Trivia

Killed with his wife in a two-car accident in California while returning from a hunting trip in Mexico.

Brother-in-law of S.J. Perelman

Before his death West earned only $1280 from the publication of his four novels.

Died the same weekend as his colleague F. Scott Fitzgerald, another respected novelist turned Hollywood screenwriter.

West was practically unknown to the American public during his lifetime. On 22 Dec 1940, he and his wife Eileen McKenney were returning to Los Angeles from a hunting trip in Mexico to attend the funeral of his friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald, when he ran a stop sign in El Centro, California, and hit another vehicle. He and his wife were killed. McKenney had been the inspiration for the title character in the play "My Sister Eileen", and she and West had been scheduled to fly to New York City for the Broadway opening on 26 Dec 1940. West was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York, with his wife's ashes placed in his coffin.

In the late 1930s West was a regular at Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. Its back room was a longtime haven for writers and intellectuals, and West mentions the place in his novel "The Day of the Locust". Musso & Frank opened in 1919; as of 2025 it is the oldest restaurant in Hollywood and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Brother-in-law of Ruth McKenney.

Brother of Laura Perelman.

His wife, Eileen McKenney, was the real life Eileen of "My Sister Eileen" fame. The story and films were based on her sister Ruth's writings.

Close friend of Quentin Reynolds.

West first moved to Hollywood in 1933, where he sold the screen rights to his novel "Miss Lonelyhearts". It was produced as Advice to the Forlorn (1933). He settled there in 1935 and scripted B pictures for Republic, Universal and RKO. Hollywood, its movie industry and fringe dwellers became the subject of West's last and greatest novel, "The Day of the Locust" (1939).