Samuel Woolley Taylor (February 5, 1907 – September 26, 1997) was an American novelist, scriptwriter, and historian.

Biography

Taylor was born in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Utah, fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County, Utah, Utah County and is home to Bri ...

to Janet "Nettie" Maria Woolley and John W. Taylor, the son of John Taylor,

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) from 1880 to 1887. Samuel's father was a former member of the church's

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to '' Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

, having left in 1905 in protest over the church's

Second Manifesto The "Second Manifesto" was a 1904 declaration made by Joseph F. Smith, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in which Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of t ...

abandonment of

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is marr ...

the previous year. Despite his father's ecclesiastical history and

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

in 1911, Samuel was raised in the LDS Church. He later wrote a biography of his father called ''Family Kingdom'', and one of his grandfather titled ''The Kingdom or Nothing''. In the late 1920s Taylor attended

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

(BYU) studying journalism. He became editor of the student newspaper ''Y News'', in which he also wrote a weekly column called "Taylored Topics." After covering a story about

rum-running Rum-running or bootlegging is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction. The ...

on campus, Taylor was questioned by school administration to divulge his sources, but he refused. After a temporary suspension, he returned to his previous position with the paper, and returned to upsetting administration with his writing. After six suspensions, he later recalled that he could "take a hint" and dropped out of BYU. By then he had already published five articles in nationally distributed magazines. He decided to "escape" Utah and followed Gay Dimick, a fellow BYU student, back to her native California. They married there in 1934 and established their longtime home in

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

. He served as an officer in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

public relations office in the

European theatre of World War II The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

. He was awarded an honorary lifetime membership by the

Association for Mormon Letters The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to "foster scholarly and creative work in Mormon letters and to promote fellowship among scholars and writers of Mormon literature." Other stated purposes have in ...

at the 1994 AML Awards.

Writings

Film scripts and adaptations

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...

, the first film based on one of Taylor's stories, ''

The Man Who Returned to Life ''The Man Who Returned to Life'' is a 1942 American black-and-white drama film directed by Lew Landers, written by Gordon Rigby and released by Columbia Pictures. Plot David Jameson lives in a rural town in Maryland. He is forced to flee aft ...

'', was released. This was later followed in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

by '' The Man with My Face'' based on his novel of the same name. His first foray into screenwriting began with ''

Bait Bait may refer to: General * Bait (luring substance), bait as a luring substance ** Fishing bait, bait used for fishing Film * ''Bait'' (1950 film), a British crime film by Frank Richardson * ''Bait'' (1954 film), an American noir film by Hugo ...

'' in 1954. In contrast to the serious nature of these films, Taylor was also the author of two short stories, published in ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' weekly magazine, on which the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

movies '' The Absent-Minded Professor'' (1961), ''

Son of Flubber ''Son of Flubber'' is a 1963 American science fiction comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The sequel to ''The Absent-Minded Professor'' (1961), Fred MacMurray reprises his role from the first film as N ...

'' (1963), and '' Flubber'' (1997) were based. He is sometimes incorrectly credited as the writer of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's 1958 film ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

'', though that screenplay was actually written by Samuel A. Taylor.

General novels

Those novels not dealing specifically with Mormonism: * ''The Grinning Gismo'', A. a. Wyn Inc, 1951. * '' The Man with My Face'', 1948 * ''Take My Advice, Mr. President'', Taylor Trust, 1996, . * ''Uranium Fever'', with Raymond Taylor, Macmillan Company, 1970

Latter-day Saint works

;Biography and history * ''Family Kingdom'', New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1951, . * ''I Have Six Wives'', New York: Greenberg, 1956. (based on the life of

Rulon C. Allred Rulon Clark Allred (March 29, 1906 – May 10, 1977) was a homeopath and chiropractor in Salt Lake City and the leader of what is now the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado, and ...

) * ''Vineyard by the Bay'', San Mateo, 1968. (uncredited; history of the LDS Church in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

) * ''Nightfall at Nauvoo'' (

Nauvoo House The Nauvoo House in Nauvoo, Illinois, is a boarding house that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, began constructing in the 1840s. The boarding house was never completed, but the structure was later converted into a re ...

and

Nauvoo Temple The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Jose ...

), New York: Macmillan, 1971 . * ''The Kingdom or Nothing'', New York: Macmillan, 1976, .
(republished as ''The Last Pioneer'', Signature Books, 1999, ) * ''Rocky Mountain Empire'', New York: Macmillan, 1978, . * ''The John Taylor Papers'' (2 vols.), Redwood City, Cal: Taylor Trust, 1984. * ''Taylor-made Tales'', Murray, Utah: Aspen Books, 1994, .
(autobiography) ;Humorous fiction * ''Heaven Knows Why!'', New York: A.A. Wyn, 1948.
Mormon comedy set in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, originally published as serials in ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Coll ...

'' magazine under the title "The Mysterious Way". Has been called the funniest piece of fiction written on Mormon culture.

Criticism

Taylor was an early proponent of a

Mormon literature Mormon literature is generally considered to have begun a few years before the March 1830 publication of the Book of Mormon. Since then, Mormon literature has grown to include more scripture, as well as histories, fiction, biographies, poetry, ...

in essays such as "Peculiar People, Positive Thinkers and the Prospects of Mormon Literature" (''

Dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

'', 1967) and "Little Did She Realize: Writing for the Mormon Market" (''Dialogue'', 1969), wherein he decried the current state of the literature and called for greater artistry and realism. Taylor continued to publish criticism related to

Mormon culture #REDIRECT Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints {{R from other capitalisation ...

in ''Dialogue'' as well as ''

Sunstone Sunstone is a microcline or oligoclase feldspar, which when viewed from certain directions exhibits a spangled appearance. It has been found in Southern Norway, Sweden, various United States localities and on some beaches along the midcoast of ...

'' magazine.

Notes

Sources

*. *. *. *. *.

External links

Samuel W. Taylor: Talented Native Son
nbsp;— biography by Jean R. Paulson (August 1998)

in the Special Collections & Archives of

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

The John Taylor Family Papers
in the

J. Willard Marriott Library The J. Willard Marriott Library is the main academic library of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The university library has had multiple homes since the first University of Utah librarian was appointed in 1850. The current building ...

Special Collections of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Samuel W. 1907 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American humorists American Latter Day Saint writers American male novelists American male screenwriters American short story writers Apostolic United Brethren Brigham Young University alumni Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement American magazine writers Writers from Provo, Utah People from Redwood City, California Military personnel from Utah United States Army Air Forces officers 20th-century American biographers American male short story writers Novelists from Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from California Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Utah 20th-century American male writers Taylor family (Latter Day Saints) 20th-century American screenwriters American male biographers