Rex Stout's wide media coverage is only partially documented. Below are is a sampling of that coverage; be sure to take a few minutes to peruse these insights into Rex Stout, author and man of many interests:
- Michael Bourne Interview of Rex Stout (included with the original publication of CORSAGE)
Part 1
Part 2
- newspaper and magazine interviews
- radio interviews
- television appearances
- writings about Rex Stout, author, and his corpus (body of work)
Print Interviews
- Two-part feature on Rex Stout (New Yorker, July 16 & 23, 1949)
- NY Times/Books of the Times quotes Rex Stout's views on the future of the Mystery genre
- "11 Days to Write" (New York Times, November 15, 1953
- "Mystery Writer Reaches for the Sky" (photo op of his 2 grandsons' re-enactment "The Counterfeiter's Knife" or "Counterfeit for Murder") (Saturday Evening Post, January 28, 1961)
- "38 Day Wonder" (Saturday Review, 1963)
- NY Times Stout Interview (July 14, 1968)
- Holiday Magazine Interview (November, 1969)
- United Press International Interview (San Diego Union, October 2, 1974)
- Chicago Tribune "Arts & Fun/Books Section 7 devoted to Rex Stout (July 28, 1974 with articles by Robert Goldsborough, Nelson Polsby, Timothy Dickinson and Rhoda Koenig, and John Hess, plus a Nerophile Quiz and quotes regarding Rex Stout from many famous authors)
- Rex Stout reflects on his two creations (Hartford Courant)
- An Interview with Rex Stout (Strand Magazine, by John McAleer)
- Rex Stout Interviews John LeCarre in Mademoiselle Magazine
Writings about Stout's Writings (paens to Stout's Wolfe corpus)
- A Jacques Barzun Reader (© 2002)
- Chuck Greaves (mystery author) Criminal Element Blog
- Dimensions of Detective Fiction (1976)
- In Andre Bernard's 2003 book, Madame Bovary, C'est Moi: The Great Characters of Literature and Where They Came From, pages 81-83 are devoted to the genesis of Wolfe & Archie. Not all that is said agrees with statements from Mr. Stout on the topic.
Radio Shows
For additional listings, see:
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Stout#Select_radio_credits
- Rex Stout war-time activism: https://www.nerowolfe.org/htm/stout/activism_wartime.htm
In late January 1942 Rex Stout joined Jacques Barzun and Elmer Davis in a discussion of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on Mark Van Doren's popular CBS radio show, Invitation to Learning. Van Doren included a transcript in his 1942 book, The New Invitation to Learning: The Essence of the Great Books of All Times, published by Random House.
Information Please Rex Stout as a radio show guest contestant (click a link below to listen to the broadcast):
- March 28, 1939 -- Guests Rex Stout, Moss Hart
- August 29, 1939 -- Guests Rex Stout, Wilford Funk
- September 26, 1939 -- Guests Rex Stout, Carl Van Doren
- April 18, 1941 -- Guests Rex Stout, Henry Curran, Chief Magistrate
Rex Stout on WNYC Radio (NYC's National Public Radio station)
Click a link below to listen to either of his live broadcasts:
- Rex Stout addresses the audience at the 1966 Books and Authors Luncheon as if they were his "Committee on Grievances" regarding the attention paid to The Doorbell Rang because "I'd had the nerve to poke J. Edgar Hoover in the nose."
- Stout addresses The Authors & Critics Gathering (authors, and their guests, book critics and reviewers, regarding the 1965 Copyright Act Revision, then before the Congress, with the goal of updating update the Act that dates from 1909)
Television Appearances (Full listing with detail at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Stout#Select_television_credits)
Read John J. McAleer's article regarding Rex Stout and the Media from Rex Stout Journal, Number Five — Autumn 1986/1988
- Critic at Large, 1949, "Are Detective Stories Getting Better or Worse?"
- Crawford Mystery Theatre,1951, "The Case of the Devil's Hand"
- Omnibus, 1956 "The Fine Art of Murder" (ABC) with hosted Alistair Cooke
- Odyssey, 1957 "The Baker Street Irregulars and Rex Stout"
- Studio One, 1957 "First Prize for Murder" Based on an idea by John D. MacDonald (of Travis McGee fame, among many other books), adapted by Phil Reisman, Jr.
- The Last Word, 1959, Cast: Bergen Evans (host), Rex Stout, editor Russell Lynes
- Dick Cavett Show: 1959, guests include Rex Stout
- Book Beat on Tour, 1973 "An Interview with Rex Stout," Robert Cromie interviews Rex Stout at his home, High Meadow.
"Westinghouse Studio One" From Classic TV Archives |
From TV GUIDE for "Odyssey" February 3, 1957, Sunday, 4:00 p.m., CBS"All of today's show is devoted to Sherlock Holmes. Though most people regard Holmes as a merely fictional detective, the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Baker Street Irregulars look at things differently. It's a dogma of the Irregulars that Holmes was, in fact is, a real person, that furthermore Dr. Watson was his actual chronicler, and that Conan Doyle simply acted as an agent for Watson. Today's 'Odyssey' program opens with a film of the annual meeting of the Irregulars in New York City last month where Holmes's 103rd birthday was toasted. "The climax of this meeting comes in a speech by mystery writer Rex Stout, creator of Nero Wolfe. Stout 'reveals' his discovery that an affair of the heart actually took Holmes to New York City during the 1890s and that it was in Brooklyn, not in London, that Holmes studied his celebrated case of 'The Red Headed League.' The one hour program concludes with a full-length live dramatization of this case as it 'actually' took place on this side of the Atlantic. TV Guide concluded the entry with the cast. Holmes was played by Michael Clarke Laurence. Wilson by Donald Marye. Harry Gresham portrayed the remaining member of the three-man cast, Hargreave. Charles Collingwood hosted the series. |
