Erle Stanley Gardner (17 July, 1889-11 March, 1970) is an American author and lawyer who wrote legal detective fiction with the iconic character of Perry Mason.
Books by Erle Stanley Gardner*
Fun Facts about Erle Stanley Gardner:
1. Erle Stanley Gardner was born in Malden, Massachusetts, to Charles Walter and Grace Adelma. but finished high school in California
2. Mr. Gardner enrolled at Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana. He also took an interest in boxing and ran an illegal, amateur boxing ring right in his dorm room. For his efforts he was expelled from the university. Not one to give up, he returned to California, studied law on his own, while working as a typist in a law office, and passed the California bar at age 21.
3. As a trial lawyer he defended poor people, especially Mexican and Chinese immigrants. This led him to found The Court of Last Resort with the goal of helping them get a fair trial At night, after working a full day in court, he was writing his novels.
4. He was known for having a flourish and theatrics to his court cases. A well-known story is when he brought a massive stack or weights to prove that his client couldn’t have stolen that amount of gold because no one could lift it.
5. Mr. Gardner married Natalie Frances Talbert in 1912, the couple had a daughter, Grace, He opened his first law office in Merced, CA in 1917 but closed it and tried his hand in sales. In 1921 he got back to being a lawyer, but this time for a law firm. The couple was separated for decades without getting divorced, due to religious reasons. He got married a second time after her death. He married Agnes Nash, his long-time secretary two years before his own death.
6. Even though Erle Stanley Gardner enjoyed the process of strategizing for trials, he was bored of the occupation. He was writing stories for pulp magazines about gentleman thieves and, of course, crusading lawyers. In 1933 his first Perry Mason novel was published.
7. When he put down his head to writer, Mr. Gardner could produce 20,000 words per day and had five secretaries working at the same time to handle the output. Later he dictated his books into a Dictaphone, and the secretaries typed it up.
8. Since his output was so large, he wrote under many pseudonyms as to not flood the market with himself. One of them was A. A. Fair and the popular Cool and Lam series. A sharp-eyed fan exposed him when he used the same legal loopholes in both the series and a Perry Mason book.
9. Between 1933 and 1970 Erte Stanley Gardner wrote an astounding 82 Perry Mason novels. He got the name Perry Mason from the publisher of The Youth’s Companion magazine he used to read as a kid.
10. When the 1970s TV show, aptly named Perry Mason, went on the air starring Raymond Burt, Mr. Gardner kept strict control of the show. He had a say in the casting and routinely reviewed the scripts for legal accuracy
Books by Erle Stanley Gardner*
Zohar — Man of la Book
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Sources:
Erle Stanley Gardner | Wikipedia
Erle Stanley Gardner | Temecula CA
