Walter Karig (November 13, 1898 – September 30, 1956) was a prolific writer, who served as a US naval

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Karig wrote a number of works on Allied naval operations during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He also wrote scripts for the television series ''

Victory at Sea ''Victory at Sea'' is a documentary television series about warfare in general during World War II, and naval warfare in particular, as well as the use of industry in warfare. It was broadcast by NBC in the United States during 1952–53. It w ...

''. Besides his works on naval history, Karig was a novelist, publishing under his own name, and a journalist.

Early life and education

Walter Karig was born in New York, New York on November 13, 1898. He was the son of Martin and Elsie (Ellis) Karig. He received his early education in schools of New York City, and studied art at the New York School of Fine Arts and Ecole Julien in Paris, France.

Career

For the

Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was an American publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. It pu ...

, Karig wrote volumes in the Perry Pierce series (2–4), Doris Force series (3–4), and

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

series (8–10). Karig did not seem to enjoy writing with the trio formula used by regular series ghostwriters. He brought back the chum Helen Corning from the earliest Nancy Drew books and featured her prolifically, while diminishing the roles of George Fayne and Bess Marvin. While one of the volumes features a detailed account of college football, his contributions to the series place a large emphasis on Nancy choosing clothing and describing articles she owns or purchases. Karig revealed to catalogers at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

he authored three Nancy Drew volumes, numbers 8, 9, 10, under the pseudonym of

Carolyn Keene Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and ''The Dana Girls'' mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In addition, the Keene pen name is credited with the Nancy Drew spin-off, ''Riv ...

. This admission angered the series' "packager", the Stratemeyer Syndicate, who hid their

ghostwriters A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hir ...

behind syndicate-owned pen names. The publisher had no desire to reveal the true authorship of volumes in the various series. Stratemeyer's attorney threatened legal action against Karig for claiming

authorship In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. Karig never again worked for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Karig wrote detective fiction under the name Keats Partick. Among Karig's many novels is ''Zotz!'' (1947), a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

story dealing with an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, Dr. John Jones. After deciphering an

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

on an ancient disk, Jones is imbued with deadly powers: Jones can merely point at an animal or human and they faint. If he utters the word "Zotz" while pointing his finger, the person or animal will die. Because the novel is set during

, there is a patriotic flavor to it. Also, much of the plot revolves around Jones' efforts to obtain an appointment to see President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, with the hope that he can convince the President that the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

can use his

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

abilities to help the war effort. Karig wrote himself into the novel as a beleaguered

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

working at a US Navy public information office, where dozens of people paraded by his desk daily trying to obtain appointments to meet with the "highest authority" in the United States government. Although Karig's novel is set in the then present, he manages to point out that humans have not changed much in

millennia A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting p ...

. Technology may have improved, but humans still have a strong desire to destroy and to kill. Thus Karig manages to blend a satire on wartime Washington D.C.

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

with ethical questions related to the advent of the

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

. The novel's name was inspired by Karig's meeting with a member of the Zotz family: After Karig's death, director

William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for the horror film, horror and thriller film, thriller B movie, B-movies he directed durin ...

released a film version of ''

Zotz! ''Zotz!'' is a 1962 American fantasy comedy film produced and directed by William Castle, and starring Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, Fred Clark, and Cecil Kellaway. It is about a man obtaining magical powers from a god of an ancien ...

'' in 1962. The cast includes actors

Tom Poston Thomas Gordon Poston (October 17, 1921 – April 30, 2007) was an American actor, appearing in television roles from the 1950s through the early to mid-2000s, reportedly appearing in more sitcoms than any other actor. In the 1980s, he played ...

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

Margaret Dumont Margaret Dumont (born Daisy Juliette Baker; October 20, 1882 – March 6, 1965) was an American stage and film actress. She is best remembered as the comic foil to the Marx Brothers in seven of their films; Groucho Marx called her "practically ...

Cecil Kellaway Cecil Lauriston Kellaway (22 August 1890 – 28 February 1973) was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for '' The Luck of the Irish'' (1948) and ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' ...

, and

Louis Nye Louis Nye (May 1, 1913 – October 9, 2005) was an American comedic actor. He was an entertainer to the troops during World War II and is best known for his work on multiple television, film and radio programs. Radio and television Nye met Car ...

. The film deviates from Karig's authorial intents and becomes a vehicle for clever special effects. During his life, Karig was a member of the New York Yacht Club. In Washington, DC, Karig was a member of the Cosmos Club, Gridiron, Carabao, National Press, and Circus Saints and Sinners. Walter Karig died in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 30, 1956.

Books written

Series

Battle Report (collaboration)

* ''Battle Report – Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea'' (1944) * ''Battle Report – The Atlantic War'' (1946) * ''Battle Report – Pacific War: Middle Phase'' (1947) * ''Battle Report – The End of an Empire'' (1948) * ''Battle Report – Victory in the Pacific'' (1949) * ''Battle Report – The war in Korea'' (1952)

Nancy Drew (as Carolyn Keene)

* ''

Nancy's Mysterious Letter ''Nancy's Mysterious Letter'' is the eighth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1932 and was penned by Walter Karig, a replacement writer for Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson declined series work when the Depr ...

'' (1932) * ''

The Sign of the Twisted Candles ''The Sign of the Twisted Candles'' is the ninth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. As the second volume written by Walter Karig, it was originally published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Due to Karig having died in 1 ...

'' (1933) * ''

The Password to Larkspur Lane ''The Password to Larkspur Lane'' is the tenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Walter Karig in his third and final Nancy Drew n ...

'' (1933)

Doris Force (as Julia K. Duncan)

* ''Doris Force at Raven Rock'' (1931) * ''Doris Force at Barry Manor'' (1931)

Perry Pierce (as Clinton W. Locke)

* ''Who Opened the Safe?'' (1931) * ''Who Hid the Key?'' (1932) * ''Who Took the Papers?'' (1934)

Non-fiction

* ''Asia's Good Neighbor'' (1937) * ''War in the Atomic Age?'' (1946) * ''The Fortunate Islands: A Pacific Interlude'' (1948) * ''Battle Submerged: Submarine Fighters of World War II'' (1951) in collaboration with Rear Admiral Harley Cope USN.

Detective fiction (as Keats Patrick)

* ''Death is a Tory'' (1935) * ''The Pool of Death'' (1942)

Novels

* ''Lower Than Angels'' (1945) * ''Zotz!'' (1947) * ''Caroline Hicks'' (1951) * ''Neely'' (1953) * ''Don't Tread On Me'' (1954)

References

External links

* (mainly as 'Karig, Walter, 1898–' without '1956') *
U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command page on Walter Karig

Walter Karig author page at the U.S. Naval Institute

Photograph of Walter Karig at the Truman Presidential Library

on the Stratemeyer Syndicate creation of

mysteries by "Carolyn Keene"
Library of Congress Cataloging Woes
at University of North Carolina (archived 2006) – what happened after Karig revealed himself as a "Carolyn Keene" writer
Review of ''Lower Than Angels'' book at ''Kirkus Review''

Review of ''Zotz!'' movie at the ''New York Times'' (Very bottom of the page.)
*
Listing in Worldcat.org of Karig's books and links to libraries that have copies of them
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karig, Walter 1898 births 1956 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American novelists American military writers Stratemeyer Syndicate American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers United States Navy captains