John Bell Clayton and Martha Clayton
Encyclopedia
John Bell Clayton II (c. 1907-1955) was a "prolific writer of short stories" who won an O. Henry Short Story Award
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American master of the form, O. Henry....
in 1947. His wife, Martha Carmichael Clayton (c. 1915-1961), oversaw the posthumous publication of her husband's works; she was a sister of songwriter Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael
Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
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John Bell Clayton
John Clayton was born in Craigsville, VirginiaCraigsville, Virginia
Craigsville is a town in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. The population was 979 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Staunton–Waynesboro Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Craigsville is located at ....
, and was graduated from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
before becoming a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. In 1938, he had a film credit as the writer on a comedy, The Old Raid Mule.
In the 1940s he ran a lending library
Lending library
A lending library is a library from which books are lent out. The earliest reference to or use of the term "lending library" yet located in English correspondence dates from ca. 1586; C'Tess Pembroke Ps. CXII. v, "He is .....
in San Francisco and was employed from time to time as a temporary editor on the San Francisco Examiner.
In 1947 he won the O. Henry Short Story Award for The White Circle, originally in Harpers magazine. Ten years later, the story was made into a teleplay for the television series Rendezvous.
His novels, published by Macmillan
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, were Six Angels at My Back (1952), Wait, Son, October Is Near (1953) and Walk Toward the Rainbow (1954).
According to his friend, Charles Harris (Brick) Garrigues
Charles Harris Garrigues
thumb|upright|right|C.H. Garrigues,about 1941Charles Harris Garrigues was a California writer and journalist who wrote as C.H. Garrigues. He was a general-assignment reporter in Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s, a grand jury investigator and political activist in the 1930s, a newspaper copy...
, the Claytons moved from San Francisco to Laguna Beach, where, on Feb. 10, 1955, John Clayton died of a viral infection. John had told his wife when he went into the hospital, "Marthie, if the next ten years are going to be like the last one, I don't think I want to come back."
He was survived by his wife and son, John Bell Clayton III, a West Point cadet, and a sister, Mrs. Mary Bartley of Deerfield, Virginia
Deerfield, Virginia
Deerfield is a census-designated place in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 132. It has a very low population density, as it is a small town rural area. The Deerfield mall is the main store of the town. Deerfield consists of farms, hunting areas,...
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Martha Carmichael Clayton
Martha Clayton was born as Martha Carmichael in Indiana. Her father was Howard, nicknamed "Cyclone," who owned a livery and was an electrician. Her mother, Lida Mary, was a pianist in local movie and vaudeville houses. Besides her brother, Hoagland, Martha had two other siblings — Joanne, who died in childhood, and Georgia.In 1957, she oversaw the publication of her husband's posthumous book of short stories, The Strangers Were There: Selected Stories (1957). The deal was placed with Macmillan by the Claytons' agent, Toni Strassman
Toni Strassman
Toni Strassman was an authors' representative based in New York City. Her clients included Charles Harris Garrigues, John and Martha Clayton, William Goyen, Harry Mark Petrakis and Friderike Zweig, the first wife of Stefan Zweig....
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Of the book, Richard Sullivan
Richard T. Sullivan
Richard T. Sullivan was a novelist, short-story writer, and member of the faculty of the University of Notre Dame. His novels and short story collections include The World of Idella May, The Three Kings, Summer After Summer, The Dark Continent, and First Citizen. He wrote numerous book reviews for...
wrote in the Chicago Sunday Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that John Clayton was "a writer of high, bright excellence."
Martha's body was found on August 6, 1961, by her sister, Georgia, in the Beverly Hills house that their brother had bought for them. Alcohol and a sleeping pill were blamed for her death. Hoagy recalled in his autobiography, Sometimes I Wonder (Farrar, Straus, 1965), that after John Clayton's death Martha "gathered up his papers and manuscript and made another book for him, and then one night while still young and healthy, she quietly let go."