Courtney Ryley Cooper

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Courtney Ryley Cooper (October 31, 1886-died September 29, 1940). Cooper wore many hats including circus clown, circus manager and publicist, journalist, U.S. Marine, historian, screenwriter, short story writer, novelist, non-fiction author, magazine writer, crime writer and crime expert. During his career he published over 30 books, many focusing on crime, J Edgar Hoover considered him at one time "the best informed man on crime in the U. S." He was also an expert on circuses, at the time of his death employed by Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus as chief publicist.

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[edit] Biography

Born in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 16, he left home to join a traveling circus and eventually became a circus clown, then general manager of the circus.

Later, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Kansas City Star, New York World, Chicago Tribune and the Denver Post. His work at the Post led him to become the press agent for the Sells-Floto Circus (owned by the owners of the Post) in 1914. The Sells-Floto had absorbed the assets of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show, including Buffalo Bill himself.

On August 1st, 1918, Cooper joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of second lieutenant and was sent to France to conduct historical research on the marines.

In the 1920s and 1930's Cooper wrote screenplays, short stories, novels, magazine articles, and popular non-fiction books. He published 30 books during his career. Most of his non-fiction work focused on two subjects, the circus and crime; he was Annie Oakley's first biographer. His books Here's to Crime (1937), Ten-Thousand Public Enemies (1935) and Designs in Scarlet (1939) championed the cause of the young Federal Bureau of Investigation and made the case that corrupt local governments and police forces permitted lawlessness to flourish in many parts of the United States.

Cooper's work was much admired by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who once said he is "the best informed man on crime in the U. S."[1] - Hoover even allowed him access to FBI case files. Cooper is widely believed to have ghostwritten the book Persons in Hiding (1938) as well as a number of magazine articles for Hoover.

Cooper wrote extensively on the danger of illicit drugs, particularly marijuana. He collaborated with Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger on the article "Marijuana, Assassin of Youth," which originally appeared in American Magazine in July, 1937.

[edit] Suicide

On September 29, 1940, Cooper committed suicide by hanging himself in the closet of a hotel room in the Hotel Park Central in New York City. He left a note instructing that the cash in his clothing should be used to settle his hotel bill but giving no indication as to a motivation for his suicide.

At the time of his death, he was employed as the chief publicist for the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • “C.R. Cooper, Author Kills Himself Here”, New York Times, September 29, 1940 
  • Cooper, Courtney Ryley (1923), written at Boston, Massachusetts, Under the Big Top, Little, Brown and Company.
  • Gentry, Curt (1992), written at New York, New York, J. Edgar Hoover: the man and the secrets, W.W. Norton.