THE PULP JUNGLE is a great informal history of the pulp era.
Gruber was a long time fan of Adventure and the other big
pulps and after a few sales went to New York to make it as a
writer. The book has some great stories about L. Ron Hubbard,
although he slightly disquises the subject at times. Leo
Margulies, Cornell Woolrich, Steve Fisher, Max Brand, H.
Bedford Jones and others are featured throughout. He
discusses in detail his "formula" for pulp stories.
For those who can't find Jungle, there is a long forward to
his collection BRASS KNUCKLES that is a shortened version of
the same material.
I enjoy his Fletcher and Cragg mysteries but consider them
light entertainment. I would rank some of his other novels
higher, although agree that the cold war stuff and generally
the later novels are way off his highs.
According to Howard Browne, Gruber was not well liked by
other writers in Hollywood. Certainly Browne loathed him.
After his studio contract work in the 40s, Gruber was story
editor for several television series ("Tales of Wells Fargo"
was one) and produced a movie or two ("Twenty Plus One" with
David Jannsen).
Richard Moore
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