James Norman Hall (22 April 1887 – 5 July 1951) was an American writer best known for ''

The Bounty Trilogy ''The Bounty Trilogy'' is a book comprising three novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. It relates events prior to, during and subsequent to the Mutiny on the ''Bounty''. The three novels, previously published separately, are:&md ...

'', three historical novels he wrote with

Charles Nordhoff Charles Bernard Nordhoff (February 1, 1887 – April 10, 1947) was an American novelist and traveler, born in England. Nordhoff is perhaps best known for ''The Bounty Trilogy'', three historical novels he wrote with James Norman Hall: ''Mutiny o ...

: ''

Mutiny on the Bounty The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set h ...

'' (1932), '' Men Against the Sea'' (1934) and '' Pitcairn's Island'' (1934). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Hall had the distinction of serving in the militaries of three Western allies: Great Britain as an infantryman, and then France and the United States as an aviator. His awards include the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

, the

Médaille Militaire The ''Médaille militaire'' ( en, Military Medal) is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, ...

, the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and the

Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

. After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

, where he and Nordhoff wrote a number of successful adventure books, many adapted for film. He was also the father of

Conrad L. Hall Conrad Lafcadio Hall, (June 21, 1926 – January 4, 2003) was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing such films as '' In Cold Blood'', ...

, regarded as one of the ten most influential cinematographers in film history.

Biography

Hall was born in

Colfax, Iowa Colfax is a city in Jasper County, Iowa, United States. Colfax is located approximately 24 miles east of Des Moines. The town was founded in 1866, and was named after Schuyler Colfax, vice president under Ulysses S. Grant. The population was 2,255 ...

, where he attended the local schools. His early home is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Hall graduated from

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...

in 1910. He wrote the song "Sons of Old Grinnell", which is part of the college songbook. After graduation, he became a social worker in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

for the Society for Prevention to Cruelty to Children while trying to establish himself as a writer and studying for a master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Hall was on vacation in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1914, when

began. Posing as a Canadian, he enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, serving in the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

as a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

ner during the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

. He was discharged after his true nationality was discovered, and he returned to the United States. Hall's first book, ''Kitchener's Mob'' (1916), recounts his wartime experiences. ''Kitchener's Mob'' sold moderately well in America following its publication and after a speaking tour to promote the book, Hall returned to Europe in 1916 on assignment with ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' magazine. He was to have written a series of stories about the group of American volunteers serving in the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...

, but after spending some time with the American fliers Hall himself became caught up in the adventure and enlisted in the French Air Service. By then the original Escadrille had been expanded to the

Lafayette Flying Corps The Lafayette Flying Corps is a name given to the American volunteer pilots who flew in the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) during World War I. It includes the pilots who flew with the bona fide Lafayette Escadrille squadron. Numbers The e ...

, which trained American volunteers to serve in regular French squadrons. During his time in French aviation, Hall was awarded the

with five palms and the

. When the United States entered the war in 1917, Hall was made a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

. There he met another American pilot,

. After being shot down over enemy lines on 7 May 1918, Hall spent the last months of the war as a German

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. After his release he was awarded the French

and the American

. After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of

, where he and Nordhoff, who had also moved there, wrote a number of successful adventure books (including the ''Bounty'' trilogy). In addition to the various ''Bounty'' films, other film adaptations of his fiction include '' The Hurricane'' (1937), which starred his nephew Jon Hall; ''

Passage to Marseille ''Passage to Marseille'', also known as ''Message to Marseille'', is a 1944 American war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel ''Sans Patrie'' (''Men Without ...

'' (1944), featuring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

; and ''

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

'' (1953), with

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake ...

. In 1940, Hall published a book of poems with the title ''Oh Millersville!'' It appeared under the pseudonym Fern Gravel, and the poems were written in the voice of a girl of about 10 years of age. The book was critically well received, and the hoax was not exposed until 1946, when Hall published an article entitled "Fern Gravel: A Hoax and a Confession" in the ''Atlantic Monthly''. He wrote that he had been inspired by a dream in which he saw himself back in his Iowa childhood with a group of children, among whom was a girl named Fern who wanted her poems written down. When he awoke, Hall wrote Fern's poems, which are simply worded but nicely detailed first-person observations of small-town life. In 1925, Hall married Sarah (Lala) Winchester, who was part- Polynesian. They had two children: the

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 ...

winning

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Conrad Hall Conrad Lafcadio Hall, (June 21, 1926 – January 4, 2003) was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing such films as ''In Cold Blood'', ''Co ...

(1926–2003) and Nancy Hall-Rutgers (born 1930). Hall died in 1951 in Tahiti and is buried on the hillside property just above the modest wooden house he and Lala lived in for many years. His grave bears a line of verse he wrote in Iowa at the age of 11: "Look to the Northward stranger / Just over the hillside there / Have you ever in your travels seen / A land more passing fair?" Hall's papers, including manuscripts and wartime correspondence, are housed in the Grinnell College Special Collections and Archives. The government of Tahiti restored Hall's home in

Arue, French Polynesia Arue is a commune in the suburbs of Papeete in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Arue is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands,

, which is now a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

that includes Hall's 3,000-volume library and personal effects on loan from the Hall family. "The house itself is neither large nor prepossessing; it was built for comfort and practicality," wrote author and screenwriter

Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known for his bestselling novel ''Jaws'' and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works w ...

. "It's what's inside the house that I found most fascinating: paintings, photographs, artifacts and anecdotes from Hall's preliterary life."

Selected works

The ''Bounty'' trilogy, with Charles Nordhoff

* ''

'' (1932) * '' Men Against the Sea'' (1934) * '' Pitcairn's Island'' (1934) * ''

'' (illustrated by

N. C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

) (1940)

Other works

* ''Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an American in the British Army'' (1916) * ''High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France'' (1918) * ''History of the Lafayette Flying Corps'' (with

) (1920) * ''Faery Lands of the South Seas'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1920) * ''On the Stream of Travel'' (1926) * ''Mid-Pacific'' (1928) * ''Falcons of France'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1929). Nordhoff and Hall's account of their service in the famed Lafayette Escadrille during World War I. * ''Flying with Chaucer'' (1930) * ''Mother Goose Land'' (1930) * ''Tale of a Shipwreck'' (1934). Hall recounts his voyage to Pitcairn's Island and shipwreck at

Temoe Temoe, or Te Moe, is a small atoll of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the far southeast of the Tuamotu group archipelago. It lies about 37 km southeast from the Gambier Islands and more than southeast from Mataiva, ...

in 1933. Includes early versions of passages from ''Pitcairn's Island''. This was first published as "From Med to Mum" in the ''Atlantic Monthly'', March through July 1934. * '' The Hurricane'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1936) * ''The Dark River'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1938) * ''Dictator of the Americas'' (1938) * ''The Friends'' (1939) * ''No More Gas'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1940) * ''Doctor Dogbody's Leg'' (1940) * s Fern Gravel''Oh Millersville!'' Muscatine, IA.: The Prairie Press (1940) * ''Botany Bay'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1941) * ''Under a Thatched Roof'' (essays) (1942) * ''Men Without a Country'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1942) * ''Lost Island'' (1944) * ''The High Barbaree'' (with Charles Nordhoff) (1945) * ''A Word for His Sponsor: A Narrative Poem'' (1949) * ''The Far Lands'' (1950) * ''The Forgotten One and Other True Tales of the South Seas'' (1952) * ''Her Daddy's Best Ice Cream'' (1952) * ''My Island Home: An Autobiography'' (1952) * "Sing: A Song of Sixpence" in ''125 Years of the Atlantic'', pp. 303–313

Notes

External links