Frank Gruber(1904-1969)

Frank Gruber, one of the "kings of pulp fiction", was born in Elmer, Minnesota. After serving a stint in the army, he took on various writing jobs, including trade journal editor and correspondence school teacher. During the early 1930s he got his break writing "quickie" detective stories for what were known as the "pulps", publications that specialized in short stories in a variety of genres, westerns, detective stories, etc., that were short on plot but long on action. He created many interesting characters, including the rascal Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick, strongman Sam Gragg. He also created the more well known Simon Lash series. Gruber will always be known, however, for his work in the western genre. He wrote dozens of western novels, many later adapted for the screen; he also wrote several original screenplays, mostly westerns. With the advent of television, Gruber turned his talents to teleplays and cranked out over 200, again mostly in the western genre. He was the creator of the series Tales of Wells Fargo (1957), The Texan (1958) and Shotgun Slade (1959). He also wrote a very good biography of legendary western writer Zane Grey. Gruber married Lois Mahood in 1931 and they had one son. One characteristic of much of Gruber's writing was that he often centered his piece around a specific subject, such as dog shows or antique furniture, and one could always pick up some interesting information from his works.