Ellery Queen facts for kids
Ellery Queen is a special name used by two American crime writers, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee. They created this name in 1929. It's also the name of their main detective character, who is a mystery writer in New York City. This character helps his father, a police inspector, solve difficult murder cases.
Dannay and Lee wrote over thirty novels and many short stories featuring Ellery Queen. Their books were very popular American mysteries from 1929 to 1971. Besides writing stories about their clever detective, they also edited many collections of crime stories. Frederic Dannay also started and edited Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which has been published since 1941.
Later, other authors were hired to write crime thrillers using the "Ellery Queen" name, but these books didn't feature the Ellery Queen detective character. Some books for younger readers were even credited to Ellery Queen, Jr.. The two cousins also wrote four mysteries under another name, Barnaby Ross.
Frederic Dannay's real name was Daniel Nathan, and Manfred Bennington Lee's real name was Emanuel Benjamin Lepofsky. They were cousins who used their professional names to create "Ellery Queen."
Ellery Queen is a registered trademark of Manfred Lee & Frederic Dannay.
Contents
About the Authors: Dannay and Lee
Manfred Bennington Lee, whose real name was Emanuel Benjamin Lepofsky, was born on January 11, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York. Frederic Dannay, whose real name was Daniel Nathan, was born on October 20, 1905, also in Brooklyn, New York.
Manfred Bennington Lee passed away on April 3, 1971, in Roxbury, Connecticut. Frederic Dannay died on September 3, 1982, in White Plains, New York.
Their Amazing Career
For 42 years, "Ellery Queen" was the shared pen name for cousins Dannay and Lee. It was also the name of the main detective they created. In the 1930s and 1940s, their detective was probably the most famous fictional detective in America. Many movies, radio shows, and TV shows were made based on their stories.
Frederic Dannay was the main person who started and edited Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, a popular magazine for crime stories. The cousins were also important historians of mystery fiction. They edited many collections of short stories, like The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. Their large book, 101 Years' Entertainment: The Great Detective Stories, 1841–1941, was a very important work.
In 1961, the Mystery Writers of America gave them the Grand Master Award. This award honors great achievements in mystery writing.
The fictional detective Ellery Queen appeared in over 30 novels and many short story collections. Dannay and Lee also wrote four novels about a detective named Drury Lane using the name Barnaby Ross. They even allowed the Ellery Queen name to be used by other authors. These books were often based on ideas from Dannay and usually didn't feature the Ellery Queen character.
The cousins kept their writing process a secret. Writer H.R.F. Keating wondered how they did it. It seems that Fred Dannay mostly created the plots, clues, and character ideas. Manfred Lee then wrote the stories using those ideas.
Critic Otto Penzler said that Ellery Queen was an amazing editor of story collections. He also said that Queen was a very important person in the history of detective short stories. British crime novelist Margery Allingham believed Ellery Queen had "done far more for the detective story than any other two men put together."
Even though Frederic Dannay lived longer than his cousin, the "Ellery Queen" writing name stopped when Manfred Lee died. The last novel featuring the Ellery Queen character was published in 1971, the year Lee passed away. However, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is still published today as a crime fiction magazine.
Ellery Queen, the Detective Character
The character Ellery Queen was created in 1928. Dannay and Lee entered a writing contest for the best first mystery novel. They decided to use the same name for their detective as their own shared pen name. Their first novel, The Roman Hat Mystery, won the contest and was published in 1929.
The Roman Hat Mystery set up a pattern for their books:
- A title based on a place, like The Dutch Shoe Mystery or The Egyptian Cross Mystery.
- A strange crime.
- Many clues and red herrings (false clues).
- Several wrong solutions before the real truth is found.
- Supporting characters like Ellery's father, Inspector Richard Queen, and his assistant, Sergeant Velie.
A famous part of the early Ellery Queen books was the "Challenge to the Reader." This was a page near the end of the book. It told readers they had all the same clues as Ellery and that only one solution was possible. Writer Julian Symons said this claim was true, which was rare for crime stories.
The fictional Ellery Queen is often shown as the author of the books he appears in. He's also the editor of the magazine named after him. Over time, Ellery Queen's personality and how he solves cases changed.
In the first novels, Ellery was a smart, wealthy person who went to Harvard. He wore special glasses and solved crimes because he found them interesting. Later, he worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter and solved cases there. He became more connected to Hollywood society.
Starting with Calamity Town in 1942, Ellery became more human and sometimes felt emotional about his cases. He even quit detective work for a while. Some stories were set in a made-up town called Wrightsville. After his Hollywood and Wrightsville periods, he returned to New York City. He was then seen as a very logical detective who kept a distance from his cases. In the very last novels, he seemed almost like a faceless person whose only job was to solve the mystery.
Ellery Queen is mentioned as being married and having a child in the first few novels, but this idea was never fully developed. He is mostly shown as a bachelor. The character of Nikki Porter, who was Ellery's secretary and a possible love interest, first appeared in the radio series. She later appeared in some books. Another character, Paula Paris, was linked to Ellery in some Hollywood stories but then disappeared. Ellery didn't have serious romantic interests after them.
The Queen family apartment in New York City was shared by Ellery and his father. They also had a houseboy named Djuna in the early novels. Djuna helped with cooking and other tasks. He was the main character in some of the books for young readers written by other authors under the name Ellery Queen, Jr.
How the Stories Were Written
The Ellery Queen novels are examples of "fair play" whodunit mysteries. This means the reader gets the same clues as the detective, making the book an intellectual puzzle. Mystery writer John Dickson Carr called it "the grandest game in the world."
The early Queen novels had very detailed clues and solutions. In books like The Greek Coffin Mystery, multiple solutions were suggested before the real one was found. This became a common feature in their stories. Another style in early books was Ellery making a list of facts about the murderer (like "the murderer is male"). He would then compare suspects to these facts to find the killer.
By the late 1930s, when Ellery Queen (the author and the character) moved to Hollywood, the stories began to change. Romance was added, and solutions started to involve more about people's minds. The "Challenge to the Reader" also disappeared. Some novels became more about deep thoughts than just puzzles. The three novels set in the fictional town of Wrightsville, starting with Calamity Town in 1942, even showed that Ellery's methods weren't always perfect.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the authors tried some new kinds of stories. Some novels were even written by other writers based on detailed ideas from Dannay. These included The Player on the Other Side, which looked deeply into why people commit crimes.
Towards the end of their careers, the cousins allowed other writers to create crime novels using the Ellery Queen name. These books didn't feature the Ellery Queen detective. Some featured a character called Micah "Mike" McCall, and others featured Captain Tim Corrigan.
There are also several collections of Ellery Queen short stories. Julian Symons praised these, saying that short stories were sometimes even better for this type of writing. He said the best short stories were very fair and puzzling.
Novels as Barnaby Ross
Starting in 1932, the cousins wrote four novels using the name Barnaby Ross. These stories were about Drury Lane, an actor who had retired because he was deaf. He became an amateur detective. These novels also featured Inspector Thumm and his daughter Patience. The Drury Lane novels were also "whodunit" style mysteries.
In the early 1930s, before people knew Dannay and Lee were the authors, "Ellery Queen" and "Barnaby Ross" held public debates. One cousin pretended to be Queen, and the other pretended to be Ross. They both wore masks to keep their identities secret.
In the 1960s, the Barnaby Ross name was used for a series of historical romance novels written by another author. From the 1940s, the Drury Lane books were mostly republished under the Ellery Queen name.
Ellery Queen in Other Media
Radio Shows
The Adventures of Ellery Queen was a popular radio show from 1939 to 1948. In the 1970s, short radio segments called Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries were broadcast. These were one-minute cases that listeners could try to solve.
Television Shows
In 1950, a TV show called The Adventures of Ellery Queen began. Different actors played Ellery Queen in various TV series over the years, including Richard Hart, Lee Bowman, Hugh Marlowe, George Nader, and Lee Philips.
In 1971, Peter Lawford starred in a TV movie, Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You.
The 1975 TV movie Ellery Queen led to the popular 1975–1976 television series. Jim Hutton played Ellery Queen, and David Wayne played his father. This series was set in New York City in 1946–1947. Each episode had a "Challenge to the Viewer." Ellery would talk directly to the audience, explaining the facts and inviting them to solve the mystery before he revealed the answer. Many famous Hollywood stars appeared as guests on this show.
Films
Several films were made based on Ellery Queen novels:
- The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) with Donald Cook as Ellery Queen.
- The Mandarin Mystery (1936) with Eddie Quillan as Ellery Queen.
- Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940) with Ralph Bellamy as Ellery Queen and Margaret Lindsay as Nikki Porter.
- Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) also with Ralph Bellamy and Margaret Lindsay.
- Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (1941) with Ralph Bellamy and Margaret Lindsay.
- Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941) with Ralph Bellamy and Margaret Lindsay.
- A Close Call for Ellery Queen (1942) with William Gargan as Ellery Queen.
- A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen (1942) with William Gargan.
- Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen (1942) with William Gargan.
- La Décade prodigieuse (1971), a French film based on Ten Days' Wonder.
- Haitatsu sarenai santsu no tegami (1979), a Japanese movie based on Calamity Town.
Comic Books and Graphic Novels
Ellery Queen stories appeared in various comic books over the years. The character Ellery Queen is also featured in volume 11 of the Detective Conan manga series. In the manga, another character, Heiji Hattori, even says he prefers Ellery Queen to Arthur Conan Doyle.
Games and Puzzles
The name Ellery Queen was used for several games and puzzles:
- Ellery Queen's Great Mystery Game) Trapped (1956)
- The Case of the Elusive Assassin by Ellery Queen (1967)
- A jigsaw puzzle called "Ellery Queen: The Case of His Headless Highness" (1973)
- A board game called "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Game" (1986)
- A VCR-based game called "Ellery Queen's Operation: Murder" (1980s)
Theater Plays
Dannay and Lee wrote a play called Danger, Men Working, but it only had a few performances. Later, the novel The Four of Hearts was adapted for the stage. In 2016, the novel Calamity Town was adapted into a stage play.
Awards and Honors
The Ellery Queen writing team received several Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America:
- 1946: Best Radio Drama
- 1950: Special Edgar Award for their work with Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
- 1961: Grand Master Edgar Award (their highest honor)
- 1969: Special Edgar Award for the 40th anniversary of The Roman Hat Mystery
The Mystery Writers of America also created the Ellery Queen Award in 1983. This award honors writing teams and important people in the mystery publishing world.
Ellery Queen was even featured on postage stamps! Nicaragua issued one in 1973 as part of a series on "Famous Fictional Detectives." San Marino also issued a similar stamp in 1979.
|
See also
In Spanish: Ellery Queen para niños
