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1. “Rex Stout Papers,” Box 26, Folder 9: 9 April 1969. 2. The book is titled Unit Pride, a fictionalized account of Billy Dickson’s experiences in the Korean War, trimmed to five hundred pages from Dickson’s original manuscript of over one thousand. The epilogue to the book explains the evolution of the correspondence (504-15). 4. Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street: The Life and Times of America’s Largest Private Detective. New York: Viking Press, 1969. 8. The article was published 12 July 1969 in the Boston Globe. 9. 8 July 1969. “It really was written against the grain, too, because I had a powerful hunch that something from you was in the mail.” 12. A copy of the article is preserved in the “Rex Stout Papers,” Box 26, Folder 9. 14. Published in The Gazette, Journal of the Wolfe Pack. IV.2 (Spring) 1986 16. The schedules for both classes are preserved in carbon copy in the “Rex Stout Papers,” Box 26, Folder 9. 24. 15 January 1972: "P.S. With the newest Dreiser book going through University of Alambama Press now, and the Thoreau book safely in print, I’ve come to a place in my career in scholarship where I must make a fresh commitment. I’d like that commitment to be to Bowling Green.” 27. McAleer refers to Richard Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew. Stout was active in politics, through literary organizations like the Author’s Guild and Author’s League. He despised Nixon, labeling him “unquestionably the greatest danger that ever occurred to American democracy.” McAleer wrote this questionnaire before before the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972. Agnew resigned in December of 1973. 32. McAleer writes, “Since Rex, even at eighty-three, was highly scheduled and superbly organized (for sixty-three years his first drafts were always his final drafts), I saw at once that it was essential to fit myself into his schedule, and, if possible, to create the impression that I was every bit as organized as he was." 37. “Judson Sapp Papers,” 28 Sept 1975 38. "Judson Sapp Papers," 9 December 1975 40. Dated 1 November 1976, Judson Sapp Collection 42. from “Some Thoughts on Being a Literary Biographer" 1. McAleer presumably refers to Forester’s The Hornblower Companion (1964).
1. McAleer refers to Richard Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew. The President Vanishes, written in 1934, was about a fascist minority in America who kidnap a fictional President Stanley. Stout was active in politics, through literary organizations like the Author’s Guild and Author’s League. He despised Nixon, labeling him “unquestionably the greatest danger that ever occurred to American democracy.” McAleer wrote this questionnaire before before the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972. Agnew resigned in December of 1973. There is no hard evidence that Stout was a clairvoyant.
1. The Evening College of Arts and Sciences was an extension education program open to the larger community; classes usually met once a week. McAleer regularly taught courses for the Evening College, and with the same course titles as his regular Boston College courses.
Bad for Business, a novella featuring protagonist Tecumseh Fox, was first published in The Second Mystery Book, an anthology, in 1940. Stout adapted it as a Nero Wolfe story, “Bitter End.”
Jacques Barzun (b. 1907) Writer, professor (Columbia College, CUNY) and historian, he wrote a short critical piece on Stout, A Birthday Tribute to Rex Stout (1965). Barzun and Stout were both active in the Author’s Guild and Author’s League (A Biography 416). They appeared together on Mark Van Doren’s 1941 CBS radio show, “Invitation to Learning,” (A Biography 298). McAleer got a questionnaire reply from Barzun, in 1972, which he quotes in the biography (see 248). “Bitter End,” a Nero Wolfe story adapted from his novella, Bad for Business. First published in The American Magazine, 1940.
Anthony Boucher was the pseudonym for William Anthony Parker White (1911-1968), literary critic, science fiction writer, and editor of Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Boucher’s preference for Stout’s shorter works is mentioned in McAleer’s Biography (417).
Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot (1918-1977) was an actor who first worked as a “voice” for BBC radio programs. In the early 1960s, he appeared in “Checkmate,” a television series about a detective firm, which got him the reputation for acting the part of a cultured gentleman.
Everybody’s Magazine, publishing essays on social justice and politics in addition to fiction, was founded in 1899 by John O’Hara Cosgrave. It ceased publication in 1929.
How Like a God was Stout’s 1929 first attempt at a mainstream novel, and his return to writing after a 13-year hiatus.
Munsey’s Magazine was one of numerous pulp fiction magazines started by Frank Munsey in the late 19th century. Stout’s first forays into literature took the form of churning out stories for these magazines during 1912-16. In 1929, Munsey’s Magazine was merged with another Munsey publication, Argosy All-Story, to form All-Story Combined. The President Vanishes was Stout’s last attempt at a mainstream novel (1934).
The Rubber Band, a Nero Wolfe Novel, was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, February – April 1936. It was republished in paperback in 1960 as To Kill Again.
Todhunter was the name of Rex Stout’s maternal side of the family. McAleer’s genealogical research traced the Todhunters back eight generations. (A Biography, 25-34).
Mark Van Doren (1894-1972) was professor of English at Columbia University, literary editor and reviewer for the Nation, poet, critic, and anthologist. Stout met Van Doren in 1921; they became close friends. Van Doren shows up in McAleer’s biography with as much regularity as anyone. He contributed material to McAleer’s project and died in December 1972. McAleer mourns the death in a letter dated 13 December. Alexander “Aleck” Woollcott (1887-1943) was a drama critic, writer, and radio actor. Rex Stout first met him in 1935 when Woollcott invited him to dinner at the Lambs Club. Stout was doing a CBS radio show with Woollcott, “The People’s Platform,” in 1943 when Woollcott had a heart attack and died (A Biography 247, 317-20). |