RARA-AVIS: Woolrich before pulping: Robison

From: Todd Mason ( Todd.Mason@tvguide.com)
Date: 11 Oct 2002


Well, I know Woolrich, whether or not under that name, wrote for THE SMART SET back in the day, the "magazine of cleverness" which was a sinking commercial affair for HL Mencken and George Jean Nathan, leading them to start BLACK MASK as a tawdry if remunerative task. Hammett started writing for BLACK MASK after minor sales to SMART SET, and did the SS sales lead directly to the latter? Of course, BLACK MASK was soon sold and did it's best work after leaving Mencken and Nathan's hands...yeah, Woolrich was ultranoir, maybe usually not too hb (unless desperation counts as toughness). TM

-----Original Message----- From: Robison Michael R CNIN [mailto: Robison_M@crane.navy.mil] And didn't Cornell write some nonhardboiled high society type mysteries a long time ago, like in the teens or early 20's? I think I recall seeing them described for sale on that auction site that handled the Lackritz collection.

I should probably had said "non-noir", since I'm not cer- tain if Cornell is hardboiled or not. I thought I MARRIED A DEAD MAN was noir but not hardboiled.

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