Ross MacDonald
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“ ‘Raymond Chandler wrote with wonderful gusto’ ”: Used in advertisements for The Midnight Raymond Chandler (Houghton Mifflin, 1971).
“ ‘I take seriously my membership in the School of Hammett’ ”: Millar to Green, May 29, 1972, UCI.
“ ‘As a novelist of realistic intrigue’ ”: This line was printed on several Hammett books reprinted by Vintage in 1972 and would be used on other Hammett reissues into the nineties.
“ ‘Since a work of fiction is, among other things’ ”: Ross Macdonald, “A Western story that is playing for keeps,” review of Goldenrod (Random House, 1972), New York Times Book Review, June 11, 1972.
“ ‘Few husbands have been able to set such a marker’ ”: Millar to Harker, February 11, 1972, courtesy of Herb Harker.
“ ‘It’s a useful recourse’ ”: Ibid.
“ ‘He was soft-spoken, formal, courteous’ ”: Jon Carroll interview with TN.
“ ‘Have you thought much’ ”: Jon Carroll, “Ross Macdonald in Raw California: Geography as Motive,” Esquire, June 1972.
“ ‘I’m Armenian’ ”: Jerry Tutunjian interview with TN.
“ ‘I showed up at this beach club’ ”: Sam Grogg interview with TN.
“ ‘I can just about put my finger on when’ ”: Max Byrd interview with TN.
“One of the few mysteries of our time to land on the best-seller lists’ ”: “The Edgars That Came in from the Cold,” The Third Degree, May 1965.
“the MWA’s Hillary Waugh said Edgar choices shouldn’t be influenced by mere popularity”: Hillary Waugh, “Edgars, Anyone,” The Third Degree, May 1969: “But the Edgar is not being awarded for the most popular book, or the biggest seller, or the one that brings the greatest financial reward to its author. It says to the recipient, ‘We, your peers, agree that yours is the best job done in our field this year. You are the pro of pros.’ ”
“ ‘Ed Hoch mentioned about a month ago’ ”: Avallone to Millar, March 2, 1969, UCI.
“ ‘I’ve got a ten dollar bet’ ”: Avallone to Millar, June 21, 1971, UCI.
“ ‘It is sort of odd’ ”: Edward D. Hoch interview with TN.
“Collin Wilcox told Millar”: Wilcox to Millar, May 30, 1970, UCI.
“ ‘Some woman really got pissed off’ ”: Sokolov interview with TN.
“Millar was dismayed”: Referred to by Avallone to Millar, June 21, 1971, UCI.
“ ‘No wonder I puzzle MWA’ ”: Millar to Olding, June 13, 1972, Princeton.
“ ‘What gives me particular pleasure’ ”: Millar to Knopf, August 10, 1971, HRHRC.
“ ‘Life is beginning to taste good again’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, May 4, 1972, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘the book which is most important to me’ ”: Millar to Green, January 16, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘It is interesting that children’ ”: Eudora Welty, “And They All Lived Happily Ever After,” New York Times Book Review, November 10, 1963.
“ ‘Look, I’m telling you my family secrets’ ”: Ross Macdonald, Sleeping Beauty (Knopf, 1973).
“ ‘In flight from the past’ ”: Millar notebook, UCI.
“ ‘As a man gets older’ ”: Ross Macdonald, The Zebra-Striped Hearse (Knopf, 1962).
“Charlotte Capers, ‘An Interview with Eudora Welty: 8 May 1973’ ”: In Peggy Whitman Prenshaw, ed., Conversations with Eudora Welty (University Press of Mississippi, 1984).
“a full-page ad”: New York Times Book Review, May 6, 1973.
“ ‘more of my lifetime images came in on that oily tide’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, June 1, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘She gave me such a reading as authors dream of’ ”: Millar to Green, October 21, 1972, UCI. To an Ober agent, Millar wrote, “I’m encouraged by the reactions of one or two writer friends, notably Eudora Welty to whom I’m dedicating it, to think that it may have literary merit of a sort” (Millar to Phyllis, November 6, 1972, Princeton).
“ ‘He responded with the most wonderful, warm, generous letter to me’ ”: Roger Simon interview with TN.
“Millar praised The Big Fix to Matt Bruccoli”: Millar to Bruccoli, April 29, 1973, MJB Collection, UCI.
“and to Julian Symons”: Millar to Symons, September 10, 1974, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“to Ralph Sipper”: Millar to Sipper, March 19, 1973, Indiana.
“ ‘Those are the cosmic criminals of our times’ ”: Simon to Millar, April 24, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘We sit in front of the television set’ ”: Millar to R. A. D. Ford, July 16, 1973, National Library of Canada.
“ ‘There is some kind of general family history’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, May 15, 1973, courtesy of William Ruehlmann. Also, typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘the essential meaninglessness of evil’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, August 14, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘He’s almost infallibly wrong’ ”: Jeff Sweet, Ross Macdonald interview, Gallery, August 1974.
On December 1, 1973, Millar wrote Ping Ferry, “I don’t see how Nixon can last, having corrupted everything and everyone he’s touched. It was brought home to me this week when Chapin was indicted and his father-in-law H___________, who lives just across the street, put his house up for sale.” Typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘He could be extremely violent in likes and dislikes’ ”: Robert Easton to Matt Bruccoli, September 22, 1982, courtesy of Robert Easton.
“ ‘You’ve heard of the Florida White House?’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, May 15, 1973, typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘It was a very pleasant three or four days’ ”: Reynolds Price interview with TN.
“ ‘Mississippi was a lot of fun’ ”: Millar to Green, May 7, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘We all had a splendid time’ ”: Millar to Symons, May 7, 1973, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“ ‘Except or but for the blacks’ ”: Millar to Green, May 7, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘She is one of the world’s gentlest minds’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, May 15, 1973; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘Amid the clatter of radio and television equipment’ ”: Nona Balakian, “A Day of One’s Own,” New York Times Book Review, May 27, 1973.
“ ‘Eudora boldly read aloud’ ”: Millar to Symons, May 7, 1973.
“ ‘Well, it was not chosen for that reason’ ”: Welty interview with TN.
“ ‘Altogether a lovely experience’ ”: Millar to Symons, May 7, 1973.
“ ‘Eudora Welty is the living writer that I admire most’ ”: Ariel, “An Interview with Reynolds Price,” 1972, included in Jefferson Humphries, ed., Conversations with Reynolds Price (University Press of Mississippi, 1991).
“ ‘the search for the lost child’ ”: Peter S. Prescott, “The Corpse Finder,” Newsweek, May 7, 1973.
“ ‘Sleeping Beauty is a blurry effort’ ”: John Skow, “More Than 10 Billion Sold,” Time, May 14, 1973.
“ ‘in spite of Time’ ”: Millar to Harker, June 1, 1973, courtesy of Herb Harker.
“Clifford A. Ridley in the National Observer”: “Macdonald’s Back, and Another Case Runs Itself Down,” National Observer, May 19, 1973.
“Robert Kirsch in the LA Times”: Calendar, May 20, 1973.
“ ‘a preposterously bad review’ ”: Millar to John Smith, August 18, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘This detective story carries a dedication to Eudora Welty’ ”: Crawford Woods, “The [sic] Sleeping Beauty,” New York Times Book Review, May 20, 1973.
“ ‘Occasionally, the author writes a thoughtful line’ ”: Anatole Broyard, “The Case of the Quick Read,” New York Times, May 21, 1973.
“ ‘every bit as good as The Underground Man’ ”: Playboy, July 1973.
“ ‘consummate skill’ ”: Chicago Tribune Book World, June 3, 1973.
“One of the stranger mysteries’ ”: New Republic, June 2, 1973.
“ ‘This novel is a disgrace’ ”: Massachusetts Review, Autumn 1973.
“ ‘But the subject wouldn’t leave me alone’ ”: Millar to Nona Balakian, July 5, 1973, courtesy of Nona Balakian; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘There is no reason why’ ”: Millar to Green, June 11, 1973, UCI.
“when it was printed in August”: Ross Macdonald, “Letters to the Editor,” New York Times Book Review, August 5, 1973.
“ ‘but satisfactory’ ”: Millar to Ferry, typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘I’m eager to get into a new one’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, July 16, 1973, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘Browne is quiet and unassuming and very sharp’ ”: Millar to Ferry, typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘extraordinarily human and humble’ ”: Ray B. Browne interview with TN.
“ ‘When Ken called to remind you about the meetings’ ”: Shelly Lowenkopf, “Snapshots: The Write Wednesday,” unidentified article (probably Santa Barbara News & Review), circa 1984.
“ ‘One day Ken and I were discussing a writer’ ”: William Campbell Gault, “A Tribute,” Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook: 1983.
“ ‘Though he would deny it’ ”: Ralph Sipper, “Faces of Ross Macdonald,” Santa Barbara Magazine, Winter 1980.
“‘Everybody wanted to sit next to Ken’ ”: Ralph Sipper interview with TN.
“Detective Fiction: Crime and Compromise”: Eds. Dick Allen and David Chacko (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974).
“ ‘burglars’ ”: Macdonald preface to Archer in Hollywood; reprinted in Self-Portrait.
“ ‘shoplifters’ ”: Macdonald, “Down These Streets a Mean Man Must Go”; reprinted in Self-Portrait.
“breaking into the academy by the back door”: Millar to Green, August 4, 1973, UCI.
“ ‘This will be embarrassing’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, July 16, 1973, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘We conceived of this award about a year ago’ ”: Remarks transcribed from tape recording, courtesy of Ray B. Browne.
“ ‘quite brilliant’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, January 14, 1974, UCI.
“reprinted in the New Republic”: George Grella, “Evil Plots,” New Republic, July 26, 1975. The best and most succinct analysis of Macdonald’s recurring patterns and techniques.
“ ‘I was a little flustered’ ”: Grogg interview with TN.
“ ‘Down These Streets a Mean Man Must Go’ ”: Reprinted in Self-Portrait.
“ ‘His paper was extremely good’ ”: George Grella interview with TN.
“ ‘if you can believe this’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, January 14, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘He came out dressed like a parody’ ”: Frank MacShane interview with TN.
“Millar exploded”: Jerre Lloyd interview with TN.
“ ‘He was a very controlled man, facially’ ”: Brad Darrach interview with TN.
“ ‘One day in the beach club pool’ ”: Brad Darrach, “Ross Macdonald: The Man Behind the Mysteries,” People, July 8, 1974.
“ ‘I felt sometimes she was very cruel to him’ ”: Interview with TN.
“ ‘Margaret’s and my marriage has been very close to the edge at times’ ”: Millar to Gerald Walker, January 6, 1974, courtesy of Gerald Walker; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘It’s very doubtful that Margaret will attend’ ”: Millar to Symons, September 10, 1974, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“ ‘to limit my time away from home’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, March 27, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘a serious and very pleasant man’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, February 21, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘In thirty years of writing about Lew Archer’ ”: Cecil Smith, “ ‘Underground Man’ to Surface on TV,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1974.
“ ‘Rather fun discussing characterizations’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, February 21, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘The director was always saying, “Judy baby, Judy baby”’ ”: Michael Small, “Chatter,” People, June 25, 1984.
“ ‘These are good days’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, February 24, 1974, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘a kind of longevity award’ ”: Millar to Jeff Ring, March 15, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘A number of nice things have happened to me’ ”: Millar to Avallone, February 25, 1974, from the Avallone Collection, Department of Special Collections, Boston University.
“ ‘I’ll finally have an Edgar’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, April 26, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘The most touching moment of the evening’ ”: The Third Degree, June 1974.
“ ‘They finally decided to accept this rude westerner’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘most pleasant’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, June 10, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘I’m sorry it didn’t turn out better’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, May 9, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘I would rather watch her than it’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, May 18, 1974, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘a constant interest in a TV series’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, May 9, 1974, UCI.
“it was said Jackie Cooper would play Archer”: Millar to Wolfe, August 16, 1974, UCI.
“Millar would receive $2,000 an episode”: Lee Rosenberg (of Adams, Ray & Rosenberg) to Millar, November 18, 1974, UCI.
“Millar traced this screen wave of private eyes directly to . . . Harper”: “It was sort of an irony that the movie Harper, which came out ten or eleven years ago, should have helped to start the whole current private eye craze, you know. But they waited to put Archer on television until there were twenty-seven other private eyes in the same season”—Millar to Trevor Meldal-Johnsen, “Ross Macdonald Interview,” Gallery, March 1976.
“Millar takes particular pride in . . . Harper. . . . ‘It was the first successful hard-boiled detective movie in the last generation. . . . It is really what started the whole current phase in detective movies,’ ” Celeste Durant, “Ross Macdonald: After 19th Novel,” Chicago Sun-Times, July 28, 1976.
“an ‘homage à trois’ ”: Charles Champlin, “Chinatown Tour de Force,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1974.
“Millar told Hank Coulette”: Jackie Coulette interview with TN.
“As Millar also told Coulette”: Ibid.
“ ‘Too many awards’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, February 24, 1974, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘Time, which I used to have nothing but of’ ”: Millar to Ruehlmann, June 28, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘Authors get weary of their own work’ ”: Millar to Jeff Ring, July 17, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘The Macdonald books go on and on’ ”: Jaffe to Millar, June 18, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘Am slated to appear on TV’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, November 13, 1974, UCI.
“The Hunt appearance fell through”: E. Howard Hunt letter to TN, May 31, 1995.
“ ‘The rats are stirring again’ ”: Jerre Lloyd interview with TN.
“ ‘Money stolen during the war’ ”: Ibid.
“ ‘From the Millars’ cabana number 22’ ”: Sally Ogle Davis, “Murder, They Wrote,” Santa Barbara Magazine, Summer 1994.
“He said a Canadian found himself by going elsewhere”: Millar to Ford, February 1971, National Library of Canada.
“ ‘As I get older and look forward and back’ ”: Millar to Symons, January 19, 1972, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“ ‘I hope I live long enough’ ”: Millar to Symons, September 10, 1974, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“ ‘’The book I am working up now’ ”: Ibid.
“ ‘I started out aiming at posterity’ ”: “An interview with Ross Macdonald,” Concept Twelve (1971).
“ ‘First confession of the day’ ”: John J. O’Connor, New York Times, January 30, 1975.
“ ‘this one begins unglued’ ”: Stanley Kauffmann, New Republi
c, July 26, 1975.
“the next-to-last Archer—or the last, if need be”: Millar to Symons, September 10, 1974, courtesy of Julian Symons.
“a poem by Hank Coulette”: “Confiteor” section of “III. The Blue Hammer,” in Donald Justice and Robert Mezey, eds., The Collected Poems of Henri Coulette (University of Arkansas Press, 1990).
“ ‘I’m busy’ ”: Millar to Bruccoli, January 7, 1975, MJB Collection, UCI.
“ ‘All I have to do’ ”: Millar to Sipper, February 8, 1975, Lilly Library, Indiana University.
“ ‘My style seems to be changing’ ”: Millar to Wolfe, November 13, 1974, UCI.
“ ‘Ken spoke of working mightily’ ”: Ted Clymer interview with TN.
“ ‘To all Lew Archer fans’ ”: Cecil Smith, “A Lew Archer in Name Only,” Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1975.
“‘Archer is merely a confusion of headlines’ ”: Cyclops, “Thursday’s New Entries Promote Non-Thinking,” New York Times, February 16, 1975.
“ ‘I’ve got it in writing’ ”: Cecil Smith, “Brian Keith’s playing Lew Archer—but with Hawaii on his mind,” Los Angeles Times TV Times, January 26-February 1, 1975.
“ ‘You wonder’ ”: Ibid.
“ ‘You may wish to be told’ ”: Millar to Ring, January 31, 1975; typed copy, UCI. 360 “ ‘one of the speediest executions on record’ ”: “Fast Ax for ‘Archer’ Series,” Daily Variety, February 11, 1975.
“ ‘The Three Roads is, if all goes well’ ”: Millar to Ford, March 28, 1975, National Library of Canada.
“ ‘Pathos, gentleness, courage’ ”: Millar to Jill Krementz, June 11, 1974; typed copy, UCI.
“ ‘A supremely moral writer’ ”: Welty notes, UCI.
“ ‘in both English and Russian’ ”: Ford to Millar, December 2, 1974, UCI.
Ford had earlier informed Millar that Macdonald had a selective readership in English among the Moscow intelligentsia (Ford to Millar, September 22, 1971, UCI).
“ ‘He is the most eminent poet I ever heard from’ ”: Millar to Ford, March 28, 1975, National Library of Canada.
“ ‘The film is poor’ ”: Penelope Cilliatt, “How Long Does It Take to (a) Fill a Hydrotherapy Chamber, (b) Empty Your Head?” New Yorker, June 30, 1975.