Heinrich Hauer Bellamann (April 28, 1882 – June 16, 1945) was an American author, whose bestselling 1940 novel Kings Row exposed the hypocrisy of small-town life in the midwest, addressing many social taboos.
[1] Following graduation in 1904, Bellamann began teaching music at a variety of girls' schools in the American South, including the Chicora College for Women.
The story of Drake McHugh and his best friend Parris Mitchell coming of age in a sleepy midwest American town of the 1890s was by far Henry Bellamann's most recognized work.
Exposing hypocrisy and small-town secrets, the novel deals with themes of mental illness, incest, homosexuality, suicide, gender equality in relationships, and sadistic vengeance.
[1] The ill feelings toward the book lingered for many years in Fulton, to the point where librarians removed Kings Row from the town library shelves.
While researching the introduction for a re-issue of Kings Row in 1981, Jay Miles Karr, an English professor at Westminster College, found in Bellamann's private papers notes for what was referred to as "the Fulton novel."
Released in 1942, with some of the more controversial portions of the novel adulterated to satisfy the Hays Code, the film starred Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan as Drake McHugh.
Henry Bellamann received the Légion d'Honneur from the Republic of France and an honorary musical doctorate from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.