MAJOR GENERAL JOHN D. CRAIG - TYPED NOTE SIGNED 12/04/1940 - HFSID 225343

JOHN D. CRAIG

The multitalented deep-sea diver, businessman, soldier, writer, etc., gives his autograph to an admirer

Typed Note Signed: “John D. Craig” in blue ink. 7¼x10½. Dated: December 4, 1940. In full: “Mr. Seymor Wishenfsky. 812 W. Glrnfale Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dear Mr. Wishenfsky: You requested my autograph……Here it is. Sincerely, John D. Craig”. John D. Craig (1903-1997) was an American deep-sea diver, writer, businessman, soldier, film producer, Hollywood stunt man and television host.  Craig pioneered deep-sea diving as a profession and as an industry from the 1930s on, and filmed aerial combat over Europe during World War II. He is best known for using film and television to show the United States public the beauties and dangers of Earth's underwater worlds. Craig served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, in which he specialized in aerial photography. In 1943 he headed the 9th Combat Camera Unit of the 6th Air Defense Group in Europe that was stationed in Cairo, Egypt. In 1944 after having been promoted to Major, Craig was transferred with his film unit to England to document the D-Day invasion. He flew more than 35 missions in Europe and Africa and aided in the aerial photography of the Ploesti Raid in 1944 and again in the TV series of the same name. After the war ended, Craig visually documented the atomic bomb test site at Bikini Atoll in 1946.He also wrote many articles in the 1930s on undersea diving, exotic travels and other objects, both for popular science magazines and “men's” magazines. His autobiography/memoir, Danger Is My Business, was published in 1938 in New York as a book edition by Literary Guild, and in London the same year by Arthur Barker Ltd. It was reprinted in New York in 1941 as a mass-market hardcover by Garden City Publishing. In 1950 Craig produced at least 18 twenty-minute episodes of a Warner Brothers film series entitled Danger Is My Business. Thought named after his memoir, the series documented instead a wide range of dangerous occupations. He hosted and narrated several of the episodes. Syndicated television broadcast of these episodes continued world-wide until well into the 1960s. John not only since 1954 was involved with five different television series but also was nominated three times for Emmy Awards. In 1965 Craig and Morgan Clint Denn co-authored Introduction to Skin and SCUBA Diving, a hardcover how-to book on scuba diving, intended for the general public. A paperback edition was published by Sphere Press in 1969. Toned. Newspaper photograph and a strip of paper affixed. Adhesive residue on verso. Otherwise, fine condition. Normal mailing folds. Slightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.