Sat 19 Dec 2015
Stories I’m Reading: STANLEY ELLIN “The Day of the Bullet.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[6] Comments
STANLEY ELLIN “The Day of the Bullet.” First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, October 1959. Reprinted in The Blessington Method (Random House, 1974) and The Specialty of the House (Mysterious Press, 1980). Also included in Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics (Akashic Books, Tim McLoughlin ed., 2005). Adapted for television: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 14 February 1960 (Season 5, Episode 20); teleplay: Bill S. Ballinger. Nominated for an MWA Edgar, Best Short Story, 1960.
That’s a long list of bibliographic data, one nearly as long as my comments are going to be. The story that won the Edgar that year was “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, which I do not remember reading, so I can only conjecture, but Dahl’s story must have been a doozy to beat out this one.
Stanley Ellin wrote a number of novels, but if he’s remembered today, it will be for his short stories, which he wrote at a rate of once a year. Inevitably they were gems of story-telling as polished as they could be, including this one.
It’s the story of two 12-year-olds growing up in Brooklyn until they were separated when parents of the narrator of the tale moved to Brooklyn in 1923. They never saw each other again, but the teller of story recognizes his former friend when his bloody photos is published in the newspaper, some 35 years later.
It turns out their last adventure together was a trip to a nearby golf course fishing for lost balls, when they witness a guy being beaten up by a pair of gangsters. Iggy, the friend, wants to tell the police, and so they both do, but what happens from that point on was the turning point in Iggy’s life.
This deeply noirish tale is also a story of growing up, of making the wrong decision in life, but one you don’t realize at the time. It’s a warning story, of sorts, not really a sad one, as it’s told at a solid distance away, chronologically, but it could be if you think about it for a while.
December 20th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
I’m probably unusual in that I’m a great fan of Ellin’s novels as well as his much praised short fiction. From his serious private eye novel THE EIGHTH CIRCLE to lighter fare like HOUSE OF CARDS and THE VALENTINE ESTATE he brought a real mastery of suspense and characterization to the form.
December 20th, 2015 at 5:12 pm
I think that Stanley Ellin is all but forgotten now, partly because he was, I *think*, more well-known in his lifetime for his short stories, and writers of short stories seem to be forgotten more quickly than authors of novels, especially those who create series characters.
And there’s where Ellin made his other “mistake.” He never used the same characters twice in his novels. THE EIGHT CIRCLE is his masterpiece, no doubt it, but unless I remember wrongly, and maybe I do, there was no reason why PI Murray Kirk couldn’t have appeared again.
He did write three other PI novels: THE BIND (1970), STAR LIGHT STAR BRIGHT (1979), and THE DARK FANTASTIC (1983), and I’ve been meaning to read them for a long time now. But CIRCLE knocked my socks off, and you and I aren’t the only ones, David. It won an Edgar for Best Novel in 1959.
VALENTINE ESTATE I remember reading, but my reaction is long forgotten. It can’t have been bad.
PS. I goofed up and just learned something. While researching the dates for the info above, I discovered that Ellin *did* have a series character. A PI named Johnny Milano was in both STAR LIGHT and DARK FANTASTIC. Now I really do have to read both of them.
December 20th, 2015 at 8:37 pm
STAR LIGHT and DARK FANTASTIC are unusual pi novels and well worth reading Like CIRCLE Ellin does something different with the format.
THE BIND was made into a bad film with Charles Grodin and Farrah Fawcett.
THE VALENTINE ESTATE features a pair of con artists who take a job as servants to survive and find themselves caught up in intrigue and murder.
CARDS was also filmed with George Peppard, Inger Stevens, and Orson Welles about Fascism raising it ugly head in modern France in the aftermath of the Algerian revolt.
December 21st, 2015 at 1:02 pm
I’ve been hoping someone would say something about seeing this EQMM story as it was filmed for the Hitchcock TV show. If done right, it ought to be one to remember. It’s quite a ways off for me. I’m still working my way through Season One.
December 26th, 2015 at 11:40 pm
Steve, the “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” production of “The Day of the Bullet” was indeed one to remember. As I recall, the TV show follows the story very closely. Iggy was played by Barry Gordon, who also played the boy in both the stage and film versions of A Thousand Clowns. Both Gordon and the Hitchcock episode are terrific.
Eight of Ellin’s short stories were filmed for “Hitchcock”. I haven’t seen one but the others were definitely worth seeing. “Specialty of the House” is particularly good, with “The Blessington Method” and “You Can’t Be a Little Girl All Your Life” pretty close in quality.
And by the way, “The Landlady” is a very good story but I think “The Day of the Bullet” is better.
December 26th, 2015 at 11:57 pm
Thanks, Steven, and welcome to a first time commenter, am I right? You’ve convinced me to skip over to Season Five, which I don’t own, not yet, just to watch this episode. For some reason this story has gotten stuck in my head and it isn’t letting go.