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Sid Fleischman | |
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| Born | Avron Zalmon Fleischman March 16, 1920 Brooklyn,New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 17, 2010(2010-03-17) (aged 90) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, magician |
| Education | San Diego State University (BA) |
| Genre | Children's literature,comic novels |
| Subject | Stage magic |
| Notable awards | Newbery Medal 1987 Horn Book Award 1979 |
| Spouse | Betty Taylor (d. 1993) |
| Children |
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| Website | |
| sidfleischman | |
Albert Sidney Fleischman (bornAvron Zalmon Fleischman; March 16, 1920 – March 17, 2010) was anAmerican author of children's books, screenplays, novels for adults, and nonfiction books about stagemagic. His works for children are known for their humor, imagery, zesty plotting, and exploration of the byways of American history. He won theNewbery Medal in 1987 forThe Whipping Boy[1] and theBoston Globe–Horn Book Award in 1979 forHumbug Mountain.[2] For his career contribution as a children's writer he was U.S. nominee for the biennial, internationalHans Christian Andersen Award in 1994.[3] In 2003, theSociety of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators inaugurated the Sid Fleischman Humor Award in his honor, and made him the first recipient. The Award annually recognizes a writer of humorous fiction for children or young adults.[4] He told his own tale inThe Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life (1996).[5][6]
Fleischman was bornAvron Zalmon Fleischman inBrooklyn, New York in 1920. His parents wereUkrainian Jews[7][8][9] and moved the family toSan Diego, California when Fleischman was two years old. As a youngster, he beheld his firststage magic performance, launching a lifelong fascination that would find a place in many of his books. He learned magic from library books and the local fraternity of magicians, inventing new tricks along the way. He began performing professionally while still in high school, touring California with his friend Buddy Ryan, performing innightclubs, and traveling the country with the Francisco Spook Show during the last days of vaudeville.
In 1941 Fleischman joined theU.S. Navy Reserve. He served as aYeoman aboard thedestroyer escortUSS Albert T. Harris with service near the Philippines, Borneo, and China.[10][11] until 1946. He graduated fromSan Diego State University with aBachelor of Arts in 1949.
At 19, Fleischman published his first book,Between Cocktails, a collection of magic tricks using paper matches. His college career atSan Diego State College was interrupted byWorld War II, during which he served on adestroyer escort in thePacific. After graduating with a degree in English, he worked as a reporter for the short-livedSan Diego Daily Journal,[12][13] covering everything from crime scenes to the political beat. After the newspaper folded, he turned to fiction. Drawing on his reporting experiences, his knowledge of magic, and his tour of the Pacific, he produced a series of novels of intrigue and adventure over the next 15 years, many set in theFar East.[5][14] Nearly all have been recently reprinted in two-books-in-one format by Stark House Press.[15]
When one of them—Blood Alley—caught the eye of directorWilliam Wellman, he hired Fleischman to adapt it to the screen. This both led to a move toSanta Monica,California, where Fleischman lived the rest of his life, and began a decades-long involvement withHollywood. AfterBlood Alley was filmed, starring John Wayne and Lauren Bacall, Wellman used Fleischman on several other projects, includingLafayette Escadrille, based on Wellman's own experiences as aWorld War I pilot. Fleischman adapted his own novelYellowleg for the screen, released asThe Deadly Companions, the directorSam Peckinpah's first feature. Fleischman later worked on several projects withKirk Douglas, includingScalawag. For children, he wrote teleplays for "The Bloodhound Gang" segments of the educational3–2–1 Contact series, as well as the screenplay ofThe Whipping Boy (released asPrince Brat and the Whipping Boy).[5][16]
Using his three children as an audience for the first time, Fleischman wroteMr. Mysterious & Company (1962), the adventures of a traveling magician's family in the old West.[17] It was the first of many children's books that would draw on his background in magic and his interest in history.By the Great Horn Spoon! mined theCalifornia Gold Rush and was turned into the movieThe Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin.[16]The Ghost in the Noonday Sun,Chancy and the Grand Rascal,Jingo Django, andHumbug Mountain (1965 to 1978) spun fiction from the facts of East Coast pirates,Ohio River rafting,American Gypsies, and traveling printers. His series of books about Josh McBroom and his family's amazing one-acre farm made use of Americantall tales. Later works looked farther afield, from England (The Whipping Boy) toAsia (The White Elephant) toMexico (The Dream Stealer). Finding nonfiction to his liking after completing his autobiography,The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life (1996), Fleischman went on to produce biographies ofHarry Houdini,Mark Twain, andCharlie Chaplin.[18]
Fleischman and his wife Betty, who died in 1993, had three children. His sonPaul Fleischman followed him into the world of children's books.[19] They are the only parent and child who've both won theNewbery Medal, the venerableAmerican Library Association award that annually recognizes the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children".[1]
Fleischman maintained an interest in magic all his life, hosting monthly meetings ofLos Angeles magicians at his home, publishing occasional articles in magic journals, and summing up what he had learned inThe Charlatan's Handbook (1993). For young magicians, he wroteMr. Mysterious's Secrets of Magic (1975).
Fleischman's other interests included gardening, astronomy, hand-printing, radio, and classical guitar.
Fleischman died on March 17, 2010, one day after his 90th birthday.
Fiction for children or young adults[edit]
| Nonfiction[edit]
‡ For children and young adults.[citation needed] Fiction for adults[edit]
Books on magic[edit]
‡ For children and young adults.[citation needed] Screenplays[edit]
Plays[edit]
|
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (Disney, 1967) is an adaptation of Fleischman's western novelBy the Great Horn Spoon!, starringRoddy McDowell as Bullwhip Griffin.
Ghost in the Noonday Sun (Tyburn, 1973) is a loose adaptation of Fleischman's novel, starringPeter Sellers.
