WHAT’S IN A NAME

Evening Star, Issue 21077, 14 April 1932, Page 1

WHAT’S IN A NAME

ALIASES OF THE GREAT FAMOUS PEN NAMES In ordinary walks of life aliases are regarded with suspicion, but among writers such nominal dodges are the fashion. Almost every famous writer has in turn been suspected. Alany knowing fingers point accusingly _ at Miss Marjorie Bowen. She certainly has a flair for aliases. She confessed recently that she was the mysterious “ George Preedy ” who wrote ‘ General Crack’ and ‘lloclditz.’ She has also written historical books under the alias “ Robert Paye.” Nor is Alarjorie Bowen her real name, for she was baptised Gabrielle Long. Why do authors play hide and seek behind fanciful names? Besides being greatly given to such tricks, Alarjorie Bowen now throws some light upon this natural question. She confesses she tired of that name and so_ picked up another. Also she was curious to see how her literary wares would market on their own merits, without the backing of a well-known writer’s name. Fortunately for her, “ George Preedy ” in “his ” own way proved as good a seller as Alarjorie Bowen had been. But there are other famous pen names which remain more or less mysterious in the reason for their choice. Why did Edgar Allan Poe adopt such, queer aliases as Hans Pfaal, Quarles Quickens, and Henri le Rennet? They are neither euphonious nor striking. Sinclair Lewis, now a literary “ lion ” under his right name, once crept into print disguised as Tom Graham. Everyone who enjoys crime stories knows tho name of S. S. Van Dine, but how many know that the baptised name of that popular novelist is Williard Huntington Wright P Film “ stars ” adopt aliases even more readily than authors; and in studying some of the aliases of tho screen good reasons for such nominal changes can be discovered. For example, many “ stars ” take names that best suit their usual screen parts. Would Theda Bara have thrilled picture goers as a “ vamp ” had those who watched her known that, her real name was Theodosia Goodman? Is it any wonder that when Nicholas Ullman decided to act Robin Hoodish roles ho first rechristened himself Douglas Fairbanks, or that his present ‘ wife preferred the name of Mary Pickford to that of Gladys Smith with which she began life? Chotsey Noonan is not a bad name for an ordinary girl, but her alias of Sally O’Neil makes her much more acceptable as a fluffy screen flapper. . With these fihp aliases in mind, turn back to the literary realm (uul see how similarly some writers pick* for themselves apt names. If you opened a, novel written by a Airs H. E. Pelham Browne, would you feel exactly m the mood for a racy yarn palpitating with passion? Evidently that clever woman herself thinks not, for she writes as Cynthia Stockley a name which creates the right atmosphere even before the book is opened. And would not Sax Rohmer’s grim tales lose some of their excitement if that author so far forgot himself as to sign himself by his original name of Arthur Ward? Arthur Ward suggests tame respectability—the sort of estimable citizen who pays his income tax promptly, and Jives in' fear of going bald. Sax Rohmer is almost sinister. For further light on this matter turn back again to the film people and note how some of them change their names to give them a neater sound, more suitable to the ears of their “fans. Apollonia Chalupez is an awkward mouthful of consonants, but that charmer’s screen name of Pola Negri just suits her temperamental tantrums. You may chuckle at the antics of that Scandinavian giant, Karl Dane, hut he would not be nearly as funny billed under his proper name of Rasmus Karl Thekelson Gottlieb. Lupe Velez is the wise alias of the girl who answers at home to the call of Guadalupe Villa Lobos. The assumed John Bowers does sound better than the original John Bowersox. Richard Dix would hardly bo as natty under tho name given him by bis parents. Richard Carlton Brimmer. Sylvian des Jardiens has shrewdly contracted himself to Bobby A ernon, just as Richard Van Mattamore is profossionallv known as Dick Arlen. Likewise, in the bookwnting world, many odd and awkward names nave been sagely pruned. That Anthony Hope Hawkins should drop his surname is as natural as that Dikran Kuyumban should prefer to be known to his sophisticated readers as Michael Arlen. In Arlen’s case there is also doubtless the desire to make his pen-name more acceptable to his mainly British clientele. Anyway, that is why Joseph Conrad Kormezewski dropped his surname when he commenced writing novels in the English language. , For very different reasons the former convict, Sydney Porter, preferred to write his wonderful short stories under assumed names. His best-known literary pseuvdonym, “ O. Henry, was probably picked up haphazard by him from a scribbled signature on the back of a medical prescription that he happened to ho “ making up ” at the moment. But no one seems to know why he also wrote as fe. H. lexers, “ James L. Bliss,” and “Olivier Henry.” In this alias habit women are as as men to disguise themselves. Rebecca West was christened Cecily Fairfield, and Elizabeth, of ‘German Garden ’ fame, is really Alaric Annette, no Beauchamp, first married to Count Von Aridm, and then to Earl Russell. So common is tho vogue of the alias in literature that when Rudyard Kipling first became famous as a bookman some critics declared that a name so melodiously majestic must surely be an adopted one. But they were wrong. In the hook world, Rudyard Kipling has held as faithfully to his original name as has Charlie Chaplin on the screen. They, however, seem to be exceptions to the general rule. Disraeli says somewhere that the page of the book that causes an author most perplexity is the title page. Choosing an apt title for a story is certainly a problem. Dickens confessed that before he hit upon tho title of ‘ Alartin Chuzzlowit,’ ho experimented with such tentative names as Sweezlcden, Swoezlewng, Chubblcwig, and Chuzzlewm. But evidently, as difficult lor

many authors is to find a likeable pseudonym for themselves. And even; when a writer docs pick; up au alias,; ho often has a fancy for changing it again to something more agreeable* Possibly authors, like ordinary folk* feel an occasional urge to be somebody else.