Jack Woodford
Encyclopedia
Jack Woodford was a successful pulp novelist and non-fiction author of the 1930s and 1940s. He wrote unique books on writing and getting published. Most famously, Woodford authored Trial and Error
which caused something of a scandal at the time of publication because of its no-holds-barred insights into the publishing industry.
Born Josiah Pitts Woolfolk, he also wrote under the name Jack Woolfolk. The pen name "Jack Woodford" was derived from the first name of a writer he admired (Jack Lait
, a writer for Hearst Publications
) and the county where his father was born (Woodford County, Kentucky
). Other pen names include Gordon Sayre, Sappho Henderson Britt, and Howard Hogue Kennedy.
when the dominant form of transportation was horse-drawn carriage. He was raised in well-to-do circumstances by his grandmother Annette (of Welsh
stock) whom he called "Nettie". Nettie was a practicing member of Christian Science
but was unable to bring Jack into the fold. Despite his general hatred of organized religion, Woodford joined the Freemasonry
organization and remained a lifelong member.
His father was a doctor who started a private practice in Sioux City, Iowa
, eventually moving it to Chicago. He later taught diagnosis at Rush Medical College
, before dying at the age of forty-nine, likely from mercury poisoning
. Calomel (mercurous chloride) was a popular medicine at the time and one the doctor himself used to excess. Woodford, always physically vibrant, thought of his father as a hypochondriac.
Woodford witnessed the Eastland
disaster where the steamer ship rolled over in the Chicago River and killed 845 people. He gave a firsthand account to the Chicago newspaper the Herald-Examiner and described the event in Chapter 21 of his autobiography.
Among the many famous contemporaries Woodford befriended, the most notable are H. L. Mencken
, writer/satirist James Branch Cabell
, novelist Sherwood Anderson
, composer George Antheil
, and poet Ezra Pound
. Woodford wrote a piece that was published in Pound’s early Exile magazine. He also accompanied Winston Churchill
when the former Prime Minister visited New York City
.
Woodford's only child from his marriage to Josephine Hutchings Woolfolk, Louella Woolfolk (who wrote under the pen name Louella Woodford
) was also a published author who, at the age of 18, wrote a 273-page novel titled Maid Unafraid that was published in 1937 by Godwin. Woodford was married on November 20, 1916 to the 16-year-old Josephine Hutchings, and divorced 17 years later.
Woodford founded Jack Woodford Press in the 1930s and the company's work was distributed by Citadel in the 1940s. The editors of the company in the 1940s were Allan Wilson and Aaron Moses (“Moe”) Shapiro.
Fiction
Trial and Error (book)
Trial and Error is Jack Woodford's book on writing and the publishing industry. The book focuses on writing and editing and describes the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the final publication of writing....
which caused something of a scandal at the time of publication because of its no-holds-barred insights into the publishing industry.
Born Josiah Pitts Woolfolk, he also wrote under the name Jack Woolfolk. The pen name "Jack Woodford" was derived from the first name of a writer he admired (Jack Lait
Jack Lait
Jack Lait was an American journalist.-Life:Born Jacquin Leonard Lait in New York City, he became renowned during his fifty year career in journalism as one of the leading newspapermen of the first half of the 20th century...
, a writer for Hearst Publications
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
) and the county where his father was born (Woodford County, Kentucky
Woodford County, Kentucky
Woodford County is a county located in the heart of the Bluegrass region of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 23,208. Its county seat is Versailles. The county is named for General William Woodford, who was with General George Washington at Valley Forge...
). Other pen names include Gordon Sayre, Sappho Henderson Britt, and Howard Hogue Kennedy.
Life
Woodford grew up in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
when the dominant form of transportation was horse-drawn carriage. He was raised in well-to-do circumstances by his grandmother Annette (of Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
stock) whom he called "Nettie". Nettie was a practicing member of Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
but was unable to bring Jack into the fold. Despite his general hatred of organized religion, Woodford joined the Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
organization and remained a lifelong member.
His father was a doctor who started a private practice in Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
, eventually moving it to Chicago. He later taught diagnosis at Rush Medical College
Rush Medical College
Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, a private university in Chicago, Illinois. Rush Medical College was one of the first medical colleges in the state of Illinois and was chartered in 1837, two days before the city of Chicago was chartered, and opened with 22 students on...
, before dying at the age of forty-nine, likely from mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal occurring in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
. Calomel (mercurous chloride) was a popular medicine at the time and one the doctor himself used to excess. Woodford, always physically vibrant, thought of his father as a hypochondriac.
Woodford witnessed the Eastland
Eastland
The SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915 the ship rolled over while tied to a dock in the Chicago River...
disaster where the steamer ship rolled over in the Chicago River and killed 845 people. He gave a firsthand account to the Chicago newspaper the Herald-Examiner and described the event in Chapter 21 of his autobiography.
Among the many famous contemporaries Woodford befriended, the most notable are H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
, writer/satirist James Branch Cabell
James Branch Cabell
James Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...
, novelist Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
, composer George Antheil
George Antheil
George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
, and poet Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
. Woodford wrote a piece that was published in Pound’s early Exile magazine. He also accompanied Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
when the former Prime Minister visited New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Woodford's only child from his marriage to Josephine Hutchings Woolfolk, Louella Woolfolk (who wrote under the pen name Louella Woodford
Louella Woodford
Louella Annette Pitts Woolfolk , who wrote under the name of Louella Woodford, was an author and only daughter of writer Jack Woodford. At age 18, she wrote a 273 page novel titled Maid Unafraid, which was published in 1937 by Godwin....
) was also a published author who, at the age of 18, wrote a 273-page novel titled Maid Unafraid that was published in 1937 by Godwin. Woodford was married on November 20, 1916 to the 16-year-old Josephine Hutchings, and divorced 17 years later.
Woodford founded Jack Woodford Press in the 1930s and the company's work was distributed by Citadel in the 1940s. The editors of the company in the 1940s were Allan Wilson and Aaron Moses (“Moe”) Shapiro.
Quotes by Woodford
- “Boy meets girl; girl gets boy into pickle; boy gets pickle into girl.”
- “Characterization is an accident that flows out of action and dialogue.”
- “Few human beings are proof against the implied flattery of rapt attention.”
- “If you wish to write great literature you are very stupid to read my books, because I do not, cannot, and would not write great literature.”
- “One of your first jobs, as you write for money, will be to get rid of your vocabulary.”
- “Editors are the immemorial adversaries of writers, because most editors are editors because they wanted to be writers and failed, and they instinctively hate those who wanted to be writers and succeeded.”
- “I got my favors the hard way. I found out what the dame most wanted, and either gave it to her or pretended I was going to give it to her, and that in all cases got action—always does, always will, for any man.”
- “Money talks. And writes. And publishes. And reviews. But it can't read.”
- “Constantly writer after writer would come to me in Hollywood to invite me into Communist activities and I would laugh at them and point out the utter inconsistency of a man making fifteen hundred dollars a week or more, doing next to nothing, going for a philosophy which would destroy just that and put them back where they were when the golden cornucopia splayed them.”
Quotes about Woodford
- Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, fantasist, prose poet, playwright: "Jack Woodford's Trial and ErrorTrial and Error (book)Trial and Error is Jack Woodford's book on writing and the publishing industry. The book focuses on writing and editing and describes the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the final publication of writing....
was the first book on writing I ever read, at the age of fifteen. He said all the right things and said them clearly. I stayed afloat and got my work done because of him."
- Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
, co-author of Lucifer's HammerLucifer's HammerLucifer's Hammer is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1977. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978. A comic book adaptation was published by Innovation Comics in 1993....
and InfernoInferno (novel)Inferno is a science fiction novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, published in 1976. It was nominated for the 1976 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel.-Background:...
and author of A Step Farther Out: "I strongly suspect that I would not have attempted to write for money if I had not read Jack Woodford's books..."
- Piers AnthonyPiers AnthonyPiers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
: "I have a strong feeling of affinity for Jack Woodford, an ornery cuss who answered his mail and his critics and told it as it was — as I do now. Actually we are nothing like each other, apart from having attractive daughters, when you go beyond the business of writing — but writing is my life, as it was his. Jack Woodford was writing on writing back when I was born — and he still makes more sense than anyone else. His references may be dated now, but his truths are eternal. You want to be a writer, you fool? If Woodford can't discourage you, he'll tell you how to make good. Start with Jack Woodford on Writing, which is a collection of excerpts from his books on the subject. After that you will be able to handle any current reference with appropriate cynicism. He did that for me."
- Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
: "It pleases me enormously to see dear old Jack Woodford (may his bones rest in peace) given his due. I read Trial and ErrorTrial and Error (book)Trial and Error is Jack Woodford's book on writing and the publishing industry. The book focuses on writing and editing and describes the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the final publication of writing....
in 1939, started writing and did exactly what he said to do, and it works and I've sold it all. Hooray for Woodford."
- Richard A. LupoffRichard A. LupoffRichard Allen Lupoff is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice...
, author of Circumpolar! and Circumsolar!: "I learned from a book by old-timer Jack Woodford how to interweave plot and subplot in a manner that sustains reader interest and suspense for several hundred pages."
Selected bibliography
Non-fiction- Trial and ErrorTrial and Error (book)Trial and Error is Jack Woodford's book on writing and the publishing industry. The book focuses on writing and editing and describes the behind-the-scenes machinations that result in the final publication of writing....
(1933) - PlottingPlotting (non-fiction)Plotting is a book by Jack Woodford. Initially published as Plotting - How to Have a Brain Child in 1939, the book was re-issued with the title Plotting in 1948...
(also published as Plotting - How to Have A Brain Child) (1939) - Why Write A Novel? (1943, also published as How To Write and Sell A Novel)
- Plotting For Every Kind of Writing
- How To Write For Money (1944)
- Writer's Cramp (1953)
- Jack Woodford On Writing (1979) Compiled, selected, and edited by Jess E. Stewart, Woodford Memorial Editions, Seattle WA, second edition 1980 ISBN 0-9601574-1-7
- The Autobiography of Jack Woodford (1962, published under Jack Woolfolk)
- Home Away From Home (1962, a follow-up to the Autobiography describing the author's incarceration)
- My Years With CaponeAl CaponeAlphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
- How to Make Your Friends and Murder Your EnemiesHow to Make Your Friends and Murder Your EnemiesHow to Make Your Friends and Murder Your Enemies is Jack Woodford's last book manuscript edited and published by Jess E. Stewart in 1981....
(Published posthumously by Jess E. Stewart in 1981) - The Rabelaisian Letters of Jack Woodford
- The Secret Confessions of Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
: A 3rd-dimensional Creative Confession of Life and Destiny
Fiction
- The Abortive Hussy (1947, Avon 146)
- City Limits- the novel was adapted for the screen in 1934- http://www.archive.org/details/City_Limits_1934
- Evangelical Cockroach (an early [1929] collection of seriously sardonic short stories, including the classic title piece)- arguably Woodford's best work, comparable to a cross between O.Henry, De Maupassant, and Hemingway. (Dustjacket illustration of erudite insect by John M. Meekison.)
- Find the Motive
- Five Fatal Days
- Four Eves
- Free Lovers
- Gentlemen from Parnassus
- God's Lap
- Grounds for Divorce
- The Hard-Boiled Virgin (1947)
- Here is My Body
- Illegitimate
- Illicit
- Indecent?
- Iris
- Lady Killers (1935, writing as Howard Kennedy)
- Male and Female
- Mirage of Marriage
- Person To Person Call
- Possessed
- Rented Wife
- She Liked The Man
- Sin and Such
- Strangers In Love
- Surrender
- Tale Incredible: The True Story of Harry Stephen Keeler's Literary Rise (article)
- Temptress
- Three Gorgeous Hussies
- Traded Lives
- Unmoral
- Vice Versa
- White Heat
External links
- Woodford Memorial Editions
- IMDB movies based on Woodford's work
- Tale Incredible: The True Story of Harry Stephen Keeler‘s Literary Rise Short article about Harry Stephen KeelerHarry Stephen KeelerHarry Stephen Keeler was a prolific but little-known American author.- Biography :Born in Chicago in 1890, Keeler spent his childhood exclusively in this city, which was so beloved by the author that a large number of his works took place in and around it...
by Woodford published in the October 1934 issue of 10 Story Book.