Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 –
presumed dead
A presumption of death occurs when a person is thought to be dead by a group of people despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death, such as the finding of remains (e.g., a corpse or skeleton) attributable to that person. Such a pre ...
after March 24, 1939) was an American
travel writer
The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...
and adventurer who swam the length of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared at sea while attempting to sail the
Chinese junk
A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...
''Sea Dragon'' across the Pacific Ocean from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
to the
Golden Gate International Exposition
The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...
in San Francisco, California.
Early life and education
Richard Halliburton was born in
Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville is a city in and the county seat of Haywood County, Tennessee, Haywood County, Tennessee, United States, located in the western Its population as of the 2010 census was 10,292, with a decrease to 9,788 at the 2020 census. The city is n ...
, to Wesley Halliburton, a civil engineer and real estate
speculator, and Nelle Nance Halliburton. A brother, Wesley Jr., was born in 1903. The family moved to
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
, where the brothers, who were not close, spent their childhood. Richard attended
Memphis University School
, motto_translation = Truth and Honor
, streetaddress = 6191 Park Avenue
, city = Memphis
, state = Tennessee
, zipcode = 38119
, province =
, country = United States
, coordinates ...
, where his favorite subjects were geography and history; he also showed promise as a violinist, and was a fair golfer and tennis player. In 1915 he developed a rapid heartbeat and spent some four months in bed before its symptoms were relieved. This included some time at the
Battle Creek Sanitarium
The Battle Creek Sanitarium was a world-renowned health resort in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. It started in 1866 on health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and from 1876 to 1943 was managed by Dr. John ...
in Michigan, run by the eccentric and innovative
John Harvey Kellogg
John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American medical doctor, nutritionist, inventor, health activist, eugenicist, and businessman. He was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. The ...
, whose philosophy of care featured regular exercise, sound nutrition, and frequent
enema
An enema, also known as a clyster, is an injection of fluid into the lower bowel by way of the rectum.Cullingworth, ''A Manual of Nursing, Medical and Surgical'':155 The word enema can also refer to the liquid injected, as well as to a device ...
s. In 1917, following an apparent bout of
rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...
, Wesley Jr., thought strong and in fine health, suddenly died.
At 5'7" (170 cm) and about 140 pounds (64 kg), Halliburton was never robust but would seldom complain of sickness or poor stamina. He graduated from the
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 Schoo ...
in 1917, where he was chief editor of ''The Lawrence''. In 1921 he graduated from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where he was on the editorial board of ''
The Daily Princetonian
''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University.
Founded on June 14, 1876 as ''The'' ''Princetonian'', it changed its name to ''T ...
'' and chief editor of ''The Princetonian Pictorial Magazine''. He also attended courses in
public speaking
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...
and considered a career as a lecturer.
Career
"An even tenor"
Leaving college temporarily during 1919, Halliburton became an
ordinary seaman
__NOTOC__
An ordinary seaman (OS) is a member of the deck department of a ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman, and has been for centuries. In modern times, an OS is required to work on a ship for a specific amount o ...
and boarded the freighter ''Octorara'' that July, bound from
to England.
[ He toured historic places in London and Paris, but soon returned to Princeton in early 1920 to finish his schooling.][ His trip inspired in him a lust for even more travel; seizing the day became his credo. The words of ]Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, who in works like ''The Picture of Dorian Gray
''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...
'' enjoined experiencing the moment before it vanished, inspired Halliburton to reject marriage, family, a regular job, and conventional respectability as the obvious steps after graduation. He liked bachelorhood, youthful adventure, and the thrill of the unknown. To earn a living he intended to write about his adventures. He dedicated his first book to his Princeton roommates, "...whose sanity, consistency and respectability ... drove imto this book".
Halliburton's father advised him to get the wanderlust out of his system, return to Memphis and adjust his life to "an even tenor":
"I ''hate'' that expression", Richard responded, expressing the view that distinguished his life-style, "and as far as I am able I intend to avoid that condition. When impulse and spontaneity fail to make my way uneven then I shall sit up nights inventing means of making my life as conglomerate and vivid as possible.... And when my time comes to die, I'll be able to die happy, for I will have done and seen and heard and experienced all the joy, pain and thrills—any emotion that any human ever had—and I'll be especially happy if I am spared a stupid, common death in bed.
Witness to the wedding of the emperor of China
In 1922 Halliburton witnessed the last ceremonial marriage of a Chinese Emperor, the wedding of Emperor Puyi
Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...
to Empress Wanrong
Wanrong (; 13 November 1906 – 20 June 1946), of the Manchu Plain White Banner Gobulo clan, was the wife and empress consort of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, sometimes anachronistically called the “Xuantong Empress”, referring to Pu ...
in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. The Royal Family would be permanently expelled less than 2 years later. Halliburton wrote of the event in his memoir as follows:
Lecturer and pioneer of adventure journalism
While Halliburton was attending Princeton, ''Field and Stream
''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020.
History ...
'' magazine paid him $150 for an article (). This initial success encouraged him to choose travel writing
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...
as a career. His fortunes changed when a representative of the Feakins Agency heard him deliver a talk, and soon Halliburton was given bookings for lectures. Despite a high-pitched voice and occasional discomfort on the details, Halliburton displayed such enthusiasm and recounted such vivid recreations of his often bizarre foreign encounters that he became popular with audiences. On the strength of his lecturing and increasing celebrity appeal, publisher Bobbs-Merrill
The Bobbs-Merrill Company was a book publisher located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Company history
The company began in 1850 October 3 when Samuel Merrill bought an Indianapolis bookstore and entered the publishing business. After his death in 1 ...
, whose editor-in-chief David Laurance Chambers was also a Princeton graduate, accepted Halliburton's first book, ''The Royal Road to Romance'' (1925), which became a bestseller.
Two years later he published ''The Glorious Adventure'', which retraced Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
' adventures throughout the Classical Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
world as recounted in Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
'', and which included his visiting the grave of English poet Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
on the island of Skyros
Skyros ( el, Σκύρος, ), in some historical contexts Latinized Scyros ( grc, Σκῦρος, ), is an island in Greece, the southernmost of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC and slightly later, the ...
. In 1929, Halliburton published ''New Worlds To Conquer'', which recounted his famous swim of the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
, his retracing the track of Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
' conquest of Mexico, and his cast in the role, in full goat-skin costume, of Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
(Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island i ...
), "cast away" on the island of Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
. Animals figure prominently in this and many other of Halliburton's adventures.
Ascent to fame
Halliburton's friends during this time included movie stars, writers, musicians, painters, and politicians, including writers Gertrude Atherton
Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (October 30, 1857 – June 14, 1948) was an American author. Paterson, Isabel, "Gertrude Atherton: A Personality"
The Bookman'', New York, February 1924, (pgs. 632-636) Many of her novels are set in her home sta ...
and Kathleen Norris
Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880 – January 18, 1966) was an American novelist and newspaper columnist. She was one of the most widely read and highest paid female writers in the United States for nearly fifty years, from 1911 to 1959. N ...
, Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
James Phelan and philanthropist Noël Sullivan, and actors Ramón Novarro
José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor. He began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box ...
and Rod La Rocque
Roderick Ross La Rocque (November 29, 1898 – October 15, 1969) was an American actor.
Biography
La Rocque was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edmund La Rocque and Ann (née Rice) La Rocque. His father was of French-Canadian descent and his mo ...
. Casual acquaintances were many, as lectures, personal appearances (notably to promote ''India Speaks''), syndicated columns, and radio broadcasts made him a household name associated with romantic travel.
Halliburton was acquainted with swashbuckling cinema star Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckler film, swashbuckling roles in silent films in ...
, who was also a world traveler. Halliburton himself, though several times approached about film versions of his adventures (notably by Fox Film Corporation
The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film ...
in 1933 for ''The Royal Road to Romance''), only appeared in one movie, the Walter Futter
Walter Futter (January 2, 1900 – March 3, 1958) was a film producer and director in the United States. After an initial career cutting and editing films, Futter began writing and producing his own shorts and movies, often using footage he acquir ...
-produced semi-documentary ''India Speaks'' (1932; re-released in 1947 as ''Bride of Buddha'' or ''Bride of the East'').
''Flying Carpet'' Expedition
In 1930 Halliburton hired pioneer aviator Moye Stephens
Moye Wicks Stephens (February 21, 1906 – 1995) was an American aviator and businessman. He was a pioneer in aviation, circumnavigating the globe with adventure writer Richard Halliburton in 1931, and co-founding Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
Family ...
on the strength of a handshake for no pay, but unlimited expenses["Moye W. Stephens, Richard Halliburton and the ''Flying Carpet''"]
Reprinted in part from '' Tarpa Topics'' (The Retired Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...
Pilot's Magazine), April 1996. Accessed online January 2, 2008—to fly him around the world in an open cockpit biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
. The modified Stearman C-3B was named the ''Flying Carpet'' after the magic carpet
A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination.
In literature
One o ...
of fairy tales, subsequently the title of his 1932 best-seller. They embarked on "one of the most fantastic, extended air journeys ever recorded" taking 18 months to circumnavigate the globe, covering 33,660 miles (54,100 km) and visiting 34 countries.
The pair started on Christmas Day 1930, making stops along the way, from Los Angeles to New York City, where they crated the airplane and boarded it on the oceanliner RMS ''Majestic''. They sailed to England, where their extended mission began. They flew to France, then Spain, the British possession of Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, and on to Africa at Fez, Morocco
Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès, Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the List of cities in Morocco, second largest city i ...
(where Stephens performed aerobatics for the first air meet held in that country). They crossed the Atlas mountains
The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range. It stretches around through Moroc ...
and set out across the Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
to Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
, using the fuel caches of the Shell Oil Company
Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
. While in Timbuktu, they were guests of Pere Yakouba, a French Augustinian monk who had years before fled from the distractions of modern society and become patriarch and a noted scholar of the community. They flew to their destination without mishap, then continued northward and eastward, spending several weeks in Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
with the French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
, and continuing via Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
and Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, with a side trip to Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...
.
In Persia (now Iran) they met German aviator Elly Beinhorn
Elly Beinhorn (30 May 1907 – 28 November 2007) was a German pilot.
Life
Early life
She was born in Hannover, Germany on 30 May 1907.
In 1928, she attended a lecture by famed aviator Hermann Köhl, who had recently completed a historic E ...
, who was grounded by mechanical problems. They assisted her and then worked out shared itineraries. Later, Halliburton wrote a foreword to her book ''Flying Girl'' about these and other of her adventures in the air. Now exhausted, and their plane tiring, Stephens and Halliburton continued their eastward journey. In Persia, Crown Princess
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...
Mahin Banu had a ride in the airplane. In neighbouring Iraq, the young Crown Prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
Ghazi had a ride; they flew him over his school yard.
In India, Halliburton visited the Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...
, which he had first visited in 1922. In Nepal, as ''The Flying Carpet'' flew past Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
, Halliburton stood up in the open cockpit of the plane and took the first aerial photograph of the mountain. To the delight of an amazed Maharajah of Nepal, Stephens and Beinhorn performed daring aerobatics. In Borneo, Halliburton and Stephens were feted by Sylvia Brett
Sylvia Leonora, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak (born ''The Hon. Sylvia Leonora Brett'', 25 February 1885 – 11 November 1971), was an English aristocrat who became the consort to Sir Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, the last of ...
, wife of the White Rajah
The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward f ...
of Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
. They gave her a ride, making Ranee Sylvia the first woman to fly in that country. At the Rajang River
The Rajang River ( ms, Batang Rajang) is a river in Sarawak, northwest Borneo, Malaysia. The river originates in the Iran Mountains, flows through Kapit, and then towards the South China Sea. At approximately , the river is the seventh-longest i ...
, they took the chief of the Dyak head hunters
''Head Hunters'' is the twelfth studio album by American pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur T ...
for a flight: he gave them 60 kilos of shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.
Headhunting has occurred in many regions of the world, but the practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwest ...
s, which they dared not refuse but dumped as soon as possible. They were the first Americans to fly to the Philippines: after arriving in Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
on April 27, the plane was again loaded onto a ship () to cross the ocean. They flew the final leg from San Francisco to Los Angeles.[ A fictionalized account of his travels in India and Asia was depicted in the 1933 film '']India Speaks
''India Speaks'' is a 1933 Pre-Code adventure film, combining elements of documentaries and travelogue programs, mostly taking place on the Indian sub-continent along with staged bits spliced in to aid story flow. Produced by Walter Futter from ...
''.
Moye Stephens was a skilled pilot. Halliburton, in a reassuring letter to his parents (January 23, 1932), recited his many flight skills. Stephens, for instance, during one aerobatic display, astutely aborted a slow roll the moment he realized that Halliburton had not fastened his seat belt. Stephens later became chief test pilot
A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
of the Northrop Flying Wing
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...
, which evolved into today's B-2 Spirit
The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...
stealth bomber
Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Nig ...
. The around-the-world trip had cost Halliburton over $50,000, plus fuel; in the first year, the book he entitled ''The Flying Carpet'' (after his valiant plane) earned him royalties of $100,000, in those depression-era days a remarkably large sum. Barbara H. Schultz's ''Flying Carpets, Flying Wings – The Biography of Moye Stephens'' (2011), besides recounting the Flying Carpet Expedition from a flier's viewpoint as well as documenting Stephens' (1906–1995) contributions to aviation history, contains Stephens' extended reports of the adventure. With rare glimpses into the travel writer's art, these give historic balance to Halliburton's often romanticized renditions.
Commissioned research travel and feature article writing
Early in 1934 the Bell Syndicate Newspapers contracted with newspapers throughout the United States, beginning with the ''Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', to publish weekly feature stories prepared by Halliburton. Of about one thousand words each with pictures, ultimately fifty stories resulted. Among these were stories on the Seri
Seri or SERI may refer to:
People
*Jean Michaël Seri, an Ivorian professional footballer Places
*Seri Yek-e Zarruk, Iran
*Seri, Bheri, Nepal
*Seri, Karnali, Nepal
*Seri, Mahakali, Nepal
*Seri, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
Oth ...
Indians of Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
; Fort Jefferson, where Dr. Samuel Mudd
Samuel Alexander Mudd Sr. (December 20, 1833 – January 10, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Mudd worked as a doctor and tobacco fa ...
, convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, was imprisoned; Admiral Richmond Pearson Hobson, who deliberately sank his own ship during the Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
, and the Battle of Santiago de Cuba
The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a decisive naval engagement that occurred on July 3, 1898 between an American fleet, led by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley, against a Spanish fleet led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, which occurred ...
a month later; Henri Christophe
Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti.
Christophe was of Bambara ethnicity in West Africa, and perhaps of Igbo descent. Beginning with t ...
and the Citadelle Laferrière
The Citadelle Henry Christophe , or simply the Citadelle ( en, Citadel), is a large early 19th-century fortress situated on the Bonnet à l'Evêque mountaintop in Nord, Haiti. The imposing structure is located approximately south of the city of ...
in Haiti; Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
, Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
, and "The Girl from Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
Who Wrecked Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
". Paid well, Halliburton traveled extensively to fulfill his end of the deal: to Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, Haiti, Martinique, to Miami, Washington, D. C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
(to do research at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
), to New York, to Europe, and ultimately to Russia.
At the height of his popularity, he appeared on radio, attended celebrity parties (including one at the home of novelist Kathleen Norris who, like Halliburton, had stories regularly featured in the newspapers), and, after the purchase of a used Ford roadster, explored the heartland of California and the beauties of the Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...
area. Other commissions followed: United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
, producing a movie about Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...
, asked him to do a story on the Renaissance art
Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...
ist's love life. The lectures continued. Halliburton even turned down "job" offers, one of which was for the considerable sum of $500 a week, for 26 weeks, from a radio company "to speak on a beer program". Meanwhile, besides the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal
''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...
'', newspapers in Milwaukee, Kansas City, Columbus, and Toronto published his syndicated stories.
At the end of the year, he was again in Europe to commence his dream of emulating Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
and crossing the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
on an elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
, one chosen for the task from a Paris zoo and given the name "Miss Dalrymple". They went from Martigny
Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octodurie ...
(Switzerland) to Aosta
Aosta (, , ; french: Aoste , formerly ; frp, Aoûta , ''Veulla'' or ''Ouhta'' ; lat, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum; wae, Augschtal; pms, Osta) is the principal city of Aosta Valley, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of ...
(Italy).
The following year Bobbs-Merrill published Halliburton's ''Seven League Boots'', filled with his latest adventures and arguably the last of the great travel works of the classic period.
Hangover House in Laguna Beach, California
In 1937 William Alexander Levy designed a house for Halliburton in Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...
, which is now known as "a landmark of modern architecture". Alexander was a novice architect, a recent graduate of the New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
School of Architecture
This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world.
An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education.
Africa
...
and close friend of Paul Mooney. Mooney managed the construction of the house. The house, built of concrete and steel and fortress-like in appearance, contained a spacious living room, a spacious dining room and three bedrooms: one for Halliburton, which featured a wall-sized map of the world; one for Mooney; and one for Levy. Because of its position, perched 400 feet (120m) above a sheer canyon, it was called "Hangover House" by Mooney, and this title was cast into a retaining wall on the site. Writer Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, who visited the house in 1937 when she was still an unknown writer, is believed to have based the "Heller House" in ''The Fountainhead
''The Fountainhead'' is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an intransigent young architect, who battles against conventional standards and refuses to com ...
'' (1943) upon Halliburton's home.
''Sea Dragon'' expedition and disappearance
On September 23, 1938, Halliburton boarded the ,[ bound for Hong Kong. From Hong Kong he intended to sail a Chinese junk across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. The junk, named the ''Sea Dragon'' (), was an essentially Wenchow-style junk, in length, modified to Halliburton's specifications and built in the shipyards of ]Kowloon
Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
by cartwright Fat Kau. Its stern emblazoned with a colorful dragon and interior hull equipped with a diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
, the ''Sea Dragon'', a dramatic symbol of East meeting West, was to be an attraction at the Golden Gate International Exposition
The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...
(GGIE) in San Francisco (at Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
); there, after its three-month voyage across the Pacific, it would dock and, for a small admission fee, take fair-goers on excursions around San Francisco Bay.
According to Halliburton's first cousin, whom he visited in 1938, the trip was meant, in part, to renew interest in Halliburton whose fame at the time was in decline. Biographers credit the idea for the voyage to Walter Gaines Swanson, who, as the Exposition's public relations manager, promoted its goal of celebrating both the Oakland and Golden Gate bridges as well as the cultures of the Pacific rim. Despite an interest in sailing craft since childhood, Halliburton himself had little practical navigation experience. Seeking capable leadership, he hired veteran mariner John Wenlock Welch as his captain and Henry Von Fehren as his engineer. Besides Halliburton's secretary Paul Mooney, the initial crew included George Barstow III, a 21-year-old student at Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
, Dartmouth "lads" John Rust Potter, Robert Hill Chase, and Gordon Ellicott Torrey. Crew composition would change; engineer's assistant Richard L. Davis would bow out; ship's cook James Sligh, and able-bodied seaman Ralph Granrud and Benjamin Flagg would be added; a last-minute entry was student globetrotter Velman Fitch of the University of Minnesota. A Chinese messboy, Chinese bosun and two Chinese sailors ultimately completed the crew.
After he inspected a number of junks along the China coast, finding most either too expensive or wholly unseaworthy, Halliburton decided to have a junk built.[ Although it took less than six weeks to complete, its construction was marked by cost overruns, delays, engineering errors, and what Halliburton perceived as the primitive work habits of the Chinese carpenters, issues prompting him to write, "If any one of my readers wishes to be driven rapidly and violently insane, and doesn't know how to go about it, let me make a suggestion: Try building a Chinese junk in a Chinese shipyard during a war with Japan."][ Funding for the project was from the start a main problem. The corporate sponsors whom Halliburton approached thought the risks of the enterprise greater than its rewards. Chinese venture capitalists in ]Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
thought it far too dangerous in a China torn by war and Buick
Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...
refused to be associated with something called a "junk".[ While the Sea Dragon Expedition was partly ]crowdfunded
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
through paid subscriptions to a projected series of progress reports Halliburton intended to send from China, sales from commemorative tokens and other keepsakes, besides the tourist excursions, were expected sources of revenue. Major and immediate funding, however, came from Halliburton's wealthy relatives, including the wife of his cousin Erle Halliburton;[ $14,000 of the $26,500 raised—perhaps $300,000 to $400,000 in today's money, came from the three crew members from Dartmouth: Robert Chase, John "Brue" Potter, and Gordon Torrey, who had extensive amateur sailing experience.]
A trial run in January 1939 revealed its flaws; the completed ''Sea Dragon,'' distinctly top heavy, rode precariously low, rolling and heeling in moderately active waters.[ Halliburton nevertheless assured his subscribers, on January 27, that the dry deck of the craft indicated its buoyancy and, implicitly, its seaworthiness.][ To improve its stability, however, ten tons of concrete ballast were supposedly poured into its hull. There were other concerns. Many observers, most notably, thought the heavy diesel engine, which released endangering fumes, was out of place aboard a vessel that traditionally sailed sufficiently without mechanical assistance. Chief Officer Dale Collins of the , moreover, noted, as did others, that the masts and sails were far too heavy, and that the ]poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.
The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus th ...
, meant to house a radio cabin and galley, was higher than befit a junk of its size.[ The first attempted voyage in February was forced to turn back on February 14 after a week at sea, due to an illness among the crew.][ For medical reasons, Potter stayed behind after the junk's unsuccessful first voyage and, as would Torrey, later offered an account of his experiences in Hong Kong.] Besides poor performance by the junk in rough seas, the February attempt was aborted as the result of an injury Potter had sustained when struck by the mainsail
A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel.
* On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast.
* On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot ...
boom
Boom may refer to:
Objects
* Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill
* Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation
* Boom (sailing), a sailboat part
* Boom (windsurfi ...
while handling the -long tiller
A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...
.[ Sea Dragon Expedition researcher Gerry Max has noted, as an added factor, that Potter (as Torrey who did not make the trip, and a couple other crew members who did) may have contracted ]gonorrhea
Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium '' Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with ...
during his time in Hong Kong.[ ]Dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
also afflicted several crew members, including Captain Welch. Halliburton himself suffered from a skin rash, the result perhaps of high anxiety and nervous exhaustion. Days before the first crossing attempt, Mooney broke an ankle after falling down a ladder.[ Halliburton sent four letters to subscribers from Hong Kong between November 20, 1938, and February 16, 1939; the fifth, he promised, would be sent from Midway Island.][
Hastily repaired and recaulked, the Sea Dragon left port once again on March 4, 1939.][ Recruits added to replace Potter and Torrey were able-bodied seamen Ben Flagg and Ralph Granrud, both in their early twenties. His seaman skills uncertain, globe-trotter Velman Fitch, at the last minute, hitched a ride. The first couple weeks of the voyage, if uneventful, went according to plan. Calamity struck three weeks out to sea, on March 23, when the ship headed into a ]typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
; at the time it was approximately west of Midway, where it was due to call on April 3. Presumed the closest friendly ship to the junk, perhaps away, was the liner ''President Coolidge'', itself battling mountainous seas some west of Midway Island
Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...
and presumed on its way for a rendezvous with the beleaguered craft. Among the radio messages the liner received from the junk's Captain Welch was an ironically cheerful one: "Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here instead of me." As noted by the ''Coolidge'' waves during those dire moments were estimated at high. The next message was different: "Southerly gale. Heavy Rain Squalls. High sea. Barometer 29.46. True course 100. Speed 5.5 knots. Position 1200 GCT 31.10 north 155.00 east. All well. When closer may we avail ourselves of your direction finder. Regards Welch." That was the last message heard from the junk.
Until then, Halliburton had kept regular, if sporadic, contact with radio stations and trans-Pacific Ocean liners. At first the Coast Guard at Hawaii delayed searching for the missing ship, possibly thinking Halliburton staged his disappearance as a publicity stunt.[ After ''Sea Dragon'' was overdue to call at Midway by a week, on April 10, friends petitioned the Coast Guard to send a search vessel. A ]Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
n freighter, , was the first to arrive at the last reported position of ''Sea Dragon'', on April 16. Later in May, an extensive US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
search with several ships and scout planes, including , scouring over the course of many days, found no trace of the junk or the crew, and the effort was ended. Halliburton's mother abandoned hope that he would be found alive by June. As with Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
, many rumors and reports of Halliburton's fate continued to arise over the years, with fans hoping he might yet turn up alive.[
The ocean liner , captained by Charles Jokstad, passed flotsam in the middle of the Pacific, covered with an estimated one year-old growth of barnacles in 1940 and believed to be from the wreck of the ''Sea Dragon'', perhaps the ship's rudder. Later, in 1945 a 30-foot skeleton of a 150-foot boat of oriental design, mistaken by some as that of the 75-foot ''Sea Dragon'', washed ashore in ]San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, California.
Missing at sea since March 1939, Halliburton was declared dead on October 5, 1939, by the Memphis Chancery Court. His empty grave is at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis at the Halliburton family gravesite. His ghost is reputed to haunt his final residence, Hangover House
Hangover House (also known as the Halliburton House) was designed and built by William Alexander for his friend the travel writer Richard Halliburton. Halliburton had first spotted the ridgetop site while riding on horseback on the beach in 1930 ...
, completed in 1938 by architect William Alexander Levy in Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...
.
Personal life
Halliburton never married. In his teens he dated several young women and, as revealed in letters to them, was infatuated with at least two of them. As an adult, his companions were chiefly male. Among those romantically linked to him were film star Ramón Novarro
José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor. He began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box ...
and philanthropist Noël Sullivan, both of whom enjoyed, as Halliburton, a bohemian lifestyle. Halliburton's most enduring relationship was with freelance journalist Paul Mooney, with whom he often shared living quarters and who assisted him with his written work. French police reports, dated 1935, noted the famed traveler's homosexual activity when in Paris at about the time of his planned crossing by elephant over the Alps: "Mr Halliburton is a homosexual well known in some specialized establishments. He is in the habit of soliciting
Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...
on Saint-Lazare Street" (near the station of the same name).
Private writing
Halliburton admired English poet Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
(1887–1915), whose beauty and patriotic verse captivated a generation. Halliburton intended to write his biography and kept ample notes for the task, interviewing in person or corresponding with prominent British literary and salon figures who had known Brooke, including Lady Violet Asquith Bonham-Carter, Walter de la Mare
Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...
, Cathleen Nesbitt
Cathleen Nesbitt (born Kathleen Mary Nesbitt; 24 November 18882 August 1982) was an English actress.
Biography
Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire,Before 1 April 1974 Birkenhead was in Cheshire England to Thomas and Mary Catherine (née Parry) Nesb ...
, Noel Olivier, Alec Waugh
Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. His first wife was Bar ...
, and Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
. Halliburton never began the book, but his notes were used by Arthur Springer to write ''Red Wine of Youth—A Biography of Rupert Brooke'' (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1952).
A vigorous correspondent, Halliburton wrote numerous letters to fans, friends, editors, sponsors, and literary acquaintances. To his parents alone, he wrote well over a thousand letters; a large selection of these, edited in part by his father Wesley, was published in 1940 by Bobbs-Merrill as ''Richard Halliburton: His Story of His Life's Adventure As Told to His Mother and Father''.
Character of published work
In his colorful and simply-told travel adventures Halliburton was the "innocent abroad", receptive to new ideas and with a quiet erudition. He displayed a romantic readiness which shone through his best prose, prose at once picturesque, gently informative, extroverted (though self-enlisted), and personally confiding. He often described his attaching himself to a famous historic person (and key event for which that person was known) or to a revered place, such as the Taj Mahal. Acting as sort of an emcee, or performing some often cleverly garish stunt, he recalled that person and invoked a place associated with him; by so doing, he escorted readers into a different time and locale, with some reflective asides added for perspective into his narrative. Thus he duplicated Hannibal's crossing of the Alps by elephant – naming the pachyderm he had gotten from a Paris zoo Miss Elysabethe Dalrymple; he emulated Ulysses' myriad adventures in the Mediterranean dressed often as a beach-comber or playboy; he re-enacted Robinson Crusoe's island solitude, adopting a menagerie of domestic pets with names such as Listerine, Kitty and Susie. Examples of the device filled his work and helped define his public image: of further note, he retraced the fateful expedition of Hernando Cortez Hernando is a common Spanish given name, equivalent to Fernando and the English Ferdinand. It may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Hernando Island, British Columbia
;United States
* Hernando, Florida
* Hernando County, Florida
* Hernando, Mississippi
; ...
to the heart of the Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...
; like his hero Lord Byron, he swam the Hellespont
The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
, metaphorically bridging Europe and Asia; and he lived among the French Foreign Legion in North Africa.
Halliburton was an early proponent of what Susan Sontag in her essay "Notes on 'Camp'" tagged "the theatricalization of experience." He did not just view legendary places and landscapes, but dramatized them, often by performing, in relationship to them, some athletic feat ultimately intended to thrill armchair travelers as well as to educate them: he swam the Panama Canal, climbed the Matterhorn
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...
and Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
(its first documented winter ascent), and twice he descended into the Mayan Well of Death, the Sacred Cenote
The Sacred Cenote ( es, cenote sagrado, , "sacred well"; alternatively known as the "Well of Sacrifice") is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula. It ...
of Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal ...
. The occasional trouble that he received from authorities only contributed to the excitement of his adventures. Such run-ins occurred when he breached security to take photos of the guns at Gibraltar and was arrested; again, when he attempted to enter Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
, which is forbidden to non-Muslims; and yet again when he snuck past the gatekeepers at the Taj Mahal where, beneath a moonlit sky, he could indulge in a swim in the sacred pool that faced the worshiped tomb.
Halliburton's books were meant for the general reading public. Into households across America, they brought the world's many divergent peoples and cultures. What racial comments their author made, though for the time not unique to him, when revisited today, may unsettle. Ethnocentric, Halliburton thought it "extraordinary" that "such a primitive race" as the Seri Indians residing in Lower California "should live so close to (presumably civilized) Hollywood." Of the blending of races and cultures he encountered, Halliburton attempted to be descriptive rather than judgmental. Still, intrigued by the "slim Sonias" working in Blood Alley in Shanghai, he seemed, while amused, also dismayed by the interracial mingling their physical appearances suggested to him: "When Chinese blood and foreign blood are mixed, especially if the foreign blood is Russian, Portuguese or French, the devastating result is something to write home about." Halliburton's ideas of miscegenation are traceable partly to racialist notions trending in his day. One source was Lothrop Stoddard's ''The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy
''The Rising Tide of Color: The Threat Against White World-Supremacy'' (1920), by Lothrop Stoddard, is a book about racialism and geopolitics, which describes the collapse of white supremacy and colonialism because of the population growth amon ...
'' (1920), a work which is referred to in F. Scott's Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' and retitled "The Rise of the Colored Empires" by "Goddard."
Halliburton's love of the world's natural wonders, and such monuments of mankind which seemed best to compliment those wonders, derives in part from the Romanticism of poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...
(acquaintance with whom may have been sharpened by his exposure at Princeton to English Professor Henry Van Dyke
Henry Jackson van Dyke Jr. (November 10, 1852 – April 10, 1933) was an American author, educator, diplomat, and Presbyterian clergyman.
Early life
Van Dyke was born on November 10, 1852, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Henry ...
, a popular essayist and poet of his time, who also had been a teacher of Halliburton's editor David Laurance Chambers). As theirs, Halliburton's view of technology was dim, and he gently urged that one see the world's marvels before "modern Progress" obliterated them.
Halliburton was a cultural relativist
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated ...
: believing that "culture was king," he adhered to the credibility of multiple perspectives, a stance perhaps explaining his claim of purchasing a slave child in Africa – which did not happen, according to Moye Stephens – or adopting the garb of a particular region to "go native". As a sort of cultural ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
, he met heads of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 "he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and le ...
from Peruvian dictator Augusto Leguia, to Emperor Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
of Ethiopia, to the Last Emperor of China, to King Feisal al Husain of Iraq and his son the Crown Prince.
Over time Halliburton's social and political views changed. An early letter (1923) expressed his "virulent antipathy for democracy as practiced in America" and a hatred "for the laboring class", but these views contrast with the plight he shared with the downtrodden, as at Devil's Island
The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...
, and his occasional working with rough-hewn seamen. His last writings, done in collaboration with journalist Paul Mooney, the four letters (of a projected seven) comprising ''Letters from the Sea Dragon'' as well as the fifteen articles comprising ''The Log of the Sea Dragon''—in their descriptions of the displacement of peoples engendered by the Japanese advance, suggest the war-reportorial course his writing might have taken had he lived. A news correspondent's role is also suggested by his skilled interview with the executioner of the Romanovs, the last ruling dynasty of Russia. Distinguished by their readerliness, the essays of historic personages appearing in both his books and newspaper articles, notably of Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
hero Captain Richard Hobson and of Haitian leader Henri Christophe
Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti.
Christophe was of Bambara ethnicity in West Africa, and perhaps of Igbo descent. Beginning with t ...
, show the skills of the natural biographer, and offer further hint of career evolution.
Legacy
Publisher James O'Reilly, who reissued ''The Royal Road to Romance'' to celebrate the centenary of Halliburton's birth, characterized him: "From the Jazz Age through the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
to the eve of World War II, he thrilled an entire generation of readers." He was "clever, resourceful, undaunted, cheerful in the face of dreadful odds, ever-optimistic about the world and the people around him, always scheming about his next adventure."[Quoted is James O'Reilly in his introduction to the 2000 reprint of ''Royal Road to Romance'']
He wrote that Halliburton's "manhood spanned the brief interval between the two World Wars" and acclaims him as a "spokesman for the youth of a generation". Halliburton insisted throughout his career on the importance of travel abroad as a means to self-improvement and discovery. He was an advocate by example of the 'grand tour' championed by monarchs from the days of Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
, and fostered the study abroad
International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying.
In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...
programs featured in the curricula of many colleges and universities.
Halliburton wanted to be remembered as the most-traveled man who ever lived, but he was surpassed by contemporary globetrotters and influences, Burton Holmes
Elias Burton Holmes (1870–1958) was an American traveler, photographer and filmmaker, who coined the term "Travel literature, travelogue".
Travel stories, slide shows, and motion pictures were all in existence before Holmes began his career, ...
and Harry Franck
Harry Alverson Franck (29 June 1881 – 18 April 1962) was an American travel writer during the first half of the 20th century.
Biography
Harry Alverson Franck was born on June 29, 1881 in Munger, Michigan, the eldest of three children of ...
. In his day he had few rivals, though Carveth Wells
Grant Carveth Wells (21 January 1887 — 16 February 1957) was a British adventurer, travel writer, and television personality in the mid-twentieth century.
Wells was the author of eighteen travel-related books, including ''Six Years in the Mala ...
(''Adventure!''), Eugene Wright (''The Great Horn Spoon'') and Martin and Osa Johnson
Martin Elmer Johnson (October 9, 1884 – January 13, 1937) and Osa Helen Johnson (née Leighty, March 14, 1894 – January 7, 1953) were married United States, American adventurers and documentary filmmakers. In the first half of the 20th cent ...
(''Safari'') could equally captivate. Called the "Richard Halliburton of the occult," William Seabrook
William Buehler Seabrook (February 22, 1884 – September 20, 1945) was an American occultist, explorer, traveler, journalist and writer, born in Westminster, Maryland. He began his career as a reporter and City Editor of the ''Augusta Chronic ...
(1884-1945) (''Jungle Ways'') commanded nearly as wide a readership.
For contemporaries Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century.
Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origin ...
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
, Corey Ford
Corey Ford (April 29, 1902 – July 27, 1969) was an American humorist, writer, outdoorsman, and screenwriter. He was friendly with several members of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City and occasionally lunched there.
Early years
Ford was ...
and Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
, Halliburton held some literary (and for humorist Ford, some satiric) appeal. Writers Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...
, Jim Harrison
James Harrison (December 11, 1937 – March 26, 2016) was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s ...
and Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
, among others, acknowledged debts of gratitude for his influence on their work. Television news celebrity and author Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
, who heard him lecture in the mid-1930s, credited Halliburton with steering him to a career in journalism. As the writer of a succession of bestsellers, and as a popular lecturer, Halliburton figured prominently in educating several generations of young Americans in the rudiments of geography, history and culture, especially through his two ''Books of Marvels'', re-issued in one volume after his death.
Two structures commemorate Halliburton: Hangover House in Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...
, and the Memorial Tower at Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges a ...
in Memphis, Tennessee. Architecture historian and writer Ted Wells considers Hangover House, which Halliburton commissioned, one of the "best modern houses in the United States". Nearly a quarter century after Halliburton's disappearance, his father donated $400,000 to build an imposing bell tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
. It was dedicated in 1962 as the Richard Halliburton Memorial Tower, and the elder man died the following year at age 95.
In his ''Second Book of Marvels'', Halliburton stated, "Astronomers say that the Great Wall
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian noma ...
is the only man-made thing on our planet visible to the human eye from the moon." Although untrue, this statement was a possible source for the urban legend that the Great Wall of China could be seen from space.
The Richard Halliburton Papers are held at Princeton University Library
Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...
and the Richard Halliburton Collection at Paul Barret, Jr. Library at Rhodes College.
Beginning with Gerry Max's ''Horizon Chasers: The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney'' published in 2007, a succession of books about Halliburton has appeared. John Hamilton's ''Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of American Newsgathering Abroad'' published in 2009, devotes considerable space to Halliburton and his contemporaries in the travel writing field. ''The Forgotten Adventures of Richard Halliburton: A High Flying Life from Tennessee to Timbuktu'' by R. Scott Williams appeared in 2014, ''American Daredevil: The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World's First Celebrity Travel Writer'' by Cathryn J. Prince in 2016, and ''Richard Halliburton and the Voyage of the Sea Dragon'' by Gerry Max in 2020.
The World War II liberty ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
was named in his honor.
Works
;Monographs
*
**Covering the Matterhorn, Andorra
, image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg
, symbol_type = Coat of arms
, national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
, the Alhambra
The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...
, Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, Gibraltar, Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, the Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
, Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
, Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
, the Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing pa ...
, Angkor
Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
, Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, Bali, Japan and the ascent of Mt. Fuji
*
**Following the path of Ulysses around the Mediterranean
*
**Covering Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and South America, including the Panama Canal, the Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
Well of Death, and Devil's Island
*
**See above
*
**Covering Ethiopia, Russia, Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
, the Alps
*
** Originally titled ''Marvels of the West''
*
*
*
*
** Republication of ''The Royal Road to Romance'' (1925), ''The Glorious Adventure'' (1927), and ''New Worlds to Conquer'' (1929) in a single volume
;As contributor
* ''India Speaks with Richard Halliburton'', Grosset & Dunlap-Publishers, New York, 1933
** "Richard Halliburton, who in the photoplay
''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...
''India Speaks'', plays the part of a young American traveling in India and Tibet in search of adventure. The photographs that follow are stills selected from the film taken by several different cameramen sent to Asia for the purpose-film which supplies the authentic background for the photoplay."[''India Speaks with Richard Halliburton'', Grosset & Dunlap-Publishers, New York, 1933]
*''One Hundred Years of Delightful Indigestion – Memphis Priceless and Treasured Receipts'', Introduction by Richard Halliburton, World Traveler, Author and Epicure (Memphis: James Lee Memorial Academy of Arts, 1935)
Notes and references
Further reading
*Alt, John H. ''Don't Die in Bed: The Brief, Intense Life of Richard Halliburton.'' Atlanta: Quincunx Press, 2013
*Austen, Roger. "Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America"
*Blankenship, Michael. "A Fellow Traveler," ''The Advocate--The National Gay and Lesbian News Magazine,'' July 18, 1989, pp. 38-43.
*Cortese, James. ''Richard Halliburton's Royal Road.'' Memphis: White Rose Press, 1989
*Deffaa, Chip. "On the Trail of Richard Halliburton '21: A Young Alumnus Searches for the Man Behind the Legend," ''Princeton Alumni Weekly,'' May 13, 1973.
*Gilliam, Ronald,
Richard Halliburton and Moye Stephens: Traveling Around the World in the ''Flying Carpet''"
''Aviation History'' (date unclear)
*Hamilton, John M. (2009
''Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting''
Louisiana State University Press.
*Heaver, Stuart. "Richard Halliburton: The Hero Time Forgot," South China Morning Post, March 23, 2014.
*Max, Gerry. ''Horizon Chasers: The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2007
*Max, Gerry. "The Royal Road To Romance in the USA: Thomas Wolfe, Richard Halliburton, Eco-Tourism and Eco-Poetry", ''Thomas Wolfe Review,'' Volume 38, Nos. 1 & 2, 2014, pp. 80–94.
*Max, Gerry. ''Richard Halliburton and the Voyage of the Sea Dragon'', Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, 2020.
*Morris, Charles E. (III), "Richard Halliburton's Bearded Tales", ''Quarterly Journal of Speech,'' Vol. 95, No. 2, May 2009, pp. 123–147.
*Prince, Cathryn J. ''American Daredevil: The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World's First Celebrity Travel Writer, Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2016.
*Root, Jonathan. ''Halliburton—The Magnificent Myth.'' New York: Coward-McCann, 1965.
*Schultz, Barbara H. ''Flying Carpets, Flying Wings – The Biography of Moye Stephens.'' Lancaster, California: Plane Mercantile, c2011.
*Schwartz, David M. "On the Royal Road to Adventures with 'Daring Dick.'" ''Smithsonian Magazine
''Smithsonian'' is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.
History
The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' maga ...
'' 19.12, March 1, 1989, pp. 159–160, 162–164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174–178
*Taylor, William R. ''A Shooting Star Meets the Well of Death, Why and How Richard Halliburton Conquered the World,'' Abbeville, SC: Moonshine Cove Publishing, 2013, .
*Townsend, Guy. , ''Memphis Magazine'', originally published August 1977, reprinted April 2001
* , a 1932 ''Time'' magazine review of ''The Flying Carpet''
*Wilde, Winston. ''Legacies of Love: A Heritage of Queer Bonding'' (Haworth Press)
*Williams, R. Scott. ''The Forgotten Adventures of Richard Halliburton: A High Flying Life From Tennessee to Timbuktu'', Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, c2014.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliburton, Richard
1900 births
1939 deaths
1930s missing person cases
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
American travel writers
LGBT people from Tennessee
American LGBT writers
People from Brownsville, Tennessee
People from Memphis, Tennessee
People lost at sea
Princeton University alumni
20th-century LGBT people