George Davis (February 4, 1906 – November 25, 1957) was an American magazine editor and author. He held editorial roles at Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle. In addition to his editorial work, he was a fiction writer.

Davis was born on February 4, 1906, in Chicago, Illinois^[1] to Canadian immigrants. He was the youngest son of five boys and one older sister, who died of diphtheria before his birth. His father worked nights as a pharmacist while attending medical school at the University of Illinois College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. Davis' father graduated on June 4, 1909, when Davis was 3.^{[citation needed]} In 1910, the family moved to Clinton, Michigan.

In 1918, the family moved to Highland Park, Michigan, located in central Detroit. Soon after, Davis enrolled in Tilden Elementary School. After graduating from Tilden in 1919, Davis attended Central High School, from which he did not graduate.^[2]

Davis entered Detroit City College (now Wayne State University) but left for Chicago shortly after enrolling. In Chicago, Davis worked in the office of a steel company before taking a job in the book department of Marshall Field & Company. In December 1926, Davis returned to Highland Park to ask his father for permission and funds to go to Paris, in order to join the growing post-war community of American expatriate writers and artists there. In 1927, he traveled to France and wrote his novel The Opening of a Door.^[3][4][5]

His novel, The Opening of a Door, was published in 1931 by Harper Brothers to critical acclaim.^[6] The novel explores the hypocrisies and tragedies of midwestern middle-class life. Davis was twenty four years old when the novel was published.

Davis served as a fiction editor for Harper's Bazaar from 1936 to 1941. After leaving Harper's, he was an editor for Mademoiselle for eight years. Davis, who was homosexual,^[7] helped to introduce new literary figures to women's magazines. Through his editorship, Davis supported literary figures such as Truman Capote, Ray Bradbury, Jane Bowles, and Robert Lowry.^[8]

In October 1940, Davis and his several friends, including Gypsy Rose Lee, founded an art commune at 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights, New York. It was dubbed "February House" by Anaïs Nin due to many of its residents having February birthdays. The space was a hub of cultural activity, housing literary figures including Benjamin Britten, W. H. Auden, and Carson McCullers as live-in guests. A study of the house entitled February House was published in 2005.^[9]

Davis died of a heart attack in Berlin, Germany, on November 25, 1957.^[10] In the time before his death, he helped his wife, singer Lotte Lenya, record music.^[11]

Truman Capote satirized George Davis in the character "Boaty" in his unfinished novel Answered Prayers.^[12]

• Clarke, Gerald. Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf, 2005.
• Tippins, Sherill. February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof In Wartime America. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.