Muir finished high school in the "fatal summer of 1929." She had earned a scholarship to
Simmons College to study drama, and had been voted "most entertaining girl" in her graduating class at
Yonkers High School. Muir was able to convince the
New York World-Telegram to publish a full-page of photographs, which caught the attention of
Eleanor Roosevelt, a member of the committee hosting the event. At the Biltmore Ball, Carl Byoir offered Muir a job publicizing the Roney Plaza Hotel in
Miami Beach. In December 1934, Muir left New York City on the Havana Special. She was 23 years old. Her friends at the
New York Journal threw her such a farewell party, she nearly missed the 10 PM departure. It took two days to reach Miami by train, and when she arrived, she was whisked off to the
Biltmore Hotel for breakfast with Carl Byoir's people. She was told that she would be interviewing
Eddie Rickenbacker the same evening at the Roney Plaza Hotel. Overnight, she was interviewing people such as
Doris Duke,
Yvonne Printemps,
Pierre Fresnay,
Nathaniel Gubbins,
Clare Boothe Luce,
Errol Flynn, and other notable public figures. She intended to stay one
season, but an offer from the city editor of
The Miami News, Frank Malone, to run the rewrite desk gave her pause. She wrote about Florida as a columnist for the
Universal Service syndicate from 1935 to 1938 and wrote freelance for
The Miami News and the
Miami Herald until 1965. In 1941, she had a daily column, "Very Truly Yours" in
The Miami News. She left the post after the attack on Pearl Harbor, to become publicist for the "Committee to Defend America," and had a radio program called
Women in Defense on WQAM during World War II. By 1943, she was serving as society and women's editor for
The Miami News. During her career, she interviewed and wrote about the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor,
Jessica Mitford,
John Barrymore,
Alfred Hitchcock,
Joan Crawford,
Christina Crawford,
Ernest Hemingway,
Tennessee Williams,
Alan Alda, Lord and Lady
Clement Attlee,
Larry King, and was one of the first American journalists to interview
the Beatles during their
visit to Miami Beach to perform for the
Ed Sullivan Show at the Deauville Hotel. During her career, she served as a drama critic and editor for
The Miami News. Significant productions were performed at the
Coconut Grove Playhouse, including
Auntie Mame, starring
Gypsy Rose Lee,
Show Boat, with
Julie Wilson, and
Waiting for Godot, with
Bert Lahr. She received praise for reviewing diverse theatrical productions, including at the
Lyric Theater. At a commemorative event, Muir was proud to be recognized by a speaker, who said "When you were black and wanted anything reviewed, Mrs. Muir was the only one." The two were fond of having sherry together and gossiping, but those moments were followed by serious talk of the future of libraries, and the role of women in South Florida. They were confidants, and often shared their work with one another. Muir was also very close friends with
Robert Wright and
George Forrest. Helen had a lifelong friendship with Robert Frost, which began in 1941 when she interviewed him at the suggestion of
Hervey Allen. She wrote a piece about their conversation, and he wrote in response, "You are the first interviewer I've ever met who could be amusing but not at my expense." Beginning in 1951, she and her family visited him at his farm in
Ripton, Vermont during the summer months. In 1962, Frost became ill while visiting Pencil Pines, and asked Muir to guard his satchel of poems while he was being treated at Baptist Hospital. William Muir, Helen's husband and a prominent local lawyer, executed Frost's South Florida Estate upon his death in 1963, a testament to how close the Muirs and Frosts relationship had become over the years. Muir authored several books. In 1953, she wrote the first edition of
Miami, U.S.A. When it first appeared,
Marjory Stoneman Douglas said in the
Chicago Tribune, "Only old American cities have been thought to be worthy subjects of books. This book therefore may mark the coming of age of one of the youngest, in the last uncitied corner of the United States... The story, with the inspired title, is vigorous, colorful, dramatic, variously detailed, jam-packed with people, fast moving, a seething document." She brought the work current twice, with the second edition, published in 1990, and the third, expanded edition, published in 2000 by the University Press of Florida, at the age of 89. In 1987, she authored the first edition of
Biltmore: Beacon for Miami, a history of the historic Coral Gables hotel built by
George Merrick. She updated and published a second edition in 1993 and a third in 1997. In 1995, she published a memoir of her twenty-two year friendship with Robert Frost, entitled
Frost in Florida: A Memoir. Her papers are collected at the
University of Miami. ==Library service==