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Charles S. Strong

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Charles S. Strong
Born
Charles Stanley Strong

(1906-11-29)November 29, 1906
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 11, 1962(1962-10-11) (aged 55)
Hempstead, New York, U.S.
Education
OccupationWriter
Writing career
Pen nameChuck Stanley, William McClellan, Carl Sturdy, Kelvin McKay, Nancy Bartlett, Myron Keats, Charles Stoddard, Larry Regan, Carolyn Keene, Franklin W. Dixon, possibly several others
LanguageEnglish
GenresMystery, adventure, children's literature
SubjectsThe Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew

Charles Stanley Strong (November 29, 1906 – October 11, 1962) was an American writer, adventurer and explorer.

His pen names include Chuck Stanley, William McClellan, Carl Sturdy, Kelvin McKay, Nancy Bartlett, Myron Keats, Charles Stoddard, Larry Regan, the house names Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon and possibly several others.[1][2][3][4][5] His own name was used as a pseudonym for other writers, including Samuel Epstein and Beryl Williams.[6]

Strong wrote The Hardy Boys book The Hooded Hawk Mystery[7] and the Nancy Drew book The Scarlet Slipper Mystery,[8] and once machine-gunned a shark from an airplane.[9]

Early life and education

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Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 29, 1906,[10] Strong studied at the Pace Institute of Accounting and Law and the Royal Fredrick University (now the University of Oslo) in Norway.[11]

An honor student, he gained some early recognition as a twelve-year-old for writing a history of the Great War.[12] The book had nine chapters, brief bios of main figures, 100 photographs, 25 maps, and appendices.[13]

In June 1920, he graduated from Public School No. 90.

Writing career

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In 1931, the Brooklyn Eagle Magazine carried a feature article titled "Long Island Man Kills Sharks from Airplane" by Joan Crockett which said

For the past three years he has enjoyed a wide reputation as a traveler, explorer, lecturer and photographer. ... During the past seven years he has had more thrilling adventures than the hero of a dime novel. He has visited fifty different countries. He has explored unknown parts of Scandinavia. He has migrated across the frozen tundras with Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish Lapps. He has been shipwrecked off the coast of Norway. He has traced a lost colony of the old Norse civilization, taken part in a mapping expedition over northwestern Canada with the Canadian Royal Air Force, led a party across Finland from the northern end of the railway and shot a shark with a machine gun from an airplane. He is an honorary police commissioner in Norway, and a popular hero in Sweden.[9][14]

The article adds that a Norwegian newspaper called him "The American who knows Scandinavia thoroughly" and a Swedish newspaper "The American who discovered Sweden".[9] He studied Scandinavian literature at the University of Oslo, and his hobbies included riding, hunting, fishing, and automobile and motorboat racing. His "hydroaerographic chart" was used by European pilots. He proposed a peace plan after World War I to the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the American-Scandinavian Foundation.[9]

Writing as Charles Stoddard, Strong was one of the writers who popularized the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in fiction, with his leading characters: Corporal Buchanan and Constable Carter of the RCMP.[15]

He wrote one of the chapters, "Twelve Days Eastward", in Conquerors of the Sky by Joseph Lewis French, which has an introduction by Amelia Earhart.[16]

He was even mentioned in the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið on November 1, 1928, describing him as the editor of the Scandinavian American News Bureau.[17]

Strong was also the New York correspondent for the short-lived radio publication What's On the Air, circa 1931.[18]

Strong was an editor at Standard Magazines, a.k.a. the Thrilling pulps, from approximately 1936 through 1954, when he retired to devote himself to writing books.[19]

Death

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Strong died of a heart attack in Hempstead, New York, at the age of 55 on October 11, 1962.[20]

Works

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Books

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Fiction

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by Charles S. Strong:

  • Ranger, Sea Dog of the Royal Mounted (1948)[21][22] About a Samoyed pup which becomes an accomplished sailor.
  • South Pole Husky (1950)[23]
  • Ranger's Arctic Patrol (1952)
  • Snow King, Herd Dog of Lapland (1954, Dodd, Mead) Based on his 1928 treks in Lapland.[24][25]
  • Lassie: Treasure Hunter (1960)
  • The Lost Convoy (1960, Chilton) (last published book)

by Charles Stoddard:

  • North of the Stars (1937, Dodge, New York, 256 pp.)
  • The Trapper of Rat River (1941)
  • Killer of Fort Norman (1944)
  • Malloy of the Royal Mounted (1944)
  • The Timber Beasts (1944)
  • The Killer of Sheep River (1946)
  • Prairie Peril (1946)
  • Tundra Trail (1947, Arcadia House) (Mallory of the Royal Mounted)
  • Northwest Trouble (1948)
  • The Golden Arrow (1956)

by Larry Regan:

  • Bullwacker (1955, W. Foulsham & Company, 150 pp.)

by Franklin W. Dixon:

by Carolyn Keene:

Nonfiction

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by Charles S. Strong:

Magazines

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Fiction

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by Charles S. Strong:

  • "Right Side Up in the Arctic", Flying Aces, July 1934 (first known pulp story)
  • "Sahara Scout", Sky Birds, February 1935
  • "Sealed", Popular Detective, July 1937
  • "Chinese Thunder", Thrilling Adventures, August 1938
  • "Deep Purple", Army-Navy Flying Stories, Summer 1945
  • "Ten Years for Butch", Popular Detective, December 1945

by Chuck Stanley:

  • "The Brand Blotter", Blue Ribbon Western, December 1948 (novel length) (last known pulp story)

Nonfiction

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by Charles Strong:

by Charles S. Strong:

  • "Finland's Fight for Freedom", Thrilling Adventures, February 1940

by Chuck Stanley:

  • "Firearms", Exciting Western, December 1945
  • "Oklahoma Place Names", Exciting Western, March 1949

Comic Books

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Detecting Canada: Essays on Canadian Crime Fiction, Television, and Film Jeannette Sloniowski, Marilyn Rose; Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, March 25, 2014
  2. ↑ Wisconsin Valley Library Service catalog Archived November 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Science Fiction Encyclopedia
  4. ↑ Library of Congress Name Authority File "Keats, Myron 1906–"
  5. ↑ Joseph F. Clarke (1977). Pseudonyms. BCA. p. 239.
  6. ↑ [dead link] Publishers Weekly
  7. ↑ [dead link] Who Wrote the Hardy Boys? Secrets from the Syndicate Files Revealed Archived 2019-11-04 at the Wayback Machine James D. Keeline
  8. ↑ Rediscovering Nancy Drew Carolyn Stewart Dyer, Nancy Tillman Romalov; University of Iowa Press, 1995, page 155
  9. 1 2 3 4 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn Eagle Magazine, 25 January 1931
  10. ↑ Passport Application image
  11. ↑ Bernard Alger Drew (1990). Lawmen in Scarlet: An Annotated Guide to Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Print and Performance. Scarecrow Press. p. 115. ISBN 9780810823303.
  12. ↑ "Boy of Twelve Writes History of World War", Brooklyn Daily Times, February 2, 1919.
  13. ↑ "Richmond Hill Boy Writes History of the World War", Brooklyn Eagle, January 19, 1920.
  14. ↑ Svenska Dagbladet 1929-03-11 and Aftonbladet 1929-03-11
  15. ↑ Skene-Melvin, David (2014). Canadian Crime Writing in English. Jeannette Sloniowski, Marilyn Rose (editors). Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 25. ISBN 9781554589272. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ . McLoughlin Brothers, 1932.
  17. ↑ Strong Charles Strong Charles S. Strong. Meðal farþega á Lyru í kvöld er Mr. Charles S. Strong, ritstjóri Scandinavian American News Bureau í New York. Roughly:"Charles S. Strong. Among the passengers on the Lyre tonight is Mr. Charles S. Strong, editor of Scandinavian American News Bureau in New York. – Mr. Strong said he was very impressed by the acceptance he had received throughout Hjerting (in Denmark) ..." (note: The Kingdom of Iceland was then in existence)
  18. ↑ American Radio History. What's On the Air. vol.2 no. 5. March 1931, page 10.
  19. ↑ "New York City Notes", Writer's Digest, June 1954.
  20. ↑ "Charles Strong, Explorer, Dead". The New York Times. Manhasset, Long Island. October 12, 1962. p. 31.
  21. ↑ Smith, Frances (March 24, 1948). "Ranger, Sea Dog of the Royal Mounted". The New York Times Book Review. p. BR33. Book ASIN=B00502E7UC
  22. ↑ Kirkus Reviews "Canadian Arctic, vivid descriptions of the Eskimos, and the trail of explorers, these are freshly described by the author who is an experienced Arctic traveler as well as the author of many stories and articles"
  23. ↑ Kirkus Reviews. "One could wish that Charles Strong, whose own adventurous life should provide many an exciting true story, had not submerged a good yarn in somewhat uncoordinated factual minutiae".
  24. ↑ "Author to Winter with Arctic Lapps; Charles S. Strong Sails on Gripsholm to Make Long Trek with Mongolian Tribe. To Study Lives and Habits; Also Intends to Collect Scandinavian Dolls for Brooklyn institute of Arts". The New York Times. August 12, 1928. p. N1.
  25. ↑ Woods, George A. (June 6, 1954). "Life Among the Lapps; Snow King, Herd Dog of Lapland". The New York Times. p. Book 33.
  26. ↑ Kirkus Reviews. "Vic and the son of a Los Angeles dog biscuit maker, is given the chance to follow the Byrd ex by Captain Nilsen whose Norwegian whaling ship is acting as a supplier".
  27. ↑ Kirkus Reviews. "Superb drawings by Gordon Grant and H.B. Vestal hail the equally fine sea-swept history of great American vessels; of schooners, sloops, whalers; of great naval engagements in The Story of American Sailing Ships. Iron men and wooden ships and their part in America's history, told with spanking illustrations and memorable style."
  28. ↑ Kirkus Reviews. "this text with 25 line cuts by Albert Orbaan presents a forceful picture of the still unconquered South Pole."
  29. ↑ Michigan State University Libraries. Special Collections Division Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection. "The story of the symbol of freedom greeting Americans and their neighbors in New York Harbor."
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