 *{{cite book|title=The Friends of Joe Gilmore|publisher=Hastings House Publishers|location=New York City, New York|date=1948}}
==See also== *George Washington Cable, an earlier writer whose novels featured Creoles
==References== *{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXACc2l_zmUC&dq=Lyle+Saxon&pg=PP1|first=Harvey|last=Chance|date=2003|title=The Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon|publisher=Pelican Publishing Co.|location=Gretna, Louisiana|isbn=9781589801097}} *{{cite journal|last=Powell|first=Lawrence N.|url=http://southernspaces.org/2009/lyle-saxon-and-wpa-guide-new-orleans|title=Lyle Saxon and the ''WPA Guide to New Orleans''|journal=Southern Spaces|date=29 July 2009|doi=10.18737/M7F60N|doi-access=free}} *{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s7Pmy_-otkYC|first=James W.|last=Thomas|date=1991|title=Lyle Saxon: A Critical Biography|publisher=Summa Publications Inc.|location=Vestavia Hills, Alabama|isbn=978-0-917786-83-9}} {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} *{{Internet Archive author |sname=Lyle Saxon}} *{{Find a Grave|5772213}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxon, Lyle}} Category:1891 births Category:1946 deaths Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents Category:20th-century American novelists Category:Novelists from Louisiana Category:American male novelists Category:American folklorists Category:Burials at Magnolia Cemetery (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:LGBTQ people from Louisiana Category:American gay writers Category:Gay novelists Category:Federal Writers' Project people