Wife vs. Secretary by Faith Baldwin

Wife vs. Secretary seems an incendiary title for this 1933 novella, as both the wife and the secretary like and respect each other, but that doesn't sell books.

Vanning Sanford runs a Manhattan publishing empire and lives comfortably with his pretty wife Linda in a twentieth-floor penthouse on Park Avenue. After eight years, they are still in love enough to call each other loving nicknames; he still presents her with jewelry. Linda is adept at running the staff and the nightly dinner parties for a diverse selection of New York's elite. Publishing top-selling magazines, Sanford has his sights on acquiring Manhattan Weekly, and his secretary Helen Walsh knows as much or more about running his business, every department of which is housed in one skyscraper.

Clever, tactful, and intelligent at just 24, her beau Dave has proposed, but she doesn't like him enough for that. Helen and Linda have a mutual respect, and even pick out each other's gifts from Sanford, but it's Linda's friends who whisper and warn her: a pretty girl is too tempting to have around the office. When Sanford visits Helen in the hospital, gossip runs wild and Linda looks like a fool. She knows she is in real trouble when he flies to Havana for business, and Helen is forced to join him with important news from Manhattan Weekly. With half the cats in New York calling to console her, is Linda expected to believe there is nothing going on?

In 1933, Faith Baldwin was the most popular female author, and although we have seen this scenario many times, her take could be one of the first - fresh and engaging. Sanford jokes, "you can always get another wife, but good secretaries are unique," knowing in reality without her he would be just an incompetent businessman. Neither Sanford nor Helen would jeopardize their relationship with romance - it's all innuendo, and the women intelligently see this for themselves.

Wife vs. Secretary was filmed in 1936 with Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Clark Gable. Reading it, I pictured Kay Francis, Myrna Loy, and William Powell, so I was close.

1933 / Paperback