Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Happy Birthday, Sid Fleischman!

| The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor: "It's the birthday of the children's writer who said, 'I sometimes think I was born to set a bad example.' That's Sid Fleischman, (books by this author) born in Brooklyn (1920). His family moved to San Diego when he was a toddler, and when he was in fifth grade he decided to become a magician. After high school, he toured with vaudeville, worked as a journalist, fought in WWII. When he was 19, he published a book about magic tricks, Between Cocktails (1939). He made a living writing mysteries and adventure novels, and John Wayne's movie company bought the film rights to his novel Blood Alley and asked Fleischman to write the screenplay. It was made into a movie starring Wayne and Lauren Bacall in 1955."

2 comments:

Frank Loose said...

Over the past couple years, Stark House has published some of the early Fleishman books - Look Behind you Lady, paired with Venetian Blonde; and Malay Lady paired with Danger in Paradise. All great fun, esp if you like foreign locales and witty noir dialogue. They read very "cinematic" in style and pacing, sorta like an old black and white movie. I really enjoyed them.

Unknown said...

I like those, too, Frank, and his YA novels are all excellent.