The Last Ride - Who Wrote What
Jan 29, 2020 21:25:48 GMT -5
Post by bartonamra on Jan 29, 2020 21:25:48 GMT -5
I have recently read for the first time the western The Last Ride. I understand the story was first written by Whipple Chandler and then finished and/or modified by Howard. And I like to dig deep in the writing history and Howard stuff. So I want to understand what really happened. Because reading the tale, it could have been a Howard yarn. Although the love story he wouldn't have included, as is, in 1934. It belongs more in his first western efforts. But the action is fast-paced a lot of vocab is Howard's for sure.
Now in The Dark Barbarian, p. 145, 1984, Don Herron writes :
[...] the only example of Howard doing a rewrite of another author's work is "The Last Ride", written by Chandler Whipple. Whipple recalled the history of the collaboration :
"As I recall, that was the first long western I ever wrote. It kicked around for a time, almost but not quite selling. One day Otis Kline stopped in to see me at Popular Publications, where I was then working as an editor, and asked if he couldn't try to sell something of mine that I had failed to market. I gave him "The Last Ride". He told me he thought he could get Bob Howard to turn it into a saleable piece, and I told him to go ahead. I did not know Bob Howard, but did know him as a good western writer. He did a good job on the collaboration, for the piece sold the first time out, I believe, and we split the proceeds fifty-fifty" (letter to the authour, Juliy 20, 1965).
And in The Neverending Hunt, 2008(?), Paul Herman writes :
"This story was originally written by Chandler Whipple, whose pen name was Robert Enders Allen; he couldn't figure out how to finish it, and his agent suggested that he have REH finish it; REH did, and it sold, with REH and CW splitting the profit 50/50; REH.s part starts with Chapter 7; the original title was "The Last Ride", WESTERN ACES changed it to " Booot-Hill Paayoff". "
Howardworks.com uses Herman's version.
Now these don't fit together. If Whipple said the story "kicked around for a time, almost but not quite selling", it means it was finished, had a beginning and an end. Or else why would he try to sell it? It couldn't have stopped at the end of Chapter 6, as is said by Herman.
Anyone care to help? I don't have the Foundation's western book. Maybe they say something about it in the intro. Have you read The Last Ride? Did you notice a change at chapter 7 ?
Thanks for the input,
Mathieu
Now in The Dark Barbarian, p. 145, 1984, Don Herron writes :
[...] the only example of Howard doing a rewrite of another author's work is "The Last Ride", written by Chandler Whipple. Whipple recalled the history of the collaboration :
"As I recall, that was the first long western I ever wrote. It kicked around for a time, almost but not quite selling. One day Otis Kline stopped in to see me at Popular Publications, where I was then working as an editor, and asked if he couldn't try to sell something of mine that I had failed to market. I gave him "The Last Ride". He told me he thought he could get Bob Howard to turn it into a saleable piece, and I told him to go ahead. I did not know Bob Howard, but did know him as a good western writer. He did a good job on the collaboration, for the piece sold the first time out, I believe, and we split the proceeds fifty-fifty" (letter to the authour, Juliy 20, 1965).
And in The Neverending Hunt, 2008(?), Paul Herman writes :
"This story was originally written by Chandler Whipple, whose pen name was Robert Enders Allen; he couldn't figure out how to finish it, and his agent suggested that he have REH finish it; REH did, and it sold, with REH and CW splitting the profit 50/50; REH.s part starts with Chapter 7; the original title was "The Last Ride", WESTERN ACES changed it to " Booot-Hill Paayoff". "
Howardworks.com uses Herman's version.
Now these don't fit together. If Whipple said the story "kicked around for a time, almost but not quite selling", it means it was finished, had a beginning and an end. Or else why would he try to sell it? It couldn't have stopped at the end of Chapter 6, as is said by Herman.
Anyone care to help? I don't have the Foundation's western book. Maybe they say something about it in the intro. Have you read The Last Ride? Did you notice a change at chapter 7 ?
Thanks for the input,
Mathieu
