W. C. Tuttle (November 11, 1883 – June 6, 1969) was an American writer who sold more than 1000 magazine stories and dozens of novels, almost all of which were
westerns
The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...
.
Biography
Tuttle wrote mainly for
pulp magazines
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...
; his main market was ''
Adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
'' magazine. In a 1930 poll of its readers, Tuttle was voted the most popular writer in the magazine. Tuttle also wrote for other publications such as ''
Argosy'', ''
Short Stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
'',
Street & Smith
Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...
’s ''
Western Story Magazine
''Western Story Magazine'' was a pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper ...
'', ''
Field & Stream
''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American magazine focusing on sport hunting, recreational fishing and other outdoor activities. It was a print publication between 1895 and 2015, and became an online-only publication in 2020. After ...
'', ''West'', ''New Western Magazine'' and ''Exciting Western''. His best known character was Hashknife Hartley, who along with his friend Sleepy Stevens, served as unofficial detectives solving crimes on the ranches where they worked as cowboys. The Hashknife stories combined the western story with the detective story. Fellow western author and editor
Jeff Sadler stated Tuttle's writing is "at its best" in the Hashknife stories.
[Jeff Sadler, "Tuttle, W(ilbur) C(oleman)" in ''Twentieth Century Western Writers'', edited by Geoff Sadler. Chicago and London, St. James Press, 1991, , (pp. 689-694)] Sadler also claims Tuttle's novel ''Vanishing Brands'' is his finest novel:"...terse and dramatic, flecked with dry touches of wit, the novel is an excellent example of the Western form and a credit to its author".
Other characters Tuttle created included Cultus Collins, Sad Sontag, and Henry Harrison Conroy, a former
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
actor turned sheriff.
In 1950-1951, Tuttle was narrator of the
old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...
series ''
Hashknife Hartley'', which featured adaptations of his stories.
He was also a screenwriter hailing back to the
silent era
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
. He wrote the screenplays for 52 films between 1915 and 1945.
A semi-pro baseball player in his youth, Tuttle served as President of the Pacific Coast Baseball League 1935-1943.
Tuttle recommended to the
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...
that the team should ask
Gene Lillard to join them.
[Dennis Snelling, ''Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League 1903-1957''. Jefferson, N.C. McFarland & Co. 2019 (p. 148)]
He was born in
Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
, and died in
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...
.
Bibliography
"Hashknife" Novels
*
In Self-defense' (1917)
*
Upside Down or Backwards' (1918)
* ''Hashknife of the Double Bar 8'' (1920)
*
Law Rustlers' (1921)
*
The Ranch of the Tombstones' (1922)
*
The Dead-Line' (1924)
*
Hidden Blood' (1925)
*
The Buckaroo of Blue Wells' (1926)
*
The Devil's Dooryard' (1927)
*
Shotgun Gold' (1927)
*
Thicker Than Water' (1927)
*
The Morgan Trail' (1928)
* ''Hidden Blood'' (1929)
* ''The Valley of Twisted Trails'' (1931)
* ''The Silver Bar Mystery'' (1933)
* ''Rifled Gold'' (1934)
*
Tumbling River Range' (1935)
*
Bluffer's Luck' (1937)
* ''The Medicine-man'' (1939)
* ''The Valley of Vanishing Herds'' (1942)
* ''The Tin God of Twisted River'' (1945)
* ''Wolf Creek Valley'' (1946)
* ''The Trouble Trailer'' (1946)
* ''Shotgun Gold'' (1950)
* ''The Shadow Shooter'' (1955)
* ''Passengers for Painted Rock'' (1962)
* ''Double-crossers of Ghost Tree'' (1965)
* ''The Payroll of Fate'' (1966)
* ''Medicine Maker'' (1967)
* ''Vanishing Brands'' (1977)
* ''Red Trail of a Forty-one'' (1978)
Other Novels
*
Psychology and Copper' (1916)
*
All Wool' (1916)
*
A Man-Sized Pet' (1916)
*
When Oscar Went Wild' (1916)
*
Bearly Reasonable' (1917)
*
A Prevaricated Parade' (1918)
*
Making Good for Muley' (1918)
*
Tied Up for Tombstone' (1918)
*
Dough or Dynamite' (1918)
*
Loco or Love' (1918)
*
Playing Safe in Piperock' (1919)
*
The Color of His Boots' (1919)
*
Shepherds for Science' (1920)
*
Wise Men and a Mule' (1922)
*
Creepin' Tintypes' (1921)
*
Too Much Progress for Piperock' (1922)
*
Flames of the Storm' (1922)
*
Ajax, for Example' (1922)
*
Reputation' (1923)
*
Spawn of the Desert' (1924)
*
Cinders' (1924)
*
Two Fares East' (1926)
*
The Taking of Cloudy McGee' (1926)
*
The Valley of Lost Herds' (1927)
*
Rodeo' (1927)
*
By Order of Buck Brady' (1928)
* ''Sontag of Sundown'' (1929)
* ''The Keeper of Red Horse Pass'' (1930)
* ''Mystery At the JHC Ranch'' (1932)
* ''Singing River'' (1934)
* ''The Flood of Fate'' (1935)
*
The Keeper of Red Horse Pass' (1936)
* ''Wild Horse Valley'' (1938)
* ''Salt for the Tiger'' (1952)
* ''Renegade Sheriff'' (1953)
* ''Mission River Justice'' (1955)
* ''Thunderbird Range'' (1955)
* ''The Shame of Arizona'' (1957)
* ''The King of Dancing Valley'' (1958)
* ''Danger Trail'' (1958)
* ''The Trail to Kingdom Come'' (1960)
* ''Gold at K-BAR-T'' (1961)
* ''Galloping Gold'' (1961)
* ''Double Trouble'' (1964)
* ''Arizona Drifters'' (1964)
* ''Road to the Moon'' (1965)
* ''Stockade'' (1965)
* ''Buckshot Range'' (1966)
* ''The Lone Wolf'' (1967)
* ''West of Aztec Pass'' (1972)
* ''Greenhorn Trail'' (1976)
* ''King of Blue Grass Valley'' (1977)
* ''The Trail of Deceit'' (1985)
Selected filmography
* ''
Cinders'' (1920)
* ''
The Stranger'' (1920)
* ''
Fight It Out
''Fight It Out'' is a 1920 American short silent Western film directed by Albert Russell and starring Hoot Gibson.
Plot
Cast
* Hoot Gibson as Sandy Adams
* Charles Newton as Duncan McKenna
* Jim Corey as Slim Allen
* Dorothy Wood as Jane ...
'' (1920)
* ''
The Man with the Punch'' (1920)
* ''
Fools of Fortune
''Fools of Fortune'' is a 1990 Irish romantic drama film directed by Pat O'Connor and written by Michael Hirst based on the 1983 novel by Irish writer William Trevor. It depicts a Protestant family caught up in the conflict between the Briti ...
'' (1922)
* ''
The Law Rustlers'' (1923)
* ''
The Prairie Pirate'' (1925)
* ''
Western Pluck
''Western Pluck'' is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by Travers Vale and starring Art Acord, Marceline Day, and Ray Ripley.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, cowpuncher Arizona Allen witnesses a runaway stage coach whe ...
'' (1926)
* ''
Rustlers' Ranch'' (1926)
* ''
The Wild Horse Stampede
''The Wild Horse Stampede'' is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by Clifford Smith and starring Jack Hoxie, Fay Wray, and Marin Sais.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Jack Tanner is in love with rancher Cross Hayden's d ...
'' (1926)
* ''
Driftin' Sands
''Driftin' Sands'' is a 1928 American silent Western film directed by Wallace Fox and starring Bob Steele, Nina Quartero, and William H. Turner.
Plot
Cast
* Bob Steele as 'Driftin' Sands
* Nina Quartero as Nita Aliso
* William H. Turne ...
'' (1928)
* ''
The Red Rider
''The Red Rider'' is a 1934 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures and starring Buck Jones. It has 15 chapters based on the short story "The Redhead from Sun Dog" by W. C. Tuttle, and is a remake of Buck Jones' earlier 1931 film ...
'' (1934)
References
External links
*
*
*
Partial Bibliography of Tuttle's Work at FictionMags Index.
''Law Rustlers'', a Hashknife Hartley novelette in ''Adventure'' magazine.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuttle, W.C.
1883 births
1969 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
American male short story writers
American mystery writers
American Western (genre) novelists
Pulp fiction writers
Western (genre) writers