We find these tantalizing bits from: Lovecraft At Last: The Master of Horror in His Own Words, H. P. Lovecraft and Willis Conover, 1972, 2002, Cooper Square Press, NY
{25 January 1936} Dear Ech-Pi-El: ...a friend of mine ... sent me a letter that you write to Edwin Baird in 1924 ... J. C. Henneberger ... sent it to me.
{3 February 1924} My Dear Baird: I was delighted to receive your two communications ... that you like Nemesis ... {but HPL received a} sensation of gastric distress ... that "Arthur Jermyn" is going to press as "The White Ape". I wish I could convert you ... regarding the annoying literalness and flaccidity of the latter title ... Glad that Hypnos is coming. Are you giving me a vacation for March or are the "Rats" to gnaw their uncanny course through that issue?
Yes indeed I have heard from Mr. Henneberger! Cheque? Bless me, no! Such details are so vulgar. ...I am told that the twin ventures Detective and Weird Tales have reduced the Henneberger capital from plus eleven thousand dollars to minus forty thousand dollars ... Henneberger seems determined to hang on to his venture till the last ditch, and shows a rugged pluck I can't but admire. He spoke of coming reorganisation {sic} to include work from the magician Houdini ...At any rate, Henneberger has the right idea in savage unrestraint and departure from the conventional point of view ... I'll bet he'll snap up that Eddy yarn, "The Loved Dead", which is presenting such a doubtful case! But I should hardly say that H. made me any proposition, as he intimated to you that he might. The only part of his letter that brought me in was a request of a novel of 25,000 words or over, which I shall be happy to send when I finish it.
... I experimented a bit with the novel form, and have an idea partly shaped which will probably suit Mr. H's requirements. It is a hideous thing ... "The House of the Worm" ... By the way, I felt complimented when Henneberger expressed his opinion that my "Rats" is the best tale W. T. has ever received.
H's curiosity about my age, habits, and personality is quite interesting ... {a long autobiography follows which is partially a resume}.
***
{Lovecraft replies to Connover} ... Where on earth did you ever run into that chap Henneberger? Don't let him rope you into any professional proposition, for although he means well his ventures always explode and leave not only himslef but his colleagues holding the proverbial bag. If you don;t believe me, ask Long!
Showing posts with label Henneberger Farnsworh Wright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henneberger Farnsworh Wright. Show all posts
Friday, January 05, 2007
Friday, December 29, 2006
Henneberger, Weird Tales, Lovecraft, and Houdini?
As frequent HPLblog readers know, I've been slowly exporing whether Lovecraft was explicitly being watched and recruited by Houdini. Yes, Chrispy knows there is no smoking gun, and ... yet ... the circumstantial evidence is tantalizing.
As I uncover more "clues" I will post them. One must still diligently sort through annecdotes and memories and apocryphal stories !
This excellent site via Lars Klores, has some interesting new points of consideration.
J.C. Henneberger began Weird Tales in March of 1923 "to give the writer free rein to express his innermost feelings in a manner befitting great literature". From the beginning, it was clear that the magazine existed in its own abyss ... Poets and authors who favored the darker side, dream-spinners and troubled souls seeking an outlet, found one in its pages.
Henneberger, a journalist who had steeped himself in the dark, southern fantasies of Poe for much of his life, began by hiring well-known Chicago author Edwin Baird to serve as Weird Tales’ editor, assisted by Farnsworth Wright and Otis Adelbert Kline.
The pulp (cheap pulpwood paper it was printed on) struggled under Baird’s editorship and was uneven, and uninspired.
A discovery under Baird’s editorship was ... H.P. Lovecraft. While Baird purchased almost everything Lovecraft submitted, Henneberger has claimed that Baird disliked Lovecraft’s fiction and only purchased the stories under Henneberger’s orders. Baird’s rejection of similarly promising material (such as Greye La Spina’s classic, "Invaders from the Dark") would seem to bear this out. According to author E. Hoffmann Price, "Baird was an idea man. Once the idea was going, he swiftly lost interest in it."
{Elsewhere - search blog - we learn that Henneberger desperately wanted HPL to replace Baird as editor}
After 14 issues of uneven quality, Henneberger replaced Baird with Farnsworth Wright, who until then had served as the pulp’s chief reader of manuscripts. Wright, was a tall, gaunt man afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.
So, here are two "clues". Henneberger quickly decided baird was not his man. Wright had Parkinson's - though he lasted for years as editor - and perhaps Henneberger was concerned over this issue?
The bigger element is the annecdote that Henneberger forced Lovecraft onto Baird. From all historical perspectives, Henneberger and Lovecraft were not close, but starting shortly after the magazine's inception, Henneberger desperately grasped for Lovecraft.
Weird Tales starts in 1923.
Houdini is a major player (but how? Just writing stories or more?) in Weird Tales from almost the inception.
C M Eddy meets HPL in August {much much more about this in future blogs posts}.
Henneberger/Houdini contracts a ghost-writing assignment for an astounding sum of cash.
Then, Henneberger decides he wants HPL as editor and woos him.
Frank Belknap Long is a witness to this.
Houdini invites HPL to his house, and then to a performance.
Houdini writes HPL that he will make intorductions for him to get jobs.
C M Eddy makes a few trips to NY - to see Houdini and to see HPL.
HPL does turn down editorship of Weird Tales.
More Houdini work comes to C M Eddy and Lovecraft including Cancer of Superstition.
Prior to Houdini's death, C M Eddy, HPL, and the Houdinis have dinner and Bess is poisoned.
HPL is invited to come with Houdini to be on stage - declines.
Houdini dies - or is he assasinated?
Again, very tantalizing coincidences.
However, contra we have devilishly little evidence to connect the dots from the writings of Muriel Eddy and Lovecraft's correspondents or research from S T Joshi, or L Sprague de Camp.
Stay tuned!
As I uncover more "clues" I will post them. One must still diligently sort through annecdotes and memories and apocryphal stories !
This excellent site via Lars Klores, has some interesting new points of consideration.
J.C. Henneberger began Weird Tales in March of 1923 "to give the writer free rein to express his innermost feelings in a manner befitting great literature". From the beginning, it was clear that the magazine existed in its own abyss ... Poets and authors who favored the darker side, dream-spinners and troubled souls seeking an outlet, found one in its pages.
Henneberger, a journalist who had steeped himself in the dark, southern fantasies of Poe for much of his life, began by hiring well-known Chicago author Edwin Baird to serve as Weird Tales’ editor, assisted by Farnsworth Wright and Otis Adelbert Kline.
The pulp (cheap pulpwood paper it was printed on) struggled under Baird’s editorship and was uneven, and uninspired.
A discovery under Baird’s editorship was ... H.P. Lovecraft. While Baird purchased almost everything Lovecraft submitted, Henneberger has claimed that Baird disliked Lovecraft’s fiction and only purchased the stories under Henneberger’s orders. Baird’s rejection of similarly promising material (such as Greye La Spina’s classic, "Invaders from the Dark") would seem to bear this out. According to author E. Hoffmann Price, "Baird was an idea man. Once the idea was going, he swiftly lost interest in it."
{Elsewhere - search blog - we learn that Henneberger desperately wanted HPL to replace Baird as editor}
After 14 issues of uneven quality, Henneberger replaced Baird with Farnsworth Wright, who until then had served as the pulp’s chief reader of manuscripts. Wright, was a tall, gaunt man afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.
So, here are two "clues". Henneberger quickly decided baird was not his man. Wright had Parkinson's - though he lasted for years as editor - and perhaps Henneberger was concerned over this issue?
The bigger element is the annecdote that Henneberger forced Lovecraft onto Baird. From all historical perspectives, Henneberger and Lovecraft were not close, but starting shortly after the magazine's inception, Henneberger desperately grasped for Lovecraft.
Weird Tales starts in 1923.
Houdini is a major player (but how? Just writing stories or more?) in Weird Tales from almost the inception.
C M Eddy meets HPL in August {much much more about this in future blogs posts}.
Henneberger/Houdini contracts a ghost-writing assignment for an astounding sum of cash.
Then, Henneberger decides he wants HPL as editor and woos him.
Frank Belknap Long is a witness to this.
Houdini invites HPL to his house, and then to a performance.
Houdini writes HPL that he will make intorductions for him to get jobs.
C M Eddy makes a few trips to NY - to see Houdini and to see HPL.
HPL does turn down editorship of Weird Tales.
More Houdini work comes to C M Eddy and Lovecraft including Cancer of Superstition.
Prior to Houdini's death, C M Eddy, HPL, and the Houdinis have dinner and Bess is poisoned.
HPL is invited to come with Houdini to be on stage - declines.
Houdini dies - or is he assasinated?
Again, very tantalizing coincidences.
However, contra we have devilishly little evidence to connect the dots from the writings of Muriel Eddy and Lovecraft's correspondents or research from S T Joshi, or L Sprague de Camp.
Stay tuned!
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