Gabrial, Jan.

Janine Lowry Singer (1911-2001), who used the pen name Jan Gabrial, was a writer and the first wife of British author Malcolm Lowry. She was born Janine Vanderheim and grew up in Bayside, Long Island, NY. She disappointed her mother, Emily F. Vanderheim, when she refused to attend Radcliffe College and, instead, chose a career in acting and enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. In the summer of 1927, she lived in upstate New York where she acted in summer stock plays. She met her friends Ted Gorden and Anne Hunt during this time. In 1931 a car accident left Jan's face badly damaged and she gave up acting. Her second career choice was writing and, with her mother's financial support, she decided to travel in order to inform her writing. In April 1932, she sailed to Europe and began a two year tour of the major cities.

Jan met Malcolm Lowry in Granada, Spain in May 1933 and was captivated by him, although, as her letters to her mother indicate, she had strong reservations about a relationship with him. Nevertheless, she married him on January 6, 1934, in Paris, and the two pursued their writing careers. They lived in Paris until Jan returned to the United States in April 1934. Malcolm joined her there in August that same year. The couple spent almost two years living in New York City before they moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, in mid-1936. There Malcolm began writing, Under the Volcano . It was a tumultuous relationship and unconventional marriage. Lowry was drunk much of the time and jealous of Jan's friendships with men and women. In November 1937, she left him in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and went to Los Angeles where a friend, David Friede, hired her as an assistant script writer.

When Malcolm relocated to Los Angeles in the summer of 1938, the two lived separately and had intermittent contact. During this time, Malcolm was drinking so excessively that Jan wrote to his father in England for assistance. She believed Malcolm needed professional help. Malcolm's father, Arthur O. Lowry, did intercede, but not effectively enough to stop Malcolm's addiction to alcohol. In 1939, Jan filed for divorce and it was granted a year later.

Within four months of his divorce, Malcolm married his second wife, Margerie Bonner, and moved to Vancouver, B.C. He bittely and adamantly refused any contct with Jan, who waned to remain friends, and the two had only several exchanges after their divorce. Jan continued to work as an assistant script writer in Los Angeles until Friede's agency failed. She subsequently worked as a secretary to actors James Stewart, Olivia de Havilland and others. In 1944, she married Randolf Singer, a real estate broker. She later changed careers and practiced real estate.

From the guide to the Jan Gabrial papers, 1932-1940, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)