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    The Ebony Stick
    The Ebony Stick
    The Ebony Stick
    Ebook41 pages36 minutes

    The Ebony Stick

    By Earl Derr Biggers

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This early work by Earl Derr Biggers was originally published in 1916 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. "The Ebony Stick" is one of Biggers shorter stories, published after his death. Earl Derr Biggers was born on 26th August 1884 in Warren, Ohio, USA. Biggers received his further education at Harvard University, where he developed a reputation as a literary rebel, preferring the popular modern authors, such as Rudyard Kipling and Richard Harding Davis to the established figures of classical literature. While on holiday in Hawaii, Biggers heard tales of a real-life Chinese detective operating in Honolulu, named Chang Apana. This inspired him to create his most enduring legacy in the character of super-sleuth Charlie Chan. The first Chan story "The House Without a Key" (1925) was published as a serialised story in the Saturday Evening Post and then released as a novel in the same year. Biggers went on to write five more Chan novels and all were licensed for movie adaptations by Fox Films. These films were hugely popular with several different actors taking the lead role of Chan. They were even a success in China where the appeal of a character from the country being the hero instead of the villain appealed to film-goers. Eventually; over 40 films were produced featuring the character. Biggers only saw the early on-screen successes of Charlie Chan due to his death at the age of only 48 from a heart attack in April 1933.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWhite Press
    Release dateJul 3, 2015
    ISBN9781473371606
    The Ebony Stick
    Author

    Earl Derr Biggers

    Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) was an American novelist and playwright. Born in Ohio, Biggers went on to graduate from Harvard University, where he was a member of The Harvard Lampoon, a humor publication for undergraduates. Following a brief career as a journalist, most significantly for Cleveland-based newspaper The Plain Dealer, Biggers turned to fiction, writing novels and plays for a popular audience. Many of his works have been adapted into film and theater productions, including the novel Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913), which was made into a Broadway stage play the same year it was published. Towards the end of his career, he produced a highly popular series of novels centered on Honolulu police detective Charlie Chan. Beginning with The House Without a Key (1925), Biggers intended his character as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes prominent in the early twentieth century. His series of Charlie Chan novels inspired dozens of films in the United States and China, and has been recognized as an imperfect attempt to use popular media to depict Chinese Americans in a positive light.

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      Book preview

      The Ebony Stick - Earl Derr Biggers

      THE EBONY STICK

      by

      Earl Derr Biggers

      Illustrated By Walter Briggs

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Earl Derr Biggers

      Earl Derr Biggers was born on 26th August 1884 in Warren, Ohio, USA.

      Biggers received his further education at Harvard University, where he developed a reputation as a literary rebel, preferring the popular modern authors, such as Rudyard Kipling and Richard Harding Davis to the established figures of classical literature. Following in their footsteps upon graduating, he himself began a career as a popular writer, penning humourous articles and reviews for the Boston Traveler.

      In 1913 he produced his debut novel The Seven Keys to Baldpate which was well received by the critics and public alike. George M. Cohen bought the theatrical rights to this work and it was eventually adapted into seven feature films, the first in 1915 and the last in 1983. Biggers compounded this success with his next two novels Love Insurance (1914) and The Agony Column (1916) and continued with his magazine contributions as well as writing plays. He enjoyed hits with the plays A Cure for Curables, which had a two year run in New York, and Inside the Lines, which ran for 500 performances in London.

      While on holiday in Hawaii, Biggers heard tales of a real-life Chinese detective operating in Honolulu, named Chang Apana. This inspired him to create his most enduring legacy in the character of super-sleuth Charlie Chan. The first Chan story The House Without a Key (1925) was published as a serialised story in the Saturday Evening Post and then released as a novel in the same year. Biggers went on to write five more Chan novels and all were licensed for movie adaptations by Fox Films. These films were hugely popular with several different actors taking the lead role of Chan. They were even a success in China where the appeal of a character from the country being the hero instead of the villain appealed to film-goers. Eventually, over 40 films were produced featuring the character.

      Biggers only saw the early on-screen successes of Charlie Chan due to his death at the age of only 48 from a heart attack in April 1933.

      THE EBONY STICK

      AT nine o’clock on a bright June morning Clay Garrett, colored, intermittent sweeper and duster of the leading bank in a large Texas city, opened the heavy doors that led from the street into that most marble of bank interiors. Two minutes later—this being also part of the regular schedule—Major Tellfair, white-haired but erect, crossed the threshold, nodded to Clay and to the boys behind the bars, and passed into the office where he ruled as president. There he opened his desk,

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