Jane Speed | |
---|---|
File:Jane Speed, circa 1937.JPG | |
Born | Jane Helen Krisher January 4, 1920 Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | March 5, 1991 New York, New York, U.S. | (aged 71)
Occupation(s) | Radio scriptwriter, Short story writer |
Years active | 1946–1980 |
Spouse | James Edward Speed (1919-2009) |
Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Jane Speed (January 4, 1920 - March 5, 1991) was a New York-based radio dramatist and short story writer, active between 1946 and 1980.[1][2]
Biography
A Short-Lived Radio Career
Speed was born Jane Helen Krisher, the only child of William C. Krisher and Helen E. Roush.[3] After graduating from Buchtel High School,[4] she attended first Ohio Wesleyan and then Northwestern University's School of Speech, where she majored in drama; it was during this latter stint that she gained the bulk of her education regarding scriptwriting, both for radio and for film.
Subsequently she worked as a commercial copy writer at WFMJ in Youngstown, Ohio, all the while working on and, on occasion, submitting radio scripts, both originals and adaptations.[5] It was there, in the fall of 1942, that Krisher met her future husband, jazz musician James Speed, a recent arrival to WFMJ who hosted a music program three times a week.
After their marriage, the birth of their first child, and the completion of Mr. Speed's military service, the artistically inclined Speeds relocated to New York City,[6] just in time to attend the debut of Jane Speed's first produced radio script, "My Sweet Aunt Caroline," on June 6, 1946, performed live and broadcast nationally on Elaine Sterne Carrington's Mutual-affiliated Carrington Playhouse, emanating from New York's Longacre Theatre.[1]
Of the nine scripts Speed would see produced during her brief radio career, one in particular, "Farewell to Birdie McKeever" (originally "McKeesler") proved to be a singularly viable property, produced three times in five years, first in 1948 on Family Theater (as Farewell to Birdie McKeesler), with June Haver,[7] then in 1950 on Hollywood Theatre, with Gloria Grahame,[8] and, finally, adapted for television in 1953 on Your Jeweler's Showcase, starring Marilyn Erskine. The latter production was rebroadcast three times in the year following its premiere;[9] moreover, aside from a number of commercial rebroadcasts over the next few years,[10] 16mm copies of the program were eventually acquired by both the University of Illinois' Agricultural Communication Documentation Center [11] and the University of Washington's Educational Media Collection, employed in both instances as a teaching tool relating to workplace interaction, and to interpersonal communication in general. As the EMC summary notes: "Although humorous, it raises significant questions about employer-employee relationships and understandings."[12]
In 1955, the prospect of a third child on the way, coupled with TV's dramatic erosion of the market for radio dramas, conspired to dictate a career change. Moreover, her husband's simultaneous career change - from struggling freelance musician to fledgling computer programmer at IBM - would help subsidize Speed's retirement from radio and subsequent retraining.[13]
From Stage to Page
Within eight years, Mrs. Speed had gained sufficient mastery of both the essentials of short story writing and the conventions of the mystery genre to become a regularly published writer in that genre, her modest output consisting of 16 stories and one brief verse, all published between the years of 1963 and 1980, appearing primarily within the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, the sole exception being "Poor Eva," published in the August 1977 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Eight of these 16 would find their way into anthologies, some within Ellery Queen's own collections, some elsewhere, such as "End of the Day," in the Mystery Writers of America's With Malice Toward All,[14] and "View From the Inside" in E.P. Dutton's 31st annual Best Detective Stories of the Year,[15] as well as one of Speed's most frequently anthologized tales, "Fair's Fair," in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Stay Awake By,[16], and its paperback successor, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories to Stay Awake By.[17]
Speed's first two stories for EQMM, both published in 1963, were named by Anthony Boucher in his list of best short detective fiction for that year.[18] Her third, "The Freya of Fire Island," was published in September 1964 [19] and reprinted shortly thereafter in Ellery Queen's 20th Anniversary Annual.[20] In his introduction, editor Frederic Dannay (aka Ellery Queen) observed:[a] "Her style gets firmer with each story, her insight deeper, her observation sharper."[27] By this time, it had become clear Speed was not interested in pursuing the standard crime fiction tropes. Writing in 1966 about Speed's "Sounds in the Night" (in a lengthy introduction, itself entitled "Sui Generis"), Dannay could just as easily be addressing her work as a whole, it being "not of the fast, grating, or slam-bang school. It chooses its own inherent speed, growing, growing... warmly human, sympathetically understanding, probing with the gentle touch of a highly skilled surgeon."[28] 1n 1972, Speed spelled out her artistic priorities in verse (see sidebar below), chief among them being to write "not of dolls pulled about by plots, but of humans tied up in their self-made knots."[29]
In Fred Dannay, Speed could scarcely have found a more congenial editor, nor a more consistent advocate. His respect for her work, plainly evident in the introductions he provided for much of it,[30][31][27][18] is apparent even in a 1966 letter to Speed, little more than a qualified rejection notice, in and of itself, yet characteristically deferential, even to the point of perplexity:
No, I don't imagine it's either of these themes. But you can see I'm not sure. What did I miss? Would you please let me know more clearly (expositionally) what you had in mind? - perhaps clarification will support an improvement. I look forward to hearing from you. I'm almost positive it's I who missed something.[26]
Almost exactly one year before Dannay's bemused missive had come the publication of "End of the Day" (EQMM March 1965), which, together with 1967's "Fair's Fair," would become by far the author's two most frequently reprinted stories.[32][33] Described by Dannay as "a superb character study [of] a nervous, harassed mother of two small children, the wife of a demanding, sarcastic, belittling husband - a woman who desperately tries to cope with the tensions and pressures of everyday family problems,"[18] "End of the Day" seems to have created an immediate buzz; barely had the March issue hit the newsstands when Speed was contacted by noted mystery/suspense editor Joan Kahn,[34] in hopes of giving her employer Harper & Row the inside track on any novel Speed might be producing in the near future.[35]
In addition, the story would prove to be Speed's most enduring work; aside from the numerous subsequent printings, "End of the Day" almost singlehandedly resurrected the author's erstwhile career, in the form of radio dramatizations and/or readings, first in South Africa just 4 years later,[36] then in Italy almost 15 years later,[37][38] and, finally, in Germany more than 25 years later (by RAI Bozen,[39] Radio Bremen and Sender Freies Berlin,[40] the latter having already broadcast a production of Speed's "Poor Eva" in 1979 and again in 1981.[41][42] Moreover, in 2010, more than 45 years after its publication, "End of the Day" was performed in person for the benefit of Seattle Public Library patrons, as the opening entry in the 6th annual installment of that library's 8-month-long, semi-monthly program of readings devoted to "offbeat," "original," and unjustly obscure short fiction.[43][44]
As for "Fair's Fair," in 1987, two decades after its publication, the story made a near simultaneous reappearance within two separate anthologies, half a world apart,[45][46] thus exposing both a new generation and a new continent to Speed's already much-reprinted tale.
By 1987, however, Speed was well past such diversions. Dannay's death in 1982,[47] the decade-long decline of her elderly father, and the rightward political drift of the country during that decade all contributed to her worsening depression.[48]
As the decade drew to an end, the misfortunes only accelerated, starting with her father's death in April 1988, followed by an exhausting court proceeding over a fraudulent challenge to her father's will.[49] Add to this her husband's heart attack, and, finally, Mrs. Speed's own long-ignored but now burgeoning health concerns, which, in late February 1991, culminated in a massive coronary from which she would not recover; never regaining consciousness, she died on March 5, 1991, at the age of 71.
Jane Speed was survived by her husband James, her daughters Jill and Barbara, and son David. Her work would survive as well, much as it had during the decade following her final published story, continuing to be reprinted, anthologized and translated well into the 20th century's final decade.[40][50][51][39]
Works
Radio
- "My Sweet Aunt Caroline" aired June 6, 1946 on The Carrington Playhouse, broadcast live from New York's Longacre Theatre
- "The Perfect Wife" aired November 13, 1947 on Family Theater, hosted by Lizabeth Scott, starring Spring Byington and Ralph Moore
- "Hard Bargain" aired April 7, 1948 on The Whistler
- "Farewell to Birdie McKeesler" aired October 14, 1948 on Family Theater, hosted by George Murphy, starring June Haver and Alan Reed
- "Dinner by Candlelight" aired April 2, 1949 on Armstrong's Theatre of Today
- "Second Best" aired March 4, 1950 on Armstrong's Theatre of Today
- "Good Old Annie" aired May 6, 1950 on Armstrong's Theatre of Today, starring Grace Matthews
- "A High Wind in Jamaica" aired August 20, 1950 on NBC University Theater, starring Anne Whitfield, John Ramsey Hill, Dawn Bender, Henry Blair and Jeanine Ann Roose.
- "Farewell to Birdie McKeever" aired August 31, 1950 on Hollywood Theatre, starring Gloria Grahame
- "Hard Bargain" aired October 23, 1950 on Murder by Experts, produced and directed by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan, hosted by Brett Halliday
- "A Wonderful Guy" aired January 20, 1951 on Armstrong's Theatre of Today
Television
- "Farewell to Birdie McKeever" aired December 22, 1953 on Your Jeweler's Showcase (starring Marilyn Erskine and Lloyd Corrigan)
Short Stories
- "According to Plan" in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1963)
- "The Listening Game" in EQMM (December 1963)
- "The Freya of Fire Island" in EQMM (September 1964), reprinted in Ellery Queen's 20th Anniversary Annual (New York, Random House, 1965), edited by Ellery Queen
- "End of the Day" in EQMM (March 1965), reprinted in With Malice Towards All (New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1968), edited by Robert Fish
- "As the Wheel Turns" in EQMM (April 1966), reprinted in Miniature Mysteries: 100 Malicious Little Mystery Stories (New York, Taplinger, 1981), edited by Martin Greenberg
- "Sounds in the Night" in EQMM (September 1966), reprinted in Ellery Queen's Mystery Anthology (Spring-Summer 1972, Volume 23), edited by Ellery Queen
- "Fair's Fair" in EQMM (February 1967), reprinted in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Stay Awake By (New York, Random House,1971), Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories to Stay Awake By (New York, Dell Publishing Company, 1973), A Slender Thread: An anthology of short stories (Melbourne, Thomas Nelson, 1987), edited by Brian Keyte and Richard Baines, and Ready or Not, Here Come Fourteen Frightening Stories! A collection of fourteen unsettling tales by a variety of authors (New York, Greenwillow Books, 1987), edited by Joan Kahn
- "The Unhappening" in EQMM (March 1969), reprinted in Ellery Queen's Grand Slam: 25th anniversary annual; 25 stories from 'Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine' (New York; World Pub. Co.;1970), edited by Ellery Queen
- "The Events Between" in EQMM (June 1972)
- "Who-Dun-It" in EQMM (June 1972) (verse)
- "Just Another Friday" in EQMM (May 1974)
- "Recipe for Revenge" in EQMM (October 1974), reprinted in Miniature Mysteries: 100 Malicious Little Mystery Stories (New York, Taplinger, 1981), edited by Martin Greenberg
- "A Shock of Recognition" in EQMM (April 1976)
- "View from the Inside" in EQMM (August 1976), reprinted in Best Detective Stories of the Year, 1977: 31st annual collection (New York, E.P. Dutton, 1977), edited by Edward D. Hoch
- "Poor Eva" in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (August 1977)
- "Further Instructions 9 P.M." in EQMM (August 1979)
- "A Lady of Refinement" in EQMM (December 1, 1980)
External links
Audio
- Family Theater - The Perfect Wife
- Family Theater - Farewell to Birdie McKeesler
- NBC University Theater - A High Wind in Jamaica Ep.102
Miscellaneous
Notes
- ^ While neither this introduction nor any of the others quoted here are actually signed by Dannay (nor by anyone else; all EQMM introductions are unsigned, or at least were in that era), as editor-in-chief,[21] Dannay was widely acknowledged as the author of the lengthy and sometimes rambling "rubrics" (as he himself called them) which preceded so many of EQMM's stories.[22][23] Moreover, while this practice had stopped almost completely by the fall of 1955, in favor of the "Editor's File Card" format as implemented by managing editor Robert P. Mills (and continuing under his successor, Paul W. Fairman), the accession in 1963 of managing editor Clayton Rawson saw a partial return of Dannay's distinctive excursions,[24] with the matter-of-fact and rigidly formatted Editor's File Cards reserved for more established authors.[25] Regarding Speed in particular, Dannay informed her in a March 1966 letter (after having published 4 of her stories in EQMM): "You know how much I admire your work; I've said as much in print more than once."[26]
References
- ^ a b Photocopy of June 1946 letter confirming the broadcast of Jane Speed's first produced radio script
- ^ EQMM Dec 1980: Contents
- ^ 1957 reproduction of Jane Helen Krisher's birth certificate, courtesy of the Vital Statistics Division of the Ohio Department of Health
- ^ "Local Author Makes Good," The Akron Beacon Journal'. June 7, 1946.
- ^ Johnson, Don Robert: "Jane Speed Memorial Service". New York Society for Ethical Culture. March 27, 1991.
- ^ Speed, James: Application for tuition assistance under the GI Bill. 1948.
- ^ Hurray, Virginia: "Ickes, Dewey and Wallace in Radio Talks Tonight: Other Dial Offerings Today". The Youngstown Vindicator. October 14, 1948. "10:00 - WRRN - Film star June Haver will be the heroine for Jane Speed's drama, 'Farewell to Birdie McKister,' [sic] humorous story of an inefficient secretary-receptionist and her treatment of four bosses, to be presented on 'The Family Theater.'"
- ^ "On the Radio". The New York Times. August 31, 1950. "10:30-11 - Hollywood Theatre: "Farewell to Birdie McKeever,' with Gloria Grahame - WCBS."
- ^ Letter to Jane Speed from WGAW accompanying payments for 'Farewell to Birdie McKeever' rebroadcasts
- ^ "TV Programs". Long Beach Press Telegram. March 11, 1955. See also:
- "TV Programs". Long Beach Press Telegram. November 10, 1955.
- "TV Programs" The Chester Times. January 18, 1956.
- "Today's Television Programs: Evening Programs". Long Island Star-Journal. April 24, 1956. "11 PM Ch. 7. Birdie can't spell, type or take dictation, but she's too sweet and pretty to fire."
- "TV Programs" The Oakland Tribune. March 26, 1958.
- "TV Programs". The San Mateo Times. June 3, 1958.
- ^ "Agricultural Communications Documentation Center: Document C11809". University of Illinois Agricultural Communications Center. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ "'Farewell to Birdie McKeever' description". University of Washington Educational Media Center. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- ^ Johnson, Don Robert: "Jane Speed Memorial Service". New York Society for Ethical Culture. March 27, 1991. "After marriage, she continued writing and selling radio scripts until 1955... Then she taught herself mystery writing and sold 16 short mystery stories between 1963 and 1980."
- ^ "Complete details for With Malice Toward All: An Anthology of Mystery Stories". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ "Complete details for Best Detective Stories of the Year, 1977". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ "Complete details for Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories to Stay Awake By". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ Letter accompanying permission fee for "Fair's Fair" in Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories to Stay Awake By
- ^ a b c Dannay, Frederic, editor: "End of the Day". Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. March 1965
- ^ "EQMM September 1964 contents". AbeBooks. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
- ^ "Ellery Queen's 20th Anniversary Annual contents". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
- ^ "About EQMM: A Brief History of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine". The Mystery Place: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Retrieved 2012-11-3.
Even in the early years, however, Frederic Dannay assumed primary responsibility for the magazine, serving as its editor-in-chief from 1941 until his death in 1982.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ Hemp, Earl; Ortiz, Luis, editors (2009). "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine". Cult Magazines, A to Z: A Compendium of Culturally Obsessive and Curiously Expressive Publications. New York: Nonstop Press. p. 155. ISBN 1-933065-14-1.
Stories were augmented by Dannay's encyclopedic knowledge of the field in an introduction about the author or a related subject that could be over a page long, a mini-essay in its own right. He called them a 'ratiocinative rubric.'
{{cite book}}
:|first2=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Nevins, Francis M.: "First You Read, Then You Write". Mystery File. September 3, 2008. "The following incident from Fred's life deserves to be included. The first part comes mainly from one of the long introductions that he wrote for each story published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine during its early years."
- ^ Hemp, Earl; Ortiz, Luis, editors (2009). "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine". Cult Magazines, A to Z: A Compendium of Culturally Obsessive and Curiously Expressive Publications. New York: Nonstop Press. p. 156. ISBN 1-933065-14-1.
Although Dannay remained as editor, restraints upon his time meant he could rarely write his long story introductions and these virtually ceased after September 1955... Rawson took over in September 1963. He was even more in tune with Dannay's philosophy and, despite the poor appearance of the magazine, the type of content returned closer to EQMM's early days. Even some of Dannay's lengthy introductions returned.
{{cite book}}
:|first2=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Highsmith, Patricia: "Camera Fiend". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. February 1967.
- ^ a b Letter from Frederic Dannay to Jane Speed, March 7, 1966, page 1 and 2
- ^ a b Dannay, Frederic, editor (1965). "The Freya of Fire Island". Ellery Queen's 20th anniversary annual; 20 stories from 'Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'. New York: Random House. p. 247.
{{cite book}}
:|first=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dannay, Frederic, editor: "Sounds in the Night". Ellery Queen's Mystery Anthology September 1966.
- ^ Speed, Jane: "Who-Dun-It". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine June 1972.
- ^ Dannay, Federic, editor: "According to Plan". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. March 1963. See also:
- Dannay, Federic, editor: "The Listening Game". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. December 1963.
- Dannay, Federic, editor: "Fair's Fair". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. February 1967.
- ^ Dannay, Frederic, editor (1970). "The Unhappening". Ellery Queen's Grand Slam: 25th anniversary annual; 25 stories from 'Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'. New York: World Publishing Company. p. 71. ISBN 0-575-00719-2.
{{cite book}}
:|first=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Request for German one-time reprint rights for "End of the Day". See also:
- ^ Payment for Finnish rights for "Fair's Fair". See also:
- ^ Barkham, John: "Of Books and Authors: Joan Kahn of Dutton Co. is Leading 'Mystery Editor'". The Youngstown Vindicator. September 19, 1982
- ^ February 6, 1965 letter from Joan Kahn to Jane Speed
- ^ Request for South African radio broadcasting rights to 'End of the Day'
- ^ Request for Italian radio rights to 'End of the Day'
- ^ Payment for Italian radio rights to 'End of the Day'
- ^ a b Payment for German radio rights to "End of the Day" for the year 1995
- ^ a b Payment for German radio rights to "End of the Day" for the year 1992
- ^ "Poor Eva" produced and broadcast by SFB on Feb 2, 1979
- ^ "Poor Eva" rebroadcast by SFB in 1981
- ^ W., David: "Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups – our 2010 schedule of stories". Seattle P-I. April 20, 2010
- ^ "Shelf Talk: About David W". Seattle Public Library. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- ^ "Complete details for Ready or Not, Here Come Fourteen Frightening Stories: A collection of fourteen unsettling stories by a variety of authors". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ "Complete details for A Slender Thread: An Anthology of Short Stories". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-10-26.. See also:
- "Short Story Project:A Slender Thread contents". MHS Short Story Project. Retrieved 2012-10-26.
- ^ Associated Press: "Deaths Elsewhere: Frederic Dannay; Co-Author of Detective Stories Under the Name Ellery Queen," The Toledo Blade. September 5, 1982.
- ^ Johnson, Don Robert: "Jane Speed Memorial Service". New York Society for Ethical Culture. March 27, 1991. "The last ten years of her life, which involved care of her father, her own physical ailments, and a conservative mood in the nation, often left her depressed."
- ^ McBane, Richard: "Akron Man's Heir Gives Up Largest Part of Fortune," The Akron Beacon Journal. May 2, 1989.
- ^ Royalties from two stories in 1993 reprint of 100 Malicious Little Mysteries
- ^ Filmmaker Didier Leclerc requesting permission to adapt "Fair's Fair"