MacKinlay Kantor | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kantor in 1950 | |
| Born | Benjamin McKinlay Kantor (1904-02-04)February 4, 1904 Webster City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | October 11, 1977(1977-10-11) (aged 73) Sarasota, Florida, U.S. |
| Notable works | Andersonville (Pulitzer Prize) |
| Spouse | Florence Layne |
| Children | 2 |
MacKinlay Kantor (February 4, 1904 – October 11, 1977),[1] bornBenjamin McKinlay Kantor,[1] was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during theAmerican Civil War, and was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel,Andersonville. He also wrote the novelGettysburg, set during the Civil War.
Kantor was born and grew up inWebster City, Iowa, with his older sister, Virginia. His mother, Effie (McKinlay) Kantor, worked as the editor of theWebster City Daily News during part of his childhood. His father, John Martin Kantor, was a native-bornSwedish Jew descended from "a long line ofrabbis, who posed as a Protestant clergyman".[2] His mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[3] (Later, MacKinlay Kantor wrote an unpublished novel calledHalf Jew.)[4]
Kantor's father had trouble keeping jobs and abandoned the family before Kantor was born. His mother returned to her parents in Webster City, Mr. and Mrs. Adam McKinlay, to live at their home with her children.[5]
As a child, the boy started using his middle name McKinlay as his given name. He changed its spelling, adding an "a", because he thought it sounded more Scottish, and chose to be called "Mack" or MacKinlay. He attended the local schools and described theKendall Young Public Library as his "university". Kantor won a writing contest with his first story, "Purple".[5]
Kantor married Florence Irene Layne, and they had two children together. Their son Tim Kantor wrote a memoir of his father,[4] titledMy Father's Voice: MacKinlay Kantor Long Remembered (1988).[6] His grandson,Tom Shroder wrote a biography of his grandfather titled,The Most Famous Writer Who Ever Lived: A True Story of My Family. (Blue Rider Press, 2016)
From 1928 to 1934, Kantor wrote numerous stories forpulp fiction magazines, to earn a living and support his family; these works included crime stories and mysteries. He sold his first pulp stories, "Delivery Not Received" and "A Bad Night for Benny", to Edwin Baird, editor ofReal Detective Tales and Mystery Stories. He also wrote forDetective Fiction Weekly.[4] In 1928, Kantor published his first novel,Diversey, set inChicago, Illinois.
In 1932, Kantor moved with his family from the Midwest toNew Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area.[4] He was an early resident ofFree Acres, a social experimental community developed by activistBolton Hall inBerkeley Heights, New Jersey.[7] In two years, he sold 16 short stories and a serialized novel to Howard Bloomfield, editor ofDetective Fiction Weekly. He also acquired a professional agent, Sydney Sanders.
Achieving some success by 1934, Kantor began to submit short stories to the "slick magazines" (glossies). His "Rogue's Gallery", published inCollier on August 24, 1935, became his most frequently reprinted story.[citation needed]
It was during this decade that Kantor first wrote about theAmerican Civil War, beginning with his novelLong Remember (1934), set at theBattle of Gettysburg. As a boy and teenager in Iowa, Kantor had spent hours listening to the stories of Civil War veterans, and he was an avid collector of first-hand narratives. His work was also part of theliterature event in theart competition at the1936 Summer Olympics.[8]
DuringWorld War II, Kantor reported fromLondon as awar correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying with some bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns, although he was not in service and this violated regulations.[citation needed] Kantor interviewed numerous wounded troops, whose thoughts and ideas inspired a later novel of his.[which?]
When Kantor interviewed U.S. troops, many told him the only goal was to get home alive. He was reminded of theProtestant hymn: "When all my labors and trials are o'er / And I am safe on that beautiful shore [Heaven], O that will be / Glory for me!" Kantor returned from the European theater of war on military air transport (MAT). After the war, the producerSamuel Goldwyn commissioned him to write ascreenplay about veterans returning home.[9] Kantor wrote a novel inblank verse, which was published asGlory for Me (1945).[10][11] After selling the movie rights to his novel, Kantor was disappointed that the film was released under the titleThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and that details of the story had been changed by the screenwriterRobert Sherwood. Kantor was said to have lost his temper with Goldwyn and walked off the Hollywood lot.[citation needed] The first 15 seconds of the movie note that it is "based upon a novel by MacKinlay Kantor", but the novel's title is not given. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning sevenAcademy Awards.
Beginning in 1948, Kantor arranged an intensive period of research with theNew York City Police Department (NYCPD). He was the only civilian other than reporters allowed to ride with police on their beat. He often rode on night shifts, working with the 23rd Precinct, whose territory ranged from upperPark Avenue toEast Harlem, comprising a wide range of residents and incomes. These experiences informed most of his short crime novels, as well as his major workSignal Thirty-Two, published in 1950 with jacket art by his wife Irene Layne Kantor.[4]
Also in 1950 Kantor took up research into the post-war life of a war widow. In discussions with the chaplain at Mitchel Field, Kantor was referred to Margaret Stavish of Bellmore, New York, who had lost herB-24 pilot husband, Edward Dobson, killed in action on November 18, 1943, and in 1947 married John Stavish, a veteran of the Pacific theater. Kantor then published their story, "V-J Day Plus Five Years," in the August 1950 issue of Redbook Magazine.
Kantor was noted for his limited use of punctuation within his literary compositions. He was known for a lack of quotation marks and was influential in this regard onCormac McCarthy, who said that Kantor was the first writer he encountered who left them out.[12] Kantor was one of three primary influences on McCarthy's adopting his unique style.[13]
During his assignment with the U.S. troops in World War II, Kantor entered theBuchenwald concentration camp as they liberated it on April 14, 1945. During the next decade, that experience informed his research for and writing ofAndersonville (1955), his novel about theConfederateprisoner of warcamp. One of the problems he struggled with in Germany and afterward was how to think of the civilians who lived near Buchenwald. As he struggled to understand, he developed ideas which he expressed in his novel, where he portrayed some civilian Southerners sympathetically, in contrast to officers at the camp.[14] He won thePulitzer Prize in 1956 forAndersonville.
In writing more than 30 novels, Kantor often returned to the theme of the American Civil War. He wrote two works for young readers set in the Civil War years:Lee and Grant at Appomattox (1950) andGettysburg (1952).
In the November 22, 1960, issue ofLook magazine, Kantor published a fictional account set as a history text, titledIf the South Had Won the Civil War. This generated such a response that it was published in 1961 as a book. It is one of manyalternate historiesof that war.
Kantor's last novel wasValley Forge (1975).[1]
In addition to journalism and novels, several of his novels[which?] were adapted for films by other writers.
Kantor was credited as writing thescreenplay forGun Crazy (a.k.a.Deadly Is the Female) (1950), afilm noir.[15] It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940, inThe Saturday Evening Post. However, in 1992, it was revealed thatDalton Trumbo had written theGun Crazy screenplay,[4] as Trumbo, one of theHollywood Ten, had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before theHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
Kantor acted in the filmWind Across the Everglades (1958).
The filmFollow Me, Boys! (1966) was based on his novelGod and My Country.
He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.[citation needed]
Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, aged 73, at his home inSarasota, Florida.[1]
Andrews looked at the onionskin pages and asked, 'Mac, why did you write this in blank verse?' 'Dana', said Kantor with a wry smile, 'I can't afford to write in blank verse, because nobody buys anything written in blank verse. But when Sam asked me to write this story, he didn't tell me not to write it in blank verse!'
