Jack Schaefer
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Jack Warner Schaefer (November 19, 1907 – January 24, 1991) was an American writer known for his Westerns. His best-known works are the 1949 novel '' Shane'', considered the greatest western novel by the Western Writers of America, and the 1964 children's book ''Stubby Pringle's Christmas''.


Early life

Jack Warren Schaefer was born in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
to Carl and Minnie Schaefer. Carl was a
German American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...
attorney. Both his parents were avid readers, and his father was good friends with poet/author
Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...
. Schaefer read voraciously as a child; early favorites were
Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...
and
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
, before moving onto
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
and Zane Grey, among others. He was to describe himself as a “literary nut.”


Education

In 1929 Schaefer graduated from
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
with a major in English. From 1929 to 1930 he attended graduate school at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, but left without completing his Master of Arts degree when the faculty there denied him permission to prepare a master's thesis on the development of motion pictures. Schaefer's education included multiple courses on Greek and Roman mythology, which is thought to have served him well in creating the archetypal heroes that populated his Westerns.


Journalism and other career work

Following his departure from Columbia University, Schaefer went to work for the
United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
. In his long career as a journalist, he worked as a reporter for the United Press news agency, as editorial page editor for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., and The Baltimore Sun, and as editor of The New Haven Journal-Courier. In his career as a journalist, Schaefer wrote innumerable news stories, feature articles, and opinion columns and thousands of book/film/play reviews and editorials. In the 1930s Schaefer worked as the education director of the Connecticut State Reformatory, and following his stint at the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (1944 to 1948), he worked in advertising and was a freelance writer before devoting himself to fiction.


Westerns

As a child Schaefer was an avid reader of Zane Grey and was fascinated with the old west. He later studied American history which formed the basis of many of his westerns. In 1945 he began writing fiction after hours as a way of calming down. That year the story ''Rider from Nowhere'' was published in serial form in the magazine ''Argosy''. It formed the basis of Schaefer's first novel, '' Shane'', set in Wyoming, which was published four years later, and which was a great success. When he wrote ''Shane'', Schaefer had never traveled farther west than
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The ''
Albuquerque Journal The ''Albuquerque Journal'' is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of New Mexico. History The ''Golden Gate'' newspaper was founded in June 1880. In the fall of 1880, the owner of the ''Golden Gate'' died and Journal Publishing Company was ...
'' writer Ollie Reed Jr. wrote, “That Schaefer could turn out such a Western before he ever saw the West is a tribute to his dogged research, devotion to facts, and storytelling ability, all honed by his newspaper work.” Schaefer's other westerns included ''First Blood'' (1953), ''The Canyon'' (1953), ''Company of Cowards'' (1957), ''The Kean Land and Other Stories'' (1959), ''Monte Walsh'' (1963), ''Heroes Without Glory: Some Goodmen of the Old West'' (1965), and ''The Collected Stories of Jack Schaefer'' (1966). For television, he co-wrote ''They Went Thataway'', an unsold
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
that aired in 1960 as an episode of '' New Comedy Showcase''. Schaefer's personal favorites were ''Monte Walsh'' and ''The Canyon.''


Adaptations

Schaefer's novel ''Shane'' was adapted into the classic 1953 film of the same name starring
Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in ...
, and a short-lived 1966
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
starring David Carradine. When asked whether he’d enjoyed the movie version of ''Shane'', Schaefer referred to Alan Ladd's height, saying, “Yeah, I did, all except for that runt!” At a 1989 ceremony to receive an honorary doctorate from Oberlin, he said Shane was supposed to be "a dark, deadly, person." He had hoped the movie version would be played by the actor
George Raft George Raft (né Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembe ...
, instead of Alan Ladd. But he was apparently dismayed by the TV series, saying, “Please take my name off that piece-of-crap show”. In addition to ''Shane'', seven of his other stories were made into films. Among those, ''First Blood'', was made into the 1953 film '' The Silver Whip'', starring
Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor. He is known for starring in the television shows ''It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series), It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch (American TV series), Switch'' (1975–1978), ...
. Other films included '' Tribute to a Bad Man'' with
James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...
, 1956, based on the short story ''Hanging’s for the Lucky''; ''Trooper Hook'', 1957, featuring
Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...
and Barbara Stanwyck and adapted from the story ''Sergeant Houck''; and 1964's ''Advance to the Rear'', taken from the 1957 novel ''Company of Cowards''. '' Monte Walsh'' was loosely adapted into the 1970 film of the same name starring
Lee Marvin Lee Marvin (February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and prematurely white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Although initially typecast as th ...
, Jeanne Moreau, and Jack Palance, and again as a 2003
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
starring
Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations fo ...
. ''Stubby Pringle's Christmas'' was also adapted into a television film in 1978.


Conservationism

Toward the end of his life, Schaeffer became increasingly concerned by
human impact on the environment Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic environmental impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to ...
. By 1967, after writing “Mavericks,” his last western, Schaeffer became a conservationist. He wrote three essays in the form of conversations with animals. They were published in book form titled ''Conversations with a Pocket Gopher''. His last book, ''American Bestiary'', was published in 1975.


Personal life

Schaefer was married to Eugenia Ives in 1931, and the couple had three sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1948, and a year later Schaefer married Louise Deans. In 1955, after taking a train trip West on an assignment from Holiday magazine to do some research on old western cow towns Schaefer sold his farm near Waterbury, Connecticut, and moved to a 300-acre ranch near Cerrillos, about 20 miles southwest of
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...
called the Turquoise Six. They resided in an old adobe home at 905 Camino Ranchitos, just off of Canyon Rd. Schaefer died of heart failure in Santa Fe in 1991. At the author's graveside service Schaefer's friend Archie West (the inspiration for the character Monte Walsh) read aloud from the last two pages of Monte Walsh, which describe the title character's cowboy burial.


Awards and legacy

In 1975 Schaefer received the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement award. ''Shane'' has been translated into 35 languages since it was published in 1949, and was honored by the Western Writers of America as the finest Western novel. Fifty years after its publication, Shane had sold over 12 million copies and been translated into thirty foreign languages. Schaefer's 1960 children's book, ''Old Ramon'', won a
Newbery Honor The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
award. It also won the Ohioana Book Award in 1961, and was chosen as an
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...
Notable book. A 1967 New York Times review of Schaefer's collected novels noted that "Jack Schaefer is not a writer of conventional westerns," instead, they were, "tautly told and tightly constructed," had "additional ingredients that make for complex storytelling."


Books

* '' Shane'' (1949) * ''First Blood'' (1953) * ''The Big Range'' (1953) (short stories) * ''The Canyon'' (1953) * ''The Pioneers'' (1954) * ''The Piors'' (1984) (short stories) * ''Out West: An Anthology of Stories'' (1955) (Editor) * ''Company of Cowards'' (1957) * ''The Kean Land and Other Stories'' (1959) * ''Old Ramon'' (1960) * ''Tales from the West'' (1961) * ''Incident on the Trail'' (1962) * ''The Plainsmen'' (1963) (children's book) * '' Monte Walsh'' (1963) * ''The Great Endurance Horse Race: 600 Miles on a Single Mount, 1908, from Evanston, Wyoming, to Denver'' (1963) * ''Shane and other stories'' (1963) (publ. Andre Deutsch, London) * ''Stubby Pringle's Christmas'' (1964) (children's book) * ''Heroes without Glory: Some Goodmen of the Old West'' (1965) * ''Collected Stories'' (1966) * ''Adolphe Francis Alphonse Bandelier'' (1966) * ''New Mexico'' (1967) * ''The Short Novels of Jack Schaefer'' (1967) * ''Mavericks'' (1967) (children's book) * ''Hal West: Western Gallery'' (1971) * ''An American Bestiary'' (1973) * ''Conversations with a Pocket Gopher and Other Outspoken Neighbors'' (1978) * ''Jack Schaefer and the American West: Eight Stories'' (1978) (edited by C.E.J. Smith) * ''The Collected Stories of Jack Schaefer'' (1985)


See also


References


External links


Biography and photo
* *
Jack Schaefer papers
at the
American Heritage Center The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West (including politics, settlement, Native Americans, and W ...

Blog posts related to ''Shane''
a
AHC blogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Jack 1907 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Newbery Honor winners Writers from Cleveland Columbia University alumni Oberlin College alumni Western (genre) writers Writers from Santa Fe, New Mexico American people of German descent 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Ohio