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Grey, Zane; Grey, Romer; Grey, Loren Archive Concerning Author Zane Grey and His Two Writer Sons, 1915-1985 About one linear foot of materials including manuscripts, photographic negatives, diaries, notes and ephemera. Generally very good or better with some scattered spotting and edge wear. Pearl Zane Grey (1872-1939) was a dentist and author of Westerns, known for his popular adventure novels and stories including the best-selling "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1912). His work has been adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre." As the son of a dentist (and a child from a poor home), Grey made rural house calls and performed basic extractions until the state board intervened. His brother Romer earned money by driving a delivery wagon. The two also played baseball - Zane attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship and played for several minor league teams, and Romer had a professional baseball career. Grey's first magazine article, "A Day on the Delaware" (about a fishing expedition with his brother) was published in the May 1902 issue of "Recreation" magazine. His first (and unsuccessful) novel, "Betty Zane" (1903) dramatized the heroism of an ancestor who had saved Fort Henry. Aided by a number of guided Western hunting trips, on which the budding author took copious notes, he began to write convincingly about the American West, its characters and its landscape. Upon returning home in 1909, Grey wrote a new novel, "The Last of the Plainsmen," describing the adventures of Buffalo Jones, which was later published in "Outing" magazine. He next wrote a series of magazine articles and novels for young adults. His novel "The Heritage of the Desert" (1901) became a bestseller, as did his "Riders of the Purple Sage," published two years later. The latter had a sequel ("The Rainbow Trail," in 1915) and was filmed five times (in 1918, 1925, 1931, 1941 and 1996). His controversial novel "The Vanishing American," first serialized in "The Ladies' Home Journal" in 1922, featured a Navajo hero struggling to preserve his Native identity and culture against corrupting influences of missionaries and the white government. Grey wrote prolifically - Westerns, yes, but also children's books and books about hunting, fishing and baseball. It is estimated that he wrote more than nine million words in his career. From 1917 to 1926, Grey was in the top ten best-seller list nine times. He was also a regular contributor to "Outdoor Life" magazine from 1918 until 1932. As one of its first celebrity writers, he helped to popularize big-game fishing. He traveled widely and wrote on his adventures, and his book "Tales of the Angler's El Dorado, New Zealand," helped establish the Bay of Islands in New Zealand as a premier game fishing area. After his first two books were adapted into films, Grey formed his own motion picture company. After seven films he sold his company to Jesse Lasky, a co-founder of Paramount Pictures. "The Zane Grey Show" ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System for five months in the 1940s, and the "Zane Grey Western Theatre" had a five-year run of 145 episodes. Grey and his wife Dolly had three children, the eldest being Romer Zane Grey (1909-1976). He wrote Western novels and books on fishing, and worked as a scenario writer for Paramount Pictures. In 1955 Romer and his brother Loren created Zane Grey Productions, Inc. to produce television shows based on their father's books. Loren Grey (1915-2007) was a novelist and educational psychologist; he once stated that his brother Romer Zane died an alcoholic from working as a writer in the shadow of his father. The National Park Service maintains the Greys' former home in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania as the Zane Grey Museum, a part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River area. In 1977, Zane Grey was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and he is. Seller Inventory # 1525
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