Stella Karn

NOTE: Although they did not publicly identify as lesbian, Stella and Mary Margaret McBride lived togther for decades and their private and professional lives were completely interconnected.

The San Francisco Examiner, 14 Mar 1957, p. 45

Estella H. Karn, Publicist, Dies

Estella H. (Stella) Karn, nationally known publicist, died yesterday in a New York hospital. She was 64.

Born in Louisiana, Miss Karn began her professional career as a reporter for The Examiner. Before she was 20 she had left to become advance agent for a circus.

Then came many more years of newspaper and promotion work. She managed promotion for orchestra leaders Paul Whiteman and Vincent Lopez, and also the Pickens Sisters and the Whiteman Aeolian Hall concert that introduced George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

In 1934 she became manager of broadcaster Mary Margaret McBride.

Miss Karn is survived by two nephews, Richard A. Kahn, and Paul M. Kahn, both of San Francisco.

Private funeral services will be held in New York.