Walter Rollin Brooks (January 9, 1886 – August 17, 1958) was an American writer known for his children's books about

Freddy the Pig Freddy the Pig is the central figure in a series of 26 children's books written between 1927 and 1958 by American author Walter R. Brooks and illustrated by Kurt Wiese, consisting of 25 novels and one poetry collection. The books focus on the adven ...

and the other anthropomorphic animal inhabitants of the Bean Farm in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York (state), New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upsta ...

, and also for his short stories about

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...

the talking horse, made into a television show after his death.

Biography

Brooks was born in

Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Rome Metropolitan Statistical Area, which l ...

. He attended college at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of ...

and subsequently studied homeopathic medicine in New York City. He dropped out after two years, however, and returned to Rochester where he married Anne Shepard in 1909. He found employment with an advertising agency in Utica, and then "retired" in 1911, evidently because he came into a considerable inheritance. His retirement was not permanent; in 1917, he went to work for the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the des ...

and he later did editorial work for several magazines, including "a nonfiction stint with ''

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 ...

'' 1932–1933". In 1940, he turned to writing for his full-time occupation. He married Dorothy Collins following the death of Anne in 1952. The first works that Brooks published were poems and short stories. Among these were a series of short stories featuring "a talking horse and his drunken owner" which was the basis for the 1960s television comedy series ''

''. His most enduring works, however, are the 26 books that he wrote about

and his friends.

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

and

J. Francis McComas Jesse Francis McComas (June 9, 1911 – April 19, 1978) was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe. He entered publishing in 1941 as a sal ...

praised ''Freddy and the Spaceship'' because it "offers wit, sound structural plotting, genuine character-humor, and admirable English prose". Brooks died of a heart attack at his home in

Roxbury, New York Roxbury is a town in Delaware County, New York, United States. The population was 2,247 at the 2020 census.2020 US Census, Roxbury, Delaware County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Roxbury%20town,%2 ...

at age 72. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Hamilton, New York. In 2009, Overlook Press published ''Talking Animals and Others: The Life and Work of Walter R. Brooks, Creator of Freddy the Pig'' by Michael Cart .

Works

Novels

Mister Ed stories

Nine of these stories were published in a collection, ''The Original Mr. Ed'', in 1963. "Ed Signs the Pledge" was the story

Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, '' Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the '' Francis the Talking Mule'' series and created the talking-horse TV ...

used to pitch the ''Mister Ed'' comedy series to TV executives.Patten, Fred. Review: 'The Original Mr. Ed', by Walter Brooks. flayrah.com. October 22, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
/ref> *"The Talking Horse", ''Liberty'', September 18, 1937 *"Horse Sense", ''Esquire'', October 1938 *"Mr. Pope’s Thoroughbred", ''Liberty'', June 10, 1939 *"Ed Has His Mind Improved", ''Liberty'', October 14, 1939 *"Ed Shoots It Out", ''Liberty'', June 1, 1940 *"The Midnight Ride of Mr. Pope", ''Liberty'', August 3, 1940 *"Just a Song at Twilight", ''Liberty'', September 21, 1940 *"Ed Holds a Séance", ''Liberty'', March 1, 1941 *"Ed Likes to Be Beside the Seaside", ''Liberty'', July 5, 1941 *"Ed Takes the Cockeyed Initiative", ''Liberty'', September 27, 1941 *Ed Gets a Mother Complex, Liberty, November 8, 1941 *"Mr. Pope Rides Again", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', July 4, 1942 *"Bird in the Bush", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', September 5, 1942 *"Dr. Atwood and Mr. Ed", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', January 16, 1943 *"Do Ye Ken Wilbur Pope?", ''The Saturday Evening Post'', June 5, 1943 *"Ed Quenches an Old Flame", ''Argosy'', May 1944 *"Ed Signs the Pledge", ''Argosy'', June 1944 *"Ed Makes Like a Horse", ''Argosy'', August 1944 *"Well, Really, Mr. Pope!", ''Argosy'', October 1944 *"Ed the Were Horse" (a.k.a. "Monster in Horse’s Clothing"), ''Argosy'', February 1945 *"Ed Goes Psychic" (a.k.a. "Such a Spiritous Horse!"), ''Argosy'', April 1945 *"Ed Divides and Conquers", ''Argosy'', July 1945 *"With Teeth and Tail", ''Argosy'', September 1945 *"His Royal Harness", only in ''The Original Mr. Ed'' *"Medium Rare", only in ''The Original Mr. Ed''

References

External links

*
International ''Friends of Freddy''Harley Hahn's Freddy the Pig information page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Walter R. 1886 births 1958 deaths American children's writers People from Rome, New York