Ande Lamb (born Robert Anderson Bursley Jr.;"Aaron D. Klein to Film Book by Auto Racer
Aaron D. Klein (''Continued from Page Five'')
''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second-longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. The newspaper is owned by Alden Global Capital ...

''. p. 7. "The series will be based on action stories, the first take its title from Mr. DePaolo's book and to have auto racing as its theme. The other titles and their themes are as follows: "Cloud Buster" (air story); "Sea Trap" (motorboat racing); 'Speed Boat' (midget car races); 'Throttle Wide' (auto races); 'Written Into the Record,' dedicated to the Boy Scouts. ..Scenarists are Robert Bursley, whose screen name is Ande Lamb, and Joseph Levering. Mr. Bursley has many bigname pictures to his credit as does Mr. Levering, whose experience in show business dates from before the advent of motion pictures.""California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPWT-TJP7 : Tue Feb 18 22:00:21 UTC 2025), Entry for Robert or Andi Bursley or Lamb, 16 March 1961. September 12, 1901 – March 16, 1961) was an American film and television writer, producer and director, active in the

1940s File:1940s decade montage.png, Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on Normandy landings, D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of ...

—primarily in

B-film A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

s and serials—and

50s 50 S is the larger subunit of the 70S ribosome of prokaryotes, i.e. bacteria and archaea. It is the site of inhibition for antibiotics such as macrolides, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, and the pleuromutilins. It includes the 5S ribosom ...

, when he penned numerous ''

Hopalong Cassidy Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...

'' and ''

Cisco Kid The Cisco Kid is a fictional character found in numerous film, radio, television and comic book series based on the fictional Western character created by O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way", published in ''Everybody's Maga ...

'' episodes. He was also the principal writer on '' Craig Kennedy, Criminologist''.

Early life and career

Born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

on September 12, 1901,"California, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGXB-CQDV : Fri Apr 04 00:33:53 UTC 2025), Entry for Robert A Bursley and Ina May Hawkins, 15 Feb 1942. Lamb was the son of Robert Anderson Bursley Sr. and Edna M. Lamb, a musically and theatrically inclined New Orleans native who had until recently taught at the Fifth Ward School No. 1 in Ama, Louisiana. Following her premature death in 1909, Bursley Sr. married Elizabeth "Bessie" Surcouf in 1911. Bursley Jr.'s professional transition to "Ande Lamb" was first noted in 1937, regarding a collaboration with director Spencer Bennet on a projected—but, evidently, never realized—6-picture package of films based on

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Pete DePaolo Peter DePaolo (April 6, 1898 – November 26, 1980) was an American racing driver who is remembered as one of the greatest racers of his generation. He won the 1925 Indianapolis 500, and was a two-time National Champion, winning in 1925 and 1927 ...

's autobiography, ''Wall Smacker''. In August 1939, the Belasco Theater in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

played host to the premiere of Lamb's ''Thank Your Lucky Stars'', touted as a satire of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, and reportedly slotted for a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

engagement that fall. Such predictions proved overly optimistic, as the production was dealt a resounding thumbs-down by critics and audiences alike. Given a mixed but markedly warmer reception was Lamb's

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

''Honeymoon Ghost'', staged in 1944 at the Hampshire Playhouse in Los Angeles, and starring Maria Riva (then billed as Maria Manton) While deeming the plot "complicated and slightly far-fetched," ''

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the large ...

'' reviewer Katherine Von Blon went on to praise Lamb's "clearly-limned characters," adding that "many of the situations were rife with suspense and certain comic implication."

Personal life and death

The first of Lamb's marriages, both of which ended in divorce, came in February 1926, preceding by more than a decade the transition from Bursley to his better-known pen name. The bride was Susan Gillett Lewis, and their union produced one child, a daughter, Diane Lewis Bursley."California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGL4-2T87 : Sun Mar 10 13:37:01 UTC 2024), Entry for Diane Bursley and Robert Anderson Bursley, 28 October 1927."California, County Marriages, 1849-1957", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8K2-XPC : Sat Mar 09 17:08:20 UTC 2024), Entry for Robert Virgil Armstrong and Diane Lewis Bursley, 21 January 1948. In October 1943, Lamb married actress Ruth C. Anderson."United States, Census, 1950", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGK-PRLR : Tue Mar 18 08:18:23 UTC 2025), Entry for Ande A Lamb and Ruth C Lamb, April 1, 1950. On December 16, 1952, the ''Los Angeles Mirror'' reported that Superior Court Judge William McKay had, that day, granted Ruth Lamb an interlocutory divorce decree, based on testimony that Mr. Lamb was, as the ''Mirror'' phrased it, "a lion as a husband," impacting both privacy and safety via alternating bouts of

eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eave ...

and beatings. On March 16, 1961, Lamb, aged 60, suffered a fatal heart attack in Hollywood. His remains are interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

. Not quite six and a half years later, Lamb's only child, the former Diane Bursley—having since become, respectively, Mrs. Robert Armstrong and Mrs. David Miller—died even more prematurely, at age 39 of undisclosed causes, survived by her husband and son."Funerals"
''Valley Times''. August 30, 1967. p. 3. "DIANE M. MILLER, age 39, of Santa Susana, passed away Monday, August 28, 1967. Survived by husband, David E. Miller, son Stephen. Funeral services will be Thursday, 10:30 a.m., Reardon Simi Valley Mortuary, Rev. Alton Peterson officiating. Interment Simi Valley Cemetery."

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamb, Ande American male screenwriters American male television writers 1901 births 1961 deaths Writers from New Orleans Screenwriters from Louisiana 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters