Уиллард Хантингтон Райт: Жизнь и творчество американского писателя и искусствоведа.

American journalist and author (1888–1939)

Willard Huntington Wright was born to Archibald Davenport Wright and Annie Van Vranken Wright on October 15, 1888, in Charlottesville, Virginia. His younger brother, Stanton Macdonald Wright, became a respected painter, one of the first American abstract artists, and co founder (with Morgan Russell) of the school of modern art known as "Synchromism". Willard and Stanton were raised in Santa Monica, California, where their father owned a hotel. Willard, a largely self taught writer, attended St. Vincent College, Pomona College, and Harvard University without graduating. In 1907, he married Katharine Belle Boynton of Seattle, Washington; they had one child, Beverley. He abandoned Katherine and Beverley early in their marriage. Katharine was granted a divorce in October 1930.

At age 21, Wright began his professional writing career as literary editor of the Los Angeles Times, where – describing himself as "'Esthetic expert and psychological shark" – he was known for his scathing book reviews and irreverent opinions. He was particularly caustic about romance and detective fiction. His friend and mentor H. L. Mencken was an early inspiration. Other important literary influences included Oscar Wilde and Ambrose Bierce. Wright was an advocate of the naturalism of Theodore Dreiser, and Wright's own novel, The Man of Promise (1916), was written in a similar style. In 1909, Wright wrote a perceptive profile of Edgar Allan Poe for the Los Angeles Times. Wright moved to New York City in 1911. Wright was, however, most respected in intellectual circles for his writing about art. In Modern Painting: Its Tendency and Meaning (secretly co authored in 1915 with his brother Stanton), he surveyed the important art movements of the last hundred years from Manet to Cubism, praised the largely unknown work of Cézanne, and predicted a coming era in which an art of color abstraction would replace realism. Admired by Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe among others, Wright became under his brother's tutelage one of the most progressive (and belligerently opinionated) art critics of the time and helped to organize several shows, including the "Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters", bringing the most advanced new painters to the attention of audiences on both coasts. He also published a work of aesthetic philosophy, The Creative Will (1916), that O'Keeffe and William Faulkner both regarded as a meaningful influence on their thinking about artistic identity. In 1917, Wright published Misinforming a Nation, in which he mounted a blistering attack on alleged inaccuracies and British biases in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. A Germanophile, Wright did not support America's decision to join the Allied cause in World War I, and he was blackballed from journalism for more than two years after an overzealous secretary (erroneously) accused him of spying for Germany, an episode that became a much publicized scandal in New York in November 1917. Though cleared, his favourable view of Prussian militarism cost him his friendships with Mencken and Dreiser. In 1929, at the height of his fame as 'Philo Vance', he was appointed Police Commissioner of Bradley Beach, New Jersey. After suffering a nervous breakdown and the beginning of a long term dependence on drugs, Wright retreated to California, where he attempted to make a living as a newspaper columnist in San Francisco. Contrary to what is stated in some sources, Wright did write a biography of the poet Richard Hovey and it was announced for publication in Spring 1914. In 1929, Wright stated that "It is true that at one time I was working on a book relating to Richard Hovey and his friends but Mrs Hovey died before the book went to press, and it has never been published"; that remains the case.

Wright wrote scenarios for Warner Brothers film studio in the early 1930s. These were used as the basis for a series of 12 two reel "murder mystery" films, each approximately 20 minutes long, which were released in 1931–1932. Of these, The Skull Murder Mystery shows Wright's vigorous plot construction. It features a non stereotypical treatment of its Chinese characters, something quite unusual in its day. Donald Meek (as Dr. Crabtree) and John Hamilton (as Inspector Carr) were featured players, with Joseph Henabery directing. Three titles (The Wall Street Mystery, The Studio Murder Mystery, and the Trans Atlantic Murder Mystery) have been released on DVD as extras on Forbidden Hollywood Collection Volume 3 (Warner). As far as it is known, none of Van Dine's screen treatments has been published in book form, and none of the manuscripts survive. Short films were a common part of theatre screenings at the time, and Hollywood made hundreds of them during the studio era. On 13 September 1932, a $500,000 plagiarism suit was filed against Van Dine and the Vitaphone Film Company by Arlo Channing Edington and Carmen Ballen Edington who charged that their novel, The Studio Murder Mystery, which had been filmed by Paramount in 1929, had been "'lifted' – title, plot and incident" and produced by the film company, credited to Van Dine. The action was unsuccessful.

From a monetary perspective, Wright was fortunate in his experiences with Hollywood, and he was lionized on his visits to the movie capital. All but two of his novels were adapted as feature length films, and the role of Philo Vance was played by stars such as William Powell (before his Nick Charles period), Basil Rathbone, and Edmund Lowe. Louise Brooks (in The Canary Murder Case), Jean Arthur (in The Greene Murder Case), and Rosalind Russell (in The Casino Murder Case) appeared in the S. S. Van Dine movies. His portrait, painted by his brother in 1914, hangs in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C.
I Used to Be a Highbrow, But Look at Me Now. American Magazine, Sept. 1928. New York: Scribner, 1929. "The Closed Arena." Scribner's Magazine, Mar. 1930, pp. 237–43.

"The Wise Guy." Pearson's Magazine, January 1916, pp. 24–31. "Full o' Larceny." Pearson's Magazine, February 1916, pp. 118–26. "The King's Coup." Pearson's Magazine, March 1916, pp. 203–10. "Chivalry." Pearson's Magazine, April 1916, pp. 343–51. "The Moon of the East." Pearson's Magazine, May 1916, pp. 453–59. "The Scandal of the Louvre." Pearson's Magazine, June 1916, pp. 499–505. "A Deal in Contraband." Pearson's Magazine, July 1916, pp. 27–32. "An Eye for an Eye." Pearson's Magazine, August 1916, pp. 113–19.

"Scarlet Nemesis." Cosmopolitan, Jan. 1929, pp. 52+. "A Murder In A Witches' Cauldron." Cosmopolitan, February 1929, pp. 58+. "The Man In The Blue Overcoat." Cosmopolitan, May 1929, pp. 32+. "The Chorinsky Murder." Cosmopolitan, June 1929, pp. 56+. "The Almost Perfect Crime." Cosmopolitan, July 1929, pp. 66–67
"The Inconvenient Husband." Cosmopolitan, August 1929, pp. 102+. "The Bonmartini Murder Case." Cosmopolitan, October 1929, pp. 92+. "Fool!" Cosmopolitan, Jan. 1930, pp. 83+. "The Clyde Mystery." Illustrated Detective Magazine, July 1932, pp. 44–48.

The John Riddell Murder Case. Novel by John Riddell (Corey Ford), 1939

Beside the Sea. The Province, 10 July 1909
Dedication. The Smart Set, November 1913
Song against Women. Windsor Star, 14 November 1913
Ode to Fads of Yesteryear. Vanity Fair, May 1924. Reprinted: Southwest News, 19 June 1924