Theodore Pratt (1901–1969) was an American writer who is best known for his novels set in Florida. He wrote more than 30 novels, which were adapted into films five times.

Biography

Pratt was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota in 1901 to Thomas A. and Emma Pratt. The family later moved to

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

, where Theodore attended high school. After completing high school, he attended

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

for two years, and then

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

for another two years, but did not graduate. He worked in New York City as a play reader, a staff reader for a movie company, and a columnist for the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

''. He also free-lanced articles for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and other national magazines. Theodore Pratt married Belle Jacqueline (Jackie) Jacques in 1929. The couple went to Europe for their honeymoon, and stayed for four years, during which he served as the European correspondent for the ''New York Sun''. The Pratts eventually settled in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, Spain, where Pratt wrote a column for the English language ''Daily Palma Post''. In 1933 Pratt wrote an article for ''

The American Mercury ''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wri ...

'' called "Paradise Enjoys a Boom" that was highly critical of the Majorcan character and way of life (he called Majorcans "among the cruelest people to animals extant in the civilized world", and said "they make inept servants, and when not shirking their work from pure laziness or contrariness, they are stealing food to take to their own home"). After parts of the article appeared in translation in Majorca, the Pratts were forced to leave Spain and returned to the United States. The Pratts moved to

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

in 1934. In 1946 the Pratts moved for a brief period to California, but returned to Florida to live in

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

. In 1958 the Pratts moved to

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles ...

, where he died in 1969. Pratt traveled extensively in Florida, in particular away from the tourist areas on the east coast, to gather material for his writing. While he was writing ''

Mercy Island ''Mercy Island'' is a 1941 American drama that was nominated at the 14th Academy Awards, held in 1941, for Best Score of a Dramatic Picture, for which Walter Scharf and Cy Feuer received nominations. Plot A young man takes his wife and a friend ...

'', he lived in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

so that he could more accurately portray the lives of the Conch people of the Keys. His ''Escape to Eden'' incorporated material from a trip into the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

he had made with members of the Audubon club on which their boat ran out of gas, leaving them stranded for a day-and-a-half.

Writing

Theodore Pratt published more than thirty novels, including four mysteries under the pseudonym of "Timothy Brace", two collections of short stories, two plays (adapted from his novels), a few non-fiction books and pamphlets, and numerous short stories and articles in periodicals such as ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...

'', ''Escapade'', '' The Gent'', ''Manhunt'', ''Guilty Detective Story Magazine'', ''

Coronet A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. A coronet differs from other kinds of crowns in that a coronet never has arches, and from a tiara in that a coronet completely encircles the head, while a tiara does ...

'', ''

Fantastic Universe ''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishin ...

'', ''

Space Science Fiction Between 1952 and 1954, John Raymond published four digest-size science fiction and fantasy magazines. Raymond was an American publisher of men's magazines who knew little about science fiction, but the field's rapid growth and a distributo ...

'', and ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

''. Some of his novels had strong sexual content by the standards of the time. ''The Tormented'' (1950), a study of nymphomania, was turned down by thirty-four publishers. It eventually sold more than a million copies.

Film adaptations

Five of his works were made into feature motion pictures: *His 1941 novel ''Mercy Island'' was filmed the same year, also titled ''

'' *His April 26, 1941, article "Land of the Jook" for ''

'' was filmed as ''

Juke Girl ''Juke Girl'' is a 1942 American drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt, written by A. I. Bezzerides, and starring Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Richard Whorf, George Tobias, Gene Lockhart, Alan Hale Sr., Howard ...

'' in 1942. *1942's ''Mr. Limpet'' was made into the Don Knotts film '' The Incredible Mr. Limpet'' in 1964 *1943's ''Mr. Winkle Goes to War'' was filmed as ''

Mr. Winkle Goes to War ''Mr. Winkle Goes to War'' is a 1944 war comedy film starring Edward G. Robinson and Ruth Warrick, based on a novel by Theodore Pratt. Plot On June 1, 1942, after fourteen years working in a bank, mild-mannered 44-year-old Wilbert G. Winkle su ...

'' in 1944 *1943's ''

The Barefoot Mailman ''The Barefoot Mailman'' is a comedy-adventure film starring Robert Cummings and distributed by Columbia Pictures in 1951. The film was based on the 1943 novel ''The Barefoot Mailman'' by Theodore Pratt. Filmed in Super Cinecolor on location i ...

'' was released as ''

'' in 1951 The Theodore Pratt Collection of first editions and manuscript material can be found in the Special Collections section of the library at

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

in Boca Raton.

References

* Note: No page numbers in article.
The Fiction Mags Index - Pratt, Theodore
URL retrieved February 24, 2014 (Note: The URL shifts as the index grows.)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Theodore Novelists from Florida Writers from New Rochelle, New York 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 1901 births 1969 deaths People from Delray Beach, Florida People from Boca Raton, Florida People from Lake Worth Beach, Florida Writers from Minneapolis 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Minnesota New Rochelle High School alumni