A follow-up to Monday's very long post on The Story without a Name. Was it the longest? I can't be sure. This one will be shorter. Promise.
Meet Laverne Caron, winner of the contest to give name to the story without a name… or is it that he renamed
The Story without a Name? Anyway, he won with
Without Warning.
Pauline Pogue of Ulvalde, Texas, placed second for
Phantom Powers. Third prize went to Victor Carlyle Spies of Barrett, California. He suggested
The Love Dial, which was easily the worst title of the lot. Yes, worse than
The Courage of Alan Holt,
The Secret of Alan Holt and
The Adventures of Alan Holt, all of which made the short list and were awarded cash prizes.
Thomas M. Malloy of Quebec City was the lone Canadian winner. I regret to report that his suggested title,
Rays of Death, wasn't terribly imaginative; after all, the story revolves around the invention of a death ray.
The Death Beam was another finalist.
Laverne Caron deserved to win.
Without Warning was by far the best title. It suggests immediacy, action, and – bonus – recycles a word from
The Story without a Name.*
 |
| Photoplay, September 1926 |
The $2500 award allowed Caron to quit his job as a machinist and devote his life to writing. The January 1925 issue of
Photoplay was most enthusiastic:
In spite of his youth, Mr. Caron has already won a prize in the Author's League contest. He used the money won in that contest to take a course with the Palmer Institute of Authorship.
His ambition is to obtain a position as a staff scenariast and make picture-writing his life work.
And that's the last we've ever heard of Laverne Caron.
Russell Holman had a better time of it. An ad man, he had a steady gig at Paramount that lasted well into the 'fifties.
The Story without a Name was his second and final collaboration with Arthur Stringer. As with the first,
Manhandled, the Canadian provided the basic story and a few chapters; Holman did the rest.
Stringer's initial contributions, untouched by Holman's hand, ran August through November 1924 in the pages of
Photoplay. Neglected American illustrator
Douglas Duer provided the pictures. He did a good job in capturing the melodrama of it all, though I do wonder about that second October illustration. Could be that he saw the episode as just too silly. I know I did.
Enjoy!
 |
| August 1924 |
 |
| August 1924 |
 |
September 1924
 |
| September 1924 |
|
 |
| October 1924 |
 |
| October 1924 |
 |
| November 1924 |
 |
| November 1924 |
A Bonus:
 |
| 19181 Dunbury Ave, Detroit, home of the man who named The Story without a Name. |
* Might Caron have been influenced by the conclusion to chapter eleven (of twenty-six)? Seems a stretch, but I'm putting it out there:
"Better grab some sleep now, buddy," he said grimly to Alan. "Because you're in for a big day. And no more monkey-shines or I'll blow your head off without giving you the warning I did the last time."
Related post:
Ah, the perils of winning a major prize. The illustrations are very good. Duer captures physical movement and reveals the influence of master painters in his arrangement of the bodies. Yes, the second October illustration is awkward. Reminds me of Captain Haddock in the Tintin books. All it needs is a few squeans, plewds, emanata, and agitrons for comic effect, and Bob's your Uncle. You can never overdo grawlix. /?#%!\:)
ReplyDeleteTintin! Of course! I'd been wracking my brain trying to figure out where I'd seem similar moves. My mistake was to zero in on old music videos. Milli Vanilli? Men Without Hats?
ReplyDelete