George Randolph Chester

Biography

George Randolph Chester is best remembered as the author of "Get Rich Quick Wallingford". Originally a newspaper reporter, Chester first began submitting short stories for publication at the urging of his wife Elizabeth. Mrs. Chester, who at that time was a Cincinnati school teacher, assisted her husband by proof reading his work and taking dictation. Not long after relocating to New York City, Elizabeth left her husband after accusing him of having an affair with Lillian Hauser (aka Lillian Deremo), a mutual friend who drew illustrations for his stories. On 12 October, 1911 Elizabeth received an interlocutory degree of divorce from Chester. George and Lillian, who at the time were on a tour of Europe, decided to get married after receiving word of the divorce. When Chester returned to America in December, he was shocked to discover that an interlocutory degree of divorce did not become final until 90 days after it was signed, thus technically he was still married to Elizabeth. Later his lawyer informed him that since he and Lillian were married outside the country, it was unlikely any bigamy charges would be laid. Lillian and George Chester went on to work as a team in New York and in Hollywood until his death in 1924. Chester had credited Lillian for some of the wittier lines that appeared in his later stories. When not working the couple would rarely be found at home but instead off exploring some far corner of the earth. Of all his stories, the exploits of con men, J. Rufus Wallingford and Blackie Daw remained the most popular and would spawn numerous books, plays and movies. George Randolph Chester and his first wife had two sons, George Randolph Chester Jr. (1896-1979) and Robert Fay Chester (1904-1975)