Joseph Shallit (February 7, 1915—June 13, 1995) was an American mystery novelist and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

author. He was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants from

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...

(now in Belarus), born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

under the name Joseph Shaltz. This name was the result of a clerical error affecting his parents when they emigrated from Russia, and he changed it back to "Shallit" in November 1942. He was instrumental in getting the regulation against photography in

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the center ...

changed when he was arrested for taking a photo of the

Liberty Bell The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independen ...

in 1942. He was a reporter at the time for ''

The Philadelphia Record ''The Philadelphia Record'' was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader. History ''The Public Record'' ...

''. Subsequent to this event, the rule was changed. Shallit served in the

Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of ...

in the Philippines during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Upon his return, he began to write, publishing his first mystery, ''The Billion-Dollar Body'', in 1947 with Lippincott. Other mysteries include ''Yell Bloody Murder'', ''Lady, Don't Die on My Doorstep'', and ''Kiss the Killer''. ''Take Your Last Look'' was published under the pseudonym "Matt Brady". He also wrote a number of short stories for science fiction magazines, including "Education of a Martian", in the August 1952 issue of

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

. A short story, entitled "Margie Passes", was published in

Whit Burnett Whit Burnett (August 14, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an American writer and educator who founded and edited the literary magazine ''Story''. In the 1940s, ''Story'' was an important magazine in that it published the first or early works of many wr ...

's collection ''Story'', and later adapted by John Tobias into one segment of a 1972 ABC television drama produced by

Fred Coe Frederick Hayden Hughs Coe (December 23, 1914 – April 29, 1979) was an American television producer and director most famous for '' The Goodyear Television Playhouse''/''The Philco Television Playhouse'' in 1948-1955 and ''Playhouse 90'' from 1 ...

, entitled "Of Men and Women" and starring

Deborah Raffin Deborah Iona Raffin (March 13, 1953 – November 21, 2012) was an American actress, model and audiobook publisher. Early life Raffin was born in Los Angeles, California, to actress Trudy Marshall and Phillip Jordan Raffin, a restaurateur and ...

. Shallit later worked for

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(later Conrail), editing an employee magazine that they published. He retired in 1980, and died of Alzheimer's disease on June 13, 1995. He was married to Louise Lee Outlaw Shallit, an author, and was survived by two sons, Jonathan Shallit, a music professor and

Jeffrey Shallit Jeffrey Outlaw Shallit (born October 17, 1957) is a computer scientist, number theorist, and a noted critic of intelligent design. He is married to Anna Lubiw, also a computer scientist. Early life and education Shallit was born in Philadelph ...

, a computer scientist.

References

About Joseph Shallit

External links

* 1915 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American mystery writers American science fiction writers American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Jewish American novelists Writers from Philadelphia American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American Jews Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni {{sf-writer-stub