Craig Rice (born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig; June 5, 1908 – August 28, 1957) was an American writer of

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

novels and short stories, described by book critic Bill Ruehlmann as "the

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Parker ros ...

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

, she wrote the binge and lived the hangover."

Early life

In 1908, Mary Randolph Craig reluctantly interrupted her globetrotting to return home to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

to give birth to her first child. Mary's husband, Harry Craig, was a

Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It lies along the Rock River (Illinois), Rock River a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,579 at the 2020 census. Fort Atkinson is the largest city ...

native. Soon after Georgiana's birth, Mary returned to her husband overseas, leaving Georgiana to travel from relative to relative. They returned in 1911 to meet their three-year-old daughter but then departed for Europe again, moving on to India when the war broke out. At that time, Georgiana found a permanent home in

, where she lived with her paternal aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Elton Rice, at 607 South Main Street. Elton Rice has been credited with stirring her interest in mysteries by reading her the poems and stories of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

Writing career

Rice's first steps in publishing were as a writer for ''The Milwaukee Journal'' and ''The Chicago American''. In 1930-31, she started working for radio stations, first WCLO and then the Beacon Syndicate in 1931. Her first fictional character, Professor Silvernail, was created for WCLO Syndicate Serials (1933).Ellett, Ryan. ''Radio Drama and Comedy Writers, 1928–1962''. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland, 2017, p. 166. For a number of years she tried unsuccessfully to write novels, poetry and music, but it was not until her first story of John J. Malone, which she published under her birth surname and adopted surname ''Craig Rice'', that she enjoyed some hard-won success.Haining, Peter, ed. ''The Television Crimebusters Omnibus''. London: Orion, 1994, p. 94. Gritty but humorous, Rice's stories uniquely combine the

hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

detective tradition with no-holds-barred,

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary charact ...

. Most of her output features a memorable trio of protagonists: Jake Justus, a handsome but none-too-bright press agent with his heart in the right place; Helene Brand, a rich heiress and hard-drinking party animal par excellence (to become Mrs. Justus in the later novels); and John Joseph Malone, a hard-drinking small-time lawyer (though both his cryptic conversation and sartorial habits are more reminiscent of such official or private detectives). Against the odds and often apparently more by luck than skill, these three manage to solve crimes whose details are often

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and surreal, sometimes to the point of ''

Grand Guignol The Théâtre du Grand-Guignol () was a theater in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialized in horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amor ...

'', and all involving the perpetually exasperated Captain Daniel Von Flanagan of the homicide squad. A few stories feature the team of Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak, small-time grifters who become involved in criminal situations and have to dig themselves free by solving the mystery. Rice also ghostwrote for

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

. Because of their friendship, many fans assumed that Rice ghostwrote the two wildly popular mysteries by

Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette, famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir, '' Gypsy: A Memoir'', was a ...

. "While the collaboration with Gypsy is often reported", J.F. Norris writes, "in the recently published and thoroughly well researched biography of Gypsy Rose Lee (''Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee'', Oxford University Press, 2009) uthor Noralee Frankel makes it clearthat Craig Rice ''did not'' mphasis in the originalwrite either of Lee's comic mystery novels. This is supported with correspondence between Lee and Rice. Rice did, however, help craft the screenplay for ''The G String Murders'' which became the

Barbara Stanwyck Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career, she was known for her strong, realistic screen p ...

vehicle ''

Lady of Burlesque ''Lady of Burlesque'' (also known as ''The G-String Murders'' and in the UK, ''Striptease Lady'') is a 1943 American musical comedy mystery film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by Hunt Stromberg, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Mi ...

''." Her association with Sanders came about as a result of her work on the screenplays of two of the Falcon movies, ''

The Falcon's Brother ''The Falcon's Brother'' is a 1942 American crime drama film in which George Sanders, who had been portraying " The Falcon" in a series of films, appears with his real-life brother Tom Conway; with Sanders handing off the series to Conway, who ...

'' (1942, Sanders's final outing as the Falcon) and '' The Falcon in Danger'' (1943, when Sanders's brother

Tom Conway Tom Conway (born Thomas Charles Sanders; 15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television, and radio actor. He is remembered for playing suave adventurer The Falcon in a series of 1940s films; and his appearances in three h ...

assumed the role). She collaborated with fellow mystery writer Stuart Palmer on screenplays and short stories.

Ed McBain Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino; October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of '' 87th Precinct'' novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which ar ...

completed her final novel for which she furnished the principal characters, Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak. (The "collaboration" with McBain is a "posthumous collaboration in which McBain completed an unfinished book begun by Rice. In a foreword to at least one edition of the book, McBain wrote that the book was essentially half-finished in first draft, but there were no notes as to how she had intended to continue it, so that he had to solve the mystery himself before completing the manuscript.)

''Time'' magazine

On January 28, 1946, Rice appeared on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine. The cover was created by

Boris Artzybasheff Boris Mikhailovich Artzybasheff (, 25 May 1899; Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire – 16 July 1965) was a Russian and American illustrator notable for his strongly worked and often surreal designs. Life and career Artzybasheff was bor ...

Personal life

She had three children, two daughters and a son. "Craig Rice kept very few personal records. She was conventionally wed four times with other affairs." One of her husbands was beat poet

Lawrence Lipton Lawrence Lipton (1898 – July 9, 1975) was a Polish-born Jewish American journalist, writer, and Beat Generation, Beat poet, as well as the father of James Lipton. He is also known for coining the term ''Disneyfication'' in 1959. Early life ...

. In 1952, she was the plaintiff in a bizarre court case in which she sued a grocer for false imprisonment following a shoplifting accusation over a bar of soap, only to have the case dismissed when she disappeared for several months and could not be located by her own attorney, well-known entertainment lawyer Louis L. Goldman. Like many of her characters, Rice herself was an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

and made at least two

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is ...

s. She also suffered from deteriorating health, including deafness in one ear and

blindness Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

in one eye with incipient

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

in the other. She died of a barbiturate and alcohol overdose, aged 49.

Novels and short story collections

John J. Malone and Jake and Helene Justus

* ''Eight Faces at Three a.k.a. Death at Three'' (1939) "John J. Malone, rumpled Chicago lawyer, teams up with press agent Jake Justus and eccentric heiress Helene Brand, to discover who killed a vicious dowager and why the murderer then made up the beds in the victim's house and stopped the clocks at 3:00."Roseman, Mill et al. ''Detectionary''. New York: Overlook Press, 1971. * ''The Corpse Steps Out'' (1940) * ''The Wrong Murder'' (1940) * ''The Right Murder'' (1941) * ''Trial by Fury'' (1941). ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'', 25 July 1943 * ''The Big Midget Murders'' (1942). ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 7 November 1943 * ''Having a Wonderful Crime'' (1943). ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 30 January 1944 * ''The Lucky Stiff'' (1945) * ''The Fourth Postman'' (1948) * ''Knocked for a Loop'' (1957) * ''My Kingdom for a Hearse'' (1957) * ''The Name Is Malone'' (1958) Ten-story collection. * ''The Pickled Poodles'' (1960) By Larry M. Harris, a continuation of the John J. Malone series. * ''People Vs. Withers & Malone'' (1963) Six mystery novelettes, co-written with Stuart Palmer. * ''But the Doctor Died'' (1967) A continuation of the John J. Malone series, but almost certainly ghostwritten. * ''Murder, Mystery and Malone'' (2002) Twelve-story collection.

Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusack

* ''The Sunday Pigeon Murders'' (1942). Philadelphia Inquirer, 30 April 1944 * ''The Thursday Turkey Murders'' (1942) * ''The April Robin Murders'' (1958) Partially by Craig Rice, but completed and principally credited to Ed McBain.

Non-series

* ''Telefair'' (1942) * ''To Catch a Thief'' (1943; published as by Daphne Sanders) * ''Home Sweet Homicide'' (1944) * ''Crime on My Hands'' (1944; ghostwritten for and published as by George Sanders) * ''Innocent Bystander'' (1949) Note * '' The G-String Murders'' (1941, featuring and published as by Gypsy Rose Lee). This book was ghostwritten by

Janet Flanner Janet Flanner (March 13, 1892 – November 7, 1978) was an American writer and pioneering narrative journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1925 until she retired in 1975.Yagoda, Ben ''About T ...

, who collaborated with Lee after she ended her initial discussions about such a project with Dorothy Wheelock. It has been suggested that Craig Rice ghostwrote this novel; this has been soundly and fully debunked.Marks, Jeffrey ''Who Was That Lady?''. Lee's Summit: Delphi Books, 2001, p. 53. The confusion may have arisen because Craig Rice was initially signed to write the script for ''G-String Murders'', a movie based on the novel which was eventually scripted by James Gunn and released as ''Lady of Burlesque'' with

. At the time of the novel's original publication, the publishers "printed a private pamphlet, containing Gypsy's over frank correspondence about the book".

Uncollected short stories

*''Hero's Way''.

St Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democrat ...

Daily Magazine, 10 October 1935 *''Gallows Boy''.

Daily Magazine, 1 February 1936 *''Even Chance''.

Daily Magazine, 22 February 1936 *''Confession''.

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Jo ...

, 27 May 1940 *''Boy and Girl''.

Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...

, 24 July 1940 *''An Interview in the Street''.

, 18 January 1941

Film, radio and television adaptations

Films

* ''

'' (1942, original screenplay) * '' The Falcon in Danger'' (1943, screenplay) * ''

Having Wonderful Crime ''Having Wonderful Crime'' is a 1945 American screwball comedy and mystery film directed by Eddie Sutherland from a screenplay by Howard J. Green, Stewart Sterling, and Parke Levy, based on the novel of the same name by Craig Rice. In her ...

'' (1945) Pat O'Brien as Michael J. Malone,

George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to ...

as Jake Justus,

Carole Landis Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 ...

as Helene Justus, loosely based on the novel * ''

Home Sweet Homicide ''Home Sweet Homicide'' is a 1946 American comedy mystery film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Peggy Ann Garner, Randolph Scott and Lynn Bari. It was based on the 1944 eponymous mystery novel by Craig Rice. Though he would make a furth ...

'' (1946)

Peggy Ann Garner Peggy Ann Garner (February 3, 1932 – October 16, 1984) was an American child actress. As a child actress, Garner had her first film role in 1938. At the 18th Academy Awards, Garner won the Academy Juvenile Award, recognizing her body of ...

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he appeared in '' Anchors Aweigh'' (1945), '' ...

and Connie Marshall as the mystery-solving kids;

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was an American film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through t ...

as their mystery-writing mother, and

Randolph Scott George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor, whose Hollywood career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in dramas, come ...

as the homicide detective whom they introduce as a romantic interest for their mother. * '' Tenth Avenue Angel'' (1948)

Margaret O'Brien Angela Maxine O'Brien (born January 15, 1937), known professionally as Margaret O'Brien, is an American actress. Beginning a career in feature films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at age four, O'Brien became a child star and received a Juvenile Acade ...

and

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...

star in a "weeper" based on a radio sketch by Rice entitled ''Miracle at Midnight'' and a story by

Angna Enters Anita "Angna" Enters (April 18, 1897 – February 25, 1989) was an American dancer, mime, painter, writer, novelist and playwright.Biographical note, Angna Enters Papers, Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The New York Public Library for the Perform ...

. * ''

The Lucky Stiff ''The Lucky Stiff'' is a 1949 American comedy crime film directed by Lewis R. Foster, starring Dorothy Lamour, Brian Donlevy, and Claire Trevor. The film is based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Craig Rice. ''The Lucky Stiff'' was produc ...

'' (1949)

Brian Donlevy Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, who was noted for playing dangerous and tough characters. Usually appearing in supporting roles, among his best-known films are '' Beau Geste'' (1939), '' The Great ...

as John J. Malone,

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the ''Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing C ...

as Anna Marie St. Claire, the

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

, and

Robert Armstrong Robert Armstrong may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Robert Armstrong (actor) (1890–1973), film actor *Robert Armstrong (cartoonist) (born 1950), American underground comics artist and musician, coined the term "couch potato" Fictional charac ...

as Inspector Von Flanagan, loosely based on the novel * '' The Underworld Story'' (1950)

Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying villains, he had a long career in a variety of leading and secondary roles.Gaita, PaulDan Duryea Biography."''Turner C ...

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen, and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Un ...

, and

Gale Storm Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009), known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer. After a film career from 1940 to 1952, she starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, '' My Litt ...

in a film noir story from Rice's original story. * ''

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone ''Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone'' is a 1950 comedy/murder mystery film set on board a train. It stars Marjorie Main and James Whitmore. It is based on the short story "Once Upon a Train (The Loco Motive)" by Stuart Palmer and Craig Rice. Plot ...

'' (1950) based on a story by Rice and Stuart Palmer, ''Once Upon A Train, or The Loco Motive''. Featuring

James Whitmore James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Ac ...

as John J. Malone and

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1 ...

as Hattie O'Malley in a comedic story of murder on board a train to Chicago. * ''The Eddie Cantor Story'' (1953) – treatment only.The Eddie Cantor Story (1953)
/ref>

Radio

The Amazing Mr. Malone ''The Amazing Mr. Malone'' (initially known as ''Murder and Mr. Malone'') is an American radio crime drama series based on the John Malone series of mystery novels by Craig Rice. The series ran on ABC from January 11, 1947, through September 2 ...

'' (aka ''Murder and Mr. Malone'') 30-minute episodes, 1948 (ABC), 1951 (NBC). John J. Malone was played principally by

Gene Raymond Gene Raymond (born Raymond Guion; August 13, 1908 – May 3, 1998) was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a singer, composer, screenwriter, director, producer, and decorat ...

and also by

Frank Lovejoy Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir ''The Hitch-Hiker'' and for starring in the radio drama ''Night Beat ...

and George Petrie.

Television

'' (1951–1952) had 13 30-minute episodes starring

Lee Tracy William Lee Tracy (April 14, 1898 – October 18, 1968) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is known foremost for his portrayals between the late 1920s and 1940s of fast-talking, wisecracking news reporters, press agents, law ...

as John J. Malone. "Although ''The Amazing Mr. Malone'' ran for only one season on ABC from September 1951 to March 1952 it is fondly remembered by older viewers as the first crime series to feature a wise-cracking relationship between a Chicago lawyer and a police Captain ... which had originated in print, transferred successfully to the cinema, and then made it to TV—though not with the success it had enjoyed in the other two media. ... All in all, ''The Amazing Mr. Malone'' deserved a better fate than the one to which it was condemned by poor ratings."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Craig 1908 births 1957 deaths People from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin American mystery writers Pseudonymous women writers Novelists from Chicago Novelists from Wisconsin American women mystery writers American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 1957 suicides 20th-century pseudonymous writers Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction