RARA-AVIS: Gruber

From: Moorich2@aol.com
Date: 24 May 2000


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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