Born on September 3, 1897
Sally Benson was born and raised in her house at 5135 Kensington Avenue in St. Louis before her family moved to New York. Benson wrote nearly 100 short stories for The New Yorker, including a series titled “5135 Kensington” about the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Benson adapted those stories into her 1942 novel Meet Me in St. Louis, which was later immortalized in the 1944 film starring Judy Garland. Benson’s own screenwriting includes Shadow of a Doubt, Viva Las Vegas and Anna and the King of Siam, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Sally Benson retained a lifelong fondness for St. Louis, her native city that inspired her most famous work.
