Richard Pike Bissell

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Richard Pike Bissell (June 27, 1913 – May 4, 1977) was an author of short stories and novels, one of which, 7 1/2 Cents, was turned into the Broadway musical "The Pajama Game." This won him (along with co-author George Abbott) the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical.

Bissell was born and died in Dubuque, Iowa. Between those events, Bissell attended prep school in New Hampshire, graduated from Harvard University, worked on a freighter on the American Export Business Lines and riverboats, served as vice president at a Dubuque clothing manufacturer which was bought by his great-grandfather, who worked his way from the bottom to the top of the company in a true Horatio Alger kind of story. Bissell wrote works about his experiences on the river that had some critics comparing him to Mark Twain.

Upon his death, some of Bissell's personal library ended up for sale in the used bookstore of the Tri-State Independent Blind Society.

[edit] External links

• "Famous Iowans," by Tom Longdon