2003 Simonson 2003

Mark Simonson, Oneonta, N.Y. City Historian, Writer drew inspiration from OneontaThe Daily Star, Monday, July 28, 2003

     "The detective story is a kind of intellectual game. It is more - it is a sporting event." This is the opening to "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories" by S.S. Van Dine, the author of numerous and popular Philo Vance mysteries of the early 20th century.

     "Some of those "games" Van Dine played to solve mysteries may have had a few veiled references to Oneonta, because the author spent considerable amounts of time here. Some of his more-serious works had very real references to the area. Van Dine was actually a pen name; the author was Willard Huntington Wright.

     "Although Willard was born in Virginia in 1888, his father, Archibald Wright was born in the old Dietz-Bundy house on Main Street, the site of Bresee's store today. The young Wright was named after his father's boyhood friend Willard V. Huntington. There were plenty of relatives and friends of the family in the area who often recalled Willard Huntington Wright's visits to Oneonta.

     "Wright attended several colleges and then entered the writing field. Beginning in 1913, Wright published various books on art, literature and music, which were regarded as scholarly works, but gave him little fame. In 1916, Wright wrote his first novel, A Man of Promise. It received critical acclaim but wasn't a huge seller. Interestingly, it is this book that contains apparent references to Oneonta. Although the action takes place in "Greenwood," past historians liken it to Oneonta. Misses Bertha and Julia Wright lived in a colonial house on River Street (long since demolished), and this is where Willard visited - and in all likelihood penned the novel.

     "In The Man of Promise, Wright referred to the old Normal School on Normal Hill as "Oak Hill," speaks of River Street, the Susquehanna River and a panoramic view of the city from Franklin Mountain, where he'd hike to, called "The Crow's Nest." In the novel, Wright named the leading male character Stanford West, who fell in love and married Alice Carlisle, the daughter of a judge. In real life, Wright was always attracted to prominent lawyer Alva Seybolt's daughter, Edna.

     "Wright adopted the name S.S. Van Dine from a relative on his mother's side whose name was Van Dyne, and the initials S.S. were added, simply because he liked the combination. In addition to writing, Wright was prominent as a critic in the literary and art world.

     "In 1923, Wright suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for about two years. While recovering, he only read detective stories. As mentioned before, his novel didn't sell well, so as he read these mysteries, he thought they were easier to write, and much more profitable. Coincidentally, the character Stanford West in The Man of Promise sought escape from the simpler form of literature such as detective stories, but in real life, Wright fell into it.

     ""I had spent 15 years building up a cultural reputation," Wright once said. "Each one of my Philo Vance stories has made more money than all my nine serious books put together."

     "The Benson Murder Case was S.S. Van Dine's first detective mystery in 1926. Here he introduced the famous sleuth, Philo Vance. Six "Murder Cases" followed - Canary, Greene, Scarab, Kennel, Gracie Allen and Winter. All were best-sellers. Van Dine also wrote a series of short stories for the Warner Brothers film studio in the early 1930s. They were used as a basis for a series of 12 short films, each about 20 minutes long. None of the screen treatments by Van Dine have been known to be published in book form.

     "The pen of S.S. Van Dine, and with him, Willard Huntington Wright, passed away in 1939."

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 Kelyn Roberts 2017