SCREENWRITER

With regular production of 150,000 words a month in the 1930s, L. Ron Hubbard stood as undisputed king of high-speed production writers (and that while writing only three days a week). Hence, Standard magazine editor Jack Schiff’s remark: If you needed a story on a Monday, you only had to telephone Ron Hubbard on a Friday.

It was precisely that renowned rate of production that brought Ron an invitation to Hollywood where he arrived in the spring of 1937 to adapt his novel Murder at Pirate Castle for a Columbia Pictures’ serials production. Retitled The Secret of Treasure Island, the film was applauded as a first-rate cliffhanger, and according to Variety: “will prove a good biz bet in action houses.” The prediction proved fully correct, with a virtually unrivaled box-office take at the time.

Likewise memorable from his Hollywood days was Ron’s work with author Norvell Page on the Warner Bros.’ Vehicle, The Spider Returns, and subsequent work on Columbia Pictures’ The Mysterious Pilot and The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.

Quite beyond these silver screen serials, Ron wrote feature-length scripts for that satirical spy-spoof Ai! Pedrito! and his tale of hapless time-travel A Very Strange Trip. Although first conceived as full-length screenplays, (replete with detailed notes on direction, characterization, sets and sound), he granted the novelizations to young authors from the Writers of the Future stable. A third screen-play, Revolt in the Stars remains to be produced.

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