GILBERT PATTEN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/20/1939 - HFSID 31865
Price: $360.00
GILBERT PATTEN
He signs a typed 1939 letter to entertainment columnist Louis Sobol, thanking
him for publicizing him as the author of the Frank Merriwell stories, and
regretting not seeing him recently at Chumleys.
Typed Letter signed: "Gil Patten", 1 page, 8½x11. Hudson View
Gardens, New York City, 1939 May 20. To "Dear Louis" , in full:
"Thank you for the frequent mentioning of me lately in your column.
You have generously done me great service in helping let the world know that
I am the Burt L. Standish who created Frank and Dick Merriwell, a fact which
Street & Smith has endeavored to keep hidden like a candle under a
bushel - or a peck measure. Odd McIntyre was equally kind and industrious in
disseminating the information, and I now meet few former readers who are not
aware that Standish and Patten are not one and the same person. I miss old Odd,
even though we did not meet often in recent years. The Philadelphia Enquirer of
March 23rd gave me a full page spread, with photographs and a colored
reproduction of one of the Tip Top Weeklies. It was a friendly piece of
publicity at this time when the Telecast Corporation of America is on the verge
of a sales campaign for the electrical transcription radio program in the YOUNG
FRANK MERRIWELL series they are making. The Boston Herald will soon publish an
interview with me, likewise making use of Tip Top covers, but not in colors.
I saw Harry and his wife recently at Chumleys. And I miss seeing you there,
where we first met. The restaurant is doing quite well now, and Nick
triumphantly shows me every reference you make to the place. He says you have
helped keep it alive. I can't seem to do much in return for the favors you have
done me except tell anybody who mentions you that you are a square-shooter and a
guy who plainly chooses to boost rather than to knock. Please remember me to
Mrs. Sobol and to the daughter of the fan, who must be quite a young lady by
this time. Ever yours". Gilbert Patten (1866-1945), an author of dime
novels, is best remembered for creating the character Frank Merriwell, a
sterling character and multi-sport athlete at Yale, who solved crimes in his
spare time. Patten published his first "dime novel," The Diamond Sport,
in 1886, and his first Merriwell story 10 years later. He also wrote in other
genres under other pen names, including Westerns as Wyoming Bill and science
fiction as Emerson Bell. His books were enormously popular; 500 million were
in print! For twenty years, Patten wrote a 20,000-word Frank Merriwell
story each week for Smith & Street, receiving only $150 per book and no
royalties. In 1927 he broke with Smith & Street, publishing Frank
Merriwell stories on his own (with the help now of ghost writers), and advising
on the comic books and radio series starring Frank and his brother Dick.
Patten did not have exclusive rights to the Frank Merriwell name (or the
Standish pen name), however, and had to fight for recognition, as this letter
illustrates. Louis Sobol was a New York-based critic and entertainment
columnist. Chumleys, opened in 1926 as a Prohibition-era speakeasy, was a
favorite haunt of writers, journalists and "beat" poets. No signs marked its
entrances, and it had trap doors and hidden stairways for prompt escape from a
police raid. Chumeys, which is on the Literary Landmarks Register and the
itinery of historic tours, closed its doors after a chimney collapse in 2007.
Toned around edges, torn and ragged corners. Normal mailing folds. 1½ inch tear
3 inches down from upper right corner. Fair condition.
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