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Edgar Wallace: Born 150 Years Ago Today
Born 150 years ago this day: British mystery author Edgar Wallace (1875-1932).
In America, Wallace is known for writing the first draft of the original King Kong (1933), and dying before he could take it any farther. Though not as well remembered as the likes of Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett in our day, Wallace was a literary phenomenon in his own time. It’s been claimed that a quarter of the books read by the British public during the 1920s, were written by him. He also wrote hit stage plays, as well as screenplays, and had even begun to direct films towards the end of his life, including Red Aces (1930), The Squeaker (1930) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1932). Few of his works have stood the test of time, though we’ve had call to mention some on Travalanche before, to wit….
Just about all of the movies made of Edgar Wallace works are British or German, which is astounding because there are at least 160 of them. There were many radio adaptations as well. Hollywood appears to have paid him little mind. And yet there was so much to adapt: 957 short stories, 170 novels, and 18 plays. Yes, those figures are correct. He wrote by dictating his works onto wax cylinders for his secretaries to type up. Fueled by cigarettes and tea with lots of sugar, he paced back and forth, cranking out his works, making a fortune thereby. I imagine the sugar in all that tea had something to do with his early death by diabetes. At any rate, quantity and quality are seldom coexistent virtues. The public loved his racy stories, but critics were less than impressed. Perhaps we go too far if we dub him the British Mickey Spillane?
Wallace’s dandyish mien (cigarette holder, expensive suits and cars) belied the poverty of his upbringing. He was the illegitimate child of a stage actress. “Edgar” was actually the surname of his biological father, also an actor. The writer later chose “Wallace” as his pseudonymous surname in honor of Governor Lew Wallace. He was actually raised by a foster family named Freeman. He left school at 12, had a variety of odd jobs, and then served in the army. His early writing included ballads in the style of Kipling, and war correspondence during the Boer War for a number of newspapers. His 1905 book The Four Just Men was what put his literary career in motion in earnest. Though his works earned him a fortune, he never seemed able to keep up with his debts.
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