Owen McMahon Johnson (August 27, 1878 – January 27, 1952) was an American writer best remembered for his stories and novels cataloguing the educational and personal growth of the fictional character ''Dink Stover''. The "Lawrenceville Stories" (''The Prodigious Hickey,'' ''The Tennessee Shad'', ''The Varmint'', ''Skippy Bedelle'', ''The Hummingbird''), set in the
well-known prep school, invite comparison with
Kipling's ''
Stalky & Co.'' A 1950 film, ''
The Happy Years
''The Happy Years'' is a 1950 film based on the 1910 novel ''The Varmint'' by Owen Johnson. It concerns the adventures of Dink Stover, a boy attending the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
Plot
Expelled from other preparatory schools, most rec ...
'', and a 1987
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
mini-series, ''
The Lawrenceville Stories'', were based on them.
Biography
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, the son of
Robert Underwood Johnson
Robert Underwood Johnson (January 12, 1853 – October 14, 1937) was an American writer, poet, and diplomat.
Biography
Robert Underwood Johnson was born in Centerville, Indiana, on January 12, 1853. His brother Henry Underwood Johnson b ...
and his wife Katharine, née McMahon, and attended
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...
, founding and editing the ''Lawrenceville Literary Magazine'', known as ''The Lit''.
[William McCann, “Owen McMahon Johnson”, in ''Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement Five 1951-1955'', ed. John Garraty (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977), 371-373] He attended
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, as a member of the Class of 1900, graduating in 1901, marrying Mary Galt Stockly and moving to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, where he did his initial writing. He was a war correspondent for 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 ...
'' and ''
Collier's'' 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 ...
.
His first wife died in 1910.
His married his second wife
Esther Ellen Cobb (better known as Cobina Wright Sr.) in 1912 and divorced in 1917.
His third wife was Cecile Denise de la Garde, who died in 1918.
His fourth wife was Catherine Sayre Burton, who died in 1923.
His fifth wife was Gertrude Bovee Le Boutillier.
He was the father of five children.
Johnson worked and resided in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts from 1923 to 1948, writing about marriage, divorce, and golf. After 1931, his writing activities became less intense, and he became interested in politics, running (unsuccessfully) for the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
in 1936 and 1938.
He died at his home in
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. It is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 2,114 as of the 2010 census.
The area wa ...
, where he had lived for five years.
Writings
* ''Arrows of the Almighty'' (1901).
* ''In the Name of Liberty'' (1905).
* ''Max Fargus'' (1906).
* ''The Eternal Boy'' (1909; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
* ''The Prodigious Hickey'' (1910; a reissue of ''The Eternal Boy'').
* ''The Humming Bird'' (1910; also one of the 'Lawrenceville' stories).
* ''The Varmint'' (1910; introducing Dink Stover at Lawrenceville).
* ''The Tennessee Shad'' (1911; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
* ''
Stover at Yale'' (1912; Dink Stover from ''The Varmint'' goes to Yale).
* ''Murder in Any Degree'' (1913; stories).
* ''The Sixty-first Second'' (1913; a novel concerning the
Panic of 1907).
* ''The Salamander'' (1913).
* ''Making Money'' (1915).
* ''The Woman Gives'' (1915).
* ''The Spirit of France'' (1916; nonfiction).
* ''Virtuous Wives'' (1918).
* ''The Wasted Generation'' (1921).
* ''Skippy Bedelle'' (1922; also one of the 'Lawrenceville' stories).
* ''Blue Blood'' (1923).
* ''Children of Divorce'' (1927).
* ''Sacrifice'' (1929).
* ''The Coming of the Amazons'' (1931).
Adaptions
Several films are based upon Johnson novels, including ''
The Salamander'' (1916) produced by
B. S. Moss, ''
The Varmint'' (1917), ''
Virtuous Wives
''Virtuous Wives'' is a lost 1918 American silent drama film directed by George Loane Tucker, and stars Anita Stewart. Future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (billed as Mrs. DeWolf Hopper) co-starred. Based on the novel of the same name by Owen Jo ...
'' (1918), ''
The Woman Gives'' (1920), ''
The Enemy Sex
''The Enemy Sex'' is a 1924 American silent drama film starring Betty Compson and directed by her husband James Cruze. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It is taken from the 1914 novel ''The Salamande ...
'' (1924) (based on ''The Salamander''), ''
Children of Divorce'' (1927), and ''
The Happy Years
''The Happy Years'' is a 1950 film based on the 1910 novel ''The Varmint'' by Owen Johnson. It concerns the adventures of Dink Stover, a boy attending the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
Plot
Expelled from other preparatory schools, most rec ...
'' (1950) starring
Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
and
Leo G. Carroll
Leo Gratten Carroll (25 October 1886 – 16 October 1972) was an English actor. In a career of more than forty years, he appeared in six Hitchcock films including ''Spellbound'', '' Strangers on a Train'' and ''North by Northwest'' and in thre ...
.
A 1987-1989
miniseries of ''
The Lawrenceville Stories'' was directed by
Allan A. Goldstein and
Robert Iscove
Robert Iscove is a Canadian film and television director, television producer and a choreographer.
Filmography
* '' Love and Larceny'' (1985, TV)
* ''The Lawrenceville Stories'' (1987-1989, miniseries)
* '' Shattered Dreams'' (1990, TV)
* ''Miss ...
. The series followed the adventures of school prankster Hickey (
Zach Galligan
Zachary Wolfe Galligan (born February 14, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Billy Peltzer in the comedy-horror films ''Gremlins'' (1984) and '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990).
Early life and education
Galligan was ...
) and his rival, The Tennessee Shad (
Nicholas Rowe).
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
Owen Johnson Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Owen
1878 births
1952 deaths
20th-century American novelists
Lawrenceville School alumni
The New York Times writers
People from Tisbury, Massachusetts
People from Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Novelists from Massachusetts
Writers from New York City
Yale University alumni
American war correspondents
American male novelists
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from New York (state)
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers