Jack Lewis (Author)

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Jack Lewis (also C. Jack Lewis or Jack C. Lewis ; born November 13, 1924 in Iowa , † May 24, 2009 in Kalapana , Hawaii ) was an American screenwriter , writer and journalist . He often wrote under the name C. Jack Lewis to avoid confusion with authors of the same name.

biography

Lewis sold his first short story, The Cherokee Kid's Last Stand, at the age of 14; he received $ 5 for it. Encouraged by this, he wrote a screenplay for the Andy Hardy film series and sent it unsolicited to MGM , which however refused. It wasn't until he was 22 that he sold his next story.

At 18, Lewis enrolled in the United States Marine Corps and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1945 . After military service, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa , then returned to the Navy and scripted a commercial for that military division. This led to a job as a technical consultant for the 1949 film Death Command Iwo Jima .

Work as a screenwriter

Lewis began his work as a screenwriter in 1950 with various small westerns , including Ron Ormond's The Death Whip .

When the Korean War began, Lewis returned to active military service for six years. As a war correspondent and photographer, he received the Bronze Star Medal for his documentation of the bombing of enemy positions by naval bombers. During this time he also made his own experience in handling rifles when he had direct contact with the enemy.

Lewis submitted over two dozen magazine articles about the Marine's experience in Korea, which Headquarters deemed too propaganda and returned them; then Lewis hired his private literary agent, who published them for a fee of $ 200 each.

After the end of the Korean War, Captain Lewis served as commander of the 4th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton before he was transferred to Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay as a public relations officer . While in Hawaii he was hired by John Ford as a technical advisor for his film No Time for Heroism . When no stuntman was found who wanted to drive a motorcycle over a pier , Lewis took on the task and received $ 700 more than his earnings, after which he had to donate the excess $ 50 to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society . But then John Ford took over Lewis' cash bills for a year and later engaged him for his film One Foot in Hell .

In 1965 he was involved in the script of the European western The Black Eagles of Santa Fe .

journalism

Since Lewis wanted to concentrate on writing, he left the army service. In addition to his work as a screenwriter, playwright and storyteller, he worked as an editor for a magazine and in 1959 became editor of the guns magazine Gun World with Dean Grennell . He remained connected to the publication and wrote for it until his death.

Lewis's relationship with the Marine Corps led to further work, including writing the screenplay for Marshall Thompson's film A Yank in Vietnam, shot on location in South Vietnam in 1963, his first novel Tell it to the Marines (published in 1966), and his return entered active service in 1969 during the Vietnam War . He received two other awards during this time. He was retired on his 60th birthday.

In addition to his journalistic articles, Lewis was also known for the stories about "Charlie Cougar" and western novels ; There is also a book about his experiences in Hollywood, "White Horse, Black Hat - A Quarter Century on Hollywood's Poverty Row", in his catalog raisonné. The total number of his articles and other texts is over 6,000.

Filmography (selection)

biography

  • Lewis, C. Jack: White Horse, Black Hat: A Quarter Century on Hollywood's Poverty Row Scarecrow Press 2002

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.usmccca.org/m/bios/lewis-jack
  2. http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-14750.html
  3. a b c http://www.marforres.usmc.mil/MFRNews/ConMar/Fall04.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.marforres.usmc.mil  
  4. p.206 The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons
  5. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F06E2D91530E033A25755C0A9649C946591D6CF
  6. Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.scarecrowpress.com