The Stars Are Right: Frank Lovejoy

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Frank Lovejoy

Frank Lovejoy

played by Andrew Cole

Frank Lovejoy is a staff writer for the Detroit Evening Times.

Biography

The Bloomfield Public Library in the winter of 1914.

Born on August 28, 1900 as the third child of ten, Frank Lovejoy chafed at the oppressively blank horizons of his Bloomfield, Iowa home. An avid reader, he dreamed of mountains, oceans and cities, and vaguely resented the burdens placed on him as the oldest surviving child. His parents, Ralph and Jenny Lovejoy, both the children of immigrants, encouraged his ambitions as much as they could, but were able to spare little of his time. Frank left school after completing the eighth grade to help his father in running his grocery store, making deliveries in the store van. Leaving school hurt deeply, but he continued his education as best he could, drawing heavily on the town's Carnegie library. Frank came to view this library, which opened on August 8, 1913, as an early birthday present from the steel magnate.

With the outbreak of the Great War in Europe, Frank saw his chance, and served as a driver for the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps from 1916 until the end of the war. There he met other established and aspiring writers like John de Passos and Olaf Stapledon; Stapledon's position as a conscientious objector to the conflict was especially fascinating to Lovejoy, who adopted similar anti-military positions following his service.

Following the armistice, Lovejoy, along with other Americans who had contributed to the war effort, was offered a place at Oxford. The high school dropout jumped at the chance. After graduating with a degree in History in 1923, he drifted around Europe for a few years, supporting himself as a correspondent for various American newspapers and magazines, among them the Chicago Star and the Detroit Evening Times. Although he tried his hand at writing fiction, producing a handful of short stories and a formless, nervous novel, Lovejoy was a better reader of fiction than a producer of it. He proved a popular newspaperman, however, and so in 1926 he accepted a job as a feature writer for the Chicago Star and returned to the States to pen Night Beat, a column focusing on the disaffected personalities and communities that thrived in the White City after hours. The rash of unexplained occurrences in February, 1929 was an especially fertile time for Night Beat; Lovejoy was widely syndicated, and his May 22 column titled 'I Wish You Were Dead' was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing.

Cover design by Guy Fry

The stock market crash of 1929 cut deeply into the public's taste for the cavalcade of freaks, loners and dipsos that Lovejoy had chronicled with sympathy for nearly four years. The Star discontinued Night Beat, but offered to keep him on staff as a regular reporter for a substantially reduced salary. With more pride than sense, he declined, and returned to Bloomfield to try his hand at writing another book. Night Beat, a memoir of his Chicago years, was critically well-received but failed to sell well.

An intriguing mixture of fact, fable and speculation, [Night Beat] offers occult thrills, but fails to find a common thread uniting the weirdos and wastrels that (apparently) throng the labyrinthine streets of night-time Chicago.

—the Chicago Star's drily ironic review.

With money tight, and chafing again at the limited opportunities of Bloomfield, Lovejoy accepted a job at the Detroit Evening Times in April of 1931. Although now a regular columnist instead of a feature writer, Lovejoy continues to cover the night side of society, prying into the speakeasies, slums and Curtisvilles of the Motor City.

Journal

Who Killed Danny Macklin?

Timeline

1900

August

28 - Born

1916

September

Becomes an ambulance driver in the Great War

1923

June

Graduates with a degree in History from Oxford University

1932

October

19 - Incursion

23 - Departs for France

Frank Lovejoy Documents

Newspaper Articles

Lovejoy is a staff writer for the Detroit Evening Times. Enclosed is a selection of articles written by him about the Irish Rose Matter.

Date	Title	Author	Publication
1928-11-21	Influenza Outbreak Calls For Quarantine	Unknown	Kansas City Star
1932-08-05	Saloonkeeper Slain As Gang War Erupts	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-06	Irish Rose Medico A Mystery	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-07	Second "Doctor" In Rose Murder Identified	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-08	Cream of Society Fills Rose While Gang War Brews	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-09	Macklin's Girl Speaks!	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-10	Strange Incident at Curtisville Church	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-11	Kansas City Connection Discovered in Irish Rose Murder	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-12	International Connection Discovered in Irish Rose Murder	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-16	White Slavery in the Motor City!	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-17	Heroic Doctor Speaks!	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-19	Gangland Doctors Experimenting on Kidnaped Children	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-21	"Our Nightmare Ordeal!"	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-08-29	Charnel House in Kansas City	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-09-04	Murder, Vivisection, Conspiracy	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times
1932-10-09	Behind the Imperial Mask	Frank Lovejoy	Detroit Evening Times

Correspondence

Correspondence regarding newspaper articles may be addressed to Frank Lovejoy, Box 13, c/o the Detroit Evening Times.

Date	Title	Author	Received Via
1931-01-15	F. Huber to M. de Bonnevault	Franz Huber	Unknown
1932-01-15	F. Huber to M. de Bonnevault, list of correspondence	Franz Huber	Unknown
1932-08-08	Note to F. Lovejoy	Unknown	Box 13
1932-08-09	Note to F. Lovejoy	Unknown Crank	Box 13
1932-08-09	Note to F. Lovejoy	Unknown	Box 13
1932-08-10	H. Flynn to F. Lovejoy, telegram	Heather Flynn	Box 13
1932-08-11	D. Ferris to F. Lovejoy, letter	Daphne Ferris	Box 13
1932-08-17	D. Rose Darby to F. Lovejoy	Delancy Rose Darby	Box 13
1932-08-19	C. de la Fére to F. Lovejoy	Antonio Grimaldi	Box 13
1932-08-24	Correspondence between F. Lovejoy and H. Flynn, August 1932	Heather Flynn	Courier Network
1932-08-00	Boyar Rulianov to V. Grayson	P. Rulionoff	Courier Network
Unknown	H. Flynn to M. de Bonnevault	Heather Flynn	Unknown

Legal Documents

Date	Title	Author	Received Via
1930-00-00	Treaty between C. Ellis and F. Christian et al.	Carl Ellis	Meridon Caine

Personal Records

Date	Title	Author	Received Via
1932-08-21	G. Parkhurst to F. Lovejoy	Gregory Parkhurst	Personal Interview
1932-09-02	H. Rhyner to F. Lovejoy	Hannelore Rhyner	Personal Interview