Need help with a "found" manuscript

Dun & Bradstreet has a listing for Bertha Klausner's agency here. They may be able to trace the origins of the author/ms.

Personally, if it was a good book, I'd get an attorney to research it. It might be owned by the estate's heirs if Mr Crawford has passed.

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SWest said:

Dun & Bradstreet has a listing for Bertha Klausner's agency here. They may be able to trace the origins of the author/ms.

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Even better.

It seems Ms. Klausner herself passed in 1998 and the business is listed as "Inactive - Dissolution By Proclamation / Annulment Of Authority on Wednesday 26th June 1996" here. "Lenny," currently self-described as inactive at the Janus Literary Agency, mentions on this blog that he used to be with the Klausner agency. I'm not sure Lenny would be of any help, and the dissolution of the agency should have nothing to do with any copyrights or claims of the author's estate on the manuscript.

But a cool little mystery to figure out. Inspiration for your next work?

Did some digging on the Library of Congress page.

For The Devil's Playground, I found a 1976 title by that name by Cliff Ferrell. It's a western and available on Amazon and I'm sure other fine retailers. I'm sure your friend would have come across this one and already decided it's not it.

For Earl Crawford, all I can find are a 1999 book on forming legal statutes, one by Jim (James Earl) Crawford on salmon fly fishing, and a couple by different Earls of Crawford.

There is a book listed as Wayward Winds by Jack Hattle in 1972, but it was published in Rhodesia (modern day Zambia and Zimbabwe). It's tagged as being about weather, and an author is not likely to use a pseudonym on a book about weather forecasting. However, that's no guarantee LoC tagged it right. The other two hits on that title are too recent. Google returns quite a few results from eBay and such sites, but unfortunately with no descriptions.

Maryn said:

Edit: And I just learned that in 1953, 1961 Cahuenga Blvd. was a hotel with more than 300 rooms. Maybe it still is?

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And was in bad repair in 2007 though a grand building in its day and has now been restored. It's across the street from one of the Warner studios.

This is getting fun!

Probably not the same Earl Crawford, but this one also lived on Cahuenga at one time. http://www.movielanddirectory.com/star.cfm?star=32130

Here's his IMDB listing. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186755/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Lol! It's now a salon called Hairroin.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same Earl Crawford. The chances are pretty high that an actor would try his hand at a screenplay or a novel. The 1530 address is about three blocks from the hotel address on the manuscript. The Hollywood Bowl and Sunset Blvd aren't far. I don't know my way around LA, but those sound like happening places to have been at that time.

Erik: Any details on the MS? Is it a screenplay? A novel?

I wouldn't depend on the title on the ms for much research: it's always been common for books to go through title changes prior to publication, so that's probably one of the least useful pieces of information here.

I would consider searching online for the first paragraph, to see if that throws anything up.

I'd ask if it were a book, or a proposal, or a screenplay, because the length of it means it's not likely to be a novel.

Ms Klausner was, I think, noted for her work with new writers, and did sell quite a few radio scripts, so don't ignore that route of investigation.

ETA: remember that the person who has bought this ms has only bought the physical item. They don't have rights to the work it contains, and aren't allowed to reproduce it in any way. Just in case they're thinking of publishing it, or something.

They can also try putting in the characters' names, along with any notable setting information and see if that brings up any info online. Even if the title changed, the interior info could work for a search.

ex: Mary Rutlage, Barney Costa, Mission Espada, San Antonio

Old Hack makes a great point about the rights that was lost in our Sherlock Holmesing. My dream machine isn't churning on this ever getting published (although I'd love to know more about the story), but finding the kids or grandkids of Mr Crawford. How thrilled would I be to have returned to me a 60-year old manuscript written by a mysterious actor grandpa or cousin of my dad from back in the heyday of Hollywood? I've got some shadowey folks in my family I'd love to know more about.

It might seem far-fetched, but it could be this guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Crawford He died in 1968 in Hollywood.

I ran some of the text through Grammarly, which does plagarism checking, and it found nothing. I think this is likely an unpublished manuscript.

I would ask the folks who bought it to try and track down the provenance. Where did the sellers get it from, and where did their predecessors get it from, and so forth.

It's definitely not a screenplay or a radio play, but it's possible that it's not a novel, either. Mr. Crawford may have written serials and turned them into his agent in a completed story-bundle. He also, apparently, had no love of punctuation. Klausner apparently started a newspaper syndication group similar to Parade, which might have printed serial stories as a column.

It's also possible that "Earl Crawford" was a pen name, or his middle and last name, or his first and middle name, etc, etc, etc.

Honestly, from a look at her client list, she was a CAA / WME level agent of the day. Lots of famous clients, probably lots of people trying to break into the business by writing her. I bet what you've got is a carbon or duplicate copy of a submission to an agent who never represented him. One that may have never even been sent.

Cyia said:

Honestly, from a look at her client list, she was a CAA / WME level agent of the day. Lots of famous clients, probably lots of people trying to break into the business by writing her.

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To expand on that, I found a quote about her in an 1947 issue of Variety. https://archive.org/stream/variety166-1947-06/variety166-1947-06_djvu.txt

Both placed by Bertha Klausner, literary agent Who has mostly news-
papermen and women as her clients.
She says anyone who can fill in the
history of the war can easily get published currently.

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Being so short, I thought maybe it was a YA/Hardy Boys type novel. Also, weren't short "dime store" novels popular at the time? As a kid in the 70s, I remember racks upon racks of yellowed 90-page paperback westerns, romances and mysteries in every Ben Franklin store and Greyhound station I went in to. Would the authors of those books seek representation, or were those books written by staff or contract writers (or whatever the correct term would be) who produced on demand for a publisher?

This quest in itself might make a wonderful non fic story.

Ii

pschmehl said:

It might seem far-fetched, but it could be this guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Crawford He died in 1968 in Hollywood.

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Or it could be his son: Sam Earl Crawford the baseball player had a son of the same name who lived from 1918 to 1999, according to the linked article. Sam Jr would have been 22 years old in 1940 when the films for Earl Crawford are listed on the IMDB site. Interesting that Sam Sr had a part in a 1927 Buster Keaton film.

But you know, HowManyOfMe.com estimates there are 184 Earl Crawfords in the US. The name Earl was probably more common 70 years ago than it is now, and with Crawford being the 146th most popular surname chances are good there were several in Los Angeles. Add in the number of Crawfords who had a middle name of Earl and I'm sure it's many times more. Although I still think our author and the 1940 actor are the same person.

ETA: Case and point: FindAGrave.com retuns 27 results for Earl Crawford in California, just about any of which are of the right age to be our guy. Perhaps someone who knows their California counties can narrow them down, but I'm sure there are others not on FindAGrave. There is also nothing saying Earl was from or was buried in California.