Mon 31 Jan 2011
Deaths Noted: WILLIAM JOHNSTON, ARIANA FRANKLIN and ROBERT E. W. JANSSON.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Obituaries / Deaths Noted[4] Comments
(1) WILLIAM JOHNSTON, 1924-2010.
Al Hubin sent me earlier today news of the death of William Johnston, author of many movie and TV tie-in novels, including nine in the Get Smart series. He was born in 1924 and is reported to have passed away last October 15th.
There’s a long article about Johnston on Lee Goldberg’s blog
on the occasion of Johnston’s being awarded last year’s Faust, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers’ Grand Master Award.
Said Lee Goldberg: “He wrote books based on Captain Nice, Room 222, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, The Flying Nun, The Brady Bunch, Nanny and the Professor, The Munsters, Gilligan’s Island, Bewitched, The Monkees and F-Troop, among others.
“But his TV tie-in work extended far beyond sitcom adaptations. He wrote books based on Ironside, Dick Tracy, The Young Rebels, The Iron Horse, Then Came Bronson, and Rod Serling’s The New People, to name a few. He even adapted the cartoon characters Magilla Gorilla and Snagglepuss into books for children.
“Johnston also penned many novelizations, including the pilots for the 1930s-era private eye series Banyon and the high school drama Sons and Daughters. His feature film novelizations include Klute, The Swinger, Echoes of a Summer, The New Interns, The Priest’s Wife, Lt. Robin Crusoe USN and his final tie-in project, Gore Vidal’s Caligula (under the pseudonym William Howard).”
(2) ARIANA FRANKLIN, 1935-2010.
From my daughter Sarah’s historical fiction blog, Reading the Past:
“Diana Norman, who also wrote historical thrillers as Ariana Franklin, passed away on Thursday after a lengthy illness. […] Her ‘Mistress of the Art of Death’ series brought her back to the early Plantagenet era in the company of Adelia Aguilar, a Salerno-trained physician and forensic specialist (for the 12th c).”
L. J. Roberts recently reviewed A Murderous Procession, the fourth in the series, on this blog. I added a bibliography and some cover photos.
(3) ROBERT E. W. JANSSON. 1936-2011.
Born in England, died in Missouri January 13, 2011. A long online obituary can be found at
http://obit.schrader.com/obitdisplay.html?task=Print&id=884065
A teacher and chemist by trade, Jansson was also the author of two crime thrillers in the 1970s, both in Hubin: Meet You in Munich (Barker, 1975) and News Caper (London: Macmillan, 1978).
These were followed by Feet First in 2009, a detective novel, preceded in 2008 by a novel taking place in Iceland during the Viking era, Kari’s Saga.
[UPDATE] 02-04-11. Jiro Kimura, on his Gumshoe Site, adds the fact that Prof. Stuart Warlock appeared in both of Jansson’s 1970s novels, a series character previously unknown to Hubin.
February 1st, 2011 at 2:56 am
I read quite a few of Johnston’s tie in works, both in the GET SMART series and others. He was usually literate and fun to read, and the GET SMART series must have been harder to write than most tie ins thanks to the humor.
February 1st, 2011 at 11:50 am
The GET SMART paperbacks were put out by Tempo, which was a primarily a teens (YA) publisher. So that’s reason I have only four of them — book stores and library sales have them in their kids’ section, places I seldom go to look.
I also have many of the movie and other TV tie-in’s, but the only one I remember reading is KLUTE. Both book and film were very enjoyable.
Writing a book based on a film sounds as though it should be easy, but it takes a special talent it make it (the book) stand on its own, and that’s what Johnston must have had, having done so many of them.
February 1st, 2011 at 6:29 pm
In my personal pantheon of tie in writers Johnston came in just behind Michael Avallone and Marvin Albert — pretty good company for any writer. He also did a good DICK TRACY novel in paperback, and his adaptation of BANYON was well done.
But it’s mostly GET SMART I remember him for, and I know several people who hold it in high esteme as a well done series that captured the shows appeal in print.
Of course quite a few good writers wrote tie ins including Harry Whittington, Richard Wormser, Robert W, Krepps, Peter Rabe, Jim Thompson, and Richard Jessup — all who had success in other fields as well.
February 17th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
To learn more about tie-ins, I immodestly recommend the anthology TIED IN, which you can get on Amazon, B&N, etc. It’s a book of essays, interviews, and retrospectives by members of the International Association of Media Tie-in writers.
Lee