Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy birthday, Van Wyck Mason; writer, WWI and WWII veteran.

"Not a dull page in any of his works."
—critic Jay Lewis on Van Wyck Mason, Other Men's Minds 39

Francis Van Wyck Mason—pulp writer, historical novelist, creator of investigator Hugh North, captain in World War I wounded at Verdun, and colonel with Allied Supreme HQ during World War II—was born today in Boston in 1901. North, who is usually involved in cases with government implications, debuted in Seeds of Murder (1930) and appears in 26 other novels and several short stories. A Mason story was adapted as The Spy Ring (dir. Joseph H. Lewis, 1938) with Jane Wyman. Mason died in 1978.

3 comments:

daveteds said...

Where did you find that Mason was wounded at Verdun? He drove an ambulance there but I did find anything about him being wounded.

Elizabeth Foxwell said...

See Jay Lewis, _Other Men's Minds_.

Anonymous said...

Has any secret agent novelist other than Sax Rohmer stayed with one series as long as Mason in English? 38 years.