Hal Ellson

Harold "Hal" Ellson (1910 – October 31, 1994 in Brooklyn)[1] was an American author of pulp fiction whose work primarily focused on juvenile delinquency, a field in which he has been described as "one of the most popular" writers[2][3] and as "legendary".[4]

Not to be confused with Harlan Ellison.

Ellson was a social worker,[5] recreational therapist, and nurse's aide at Bellevue Hospital,[1] where he encountered the adolescent psychiatric patients on whom he based much of his fiction; he subsequently stated that many of the patients viewed him as a "father confessor", and eagerly told him their stories while trusting that he would not report them to law enforcement.[6] As a result, Nelson Algren described Ellson's work as "just straight case studies."[7]

Frederic Wertham was an aficionado of Ellson's work, favorably reviewing Ellson's 1949 novel "Duke" in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, and providing an introduction to Ellson's 1950 novel Tomboy;[8] as well, Wertham subsequently cited Tomboy in the first chapter of his own 1954 Seduction of the Innocent.[9]

MIke Shayne's Mystery Magazine published reprints of Ellson's short stories such as Walk Away Fast copyright 1956 by Renown Publications, Inc. in its October 1970 issue as well as publishing several of Ellson's original short stories from 1963 to 1981.[10] Ellson's short fiction appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine from 1963 to 1983.[11]

Harlan Ellison cited Ellson's work as having inspired his own interest in juvenile delinquency — an interest which led directly to the writing of Ellison's first novel, Web of the City.[12][13] Ellison also stated that in the earliest days of his career as a writer, he was often mistaken for Ellson writing under a pseudonym — and that decades later, when Ellison had become much more known and Ellson's career had waned, Ellson was often mistaken for Ellison writing under a pseudonym.[12]

Bibliography
  • Duke (1949)
  • Tomboy (1950) – adapted by Marcel Carné in Wasteland
  • The Golden Spike (1952)
  • Rock (1953)
  • I'll Fix You (1956)
  • Tell Them Nothing (1956)
  • This Is It (1956)
  • Jailbait Street (1959)
  • A Killer's Kiss (1959)
  • Stairway to Nowhere (1959)
  • The Knife (1961)
  • Nest of Fear (1961)
  • Nightmare Street (1965)
  • Games (1967)
  • That Glover Woman (1967)
  • Blood on the Ivy (1971)
  • "hundreds of short stories"[1]
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References
  1. Hal Ellson; Novelist, 84, in the New York Times; published November 9, 1994; retrieved July 2, 2014
  2. October Cities: The Redevelopment of Urban Literature, by Carlo Rotella (quoting Claude Brown); published April 21, 1998, by University of California Press (via Google Books)
  3. Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity, by Leerom Medovoi; published June 2, 2005, by Duke University Press (via Google Books)
  4. The Beat Generation and the Popular Novel in the United States, 1945-1970, by Thomas Newhouse; published June 16, 2000, by McFarland & Company (via Google Books)
  5. What America Read: Taste, Class, and the Novel, 1920-1960, by Gordon Hutner; published November 1, 2009, by University of North Carolina Press (via Google Books)
  6. Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers, by Lee Server; published January 1, 2009, by Infobase Publishing (via Google Books)
  7. Nelson Algren, The Art of Fiction No. 11, by Alston Anderson and Terry Southern; in the Paris Review; originally published Winter 1955; retrieved July 2, 2014
  8. Fredric Wertham and 'Tomboy', by Steve Duin, at the Oregonian; published January 6, 2010; retrieved July 2, 2014
  9. Seduction of the Innocent, by Fredric Wertham; published 1954; archived at Scribd; retrieved July 2, 2014
  10. http://www.unz.org/Pub/MikeShayneMM/?Author=Hal+Ellson&Period=1950-1981&Action=Search
  11. http://unz.org/Pub/Search/?ContentType=Everything&Author=hal+ellson&Action=Search
  12. alt.fan.harlan-ellison FAQ, Version: 1.5, compiled by James Shearhart and Rick Wyatt, with direct consultation of Harlan Ellison; at HarlanEllison.com; last modified November 26, 1995; retrieved July 2, 2014
  13. Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever, by Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe, published 2002 by Ohio State University Press (via Google Books)
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