This is a list of bits and bobs which don't really fit anywhere else.
Thief is an Ugly Word
In the late forties and early fifties, Dell produced a collection of very small
pocket-sized books, really only big enough to hold a short story, called
Dell 10c Books. Number 27 in the series is Thief is an Ugly
Word by Paul Gallico. The story was originally in Cosmopolitan in
1944, and is included in Confessions of a
Story Writer and also in Confessions of a Story Teller in the
UK.
Bombardier
In around 1942, the Pennsylvania Railroad company produced several tiny books
containing short stories. These were intended as "entertaining literature
[for] members of the armed forces travelling on military trains." This
short story by Paul Gallico was first published in the Saturday Evening
Post.
The Clock
This was a film,
starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker, and directed by Vincente Minelli. It
came out in 1945, and is about a whirlwind romance during the war. Paul Gallico
is credited as the writer, and I believe that the story is based on a Gallico
short story, but I have not found it in any collection.
Gilt-Edged Bonds
This book is a collection of three James Bond books - Casino Royale,
From Russia, With Love and Doctor No. The books are, of
course, by Ian Fleming, and the collection was published in the US by Macmillan
in 1961, with a long introduction by Paul Gallico. It was not published in the
UK.
Dames Spell Trouble
This is a novelette, published by Barrington Gray Ltd in Essex. It is pulp
fiction, with a wonderfully typical cover. There is no date in the book, but I
suspect it is from the early fifties; the story however seems to be very early
Gallico - it was probably written in the thirties. Any more information about
the story or Barrington Gray gratefully received!
A Fire in the Sky
A made-for-TV disaster movie about a comet wiping out Phoenix, Arizona. It came
out in 1978, and starred Richard Crenna, Elizabeth Ashley and David Dukes.
Walter Kendrick wrote a novelization of the film, which was based on a story by
Paul Gallico.
More than a Game
This book is a compilation of sports stories by great sports writers, including
Damon Runyon, Dan Parker, Jimmy Breslin and, of course, Paul Gallico. The book
was compiled by A. Lawrance Holmes, and has an introduction by Gallico. It was
published in the US by Macmillan in 1967.
The Personality of the Cat
Edited by Brandt Aymar. Published by Crown in 1958. This book contains lots of
short stories and book extracts about cats; it includes a selection from
Jennie.
The Lost Christmas
This is a softback booklet, published by Lederer, Street and Zeus Co. in 1968;
it is number 26 in a Christmas series. It contains an article (originally
published in Esquire in December 1960), discussing the "lost
Christmas" of the early years of one's life. It contains some lovely line
illustrations. This is quite a rare item.
The Complete Book of Baseball Cards
By Steve Clark. Published in the US by Grosset and Dunlap in 1976. With a
foreword by Paul Gallico.
They Made it in America
This book is a collection of biographical sketches about famous
Italian-Americans. It includes a couple of pages about Paul Gallico. It was
written by Robert Corte, and published in the US by Morrow in 1993.
Men and Myths of Ancient Greece
By Elizabeth Craig. Published in the US by Yoseloff in 1962. With a foreword by
Paul Gallico.
Fun in the Rough
This is a collection of humourous articles and cartoons from Golf
Digest. It includes the Gallico Rules of Golf - an eminently
sensible set of modifications to the normal rules of golf - eg "A ball
putted on the putting green that rims the cup and stays out shall be deemed to
have dropped, since such an occurrence shall be held contrary to the laws of
gravity, which supersedes the Rules of Golf". The book was edited by
Howard Gill, and published by Prentice-Hall in 1957.
Sports and Magazine Articles
Aside from the articles he wrote when he was a sportswriter, Gallico wrote
literally hundreds - possibly thousands - of articles on general subjects for
magazines both in the US and in the UK, as well as many short stories. If I
find a copy of an article or a short story on the web, I'll link to it. But I'm
not going to even try to collect the magazines containing the short stories or
articles.
Many of Gallico's best columns for the New York Daily News were collected together and published as small booklets on an annual basis.
There is an interesting article here about the style of Paul Gallico's sportswriting, and how it compares to other great sportswriters.
Fencing
Paul Gallico was a keen fencer. He has contributed a foreword to two books on
fencing that I am aware of. One is On Fencing by Aldo Nadi. Published
originally in 1943 by Putnam in New York, this book is still in print and is
reckoned to be one of the definitive books about fencing. He also wrote the
foreword to the second edition of Fencing by Joseph Vince, published
by Ronald Press in 1962. (The first edition was published by A S Barnes in
1940.)
On a related theme, Nickolas Muray, Gallico's collaborator on The Revealing Eye, was an international fencer; he represented the USA in the Olympic Games in 1928 and 1932.
Ballantine Ale
  |
This is an magazine advertisement for Ballantine Ale in about 1951; celebrities were asked how they would put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words. Other well known writers who featured in this advertising campaign were John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway.
The Fifth Factor
This was a small booklet published in 1948. It contained boxing articles and
stories originally published in Cosmopolitan.
Pulitzer Prize?
I have seen two or three references to Paul Gallico, Pulitzer Prize
Winner on the web. But I have checked with the
Pulitzer Prize web site,
and it would appear that Gallico did not ever win a Pulitzer Prize. However,
The Snow Goose was one of the 1941
O. Henry
prize winners.
Quotations
I have seen these quotations on the web several times - but thanks to
Bartleby, I can give them
their full attibution. They are both in Simpson’s Contemporary
Quotations.
No one can be as calculatedly rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand studied insult and can only offer abuse as a substitute. (NY Times 14 Jan 1962)If there is any larceny in a man, golf will bring it out. (Farewell to Sport - chapter 18)
Bob Gallico
Bob Gallico (or sometimes Robert Gallico) is Paul Gallico's son. He was an
actor in the fifties and sixties, and has been a radio broadcaster for the last
twenty years or so. He is currently a newscaster on
Ireland Live
Television, which is an Internet TV station.
These pages are copyright © Martin Benson 1999-2003. You are welcome to link to them.