Meredith Howard Harless

Meredith Howard Harless (born Florence Meredith Howard; September 6, 1909 – June 19, 1996)

Career In 1935, Harless joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood, California, working both as a model and in the public relations department. From 1937 to 1941, Harless took a job with Crowell-Collier publishing in Washington, D.C. in their advertising department. In addition to her work in advertising, Harless wrote the syndicated columns Selective Tuning (under the name pen name Jean Abbey) and At Random on the Washington, D.C. social scene and women's fashion.

In 1949, Harless and Ellsworth M. Statler bought a 504-acre thoroughbred horse ranch from Louis B. Mayer for $1 million.

Charitable work During World War II, Harless helped sell war bonds and worked with the Civilian Defense Home Hospitality Committee, Russian War Relief Committee, and the Stage-Door Canteen. In addition to her wartime charitable work, she was a co-founder of the United Nations Club in December 1941. She later served as national vice president of the Salvation Army and worked with several other charitable organizations and local community efforts until her death on June 19, 1996, at the age of 86. in a union that was later annulled. A 1933 newspaper item reported that the marriage "lasted only a half hour."

In 1934, she married Albert Russell Erskine Jr.