I love that anecdote about Browne & Spillane, Jim. I've
got to tell you, though, that Browne obviously had at least 2
versions of the story behind the "Spillane" story in
Fantastic - a diplomatic version & a much less diplomatic
(or bitchy) version. The following is excerpted from
"Incredible Ink" & is to be found at the Dennis McMillan
site :
"So, he sent it to me. It was one of these stories where a
guy is sitting in his study, and there's a picture on the
wall with a draw-drape over it so you can't see it, and he
tells his friend this story: a woman he met, and on and on
for 6,000 words. At the end, he pulls the curtain and the
woman has green skin -- the title of the story was "The Woman
with Green Skin." He gave away his story in the title! It was
just awful -- it didn't even read like Spillane, but he'd
written it.
I went down to Ziff's office and told him I'd gotten a story
by Spillane. "Jesus, that's great!" he said.
"You're going to have to read it before we talk any
further."
By page four, he had gone as far as he could.
I went back upstairs and called the agent and asked him how
much he wanted for the story. "Jesus, Howard, I couldn't let
it go for under $ 1,000."
"I'll give you the $1,000 -- if you'll send me a letter to
the effect that I can make any editorial changes I think
necessary."
"Jesus, I don't know if Spillane'd like that ... you know,
he's pretty funny . . . "
I said, "Well, I'll pay the thousand if you'll do it."
Cupidity got the better of good judgement, and he said all
right. He sent me a letter to that effect, I sent him a
thousand bucks, and I threw the manuscript in the
wastebasket. I went home on Friday night, and Sunday morning
I came in with a 15,000 word Mickey Spillane story,
"The Veiled Woman." I think I killed fourteen people in it.
And at the end he shot the woman in the belly for killing his
wife. You got your 25 cents' worth"
Which of the two versions is accurate? I wouldn't have enough
information to know although I must say the "Incredible Ink"
version seems to me to be more likely for a couple of minor
reasons that would hardly constitute absolute proof. I was
find it interesting to see who thought what about whom with
the old writer guys like Browne & Spillane. It appears
that Spillane was a fan of Browne's. That other seminal PI
writer, Chandler had nowhere near as high an opinion of
him.
The rest of the excerpt on the McMillan site is worth
everyone's attention. The book itself would be lovely to
have.
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