Arthur Guy Empey was a soldier in both the British and American armies of World War I who later reinvented himself as an author, screenwriter, actor and prolific author of pulp fiction

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

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Biography

Empey served for six years in the US Cavalry and was performing duty as a recruiting sergeant for the New Jersey National Guard

New Jersey National Guard

The New Jersey Army National Guard consists of over 9000 Guardsmen. The Guard is currently engaged in several worldwide and homeland missions. Units have deployed to Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Germany and Egypt...

 at the time of the sinking of the Lusitania

Lusitania

Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...

. He left the United States and travelled to England where he joined the Royal Fusiliers serving with the Machine Gun Company 1st Battalion London Regiment

London Regiment

The London Regiment is a Territorial Army regiment in the British Army. It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. The Volunteer Force was merged with the Yeomanry in 1908...

 56th (London) Infantry Division. He was medically discharged after he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme.

Empey wrote a book of his experiences titled Over the Top that was later filmed in 1918 with Empey writing the screenplay and playing the lead role. Empey had unsuccessfully attempted to join the US Army but was rejected due to his wounds. He was commissioned a Captain in the US Army Adjutant General's Department but the commission was withdrawn three days later. There was speculation that the reason was that whilst appearing as an actor in a play of Pack Up Your Troubles, Empey gave a speech praising the European and French Armies, and the American volunteers—but not the draftees who were only fighting because they were compelled to. In the audience was President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

. Empey wrote several more screenplays and books on the First World War, and formed his own production company called Guy Empey Films. He was also a songwriter writing songs such as Your Lips are No Mans Land but Mine.

After the war Empey created the pulp fiction hero Terence X. O'Leary  who would explain "sure and the 'X' stands for 'xcillint'". Empey's O'Leary appeared in a variety of pulp magazine

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

s such as War Stories (Dell

Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...

), Battle Stories (Fawcett

Fawcett Publications

Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett . At the age of 16, Fawcett ran away from home to join the Army, and the Spanish-American War took him to the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he became a...

), with the Infantryman O'Leary also doing duty as a Military Policeman, Secret Service Agent and Foreign Legionnaire, later becoming an aviator in War Birds (Dell). The latter magazine was later retitled Terence X O'Leary's War Birds. With the start of O'Leary's name on the publication the magazine changed from O'Leary fighting the First World War to science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 adventure with O'Leary fighting "Unuk, High Priest to the God of the Depths" a 500 year old madman who has seized an island in the South Pacific, kidnapped scientists and turned them into zombies to perfect amazing weapons to attack the United States in O'Leary Fights the Golden Ray and O'Leary, Dyno-Blaster, or Adventure of the Ageless Men. with the magazine ending after its third issue The Purple Warriors of Neptunia. A few more stories with O'Leary did appear after this in War Stories and Battle Stories.

In 1935 he organised a unit of volunteer cavalrymen called the Hollywood Hussars that included several film stars such as Victor McLaglen

Victor McLaglen

Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...

 and Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper

Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...

 with Ted Parsons

Edwin C. Parsons

Edwin Charles Parsons aka Ted Parsons, was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy, and former French Foreign Legionnaire, flying ace, Hollywood aviation technical advisor, FBI Special Agent, and author.-Early life:...

 as personnel officer. The Hussars were a uniformed paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 horse mounted organisation whose bylaws stated they would turn out in any emergency except labour disputes. Headquartered in the Hollywood Athletic Club

Hollywood Athletic Club

The Hollywood Athletic Club is a nightclub in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.Since it was built in 1924, it has had a varied history as a health club, bar, music venue and billiard room.It is located on Sunset Boulevard.-History:...

 they were a volunteer

Military volunteer

A military volunteer is a person who enlists in military service by free will, and is not a mercenary or a foreign legionaire. Volunteers often enlist to fight in the armed forces of a foreign country. Military volunteers are essential for the operation of volunteer militaries.Many armies,...

 "military-social unit" "devoted to the advancement of American ideals".

He is the father of actress Diane Webber

Diane Webber

Diane Marguerite Webber AKA Marguerite Empey was an American model, dancer and actress.Empey was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Marguerite and screen writer Arthur Guy Empey....

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Notable works

• Books
  • Over the Top (1917)
  • Tales From a Dugout (1918)
  • First Call: Guideposts to Berlin (1918)
  • The Madonna of the Hills: the Story of a New York Cabaret Girl (1921)

• Films
  • Over the Top (1918) (writer and actor)
  • Undercurrent (1919) (producer, writer and actor)
  • Millionaire For a Day (1921) (producer, writer and actor)
  • Troopers Three (1930) (producer and writer)

External links

• Arthur Guy Empey at Internet Movie Database
• short stories by Empey http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/s737.htm#A25534