Maurice Reginald (Rex) Hunter (5 January 1889 â€" 18 February 1960)
was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer. He is best
known for his work as a journalist in America (New York, Chicago) as
well as for his marriage to the South Carolina poet Gamel Woolsey in
the 1920s and his friendships with writers Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht,
John Cowper Powys, E. E. Cummings and Llewelyn Powys.[1]Hunter was
born at Southbrook, Canterbury, near Christchurch. His father, Thomas
Hunter, was a local storekeeper and a native of Scotland, and Rex was
his fourth child. Rex had two brothers: Justice Hunter and Eric
Hunter, and one sister. Rex was educated locally in Christchurch and
Canterbury district (Waltham School and Darfield High School), then
became a pupil teacher at Waltham School and went on to study and pass
Civil Service examinations.He was appointed cadet for Department of
Tourist and Health Resorts on 22 May 1908.[2] He left New Zealand for
Sydney, in 1909 (after a transfer) working briefly as Shipping
Reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph and worked in other parts of
Australia. He returned to New Zealand in 1912 near when his father
died (in March 1914) and worked for several years at The Press
(Christchurch) and in Auckland.Around 1914, his wanderlust took him
next to America via Australia, Fiji and Hawaii. In America he roved
from San Francisco to Denver, Kansas to Chicago and then on to New
York. He also spent time in St Louis, Missouri, as a scenario writer
for motion pictures.[3] In Chicago around 1918, he worked on the Daily
News with Carl Sandburg and Ben Hecht. He also had plays produced:
Stuff O' Dreams at the Kansas City Music Hall, 19 April 1918 and The
Romany Road and The Wild Goose at Chicago's Central Music Hall, 15
February 1919 and 26 April 1919 respectively.
was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer. He is best
known for his work as a journalist in America (New York, Chicago) as
well as for his marriage to the South Carolina poet Gamel Woolsey in
the 1920s and his friendships with writers Carl Sandburg, Ben Hecht,
John Cowper Powys, E. E. Cummings and Llewelyn Powys.[1]Hunter was
born at Southbrook, Canterbury, near Christchurch. His father, Thomas
Hunter, was a local storekeeper and a native of Scotland, and Rex was
his fourth child. Rex had two brothers: Justice Hunter and Eric
Hunter, and one sister. Rex was educated locally in Christchurch and
Canterbury district (Waltham School and Darfield High School), then
became a pupil teacher at Waltham School and went on to study and pass
Civil Service examinations.He was appointed cadet for Department of
Tourist and Health Resorts on 22 May 1908.[2] He left New Zealand for
Sydney, in 1909 (after a transfer) working briefly as Shipping
Reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph and worked in other parts of
Australia. He returned to New Zealand in 1912 near when his father
died (in March 1914) and worked for several years at The Press
(Christchurch) and in Auckland.Around 1914, his wanderlust took him
next to America via Australia, Fiji and Hawaii. In America he roved
from San Francisco to Denver, Kansas to Chicago and then on to New
York. He also spent time in St Louis, Missouri, as a scenario writer
for motion pictures.[3] In Chicago around 1918, he worked on the Daily
News with Carl Sandburg and Ben Hecht. He also had plays produced:
Stuff O' Dreams at the Kansas City Music Hall, 19 April 1918 and The
Romany Road and The Wild Goose at Chicago's Central Music Hall, 15
February 1919 and 26 April 1919 respectively.
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