Clayton Rawson
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Clayton Rawson (1906 - 1971) was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini.
He was born in Elyria, Ohio, the son of Clarence D. and Clara (Smith) Rawson. He became a magician when he was 8 years old. He married Catherine Stone in 1929, the same year he graduated from Ohio State University, and they had four children. He moved to Chicago and lived there working as an illustrator.
His first novel, Death from a Top Hat, appeared in 1938.
He was one of the four founding members of the Mystery Writers of America, which presents the annual Edgar Awards in various categories of mystery writing. All of his novels were written before the founding of this group, but in 1949 and 1967 Rawson received Special Edgar Awards for his various contributions to mystery writing and the MWA.
At least two movies were made based on the Merlini books. One of them, Miracles for Sale (1939), was evidently based on the Merlini exploits in general but had no character named Merlini. The 1942 movie The Man Who Wouldn't Die, starring Lloyd Nolan, was based on No Coffin for the Corpse, but the Merlini character was replaced by Michael Shayne, a popular fictional private eye at the time, created by the writer Brett Halliday.
Contents |
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Mystery novels
- Death from a Top Hat (1938)
- The Footprints on the Ceiling (1939)
- The Headless Lady (1940)
- No Coffin for the Corpse (1942)
[edit] Collections of short stories
- Death Out of Thin Air (1941) (as Stuart Towne)
- Pictures Don't Lie (1950)
- The Great Merlini (1979)
[edit] Other books
- Scarne on Dice (1945) (with John Scarne)
- Al Baker's Pet Secrets (1951) (with Albert Baker)
- How to Entertain Children with Magic You Can Do (1963), (as The Great Merlini)
- The Golden Book of Magic: Amazing Tricks for Young Magicians (1964) (as The Great Merlini)
[edit] Movies
- Miracles for Sale (1939) (Death From A Top Hat)
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942) (No Coffin For The Corpse)
[edit] External links
- A listing of his works Click on green thumbtack to see an exhaustive list of his books and short stories.
- Miracles for Sale at the Internet Movie Database
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die at the Internet Movie Database
