John Collier (fiction writer)

John Collier (fiction writer)
John Henry Noyes Collier (3 May 1901 – 6 April 1980) was a British-born writer and screenwriter best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. Most were collected in The John Collier Reader (Knopf, 1972); earlier collections include a 1951 volume, Fancies and Goodnights, which won the International Fantasy Award and remains in print. Individual stories are frequently anthologized in fantasy collections. John Collier's writing has been praised by authors such as Anthony Burgess, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Wyndham Lewis, and Paul Theroux. He appears to have given few interviews in his life; those include conversations with biographer Betty Richardson, Tom Milne, and Max Wilk.
Life
Born in London in 1901, John Collier was the son of John George and Emily Mary Noyes Collier. He had one sister, Kathleen Mars Collier. His father, John George Collier, was one of seventeen children, and could not afford formal education; he worked as a clerk. Nor could John George afford schooling for his son beyond prep school; John Collier and Kathleen were educated at home. He was privately educated by his uncle Vincent Collier, a novelist. Biographer Betty Richardson wrote:
When, at the age of 18 or 19, Collier was asked by his father what he had chosen as a vocation, his reply was, "I want to be a poet." His father indulged him; over the course of the next ten years Collier lived on an allowance of two pounds a week plus whatever he could pick up by writing book reviews and acting as a cultural correspondent for a Japanese newspaper. During this time, being not overly burdened by any financial responsibilities, he developed a penchant for games of chance, conversation in cafes and visits to picture galleries. He never attended university.
He was married to early silent film actress Shirley Palmer in 1936; they were divorced. His second marriage in 1945 was to New York actress Beth Kay (Margaret Elizabeth Eke). They divorced a decade later. His third wife was Harriet Hess Collier, who survived him; they had one son, John G. S. Collier, born in Nice, France, on May 18, 1958.
Career
Poetry
He began writing poetry at nineteen, and was first published in 1920.
For ten years Collier attempted to reconcile intensely visual experience opened to him by the Sitwells and the modern painters with the more austere preoccupations of those classical authors who were fashionable in the 1920s. He felt that his poetry was unsuccessful, however; he was not able to make his two selves (whom he oddly described as the "archaic, uncouth, and even barbarous" Olsen and the "hysterically self-conscious dandy" Valentine) speak with one voice.
Being an admirer of James Joyce, Collier found a solution in Joyce's Ulysses. "On going for my next lesson to Ulysses, that city of modern prose," he wrote, "I was struck by the great number of magnificent passages in which words are used as they are used in poetry, and in which the emotion which is originally aesthetic, and the emotion which has its origin in intellect, are fused in higher proportions of extreme forms than I had believed was possible." The few poems he wrote during this time were afterwards published in a volume under the title Gemini.
Fiction
While he had written some short stories during the period in which he was trying to find success as a poet, his career did not take shape until the publication of His Monkey Wife in 1930. It enjoyed a certain small popularity and critical approval that helped to sell his short stories. Biographer Richardson explained the literary context for the book:
As a private joke, Collier wrote a decidedly cool four-page review of His Monkey Wife, describing it as an attempt "to combine the qualities of the thriller with those of what might be called the decorative novel," and concluding with the following appraisal of the talents of its author: "From the classical standpoint his consciousness is too crammed for harmony, too neurasthenic for proportion, and his humor is too hysterical, too greedy, and too crude." Author Peter Straub has done the same with fake, negative reviews, in admiration of Collier.
His second novel, Tom's A-Cold: A Tale (1933) was grim, depicting a barbaric and dystopian future England; it is mentioned in Joshua Glenn's essay "The 10 Best Apocalypse Novels of Pre-Golden Age SF (1904-33)." Richardson calls it "part of a tradition of apocalyptic literature that began in the 1870s" including The War of the Worlds: "Usually, this literature shows an England destroyed by alien forces, but in Collier's novel, set in Hampshire in 1995, England has been destroyed by its own vices—greed, laziness, and an overwhelming bureaucracy crippled by its own committees and red tape." John Clute wrote,
The title refers to a line spoken by Edgar in King Lear; the outcast Edgar (the son of a fictional Gloucester) pretends to be a madman named Tom o' Bedlam and says to the deranged King, who is wandering on the windy heath, "Tom's a-cold."
His last novel, Defy the Foul Fiend; or, The Misadventures of a Heart, another title taken from the same speech in King Lear as Tom's A-Cold, was published in 1934.
He received the Edgar Award in 1952 for the short story collection Fancies and Goodnights, which also won the International Fantasy Award in 1952.
Writing style
David Langford described Collier as "best known for his highly polished, often bitterly flippant magazine stories... [His] best stories are touched with poetry and real wit, sometimes reminiscent of Saki's. There are moments of outrageous Grand Guignol; the occasional sexual naughtiness is far beyond Thorne Smith in sophistication." Langford praises Collier's "smiling misanthropy." Similarly, Christopher Fowler wrote in The Independent, "His simple, sharp style brought his tales colourfully to life" and described Collier's fiction as "sardonic." John Clute wrote, "He was known mainly for his sophisticated though sometimes rather precious short stories, generally featuring acerbic snap endings; many of these stories have strong elements of fantasy..." E. F. Bleiler also admired Collier's writing, describing Collier as ""One of the modern masters of the short story and certainly the preeminent writer of short fantasies." and stating that The Devil and All was "one of the great fantasy collections".
Other media
In the succeeding years, Collier traveled between England, France and Hollywood. He continued to write short stories, but as time went on, he would turn his attention more and more towards writing screenplays.
Max Wilk, who interviewed Collier for his book Schmucks with Underwoods, tells how, during the 1930s, Collier left the home he owned in England, Wilcote Manor, and traveled to France, where he lived briefly at Antibes and Cassis. The story of how Collier wound up going to Hollywood has been mistold sometimes, but Collier told Wilk that in Cassis,
The film Sylvia Scarlett starred Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne, and Edmund Gwenn; it was the comic story of a widower, his daughter Sylvia who disguises herself as a boy, and a con man; Collier's collaborators on the script were Gladys Unger and Mortimer Offner. Wilk writes that the film was considered bizarre at the time, but decades later, it enjoys a cult following.
Collier landed in Hollywood on May 16, 1935, but, he told Wilk, after Sylvia Scarlett he returned to England. There, he spent a year working on Elephant Boy for director Zoltan Korda.
Collier suggested a way to make the footage cohere into a story and to make "a star out of that little boy, Sabu." After these two unorthodox starts to screenwriting, Collier was on his way to a new writing career.
Screenplays
Collier returned to Hollywood, where he wrote prolifically for film and television. He contributed notably to the screenplays of The African Queen along with James Agee and John Huston, The War Lord, I Am A Camera (adapted from The Berlin Stories and remade later as Cabaret), Her Cardboard Lover, Deception and Roseanna McCoy.
Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Elephant Boy (1937)
Her Cardboard Lover (1942)
Deception (1946)
Roseanna McCoy (1949)
The African Queen (1951) (uncredited)
The Story of Three Loves (1953) (Collier wrote two of three segments: "The Jealous Lover" and "Equilibrium")
I Am A Camera (1955)
The War Lord (1965)
Teleplays
The Man in the Royal Suite — Adapted by Collier from a novel by Edgar Wallace for The Four Just Men, April 27, 1960 (Season 1, Episode 27).
I Spy — Adapted by Collier from the play by John Mortimer (of Rumpole of the Bailey fame) for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, December 5, 1961 (Season 7, Episode 9), starring Kay Walsh and Eric Barker.
Maria — Written for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, October 24, 1961 (Season 7, Episode 3), starring Norman Lloyd and Nita Talbot.
The Magic Shop — Adapted by Collier and James Parish from the 1903 story by H. G. Wells of the same title, written for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, January 10, 1964 (Season 2, Episode 13), starring Leslie Nielsen and Peggy McCay.
Adaptations of his stories
His short story "Evening Primrose" was the basis of a 1966 television musical by Stephen Sondheim, and it was also adapted for the radio series Escape and by BBC Radio. Several of his stories, including "Back for Christmas," "Wet Saturday" and "De Mortuis" were adapted for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The short story "Green Thoughts" may have inspired Little Shop of Horrors.
De Mortuis — Adapted by Fred Coe for Lights Out, September 1, 1946 (Season 1, Episode 3), starring John Loder.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary — Adapted by James Lee for Lights Out, March 27, 1950 (Season 2, Episode 29), starring George Englund and Gaye Jordan.
Duet for Two Actors — Adapted for The Billy Rose Show, February 20, 1951 (Season 1, Episode 21), starring Frank Albertson and Cyril Ritchard.
De Mortuis — Adapted for Suspense, June 12, 1951 (Season 3, Episode 42), starring Olive Deering and Walter Slezak.
Bird of Prey — Adapted by Nelson S. Bond as Birds of Prey for Gruen Guild Theater, June 19, 1952 (Season 2, Episode 7), starring Bill Baldwin, William Challee and Billy Curtis.
De Mortuis — Adapted for Star Tonight as Concerning Death, February 17, 1955 (Season 1, Episode 3), starring Edward Andrews and Jo Van Fleet.
Back for Christmas — Adapted by Francis M. Cockrell for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, March 4, 1956 (Season 1, Episode 23), starring John Williams and Isobel Elsom.
Wet Saturday — Adapted by Marian B. Cockrell for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, September 30, 1956 (Season 2, Episode 1), starring Cedric Hardwicke and John Williams.
De Mortuis — Adapted by Francis M. Cockrell for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, October 14, 1956 (Season 2, Episode 3), starring Robert Emhardt, Cara Williams, and Henry Jones.
None Are So Blind — Adapted by James P. Cavanagh for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, October 28, 1956 (Season 2, Episode 5), starring Hurd Hatfield and Mildred Dunnock.
Youth from Vienna — Adapted, directed, and hosted by Orson Welles as The Fountain of Youth, a 1956 TV pilot for a proposed anthology series.
Anniversary Gift — Adapted by Harold Swanton for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, November 1, 1959 (Season 5, Episode 6), starring Harry Morgan and Barbara Baxley.
The Chaser — Adapted by Robert Presnell Jr. for Twilight Zone, May 13, 1960 (Season 1, Episode 31), starring John McIntire, Patricia Barry and George Grizzard.
The Small Elephants — Adapted by Russell Beggs for G.E. True Theater , March 12, 1961 (Season 9, Episode 21), starring Ronald Reagan as Host, Jonathan Harris of Lost in Space fame, Barbara Nichols, Cliff Robertson, and George Sanders.
Evening Primrose — Adapted by James Goldman as a 1966 television movie directed by Paul Bogart, starring Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Stickney and Larry Gates, with songs by Stephen Sondheim.
Special Delivery — Adapted by Michael Ashe and Paul Wheeler as Eve for Journey to the Unknown, September 26, 1968 (Season 1, Episode 10), starring Carol Lynley, Dennis Waterman and Michael Gough.
Evening Primrose — Adapted by Jon Bing and Tor Åge Bringsværd as Nattmagasinet, a 1970 Norwegian television film.
Sleeping Beauty — Adapted by James B. Harris as Some Call It Loving, a 1973 feature film starring Zalman King, Carol White, Tisa Farrow and Richard Pryor.
Back for Christmas — Adapted by Denis Cannan for Tales of the Unexpected, May 31, 1980 (Season 2, Episode 14), starring Roald Dahl (Introducer), Richard Johnson, Siân Phillips and Avril Elgar.
De Mortuis — Adapted by Robin Chapman as "Never Speak Ill of the Dead" for Tales of the Unexpected, May 24, 1981 (Season 4, Episode 8), starring Colin Blakely, Warren Clarke and Keith Drinkel.
Youth from Vienna — Adapted by Ross Thomas for Tales of the Unexpected, July 2, 1983 (Season 6, Episode 13).
Wet Saturday — Adapted by Collier for Tales of the Unexpected, July 7, 1984 (Season 7, Episode 8).
Bird of Prey — Adapted by Ross Thomas for Tales of the Unexpected, August 4, 1984 (Season 7, Episode 10).
In the Cards — Adapted by Ross Thomas for Tales of the Unexpected, July 14, 1985 (Season 8, Episode 2), starring Susan Strasberg, Max Gail (famous for his role as Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz on the television sitcom Barney Miller), Elaine Giftos, and Kenneth Tigar.
Anniversary Gift — Adapted by Rob Hedden for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, February 28, 1987 (Season 2, Episode 6), starring Pamela Sue Martin and Peter Dvorsky.
In The Cards — (as Dead Right) Adapted by Andy Wolk for Tales from the Crypt, April 21, 1990 (Season 2, Episode 1), starring Demi Moore and Jeffrey Tambor.
His Monkey Wife , or, Married to a Chimp - Glam punk band The Bophins' song "Married to a Chimp" is based on the book.
Awards
Poetry award granted by the Paris literary magazine This Quarter for his poetry collection Gemini.
International Fantasy Award for Fiction (1952) for Fancies and Goodnights (1951).
Edgar Award for Best Short Story (1952) for Fancies and Goodnights (1951).
Death
John Collier died of a stroke on April 6, 1980, in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. Near the end of his life, he wrote, "I sometimes marvel that a third-rate writer like me has been able to palm himself off as a second-rate writer."
Collections of Collier's papers
The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin's papers "represent his transition from a poet to writer of novels, short stories, and screenplays. The bulk of the papers are manuscripts covering several genres, although a substantial amount of correspondence is also included."
University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections
Colliers' son, John G. S. Collier
Bibliography
Novels
His Monkey Wife: or Married to a Chimp (1930) (currently in print)
No Traveller Returns (a chapbook, 1931)
Tom's A-Cold: A Tale (1933) (published in the U.S. as Full Circle)
Defy the Foul Fiend: or, The Misadventures of a Heart (1934)
Short fiction
Collections
Green Thoughts (1932)
The Devil and All (1934)
Variations on a Theme (1934)
Presenting Moonshine (1941)
The Touch of Nutmeg, and More Unlikely Stories (1943)
Fancies and Goodnights (1951) (New York Review Books paperback reprint [2003] currently in print) (Note: The first edition contains fifty stories, as do some paperback editions, including the Bantam paperback and the New York Review Books paperback edition. The one now in print is the latest version, including all later additions. Note that Pictures in the Fire and The John Collier Reader contain a few stories not in any edition of Fancies and Goodnights. Also, a story appears in both The Devil and All and The Touch of Nutmeg, but is in no later collection.)
Pictures in the Fire (1958)
The John Collier Reader (1972) (includes His Monkey Wife in its entirety, chapters 8 and 9 of Defy the Foul Fiend, and selected stories)
The Best of John Collier (1975) (paperback containing all the short items from The John Collier Reader, but without His Monkey Wife, which was issued as a separate volume)
Stories
Poetry
Collections
Gemini (1931)
Screenplays
Paradise Lost: Screenplay for Cinema of the Mind (1973)
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Notes
Selected short stories
Another American Tragedy — A man mutilates himself in order to murder an aged rich relative and impersonate him, to change the will in his own favor - only to discover he isn't the only one who wants the old man dead.
Back for Christmas — A man plots a foolproof way to murder his wife, but the murder is exposed because of an unexpected gift she left for him to find. Originally published in The New Yorker (October 7, 1939). (Grams erroneously cites a later publication: 13 December 1939 issue of The Tattler (sic - The Tatler was the magazine concerned).) This story has been dramatised many times: once for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, three times for the Suspense radio series (Peter Lorre portrayed the main character in the first broadcast in 1943; the 1948 and 1956 broadcasts both starred Herbert Marshall), as well as once for an episode of Tales of the Unexpected.
Bottle Party — A jinn (genie) tricks a man into taking his place in the bottle.
Cancel All I Said — A couple's young daughter takes a screen test. The couple's lives are torn apart by the studio head's spoken offer to make the child a star.
The Chaser — A young man buying a genuine love potion cannot understand why the seller sells love potions for a dollar, but also offers a colorless, tasteless, undetectable poison at a much, much higher price.
Evening Primrose — Probably his most famous; about people who live in a department store, hiding during the day and coming out at night. Betty Richardson wrote that the store is "the Valhalla, of course, of a consumer society ... populated by acquisitive people who pose as mannequins by daylight; by night, they emerge to grab what they want": "Happy to sacrifice all human emotions—love, pity, integrity—for the sake of consumer goods, these denizens have their own pecking order and police. The primary duty of the latter is to suppress any rebellion against this materialistic society." The story was read by Vincent Price and recorded on an LP record by Caedmon Audio in 1980. The story also served as the inspiration for the 1984 music video "Prime Time" by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project.
Interpretation of a Dream — A man experiences disturbing and serial dreams of falling from the thirty-ninth story of the skyscraper in which he works, passing one story every night. In his dreams, he looks through the window and makes detailed and veridical observations of the real-life inhabitants as he passes.
Over Insurance — A loving couple puts nine-tenths of their money into life insurance and becomes so impoverished as a result that each spouse decides to poison the other, unaware that the other has made the same decision.
Special Delivery — A man falls in love with a department-store mannequin. This was later adapted for an episode of the 1960s TV series Journey to the Unknown, retitled "Eve", which starred Dennis Waterman and Carol Lynley.
The Steel Cat — An inventor uses his pet mouse to demonstrate his better mousetrap to an insensitive prospect who insists on seeing the mouse actually die.
Three Bears Cottage — A man tries unsuccessfully to poison his wife with a mushroom as retaliation for serving him a smaller egg than the one she served herself.
Thus I Refute Beelzy — An odiously rational father is confounded by the imagination of his small son.
The Touch of Nutmeg Makes It — A man tried for murder and acquitted for lack of motive tells his story to sympathetic friends.
Wet Saturday — Stuck indoors on a rainy Saturday, a family must deal with a problem. The problem turns out to be murder, and how to frame an innocent visitor for the crime. Dramatised in the Suspense radio series broadcast on June 24, 1942 and December 16, 1943 featuring Charles Laughton, and as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents broadcast on September 30, 1956. The episode was actually directed by Hitchcock himself. It was also later adapted for Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.
Youth from Vienna — A couple, whose careers (tennis player and actress) depend on youth, are forced to deal with a gift of a single dose of rejuvenating medicine that cannot be divided or shared. This story was the basis for The Fountain of Youth, a 1956 TV pilot for a proposed anthology series, produced by Desilu and written, directed, and hosted by Orson Welles.
References
Further reading
External links
John Collier Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
A Guide to Supernatural Fiction: John Collier
1901 births
1980 deaths
20th-century British short story writers
20th-century English male writers
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English poets
British male poets
Edgar Award winners
English fantasy writers
English horror writers
English male novelists
English male short story writers
English short story writers
The New Yorker people