Rex Stout and radio.

Rex Stout by Arnold Genthe, 1931.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Div.

Matt Barton, curator of the Library of Congress' Recorded Sound Section, discusses author Rex Stout's roles on the radio that are reflected in more than 40 LOC holdings. These encompass various incarnations of Stout's sleuth Nero Wolfe, Stout's appearances on Information Please, his hosting duties for Speaking of Liberty, and his participation in an episode about the detective story on the NBC program Conversation with critics Clifton Fadiman and Jacques Barzun. Said Stout in the Conversation program, "They're pretty bum stories, the Sherlock Holmes stories. . . . at least two thirds are pretty doggone silly." (It should be noted that Stout wrote the infamous essay "Watson Was a Woman.")

Richard Lockridge speaks on the Norths.

Barbara Britton and
Richard Denning as
Pam and Jerry North

To celebrate today's birthday of Richard Lockridge (1898–1982), a journalist and co-creator of the sleuthing couple Pam and Jerry North, listen to this 17-minute talk by him from the June 1954 Books and Authors Luncheon (found in the WNYC Radio archive). He is introduced at about 18.30 minutes into the program and speaks about the genesis of the Norths in the pages of the New Yorker, which involves anecdotes on life with his wife, Frances. He praises Frances's plotting ability and mentions that 3.1 million people are expected to listen to the Mr. and Mrs. North radio program that night. He also states that gas is 20 cents a gallon (remember those days?).

Also on the program: critic and Columbia University professor Jacques Barzun, talking about his book God's Country and Mine (on the United States, which he calls "the greatest hodge-podge that has ever been").

Jacques Barzun, editor.

Those who miss Jacques Barzun (of the Barzun-Taylor Classic Crime Novels list) since his death at age 104 in October 2012 can now read Helen Hazen's delightful reminiscence in the American Scholar regarding his (sometimes painful) editing of her book during his time with Scribner. According to Hazen, Barzun once wrote, "I go through your pages like an angry bull."

Happy birthday, Edmund Wilson.

Edmund Wilson,
ca. 1936. NYPL.

Journalist, critic, and Vanity Fair and New Republic editor Edmund "Bunny" Wilson was born today in Red Bank, NJ, in 1895. He died in 1972. In the mystery community he is most notorious for his cranky New Yorker column "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" (1945) in which he seems to trash all mysteries except for Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely. Protesters of Wilson's incendiary opinions on the mystery included Jacques Barzun. George Demko discusses Wilson's antimystery pieces here; Edward Champion looks at Wilson's columns here and concludes, "Wilson read mysteries for the wrong reasons."

U.S. writers on Time covers.

John P. Marquand,
from The Rotarian
(Aug 1949)

The Web site of the American Writers Museum (a proposed new museum on American literature) highlights the Time magazine covers since 1923 that have featured U.S. writers. Mystery fans will appreciate the ones with Craig Rice (1946), Mr. Moto creator John P. Marquand (1949), noted mystery critic and Columbia University provost Jacques Barzun (1956), Scott Turow (1990), and Michael Crichton (1995). Missed is James Gould Cozzens (1957), author of the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone work The Just and the Unjust (1942).

Has a writer ever been selected as Time's Person of the Year? I can't recall.