Marjorie Hillis wanted single women of a certain age to stop thinking of themselves as spinsters.
The term, she believed, is dated, stale and no longer applies to the modern independent female.
"You can figure out for yourself just what you'll become with a mental picture of 'Poor little me, all alone in a big bad world,' " she wrote in a book on the subject. "Not only will you soon actually be alone; you will also be an outstanding example of the superbore."
Ms. Hillis, an associate editor at Vogue magazine, imparted that wisdom in 1936, in a book called Live Alone And Like It - a clarion call to single women who have left their 20s and 30s behind, encouraging them to cancel the pity party and begin living it up. More than 70 years later, women may be finally starting to listen.
The book, with chapters titled "Pleasures of a single bed" and "A lady and her liquor," was re-released in North America last month. And its resurgent popularity is emblematic of a new era of unapologetically single older women.
"It really seemed to touch a nerve," said Emily Griffin, editor at 5 Spot, the book's U.S. publisher. "The concept just seemed very timely to us."
According to 2006 census data released last September, 3,774,435 Canadians over the age of 50 live alone.
And in 2006, more than half of the adult population of Canada were single - either divorced, separated, widowed or never married.
But this generation of the older and alone is not to be pitied. The phenomenon has spawned its own heroes in real life and in popular culture.
In the Sex and the City film released in May, the über-sexual Samantha Jones defiantly chooses to return to singledom at 50 rather than live in an unsatisfying monogamous relationship with a hot younger man.
Barbara Walters, who at 78 has been married three times, raised eyebrows recently in her kiss-and-tell-all autobiography, Audition, in which she recounts sexual conquests with a relish usually reserved for women half her age.
Cher, 62, has reportedly been simultaneously dating three younger men, while Amy Sedaris, the 47-year-old comedian and sister of author David Sedaris, has repeatedly joked with David Letterman about her imaginary boyfriend, Ricky.
Being over 40 and on your own is no longer a source of shame or sadness for many women, says Karen Golets Pancer, an English professor at Humber College in Toronto who is working on a book called Living Single in a Couples World: Men and Women over 50 Tell Their Stories.
"If they have been unhappy, they've passed that point," she said. "I think women see themselves as more [capable] of standing on their own two feet."
Ms. Golets Pancer, 56, divorced her husband 10 years ago after a 23-year marriage. At first, she did not believe she would remain single for long. She was an attractive and accomplished woman in her 40s, and expected that love was still in the cards.
"Around 50, I had to think about whether I would be spending the rest of my life single," said Ms. Golets Pancer, who is still looking for subjects for her book. "Finding someone seemed less likely and maybe less important."
She hopes that her book will be comforting to older singletons and revelatory for younger readers.
"The life we're leading has a lot going for it and a lot to be envied," she said. "If you end up not being married it's not terrible."
Her book will be organized around themes of adjustment, freedom, men, children, finances, career, sex and love, although Ms. Golets Pancer said the latter two subjects have not come up as often as she expected.
"The women I've interviewed are not willing to settle," she said. "They might meet someone they're attracted to and forget some of their standards, but eventually they come to their senses."
None of her subjects mentioned loneliness as a major problem, and all have active social lives and challenging careers.
"I would say all of them were thrilled by the freedom they had, and certainly I am," she said. "I learned how to be on my own, and it's actually fine."
With a similarly empowering message, Live Alone and Like It was a major sensation upon its original release.
In fact, Ms. Hillis was considered such a hero to the single set that her marriage in 1939 was met with some disbelief.
"Miss Hillis's telephone was busy yesterday, creating the suspicion that she had lifted the receiver from the hook to avoid answering phone calls," read a wedding announcement in The New York Times on June 24, 1939.
"It was reported that a number of bachelor girls whose cause she so recently espoused were indignant at what they considered a gross betrayal."