James Warner Bellah
James Warner Bellah[American frontier|] was an American
Western author from the 1930s to the 1950s. His pulp-fiction writings on cavalry and Indians were published in paperbacks or serialized in the Saturday Evening Post.
Bellah was the author of 19 novels, including The Valiant Virginian, and Blood River. Some of his short stories were turned into films by John Ford, including Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande. With Willis Goldbeck he wrote the screenplays for Sergeant Rutledge and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Biography
Bellah earned his B.A. from Columbia University and M.A. in history from Georgetown University.In World War I, Bellah enlisted in the Canadian Army, and served as a pilot in the 117th Squadron of Great Britain's Royal Flying Corps. These experiences formed the basis of his 1928 novel Gods of Yesterday.
For several years after the war, he was a writer for advertising firms and instructor in English at Columbia. In the 1930s he worked as a journalist for the New York Post.
During World War II, Bellah served in the United States Army, starting as a lieutenant in the 16th Infantry, was detailed to the General Staff Corps before Pearl Harbor, and was later assigned to Headquarters 1st Infantry Division, later with the 80th Infantry Division. Later he served on the staff of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten in Southeast Asia. He was attached to General Wingate's Chindits in combat in Burma, and to General Stillwell and to Colonel Cochran's 1st Air Commando Group. He left the service with the rank of Colonel.
He was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of California beginning in 1952.
His short story "Spanish Man's Grave" is considered by some to be one of the finest American Western stories ever written. His last script was A Thunder of Drums. Bellah's depiction of the Apache is protested by some and lauded as realistic by others.
In the early stages of his career, Elmore Leonard modelled his style closely after Bellah's writing.
He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles during a visit to his friend James Francis, Cardinal McIntyre, Archbishop of Los Angeles. His manuscripts are stored at Columbia University and Boston University.
President Ronald Reagan was a fan of Bellah's books and said ″He was called the Kipling of America for writing of that great era in American history.″
Novels
These Frantic Years, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1927The Sons of Cain, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1928The Gods of Yesterday, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1928Dancing Lady, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1932 White Piracy, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1933The Brass Gong Tree, New York: Appleton-Century Co., 1936 This is the Town, New York: Appleton-Century Co., 19377 Must Die, New York: Appleton-Century Co., 1938 The Bones of Napoleon, New York: Appleton-Century Co., 1940 Ward Twenty: a Realistic Novel, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1946 Rear Guard, Popular Library, 1950.The Apache, New York: Gold Medal Books, 1951. Divorce, New York: Popular Library Books, 1952 Ordeal at Blood River, New York: Ballantine Books, 1959.Novelizations
Sergeant Rutledge, New York, Bantam Books, 1960, based on a screenplay by Bellah and Willis Goldbeck.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, New York, Pocket Books, 1962 based on a screenplay by Bellah and Willis Goldbeck and the original story by Dorothy M. Johnson.Thunder of Drums, New York, Bantam Books, 1961, based on a screenplay by Bellah.Fort Starke, Civil War and Other Military Stories
Fort Starke Stories Collected in Reveille published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1962 and Massacre published by Lion 1950:- Command, The Saturday Evening Post June 8, 1946
- By the Beard of Saint Crispin, The Saturday Evening Post August 3, 1946
- West of the Paradise, The Saturday Evening Post September 7, 1946
- Massacre, The Saturday Evening Post February 22, 1947
- Spanish Man's Grave, The Saturday Evening Post May 3, 1947
- The Devil at Crazy Man, The Saturday Evening Post June 21, 1947
- Mission with No Record, The Saturday Evening Post September 27, 1947
- Lash of Fear, The Saturday Evening Post November 8, 1947
- Big Hunt, The Saturday Evening Post December 6, 1947
- The Last Fight, The Saturday Evening Post October 16, 1948
- Stage for Elkhorn, The Saturday Evening Post November 20, 1948
- War Party, The Saturday Evening Post June 19, 1948
Civil War Stories:
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians—First Blood at Harper's Ferry, The Saturday Evening Post May 9, 1953
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians: Stuart's Charge at Bull Run, The Saturday Evening Post May 16, 1953
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians: Slaughter at Ball's Bluff, The Saturday Evening Post May 23, 1953
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians: Jackson Got Licked at Kernstown, The Saturday Evening Post May 30, 1953
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians— How Stonewall Came Back, The Saturday Evening Post June 6, 1953; Tales of the Valorous Virginians.
- Tales of the Valorous Virginians: The Secret of the Seven Days, The Saturday Evening Post June 13, 1953
Other Military Stories collected in Fighting Man. USA
- Spanish Man's Grave – The Saturday Evening Post, May 3, 1947
- Day of Terror – The Saturday Evening Post, November 17, 1956
- While the General Slept – The American Magazine Mar 1939
- The Heart of Guinevere – The Saturday Evening Post, December 14, 1935
- Fear – The Saturday Evening Post November 6, 1926—Bellah's debut in that publication.
- Pirate of Nantucket – The Saturday Evening Post, June 27, 1942
- Death of an Admiral – Cosmopolitan July 1961
- Soldier's Boy – The Saturday Evening Post, November 23, 1957,
- Spanish Man's Grave – The Saturday Evening Post, May 3, 1947,