Editing Frances Farmer (section)

===1913–1935: Early life===
Frances Elena Farmer{{sfn|Bragg|2005|p=66}} was born on September 19, 1913, in [[Seattle, Washington]], the daughter of Cora Lillian ([[née]] Van Ornum; 1873{{en dash}}1955), a boardinghouse operator and [[dietician]]{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=44}} and Ernest Melvin Farmer (1874{{en dash}}1956), a lawyer.{{Sfn|Shelley|2010|p=6}} Her father was originally from [[Spring Valley, Minnesota]],{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=7}} while her mother was from [[Oregon]] and a descendant of [[American pioneer|pioneers]].{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=7}} Lillian's maternal grandparents were John and Jemima (Skews) Rowe, who came to [[Waldwick, Wisconsin]], from [[Truro, England]], in 1849. Farmer had an older sister, Edith; an older brother, Wesley;{{Sfn|Shelley|2010|p=6}} and an older half-sister, Rita, conceived during her mother's first marriage.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=5}} Before the birth of Wesley and Edith, Lillian had given birth to a daughter who died of [[pneumonia]] in infancy.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=7}} When she was four years old, Farmer's parents separated, and her mother moved with the children to [[Los Angeles]], where her sister Zella lived.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=7}} In early 1925, the family moved north to [[Chico, California]], where Lillian pursued a career in nutrition research.{{sfn|Agan|1979|pages=9–10}} Shortly after arriving in Chico, Lillian concluded that caring for the children was interfering with her ability to work.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=10}} The children's Aunt Zella then drove them to [[Albany, Oregon]], where they boarded a train back to Seattle to live with their father.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=10}}

[[File:Frances Farmer 1935 newspaper photo.png|thumb|left|upright=.7|Farmer in a press photo for her winning the ''Voice of Action'' writing contest, April 10, 1935]]
Farmer's inconsistent home life had a notable effect on her, and upon returning to Seattle, she recalled: "In certain ways, that train trip represented the end of my dependent childhood. I began to understand that there were certain things one could expect from adults, and others that one could not expect...being shunted from one household to another was a new adjustment, a fresh confusion, and I groped for ways to compensate for the disorder."{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=9}} The next year, her mother returned to Seattle after her home in Chico burned down.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=10}} In Seattle, the family shared a household, but Lillian and Ernest remained separated despite his attempts to repair their marriage.{{Sfn|Shelley|2010|p=7}}{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=10}} In the fall of 1929, when Farmer was 16, Lillian and Ernest divorced, and Lillian moved to a cottage in [[Bremerton, Washington]], while the children remained with their father.{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=7}}

In 1931, while a senior at [[West Seattle High School]], Farmer entered and won $100 from [[The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards]], a writing contest sponsored by ''Scholastic Magazine'', with her controversial essay "God Dies".<ref name=wp>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|title=The Unraveling of Frances Farmer|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1983/01/23/the-unraveling-of-frances-farmer/8b1160fd-9535-474b-84e7-8bc08be388a7/|date=January 23, 1983|access-date=August 13, 2018|author=Estrin, Eric}}</ref> It was a precocious attempt to reconcile her wish for, in her words, a "superfather" God, with her observations of a chaotic and godless world. In her autobiography, she wrote that the essay was influenced by her reading of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]: "He expressed the same doubts, only he said it in German: ''Gott ist tot''. God is dead. This I could understand. I was not to assume that there was no God, but I could find no evidence in my life that He existed or that He had ever shown any particular interest in me. I was not an [[atheist]], but I was surely an [[agnostic]], and by the time I was 16, I was well indoctrinated into this theory."{{Sfn|Farmer|1972|p=159}}

After graduating from high school, Farmer enrolled at the [[University of Washington]], initially majoring in [[journalism]].{{sfn|Farmer|1972|p=48}} She worked various jobs to pay her tuition, including as an [[Usher (occupation)|usherette]] in a cinema, a waitress, a [[tutor]], a laborer in a soap factory,{{sfn|Shelley|2010|p=7}} and a singing waitress at [[Mount Rainier National Park]].{{sfn|Farmer|1972|p=48}} During her sophomore year, Farmer became involved with the university's drama department productions. She starred in numerous UW plays, including ''Helen of Troy'', ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]'', and ''[[Uncle Vanya]]''.{{sfn|Agan|1979|pages=11–13}} In late 1934, she starred in UW's production of ''Alien Corn'',<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Frances Farmer: A Seattle Girl Reaches Broadway Via Hollywood|magazine=Life|date=January 17, 1938|volume=4|issue=3|page=26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkoEAAAAMBAJ&q=frances+farmer+alien+corn&pg=PA26|publisher=Time Inc.|issn=0024-3019|via=Google Books}} {{free access}}</ref> which earned her favorable reviews in local press.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=11}}

During her final year of college in 1935, Farmer won a subscription contest for the [[leftist]] newspaper ''The Voice of Action''.{{sfn|Agan|1979|p=11}} The first prize was a trip to the [[Soviet Union]]. Farmer accepted the prize, despite her mother's strong objections, so that she could see the pioneering [[Moscow Art Theatre]]. Her interest in such topics fostered speculations that she was not only an atheist, but also a [[Communism|Communist]].{{Sfn|Shelley|2010|p=8}} The same year, she graduated from the university with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[theatre|drama]].{{sfn|Farmer|1972|p=48}}<ref name="ae">{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/frances-farmer-9542364#early-career|work=The Biography Channel|title=Frances Farmer Biography|access-date=February 16, 2016|publisher=A&E Television Networks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221144023/http://www.biography.com/people/frances-farmer-9542364#early-career|archive-date=February 21, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>