HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Clarissa Mabel Blank (August 5, 1915August 15, 1965) was an American author. She wrote the '' Beverly Gray'' mystery series and four other novels.


Biography

Clarissa Mabel Blank was born on August 5, 1915 in
Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania a ...
to Bessie and Edgar H. Blank. Her father worked as a loom fixer at a
silk mill A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland. The silk throwing process Silk is a natur ...
before finding employment at a clothing plant in Germantown; in 1920, 1930 and 1940, his occupation was listed as a "knitter"."United States Census, 1920," database with images, ''FamilySearch''
Household of Edgar H Blank
: accessed January 28, 2016), Allentown Ward 2, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, United States; citing sheet 12A, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,588.
"United States Census, 1930", database with images, ''FamilySearch''
Household of Edgar Blank
: accessed January 28, 2016), Philadelphia Ward 42, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing sheet 45A, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 2,341,868.
"United States Census, 1940," database with images, ''FamilySearch''
Household of Edgar Blank
: accessed January 28, 2016), Ward 42, Philadelphia, Philadelphia City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 51-1713, sheet 2A, family 31, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 3740.
She attended Herbst Elementary School until she was about ten. Her family then moved to the Olney section of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...
. In contrast to her parents, who each completed nine years of schooling, at the age of 18 Clair had graduated from
Olney High School Olney Charter High School, formerly Aspira Charter School at Olney, and Olney High School, is a public high school located in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Previously directly controlled by the School District of Philade ...
with honors and seen the first four books in the ''Beverly Gray'' series published. Blank attended the
Peirce School of Business Administration Peirce College is a private college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It focuses on adult learners. History In 1865, Thomas May Peirce, a Philadelphia educator, founded the Union Business College. The curriculum was designed to provide returni ...
and took a job in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...
as a typist for the Keystone Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of the
Atlantic Refining Company Atlantic Petroleum was an oil company in the Eastern United States headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust. It was also one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil Corporation to form ...
. By 1940, she became a secretary there, and, still living with her parents, earned about $1,500 a year. She joined the
American Women's Voluntary Services American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS) was the largest American women's service organization in the United States during World War II. AWVS provided women volunteers who provided support services to help the nation during the war such as messa ...
during World War II, driving Army officers around when they came to town. In 1941, George Elmer Moyer, whom Clair had known growing up in Allentown, moved to Philadelphia; the two married in 1943. Moyer attained the rank of
sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other u ...
while serving in the Army for two years, from February 1944 to February 1946, with a year in foreign service bookended by two six-month periods in domestic service. A skilled welder, he was employed at the
Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...
after his military service, working on automobiles, tank construction, Chevrolet fenders, and plastics until his retirement. He also studied mechanical engineering, taking night classes at
Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of ...
. Blank gave birth to two sons, Robert G. and John C. Moyer, who were born in 1947 and 1953. She died on August 15, 1965, in Philadelphia; her husband died on February 27, 1998.


Other works

Blank wrote four novels in addition to the ''Beverly Gray'' books. The first three, comprising the ''Adventure Girls'' Series, were published in 1936 by
A. L. Burt A. L. Burt (incorporated in 1902 as A. L. Burt Company) was a New York City-based book publishing house from 1883 until 1937. It was founded by Albert Levi Burt, a 40-year-old from Massachusetts who had come to recognize the demand for inexpensi ...
, who also published her ''Beverly Gray'' series. Though later reprinted by Saalfield, no new ''Adventure Girls'' works were ever published. In 1940, Gramercy published Blank's one and only adult novel, ''Lover Come Back''. At least two manuscripts written by Blank went unpublished. In December 1941, she sent an unsolicited manuscript, ''Linda Ross at Hamilton'', to
Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gr ...
. It was rejected for publication four months later, for "there seems to be a strong prejudice against starting a new mystery series with a school background." Blank also wrote an unpublished ''Beverly Gray'' novel to follow the final volume, ''Beverly Gray's Surprise''. This work was never printed, as the series was cancelled in 1955. It is possible that a fourth ''Adventure Girls'' book was also written, to be titled ''The Adventure Girls on Vacation''. This book was advertised at the end of the third and final book in the series; it is unclear whether Blank actually wrote it, or merely intended it, before the series was cancelled.


The Adventure Girls

A trilogy by default, ''The Adventure Girls'' series was published by A. L. Burt in 1936 and never continued. All works were copyrighted on April 27, 1936, the same day as ''Beverly Gray on a World Cruise''. Although a fourth work was advertised at the end of the third, it was never published; where the ''Beverly Gray'' series survived and prospered following the publication of its four part breeder set, ''The Adventure Girls'' series was unable to catch on. Purchased by Saalfield Publishing in 1937, the series was entirely shelved until being reissued in the fall of 1942. None of the books had their
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
renewed, and all have thus passed into the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
. * Errantly referred to as "K-Bar-O" on the dust jacket Advertised by name at the end of the third book but never published.


Lover Come Back

Representing Blank's short-lived foray into adult literature, ''Lover Come Back'' was published in 1940 by Gramercy. It does not appear to have ever been reprinted in novel form, although notifications in ''
The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...
'' suggest that it was printed in a complete novel section there on April 13, 1941. As a result of this limited print run, ''Lover Come Back'' is Blank's scarcest published novel. ''Lover Come Back'' echoes the ''Beverly Gray'' series in both plot and writing style. Just as ''Beverly Gray'' is a successful screenwriter, playwright, novelist and reporter for the '' Herald Tribune'', Beverly Norcot shares the same vocations (and success) and reports for "''The Times''" (likely ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''). ''Lover Come Back'' features a plot driven by events and coincidence. "In its series of mini-climaxes strung together, the book is a soap opera." The book's "major ingredients" consist of: : "3 auto accidents (2 human, 1 canine)
2 shootings
1 emergency appendectomy
3 witnessing by jealous suitor of girlfriend embracing another man
3 reversals of fortune (1 downward, 2 upward)
2 sudden disappearances of boyfriends out of the country
4 unexpected reunions of same with girls
numerous reversals of feeling between lovers
frequent dashing around by characters in cars, ships, and a plane
multiple rendezvous at society parties ndswanky nightclubs" ''Beverly Gray'', too, leads "such a life of adventure as would tax the resources of any soap opera heroine." Across the series, Beverly is "kidnapped no less than twenty-six times, attacked by wild animals seven times, trapped in three violent storms, imperiled by three earthquakes, shot at twice (wounded once)." She also suffers "a car crash, flowing lava, a flood, a drugging, a rampaging fire, a plane crash and other assorted tribulations."


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blank, Clair 1915 births 1965 deaths category:Writers from Allentown, Pennsylvania 20th-century American women writers American women civilians in World War II