This collection contains manuscripts and published editions of short stories, novels, film and television screenplays and relevant correspondence covering the writing career of Richard Wormser who began his career as a pulp magazine story writer and ended up a novelist who wrote screenplays for Hollywood. The genres he mostly worked in were Westerns and Mysteries.
Collection Number:
MS 579
Language:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
: Richard Wormser (b. 1907, New York City) graduated from Princeton where he played on the polo team. A love of horsemanship and the Southwest runs through much of his body of work. Initially he made a living as a writer for a multitude of trade publications, newspapers and financial papers in New York. During this period, he became an editor for Street & Smith when the Depression hit, the bottom fell out of the wordsmith trade and many of the solid magazines he and others wrote for went under. While trade papers were collapsing, the pulp story magazines increased circulation. As an editor, he was keenly aware of the exact types of stories needed to complete the magazines. Usually the requirement was a simple word count such as the need for a 1200 word story to fill out the pages of a magazine. He would type up stories to the exact specifications the editor required and sell them in the office.
Subsequently he became a writer of short stories and serialized novels for a number of the better known pulp magazines of the day including Argosy, Blue Book and Detective Fiction Weekly. As Wormser became more successful, his stories were adapted as film scripts, although regular work in Hollywood eluded him, he sold many stories and fully formed scripts to the studios. Wormser colorfully describes his time with the pulp magazines in his autobiography, How to Become a Complete Nonentity.
As the US entered World War 2, Wormser moved out west where he worked as a horseback patrolman for the Forest Service in southern California while continuing to write for magazines and Hollywood during his evenings. After the war he moved in Santa Fe before finally settling in Tubac, Arizona.
Wormser was also asked by editors to produce informative text for encyclopedias and he had an interest in writing about culinary topics as well as the history of the Southwest. Richard Wormser died in 1977.
As the US entered the Second World War, Wormser moved out west where he worked as a horseback patrolman for the Forest Service in southern California while continuing to write for magazines and Hollywood during his evenings. After the war he moved in Santa Fe before finally settling in Tubac, Arizona.
Wormser was also asked by editors to produce informative text for encyclopedias and he had an interest in writing about culinary topics as well as the history, culture and topography of the American Southwest. Richard Wormser died in Tubac, Arizona in 1977.
Scope and Content Note
This collection was donated by Wormser’s widow and covers most of his career (1934-1976).
Series One consists of his manuscripts. The first subseries, the bulk of the collection, is composed of titled fictional stories of various length ranging from short stories to Novelettes to Novels as well as screenplays for film and television. Many of the manuscripts are organized with published editions of the stories in pulp magazines, complete with characteristicly lurid covers and illustrations. Titles where Wormser contributed frequently include Argosy, Bluebook, Detective Fiction Weekly, and Saturday Evening Post. Many of these manuscripts are grouped with relevant correspondence between Wormser and his literary agents detailing the ins and outs of the publishing trade.
The second subseries consists of Wormser’s untitled manuscripts.
Series Two consists of Wormser’s personal and business materials. Subseries one is made up of several autobiographies written at different points in his career. Subseries two is his correspondence, mostly professional with fan letters, it is preserved in his original order.
Series three consists of Wormser’s published stories in large format magazines.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish
from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record,
the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The
user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the
University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all
claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
A Horse at Heart, Short story, Typewritten MS, undated
7
8
Horse Money, Novelette, Bluebook Magazine, MS also in folder, 1938
7
9
Hosteen Yazzie, Synopsis for juvenile story, Typewritten MS, 1963
7
10
Hot Enough, Novel, Typewritten MS, 1964
7
11
House of Clay, Outline, Typewritten MS, 1955
7
12
How Good a Detective are You?, Prose puzzles, Detective Fiction Weekly, Puzzle of the Cornered Bandits & Puzzle of the Dead Sheriff, 1935-1936
box
folder
8
1
Hunch Player, Short story, Detective Story Magazine, 1938
8
2
The Hunter, Short story, Typewritten MS, Correspondence in folder, 1957
8
3
I Sell Strikes, Short Novel, Detective Fiction Weekly, Correspondence in folder, undated
8
4
I'll Show You the Town, Short story, Typewritten MS, Two drafts in folder, 1937
8
5
I'm No Sucker, Short story, Typewritten MS, 1937
8
6
The Isle of Yellow Girls, Short story, Argosy Magazine, 1937
8
7
It Takes an Artist, Short story, Typewritten MS, circa 1945-1950
8
8
Jack O' Diamonds, Short story, Typewritten MS, 1954
8
9
Jeff Duane & The Lady, TV script, Typewritten MS, Script for Zane Grey Theater TV show, 1955
8
10
Joe Cafferty, Short story, Typewritten MS, undated
8
11
John Gay Makes a Killing, Short story, Cavalcade, Three MSs for John Gay Stories in folder also includes: John Gay Dons the Hood and John Gay Sells a Frame, 1937
8
12
Johnny Ride the Prairie, Short story, Typewritten MS, undated
8
13
Junk's Worth Money, Short Story, Typewritten MS, undated
8
14
The Killer's Pawn, Short story, Detective Fiction Weekly, 1934
8
15
King of the Mountain, Novel, Typewritten MS undated
8
16
Kingdom by the Sea, Novel, Bluebook Magazine, 1934
8
17
The Lady from Hooliganville, Short story, Typewritten MS, undated
8
18
Last Stage West, Film treatment, Typewritten MS, circa 1950
8
19
Let the Young Men Smoke, Short story, Typewritten MS, 1943
box
folder
9
1
Life Follows Art, Short story, Typewritten MS, circa 1945-1950
9
2
Life of Vernon Hathaway, Short story, Typewritten MS, circa 1945-1950
Almanac Confederates, Research material, Photocopied material, research material on Confederate fugitives for the People's Almanac, circa 1975
24
2
Canyons for McGraw Hill, Encyclopedia articles, Typewritten MS, 1964
24
3
Handbook of Horses, Encyclopedia articles, Typewritten MS, Correspondence in folder, 1958
24
4
How to Enjoy an Art Museum or Gallery, Essay, Typewritten MS, Correspondence in folder, 1957
24
5
Mormon Colonies in Mexico, Encyclopedia articles, Typewritten MS, research material on Mormon settlers for the People's Almanac. Some bio info on Junius Romney, circa 1975
24
6
New Mexico, Article, Typewritten MS, undated
24
7
Outlines (states), Encyclopedia articles, Typewritten MS, Outlines for encyclopedia articles about California and New Mexico, 1961
24
8
Southwest: The Restless Sleeper (1 of 3), Monograph, Typewritten MS, 1967
24
9
Southwest: The Restless Sleeper (2 of 3), Monograph, Typewritten MS, 1967
24
10
Southwest: The Restless Sleeper (3 of 3), Monograph, Typewritten MS, 1967
24
11
Trip to the Magic Rugs, Article, Typewritten MS, 1962
24
12
Tubac, non-fiction book, Typewritten MS, Historical survey of Tubac, AZ undated
24
13
Very West, Somewhat South, Monograph, Typewritten MS, An abbreviated version of Southwest: The Restless Sleeper, 1963
24
14
World on Your Table, The, Monograph, Typewritten MS, Treatise on aquariums, undated
This subseries is a group of autobiographies Wormser wrote at different points in his career as well as a few attempts at longer forms of autobiography. Among the latter are "How to become a Complete Nonentity" and "Worlds" which give a vivid portrait of life in upper Manhattan's Jewish community in the early 20th Century and a colorful portrayal of what it was like working in magazine trade during the Great Depression.
While most of the correspondence relating to individual manuscripts was grouped along with the manuscripts in question, Mr. Wormser himself separated out the larger collections of business and fan letters into their own folders. They are labeled by the name of the story they to which they pertain.