Thu 19 Apr 2007
My review of the film Murder at Glen Athol not too long ago mentioned that it was based on a Doubleday Crime Club mystery of the same title, a book written by Norman Lippincott. It turns out that this is the only work of detective fiction that Lippincott wrote, and that otherwise he was more or less a man of mystery.
Here’s his current listing in Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:
* * Murder at Glen Athol (Doubleday, 1935, hc) [Pennsylvania] World’s Work, 1935. Film: Invincible, 1935; also released as Criminal Within (scw: John W. Krafft; dir: Frank R. Strayer).
I’d love to be able to show you a cover scan of the dust jacket, but none of my usual sources seems to have one. No one on the Internet even seems to have a copy for sale, as I indicated before, either with or without a dust jacket.
A few days ago Victor Berch sent me a couple of emails about Norman Lippincott, telling me everything he’d been able to discover about him, which was considerable. I’ve combined the two messages into one, as follows:
Over the past weekend, I spent some time looking for Norman Lippincott, author of Murder at Glen Athol. I had a bit of luck in tracking him down in a roundabout way.
First, I found an obituary for his son, Franklyn M. Lippincott, who died rather young in New York City in 1941. The son was described as an editor of Screen Fun and other magazines, plus he was identified as the son of Norman Lippincott, the writer. So I knew I was on the
right track.
Franklyn’s age at the time of his death was given as 46, so he must have been born ca. 1895. This meant that I could possibly track him (and his father) through the 1900, 1910, 1920 census records, which I proceeded to do.
The 1900 Census found Franklyn (sometimes spelled Franklin) and his father, Norman R. Lippincott living in Bellevue, PA. His father’s (Norman’s) occupation was listed as a salesman for a cash register company.
I next figured that Franklyn would have been just about the right age to be drafted into the US Army during WW I, but he didn’t show up at all. That could be due to the fact that he had already enlisted in some branch of the service.
But, much to my surprise, his father’s (Norman R. Lippincott) showed up. His full name was given as Norman Roger Lippincott, born December 23 of 1870 in Pennsylvania. His occupation at the time was a salesman for the Burroughs Adding Machine Co. in Pittsburgh, PA.
I could not establish a death date for Norman R. Lippincott. It leads me to believe that he died before 1964 and would hardly be in the Social Security records, since that information kicks in about that time. The Norman Lippincott who died in 1982 [as tentatively identified in CFIV] was Norman William Lippincott, born 1894.
Whatever Norman Lippincott may have written otherwise is probably buried in some magazines or newspapers that have not been indexed as yet. Or, had the fame of his book being made into a motion picture been enough to describe him as “Norman Lippincott, the writer”?
Victor
Al Hubin will correct the vital stats for Mr. Lippincott in the next installment of his Addenda to the Revised CFIV. Since the book itself is missing and still at large, I thought I’d supply instead the blurb for the book from the inside dust jacket flap, as provided by Ellen Nehr’s Doubleday Crime Club Companion: 1928-1991. It’s not possible to say from this, but the book sounds much more serious than the movie. My opinion of the film was that even with a noticeably lighter tone, it’s one of the better detective stories on film made around the same time and on the same budget.
Leading character: Holt (no other name)
Setting: Small western Pennsylvania town
Subject: Interfamily animosity.
Blurb: The Randels of Glen Athol were a strange clan, a group of people torn by inner stress and hatred. The focal point of their trouble was the ruthless, predatory Muriel Randel, a woman with a distorted and warped nature. Within her were those traits which must inevitably lead to an outbreak of violence in the family – an outbreak of sudden death which comes to an end only when Holt penetrates behind the veil of false clues unconsciously planted to deceive him.
After that grotesque dinner party when the two murdered bodies were discovered, it was obvious to Holt that it was an inside job, but he found a family united against him – a family which hindered rather than helped the investigation.
In the end he overcame even their opposition and was able to determine why a beautiful wanton has been murdered because a man had carelessly hung his coat on an accessible nail, and to explain what the selection of a Boston debutante’s gown had to do with the murder of a man and woman in western Pennsylvania.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Murder at Glen Athol by Norman Lippincott is a green cloth covered book with the title in red on the spine and is about the Randels of Glen Athol. My copy has a D/J with a black background , title in red on front at about a 22 deg. angle, a white framed window and a silhouette of a woman leaning back and arms raised as in defence. My copy is printed by Doubleday Doran in Toronto and is a first Canadian Edition.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I just randomly stumbled across this website and I was shocked. Norman R Lippincott is my great grandfather. My grandfather, Col John C Lippincott is alive and lives in Stone Mountain GA. I don’t know what year it would have been, but Norman died when my grandfather was 14. I think he died of polio or something similar and my grandfathers brothers whom they called Sonny died around the same time. Norman also had a daughter named Caroline who has been living in FL all these years. She passed away in June 2006
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Glory
Thanks for stopping by. I sent your email on to Victor Berch, who had this to say in reply:
“I came across a family tree which includes Norman Roger Lippincott. Says he was born 1897 in Pennsylvania and died June 1940 in Detroit, Michigan….”
I’ve sent the information on to Al Hubin, as this now supercedes the dates found earlier.
— Steve
May 11th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
All,
Norman Roger Lippincott is my great, great grandfather. Born 23 December 1872, he was a father of 3 and married to Vesta (Mevay) Lippincott. His three children were: Franklyn Mevay “Sunny” Lippincott , Norman Roger Lippincott, Jr., and Eleanor Lippincott. He can be found in the US Census years 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920. If interested, I have a picture of him circa 1917.
December 11th, 2015 at 8:33 pm
Norman Rodger Lippincott was my great grandfather. My mother is Norma Knox Weber and she was named after him. I spent years going down the long hall in that huge house on Raliegh Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ.to knock on his bedroom door to say good night and get a piece of chocolate with my two sisters Joann and Susie. I have a letter that I recently found that made me cry when I read how much it meant to him when I made him a card for Christmas back in the 50’s. My grandmother Eleanor Lippincott Knox was born in 1900 and died in 1972.Papa moved in with my grandmother in 1931 and later moved with my grandmother to Cedar Bridge Road where he died at age 90.I will always remember the smell of liverworst and pickles when I entered his room. i will always cherish the way he would sit me on his lap and pretend to be so gruff. I loved him so dearly. I think my love for writing came from Papa and now my daughter (Julia Mevay Atherton) is following in his steps.
February 5th, 2020 at 12:10 am
Wow – this is great. Norman Rodger Lippincott, Jr was my grandfather. His wife was Estephanie Hallmark Lippincott and they had three children – John mentioned in a few comments above, Caroline and my mother Estephanie “Nancy.” I have a few pictures of him.
February 5th, 2020 at 12:52 am
Hi Judith
Thanks for stopping by and telling some more about your grandfather. I’m always pleased when someone finds this blog and discovers that the books their relative wrote have not been forgotten.
PS. I see that this old past needs re-formatting. I’ll do that tomorrow.