Mon 10 Nov 2014
Archived Review: CHARLES L. CLIFFORD – While the Bells Rang.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[19] Comments
CHARLES L. CLIFFORD – While the Bells Rang. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1941. [Also published in novella form in The American Magazine, March 1941.]
Except for one borderline item, according to Hubin, this book constitutes the extent of Clifford’s contribution to novel-length crime fiction. (According to the dust jacket, he was well known for his short stories, but if any of them were detective stories, I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know.)
When the story begins, a great deal has already happened. A well-known columnist has been murdered on a polo-player’s ranch, and an army captain from the base adjoining has already been tried and convicted. Convinced of his innocence, however, his fiancee and his closest army buddy decide to become partners and do a little bit of undercover detective work to prove it.
The delivery is fast and slangy — the combined effect, I imagine, of the army post background plus the presence of the fast-paced horsey set next door — while at times a little too much is left unsaid, making the whole affair seem to be taking place in another time and another place altogether. Through the faulty focus of this self-contained time-machine, it’s no great wonder the pieces of the puzzle seem continually blurred and fractionally out of place.
And yet, before it was all over, the characters had started to show definite signs of life, and some of their romantic entanglements had begun to seem important to me as well as to them.
If Clifford had been able to give his amateur sleuths a little more direction, if he had gathered his own material a little more tightly together, if he’d forced the plot to ramble a little less, I’m convinced he’d have had a winner.
That’s a lot of “ifs,” I grant you. I was left in a good mood when it was over, though, and I really think he came closer than I thought for a while he was going to.
Rating: B minus.
[UPDATE] 11-10-14. I don’t remember this one at all, not even with the review itself to jog my memory. I have it to admit it. It’s time to start over.
One other thing. In the comments that followed David Vineyard’s recent review of a novel by Charles Williams, there was a short discussion of pairs of authors with the same name. Here’s another one for you. The real name of Robert Ames, who wrote three paperback originals for Gold Medal in the 50s, was Charles Clifford. You could look it up.
November 10th, 2014 at 10:00 pm
It looks as though I should have checked the Internet before posting the review above, a resource that was not available to me at the time I originally wrote it.
I’m not sure if this fellow is the same person who wrote WHEN THE BELLS RANG, but it certainly looks as though he is, and Al Hubin doesn’t know about it. I will let him know.
From the online FictionMags website:
http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/s950.htm#A24290
CLIFFORD, CHARLES L.; pseudonym of Gerald Hurley, (1898-1978)
* Army Dog, (ss) The Blue Book Magazine Nov 1941
* Army Girl, (na) Redbook Magazine Feb 1935
* Army Wife, (ss) Redbook Magazine Oct 1937
* Beyond the Gate, (ss) The Country Gentleman Nov 1940
* A Blaze of Glory, (ss) Adventure Apr 1 1933
* The Brightest Bolo, (ss) Adventure Jan 1 1931
* Broken Mirror, (ss) Cosmopolitan Jan 1936
* Class Ring, (ss) Argosy Aug 25 1934
* The Constabulary Comes Through, (na) Short Stories Oct 10 1931
Short Stories (UK) mid-Feb 1932
* Contraband Rubies, (na) The Blue Book Magazine May 1947
* Danger Zone, (ss) Adventure Sep 15 1932
* The Decoy, (ss) Adventure Jul 1 1932
* Don Vincente’s Treasure, (ss) Argosy Jun 27 1931
* Eight Goal Men, (ss) The Blue Book Magazine Jul 1935
* Far Call the Bugles, (na) The Blue Book Magazine Dec 1940
* Farewell Trumpet, (ss) Argosy Oct 28 1939
* A Firl with a Line, (ss) Redbook Magazine May 1940
* Follow the Guidon, (ss) Collier’s Oct 12 1940
* Hot Trail, (ss) Adventure Apr 15 1932
* Hoyt of the Macabebes, (ss) Adventure Jun 1 1931
* I Pledge Allegiance, (nv) The Blue Book Magazine Dec 1946
* The Last Maneuvers, (nv) Adventure Feb 1937
* Line of Duty, (ss) The Blue Book Magazine Jun 1941
* A Long Chance at Linguasan, (nv) Short Stories Nov 10 1931
Short Stories (UK) mid-Mar 1932
* The Luck of the Scouts, (ss) Short Stories Oct 10 1942
Short Stories (UK) Sep 1949
* Machine Gun Morale, (ss) Adventure Sep 1 1931
* Mexican Lady, (ss) Street & Smith’s Complete Magazine Sep 1935
* More Vengeance in His Heart, (ss) Short Stories Nov 25 1942
Short Stories (UK) Nov 1949
* One Hour to Wait, (ss) The Saturday Evening Post Aug 6 1938
* One-Man Horse, (ss) Adventure Jul 1933
* Over the Hill, (ss) Adventure Oct 1 1930
* Parade Ground, (na) Redbook Magazine Feb 1934
* Philippine Incident, (ss) Collier’s Mar 21 1942
* Rank and File (with Mary C. McCall, Jr.), (ss) Redbook Magazine Nov 1933
* The Real Glory, (na) Redbook Magazine Feb 1937
* Second Best Man, (ss) Redbook Magazine Nov 1934
Fiction Parade May 1935
* The Second Chance, (ss) Adventure Oct 1 1931
* The Stars Shine Bright, (sl) The Blue Book Magazine Oct, Nov, Dec 1943
* The Sunshiner, (ss) Adventure Nov 1 1930
* Sword of Allah, (n.) Cosmopolitan May 1940
* They Never Die, (ss) The Blue Book Magazine Nov 1949
* Two Kings of Love, (ss) Redbook Magazine Dec 1934
* Two Men from Jolo, (nv) Short Stories Aug 25 1931
Short Stories (UK) early-Jan 1932
* Typhoon Dawn, (sl) The Blue Book Magazine Jul, Aug, Sep 1942
* War Chariot, (nv) Redbook Magazine Feb 1940
* While the Bells Rang, (na) The American Magazine Mar 1941
* Word of Honor, (ss) The Blue Book Magazine Jan 1951
_____, [ref.]
* Our Hall of Fame, (bg) The Blue Book Magazine Jul 1935
* Who’s Who in This Issue, (cl) The Blue Book Magazine Nov 1941
November 10th, 2014 at 10:22 pm
Obviously those stories from Blue Book and Redbook explain the Army background of this one. I wonder if his later books were any better or improved on this one?
November 10th, 2014 at 11:15 pm
I’ve discovered that Hurley even has his own Wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Hurley
Here’s the first paragraph:
“Gerald V. (Vic) Hurley (1898–1978) was a record-breaking athlete, adventurer, expert on the Philippine Islands, military officer, and prolific author. His published books include a non-fiction series relating to the Philippine Islands in the first third of the twentieth century, military histories, screenplays, articles and works of fiction.”
Here’s what they say about his life as a writer:
“From 1935 until the early 1940s he was a prolific author under his own name and under several pseudonyms. During this time he also was a radio personality and the writer for other radio programs. In the late 1930s he wrote the stories or screenplays for two produced movies, Army Girl and The Real Glory, which was based loosely on his Philippine books, under the pen name of Charles L. Clifford.”
No mention of WHILE THE BELLS RANG, though.
November 11th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
There has been a discussion going on between Al Hubin, John Herrington and myself about the identity of the Charles L. Clifford who wrote WHILE THE BELLS RANG.
In particular, John has come up with the following, and I quote:
“… but LOC copyright says the author lived Jacksonville, Mississippi and its his actual name. Found a Lt Colonel Charles L Clifford living Jackson, Mississippi in a street directory, though oddly not on the 1940 census. From army records he would appear to be 23 October 1890 in Boston (as just Charles Clifford on birth registration) to 21 April 1991 in New Jersey, who became Lt-Col in 1936 according to military registers.”
If this Lt. Clifford is “our” Clifford, than a huge coincidence in names has taken place.
At the moment, it is my feeling that most if not all of stories cited in the FictionMags Index are by Lt. Clifford, and not the Gerald Hurley they are currently ascribed to.
More on this as further investigation is done.
November 11th, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Conflicting information is making the problem of establishing a proper ID even more muddled.
Al Hubin has even suggested that the Charles Clifford who wrote the Gold Medal paperbacks as Robert Ames in the 50s may be the same Clifford who wrote WHILE THE BELLS RANG.
More later, perhaps…?
November 11th, 2014 at 8:34 pm
THE REAL GLORY is about the native uprising in the Philippines and stars Gary Cooper, David Niven, and Broderick Crawford. The military tone of his books leads me to suspect the military Clifford is the real one.
November 11th, 2014 at 8:53 pm
Wikipedia attributes THE REAL GLORY to Hurley, who was known to be an expert on the Philippines, so that we are taking to be correct.
However, the second book in Hubin by Lt. Clifford, TOO MANY BOATS, is described by Kirkus as “A vigorous story of a Philippine army post during the World War.” Al considers this one of having only marginal crime content.
But here’s the problem. The birth and death dates for the two men are quite different, so there really are two men involved, but their careers seem to overlap in many ways. It is very strange.
November 14th, 2014 at 1:27 pm
For me the investigation you, Al and David are doing is more interesting than the book itself.
November 22nd, 2014 at 10:56 am
Based on what we’ve found, here’s what Al Hubin tells me will be Clifford’s entry in CRIME FICTION IV will be changed to:
CLIFFORD, CHARLES L(EWIS). 1890-1991. (Note: A Gerald Hurley, 1898-1978, apparently also wrote under the byline Charles L. Clifford, but not, at least, for these two books.)
Sword of Allah; see While the Bells Rang
-Too Many Boats. Little, 1934; Heinemann, 1935 [Philippines]
While the Bells Rang. Doubleday, 1941. British title: Sword of Allah. Heinemann, 1941 [Texas]
November 22nd, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Bill Contento drew my attention to this thread, which is a fascinating examples of the perils of pseudonym hunting!
I don’t have any answers (not yet at least) but was puzzled by a couple of things.
Firstly I was puzzled by the comment that “LOC copyright says the author lived Jacksonville, Mississippi and its his actual name” and was wondering if somebody could clarify what this refers to.
I can see a mention of “Jacksonville, Miss” under the copyright for WHILE THE BELLS RANG (only) though I’m not sure it is necessarily “where the author lived”. More to the point, however, I can’t see any confirmation that it is “his actual name”.
Copyright registration was typically done by the publisher and often under the name used for the book or story, whether that was a real name or not. In many cases details of a pseudonym are listed, but absence of same does not mean it is an actual name – many entries are listed under a pseudonym with no mention of the real author.
The other point that puzzles me are the references to “Gerald” Hurley. While his first name was Gerald, he clearly wasn’t fond of it and seemed to publish generally (if not exclusively) as Vic Hurley. Even the archive of his papers in Oregon refer to them as the “G. Victor Hurley” papers.
What we really need is for somebody to pop up to Oregon to see what the archive says.
November 22nd, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Phil
I’ll forward your comments on to Al Hubin and John Herrington. I haven’t been doing any of the work on this myself, but I also find it fascinating and have a hunch that the case may not yet entirely closed on this.
Steve
November 22nd, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Thanks, Steve.
I have no particular theories as to whether Clifford was a real person or a pseudonym of Vic Hurley, but my gut feeling is that it is one or the other rather than two different authors publishing similar material under the same name at the same time.
Two other possibilities come to mind:
1. Hurley & Clifford knew each other from the Philippines and Hurley deliberately chose Clifford’s name as a pseudonym. Unusual, but not unknown.
2. While THE REAL GLORY was based on Hurley’s non-fiction books, it was actually written by somebody else (i.e. Clifford) either with or without Hurley’s permission, and the two became confused.
I’ve contacted the university with the Hurley archive to see if they can throw light on the question and will pass on anything I find.
November 25th, 2014 at 1:58 pm
FWIW, Bill Contento and I have now done further research into this and are confident that all the Clifford stories ARE by the same author, but that that is NOT Hurley (and hence is presumably the Colonel Clifford mentioned above).
There has been a bit of muddle (including from me) about THE REAL GLORY as the book (by Clifford) actually preceded the Hurley non-fiction book JUNGLE PATROL that it was supposedly based on. I suspect it was similarities between the film and the book which led people (including Hurley) to believe there was a connection.
It is even possible that the film really WAS based in part on Hurley’s book with Hurley’s permission – film credits in 1939 were nothing like as comprehensive as they are today and a technical advisor of that kind would typically not get a credit.
The Wikipedia article cites an article in the Yakima Republic to support the assertion that Clifford was a pseudonym of Hurley, but we have traced that article and it simply says that JUNGLE PATROL “became” the film THE REAL GLORY.
We plan to add a biographical note to the FMI and to other indexes along the lines of:
“Born in Boston in 1890, Clifford rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army becoming Commanding Officer of the 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment in 1942. He wrote several books and stories about the Philippines including THE REAL GLORY (1937) which was made into a film starring Gary Cooper & David Niven in 1939. The film seems also to have been based in part on JUNGLE PATROL (1938) by Vic Hurley which had led some to suggest that Clifford was actually a pseudonym for Hurley. Clifford died in New Jersey in 1991.”
November 25th, 2014 at 7:49 pm
A great job of research by you and Bill, Phil. Well done!!
January 30th, 2015 at 5:47 pm
I lived across the street from Charles L. Clifford in the 1950″s. I can fill you in on some information about him.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:20 pm
I found this discusion while researching a box of papers I purchased which are documents and newspaper articles of tbe life of Lt. Charles L Clifford. You’re conclusion is correct It is tbe lieutenant tbat wrote tbe articles and books. Tne documents I have contain publisher letters for tbe stories in addition to newspaper articles for tbe movie debut. The mystery is officially solved beyond a doubt with plenty of hard evidence including documents of his military career.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:44 pm
Thanks for the final update on this, Tony. I appreciate it!
August 8th, 2018 at 3:05 am
Charles L. Clifford was married to the daughter (Elizabeth) of my father’s sister. He and Elizabeth had four children, all girls. As far as I know, he wrote all of the stories attributed to him. He was not Vic Hurley. I last saw him in 1962 or 1966, when I was visiting my parents in New Jersey. I was living and working at that time in Tokyo, Japan. I had no contact with him after that, but we spent considerable time then talking mostly about his past. He definitely wrote many short stories and The Real Glory and Army Girl, both of which were made into movies; he talked to me about those things. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy, but his career was spent as an Army officer, stationed for many years in the Philippines. He told me about the location of the house he lived in at Clark Air Base, just off the parade grounds. where he and his buddies played polo. I went to Clark AB and saw exactly where he lived. I am surprised to learn that he apparently lived to 101. He was given to very salty language and was a heavy drinker — and a wonderful story teller.
October 25th, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Thank you Malcolm for setting the real story straight. I’m his grandaughter, whom he helped to raise. He has three daughters by his wife Elizabeth. I do vaguely remember your visit..I was very young at the time.