Paul Gallico

"So he remains a teller of tales, a dreamer of dreams, a romantic."
-Authors in the News, Vol. 1, Gale Research

Paul Gallico was a movie critic, sports columnist and editor, freelance fiction writer, screenwriter and writer of children's literature, fables and ghost stories. His career included forty books, numerous screenplays, and several hundred short stories. Among his best known work is The Snow Goose, which received the O. Henry Prize in 1941, a Golden Globe Award (for the television production), and sold over 300,000 copies in the United States. He also wrote The Poseidon Adventure, a best seller which was made into a motion picture. The New York Daily News engaged Gallico in 1922 as a motion picture reviewer and, two years later, he was promoted to sports editor and columnist, a position he held for twelve years. While covering Jack Dempsey's training camp, Gallico, who had never boxed before, persuaded Dempsey to box a round with him. He was knocked out in one minute and thirty-seven seconds. He started to play sports against star players in order to gain a better understanding of their particular sports. In 1936, he left to pursue a freelance writing career. He contributed hundreds of stories to leading magazines including Saturday Evening Post and the New Yorker. His screenplay, Pride of the Yankees, received an Academy Award Nomination in 1942.

Education and Training
B.A., Columbia University, 1921
Seaman Gunner, United States Navy, World War I

Connection to Bucks County
In 1941, Paul Gallico bought Sandy Ridge Farm in Stockton, New Jersey, near Rosemont. An unidentified Sunday newspaper supplement from the New Hope area, dated July 4, 1944, shows a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Gallico. The caption reads "Mr. and Mrs. Paul Gallico are another happily married couple who have recently settled in New Hope, where Paul can write books in peace."

Novels and Short Stories
Farewell to Sport, Knopf, 1938
The Snow Goose, Knopf, 1941
The Small Miracle, Doubleday, 1952
Snowflake, 1953
Ludmila: A Legend of Lichtenstein, 1955
Ludmila, 1959
Thomasina: The Cat Who Thought She Was God, 1957
The Steadfast Man: A Biography of Saint Patrick, 1958

Screenplays
No Time To Marry, 1937
Pride of the Yankees, based on Lou Gehrig: Pride of the Yankees, 1942
Joe Smith: American, 1942
The Clock, 1945
Never Take No for an Answer, based on The Small Miracle, 1951
Lili, based on Love of Seven Dolls, 1953
Merry Andrew, 1957
Big Operator, 1959
The Three Lives of Thomasina, based on Thomasina: The Cat Who Thought She Was God, 1963
The Snow Goose, based on the novel of the same title, NBC, 1971
Adaptations:
Trial By Terror, filmed as Assignment Paris, 1952
The Poseidon Adventure, 1972

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Writer, National Board of Motion Picture Review, New York, 1921
Movie critic, New York Daily News, New York, 1922
Sports writer, editor, and assistant managing editor, New York Daily News, New York, 1923-1936
War Correspondent, Cosmopolitan, New York, in Europe, 1943
Instructor, Columbia University, New York City, 1944
In 1936, he left the New York Daily News to become a freelance fiction writer and spent winters reporting for the International News Service.

Major Awards
O. Henry Prize, The Snow Goose, 1941
Academy Award nomination, Pride of the Yankees, 1942
de Beaumont Sword, British National Epee Team Championship, 1949
Golden Globe Award, The Snow Goose, 1971

Affiliations and Memberships
A member of the Author's Guild, and, in 1946, he was elected to their thirty-man council. He was also a member of the New York Athletic Club, The Dutch Treat Club, and The Quiet Birdmen.