Henry Wilson "Heck" Allen (September 29, 1912 – October 26, 1991) was an American author of historical fiction and a

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

were published under the pen names Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen's screenplays and scripts for animated shorts were credited to Heck Allen and Henry Allen.

Biography

Henry Wilson Allen was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. His older brother Robert Allen was an animator who worked for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

. Before he began his writing career he worked variously as a stablehand, shop clerk, and gold miner. In 1937 he began working as a contract

for the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio (also commonly referred to as MGM Cartoons) was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsi ...

. While his early work was for

Harman and Ising Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team and company known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. In 1929, the studio was founded under the name Harman-Ising Productions, producing ''Looney ...

's "

Barney Bear ''Barney Bear'' is an American series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by MGM Cartoons. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing except for peace and qui ...

" series, his longest collaboration was with director

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

. Allen was credited as story artist on many classic Avery shorts, included ''

Swing Shift Cinderella ''Swing Shift Cinderella'' is a 1945 MGM animated cartoon short subject directed by Tex Avery. The plot involves the Big Bad Wolf and Cinderella. Frank Graham voiced the wolf, and Sara Berner voiced both Cinderella and The Fairy Grandmother, wi ...

'', '' Northwest Hounded Police'', and '' King-Size Canary'', among many others. Allen downplayed his contributions to the shorts, claiming that Avery merely used him as a sounding board for his own ideas. He was later fired by Fred Quimby and went to work for

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures. The studio was originally formed as Universal Carto ...

on several

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

cartoons that he co-wrote with

Ben Hardaway Joseph Benson Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was sometim ...

including '' Wet Blanket Policy'' and '' Wild and Woody!''. Following the 1948 shutdown of Walter Lantz Productions, Allen returned to MGM and continued to write for Avery's cartoons that were released during the 1950s including '' Little Johnny Jet'', '' The Three Little Pups'', and '' The First Bad Man''. Allen's career as a novelist began in 1950, with the publication of his first

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

''No Survivors.'' Allen, afraid that the studio would disapprove of his moonlighting, used a pen-name to avoid trouble. He would go on to publish over 50 novels, eight of which were adapted for the screen. Most of these were published under one or the other of the pseudonyms Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen was a five-time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and a recipient of the Levi Strauss Award for lifetime achievement. Allen died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on October 26, 1991, in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Van Nuys City Hall, Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley ...

. He was 79.

Partial bibliography

*''No Survivors'', 1950 *"Red Blizzard", 1951 *"Wolf-Eye, The Bad One", 1951 (For Children) *''Santa Fe Passage'', 1952 (" Santa Fe Passage", filmed in 1955) *"To Follow a Flag", 1953 (republished as "Pillars of the Sky"), ("

Pillars of the Sky ''Pillars of the Sky'' is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Marshall and starring Jeff Chandler, Dorothy Malone and Ward Bond. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Plot Oregon Country 1868: Indians of ...

", filmed in 1956) *"War Bonnet", 1953 *"Yellow Hair", 1953 *''Death of a Legend'', 1954 (republished as "The Raiders") *"The Fourth Horseman", 1954 *''The Tall Men'', 1954 ('' The Tall Men'', filmed in 1955) *''The Big Pasture'', 1955 *''The Brass Command'', 1955 *''Who Rides with Wyatt'', 1955 ('' Young Billy Young'', filmed in 1969) *''Red Brother and White'', 1955 *''The Blue Mustang'', 1956 *''The North Star'', 1956 (republished as "Blind Cañon") (filmed as '' Tashunga'' (also released as ''The North Star''), 1996) *''The Texas Rangers'', 1957 (For Children) *''Yellowstone Kelly'', 1957 (''

Yellowstone Kelly ''Yellowstone Kelly'' is a 1959 American Western film based upon a novel by Heck Allen (using his pen name Clay Fisher, which shows in the film credits) with a screenplay by Burt Kennedy starring Clint Walker as Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly ...

'', filmed in 1959) *"The Seven Men at Mimbres Spring", 1958 *"The Crossing", 1958 *"Orphan of the North", 1958 (For Children) *''From Where the Sun Now Stands'', 1960 (Spur Award Winner) (The Saddleman Award), 1961 *''Journey to Shiloh'', 1960 ('' Journey to Shiloh'', filmed in 1968) *"Nino: The Legend of Apache Kid", 1961 *"The Return of the Tall Man", 1961 *''The Feleen Brand'', 1962 *"San Juan Hill", 1962 *"The Pitchfork Patrol", 1962 *"The Gates of the Mountains", 1963 (Spur Award Winner) *''MacKenna's Gold'', 1963 ('' Mackenna's Gold'', filmed in 1969) *"Valley of the Bear", 1964 (For Children) *''In the Land of the Mandans'', 1965 (For Children) *''The Last Warpath'', 1966 *''Custer's Last Stand: The Story of the Battle of the Little Big Horn'', 1966 *"Sons of the Western frontier", 1968 *"Genesis Five" *''One More River to Cross'', 1967 *"Alias Butch Cassidy" *"Maheo's Children: The Legend of Little Dried River", 1968 (republished as "The Squaw killers") *"The Day Fort Larking Fell", 1968 *''Genesis Five'', 1968 *''Outlaws and Legends'', 1969 *"Tayopa!", 1968 *"See How They Run", 1970 *''Starbuck'', 1972 *''Chiricahua'', 1972 (Spur Award winner) *"Outcasts of Canyon Creek" *''The Bear Paw Horses'', 1973 *"Apache Ransom", 1974 *''Sex and Pain'', 1975 *''I, Tom Horn,'' 1975 *"Black Apache" 1976 *''From Where the Twilight Zone'', 1976 *''Summer of the Gun'', 1978 *"Nine Lives West", 1978 *"Seven Card Stud", 1981 *''The Legend of Sotoju Mountain,'' 2002 *''Winter Shadows'', 2003 *''The Hunkpapa Scout'', 2004 *''The Scout'', 2005 *''Medicine Road,'' 2006

Attributed quotes

"The wishbone will never replace the backbone." Harrison, Todd
"Pick a Side or Stand Aside"
, ''Minyanville'', November 16, 2011, 8:00 am. Retrieved November 16, 2011.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Henry Wilson 1912 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers American male novelists Animation screenwriters Writers from Kansas City, Missouri American Western (genre) novelists Novelists about outlaws of the American Old West Novelists from Missouri Screenwriters from Missouri Deaths from pneumonia in California Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people Walter Lantz Productions people 20th-century pseudonymous writers