Spence, Hartzell
Dates
- Existence: 1908-2001
Biography
Born February 15, 1908, in Clarion, Iowa, the son of a minister, Hartzell Spence graduated magna cum laude from the University of Iowa in 1930. From 1930 to 1941 he was the United Press bureau manager in Des Moines, and saw service during WW II in the Army Air Force where he was the founder and first editor of Yank, the Army weekly newspaper. He was removed as editor after fifteen months because of creative differences. After the war, he worked as a free-lance writer, particularly noted for his reporting on religion. He published several novels and wrote a comic strip (David Crane). His first published novel was One Foot in Heaven, which became a best-seller and went through three printings. It was made into a motion picture starring Frederic March and Martha Scott in 1941. He wrote a sequel, Get Thee Behind Me, which was also very popular. He wrote the scripts for the weekly radio program, "One Foot in Heaven," broadcast on the ABC network, 1944-1945. By 1947, Spence was a gentleman farmer at his home, Gaston Hall, a thirty-room, 700 acre estate in Virginia. Spence turned his experiences with the old showplace into a book titled Happily Ever After. Hartzell Spence died May 9, 2001.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Hartzell Spence Papers
Born in Clarion, Iowa, Spence graduated from the University of Iowa in 1930. From 1930 to 1941 he was the United Press bureau manager in Des Moines, and saw service during WW II in the Army Air Forces where he was the founder and first editor of Yank, the Army weekly newspaper. After the war, he worked as a free-lance writer, particularly noted for his reporting on religion. He also published several novels, wrote a comic strip (David Crane) and scripts for the weekly radio program, One Foot in Heaven, broadcast on the ABC network, 1944-1945. This collection consists of drafts for numerous articles and stories, including those for The Story of Religion in America, published in Look, 1957-1960.