Edgar Wallace

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals. Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than for any other author. He is credited for the original story used as the basis for the screenplay of King Kong (1933).

Edgar Wallace c. 1898–1902

Quotes

• Dreamin' of thee! Dreamin' of thee!
  • "T. A. in Love", Writ in Barracks (1900)

• I never did believe in the equality of the sexes, but no girl is the weaker vessel if she gets first grip of the kitchen poker.
  • Lila in Room 13 (1924), Ch. 18

• The day Mr. Reeder arrived at the Public Prosecutors' Office was indeed a day of fate for Mr. Lambton Green, Branch manager of the London Scottish and Midland Bank.
  • The Mind of Mr J. G. Reeder (1925), opening words

• Her uncle drove a taxi which he had purchased on the 'never never' system. You pay $80 down and more than you can afford for the rest of your life.
  • More Educated Evans (1926) [1]

• What is a highbrow? He is a man who has found something more interesting than women.
  • The New York Times (24 January 1932), sect. 8, p. 6

• Twas Beauty that killed the beast!
  • Carl Denham in King Kong (1933)

Quotes about

• Wallace is for modern London what the Arabian Nights were for arab civilization.
  • Wyndham Lewis, The Apes of God (1930), Part 12, § II. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Modern Classics, 1965, p. 420

• At a later meeting, I got to chat up Edgar Wallace. He was very pudgy and very British. Always eating sweets. Very rotund. Sweated profusely in the California warmth. At first, he seemed to think my name was Kay Fay! Which gave us all a laugh. And then, ten days later, he caught pneumonia from all that sweating and was soon dead. Merian ditched most of his script and went with a new one by James Creelman and Ruth Schoedsak [sic].
  • Fay Wray, c. 1970s; as quoted in James Bawdren and Ron Miller Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era (2016), p. 265