Cameron Hawley (September 19, 1905 – February 9, 1969) was an American writer of fiction from

Howard, South Dakota Howard is a city in Miner County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 848 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and most populous city in Miner County. History The city of Howard was established in 1881, shortly after the Sou ...

. Much of Hawley's output concerned the pressures of modern life, particularly in a business setting. He published numerous novels and short stories. Born Elmer Cameron Hawley in South Dakota, he worked as an executive at the

Armstrong Cork Company The Armstrong Cork Company (formerly of Armstrong World Industries) was a cork manufacturer located at 2349 Railroad Street in the Strip District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company's building was built circa 1901, and designed ...

; after a 24-year career, he retired and turned to novel writing.

''Executive Suite''

Hawley's novel ''Executive Suite'' was the first title published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains p ...

in 1952. Ian Ballantine announced that he would "offer trade publishers a plan for simultaneous publishing of original titles in two editions, a hardcover 'regular' edition for bookstore sale, and a paper-cover, 'newsstand' size, low-priced edition for mass market sale." The publishing industry sat up and took notice, because the simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions of ''Executive Suite'' were obvious successes.

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

published the $3.00 hardcover at the same time Ballantine distributed its 35¢ paperback. By February 1953 Ballantine had sold 375,000 copies and was preparing to print 100,000 more. Houghton Mifflin sold 20,500 hardback copies. Instead of hurting hardback sales, the paperback edition gave the book more publicity.

Film adaptation

Movie rights to ''Executive Suite'' were sold to MGM, and

Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...

directed the 1954 film of the screenplay by

Ernest Lehman Ernest Paul Lehman (December 8, 1915 – July 2, 2005) was an American screenwriter. He was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win. At the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Ho ...

, also titled '' Executive Suite'', and featuring

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

June Allyson June Allyson (born Eleanor Geisman; October 7, 1917 – July 8, 2006) was an American stage, film, and television actress, dancer, and singer. Allyson began her career in 1937 as a dancer in short subject films and on Broadway in 1938. She sig ...

Barbara Stanwyck Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...

and

Nina Foch Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appea ...

. It was nominated for four

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

s. A short-lived television series based on the film and titled '' Executive Suite'' lasted only six months for a total of 18 episodes. It was telecast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from September 20, 1976 until February 11, 1977.

Other works

Hawley's novel ''Cash McCall'' was made into a film of the same name in 1960 starring

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...

and

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

Selected bibliography

* ''Executive Suite'' (1952) * ''Cash McCall'' (1955) * ''The Lincoln Lords'' (1960) * ''The Hurricane Years'' (1968)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Cameron 1905 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Writers from South Dakota People from Howard, South Dakota 20th-century American male writers