Neighbor News
Pulp Fiction Writer Dwight V. Babcock of Sherman Oaks and Studio City Hosted Writers Retreats With Raymond Chandler
Black Mask Magazine writers became famous noir novelists. Babcock moved onto over 100 film and over 100 television credits after 3 novels
Fourteen years ago, when I purchased the best view lot in Studio City, I had no idea I walked into a vintage mystery. Later learned I acquired pulp/hack writer, Dwight V. Babcock's former estate. Neighbors were sure to tell me Babcock hosted mystery writer retreats on the property. Rumors circulated Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett were in attendance. A biography on Chandler, from, 1978, does reference Babcock's retreats. I also uncovered a 1930s pictures from a Black Mask Magazine party in Los Angeles in which Babcock sat by Chandler, Hammett and other noir mystery writers. You can see the picture on my blog and the full story about whether Dwight V. Babcock was Hammett's ghost writer.
Babcock, like his contemporaries started with newsstand short stories. He progressed into publishing three full novels set in Los Angeles, and one in Palm Springs. Before writing his last novel he moved onto screen writing ultimately amassing more than 100 screen credits. In the mid-1950s he went to work at Disney where John Fante also worked during that era. Babcock ended up with more than 100 television writing credits before he died in Studio City in 1979.
For a full description of what the Studio City side of the Longridge Estates might have looked like in 1939, and what it did look like in 1948-1950, visit my vintage Los Angeles blog at: http://employeelawca.com/vintagela/pulpfiction/ You might also like reading about other Valley lore such as Pine Needles Ski Slope in Universal City (1949), David Rose (former husband to Judy Garland) Sherman Oak's backyard railway that inspired Walt Disney, and the Holly Heights Polo Club that used to occupy the present site of St. Francis School on Dixie Canyon.
