I wish he were here to celebrate.The Writer's Almanac from American Public Media: "It's the birthday of crime novelist Mickey Spillane, (books by this author) the pen name of Frank Morrison, born in Brooklyn, New York (1918). He spent his childhood defending himself as the only Irish boy in a tough Polish neighborhood. His father worked in a hardware store, and it was there that Spillane saw a typewriter for the first time. He later said, 'I would type on it. ... I loved the sound it made ... [and] I knew I was going to be a writer.'
As a high school student, he wrote for a local newspaper, and he covered bootlegging scams and other criminal activity. He would make carbon copies of the newspaper stories and turn one copy in as a writing assignment for school and get paid for the other. In 1940, he got a job as a scripter of comic books for Funnies, Inc. Other writers required a week to produce a Captain Marvel story while Spillane could write one in a day."
2 comments:
It would have been nice for him to be around to celebrate. I, like most mystery fans, read I, The Jury as a young lad and was instantly captivated. Never mind what most of the critics said about his writing.
I'm with you on that, Randy.
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