Barbara Jane Mailer
Norman Mailer's only sibling; born 6 April 1927 in Long Branch, New Jersey. Barbara is Mailer's lifelong closest relative; beginning in late 1958 she works intermittently as his secretary for some years. Her son Peter is born on 11 April 1955.
Barbara Jane Mailer is Norman Mailer’s younger sister by four years — and his only sibling. Born on 6 April 1927 in Long Branch, New Jersey, Barbara grows up alongside Norman first in Long Branch and then, from fall 1928, in Brooklyn — initially in Flatbush on Cortelyou Road, and from January 1932 at 555 Crown Street in Crown Heights.
Family portraits with Barbara survive from 1928, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1936, and 1939 — chronicling the siblings from infancy and early childhood to Norman’s arrival at Harvard.
A portrait from about 1944 shows Barbara in her late teens, the year Norman married Bea Silverman and shipped out to the Pacific.
Lennon’s 1955 Days entry records the birth of Barbara’s son Peter on 11 April 1955. Lennon’s 1958 entry: “Late in the year Mailer’s sister Barbara begins doing secretarial work for him, which she will continue intermittently for a few years.”
A 1960 photograph catches the siblings as adults — the period during which Barbara was working intermittently as Norman’s secretary (see 1960).
Related pages
- 1927 | 1928 | 1931 | 1932 | 1935 | 1936 | 1939
- Isaac Barnett "Barney" Mailer | Fanny "Fan" Schneider Mailer
- Long Branch, New Jersey