Ten Interesting Things About Rex Stout

1. Rex Stout was born in Indiana and raised in Kansas. He read the Bible twice by the age of five. At thirteen he was the Kansas state spelling bee champion. He graduated high school at sixteen. Could Archie Goodwin have been a self portrait?

2. While in the Navy, from 1906-1908, he served as a yeoman on President Theodore Roosevelt's yacht.

3. In 1916, he and his brother invented the school banking system which allowed school children to open savings accounts at school. The royalties from this system allowed Stout to travel to Europe for the first time.

4. Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe novel, was written in 1934. Nero Wolfe was created a few days after Stout's father, John, died. According to John J. McAleer, Rex Stout's biographer, Nero Wolfe embodied much of John Stout's personality.

5. During the Second World War, Stout cut back on much of his novel writing to focus on war propaganda. He was very active in the Fight for Freedom Organization, Friends of Democracy, and the Writers' War Board. He also produced three weekly radio shows, "Speaking of Liberty." This program countered Nazi propaganda which was being broadcast across Europe.

6. He served as president of the Authors' Guild and of Mystery Writers of America

7. Stout was on the original board of the American Civil Liberties Union. A staunch Marxist during the Geat Depression, he started "The New Masses" magazine. However, by the 1940's he took a strong stance against USSR style Communism. Although "anti-commie," he did not waiver in his support for civli liberties. During the McCarthy era, he refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

8. The FBI began watching Stout after Stout's novel The Doorbell Rang was published in 1965. It racked up over three hundred pages on Stout because The Doorbell Rang "presented a highly distorted and most unfavorable picture of the bureau."

9. According to the Topeka Chamber of Commerce, Archie Goodwin was named after a Topeka policeman of the 1920's who found Stout's stolen record player. This fact is suspect since Stout left Topeka long before the 20's.

10. Stout never wrote a second draft. His novels were so carefully plotted that the first draft became the final draft. As a struggling writer. I am most impressed by this fact.

Nero Wolfe is Rex Stout's most famous creation. He is also one of detective fiction's most eccentric and fun characters. According to John McAleer, Stout's biographer, Wolfe was based on John Stout, Rex's father.

Physically, Wolfe is impressive. His assistant, Archie Goodwin, reports that he weighs one-seventh of a ton- about 285 pounds. This was considered rather large back in the 1930's. He keeps his weight up with gourmet food and a complete lack of exercise.

Food is an important part of the Nero Wolfe series. Wolfe has a chef, Fritz Brenner, living in his New York brownstone. Fritz prepares exotic and expensive meals which are often described in loving detail. Stout obviously loved his food as much as Wolfe does. Although he has a very sophisticated palette, Wolfe is not a snob. His favorite beverage is beer. Of course, he drinks only one brand which was chosen after taste testing every brand which could be found in New York and the surrounding area.

Another of Wolfe's idiosyncracies is his agoraphobia. He never leaves his home on business. Clients and witnesses are required to come to him (during strict office hours.) He will travel for food or for his other hobby of raising orchids. Nothing else will budge him from his routine, barring very extraordinary circumstances.

Inside the brownstone, Wolfe tends to be indolent. HIs only exercise is moving from one specially built, over-sized chair to another. He has gone so far as to install an elevator in his five story home. Slight nods take the place of standing to greet visitors. Archie Goodwin tells us that tapping his fingers is considered great physical effort.

Besides his meals, Wolfe's great passion is his orchids. The roof of his brownstone has been converted to a three room greenhouse. The thousands of orchids are tended by Theodore Horstmann, a full-time gardener who lives in the greenhouse. Wolfe spends four hours a day with his orchids. From 9-11 am and 4-6 pm he will be incommunicado on the roof. This schedule, along with mealtimes, are inviolable. He might question a witness from midnight until dawn, but nothing will be permitted to take a minute from his meals or his orchids.

Wolfe's eccentricities extend to his relationship with people. Because he is uncomfortable with emotion, he does not like women. The fastest he ever moves is to scurry from a room to escape a crying woman. He rarely shakes hands. When he does, it is seen as a sign of great favor and respect.

While his manners leave much to be desired, Wolfe is never unnecessarily rude or inconsiderate. He will treat everyone exactly as deserved. He is capable of telling people to their faces that they are jackasses while all the while pocketing their retainer checks. As much as he likes large checks, Wolfe never bases his behavior on the clients' material worth. Whether the client be a millionaire or a janitor, everyone is expected to behave intelligently and civilly while dealing with Wolfe. He responds accordingly. He is even capable of kindness and gentleness when dealing with the grief-stricken. This is a great concession considering his fear of emotion.

Wolfe also has no patience with foolishness or illogic. He shares Stout's love of English and insists that it be properly spoken in his presence. It was he who taught me as a teenager that "contact" is not a verb. I now share this with him as a pet peeve. I can imagine his reaction to the new bad habit of using "impact" as a verb!

Wolfe manages to be the most expensive and sought after private detective in New York despite these frustrating, and often infuriating, habits. He is a genius who can beat the police to the solution of crimes without ever leaving his home.

Archie Goodwin is Nero Wolfe's assistant, legman, and goad. His job is to do all the physical work and most of the dealings with women. He is also responsible for keeping Wolfe working and on track, probably his most important and difficult job. Best of all he is the narrator of the series. Archie's narrative is so entertaining, I often forget about the plot.

I believe Archie is Rex Stout's idealized self-portrait. He is young and good-looking, well dressed, popular with women, intelligent, courageous and a smart aleck. He is also one of the best and best paid detectives in New York. To top it off, he lives in rent free luxury with three gourmet meals a day. Who would not want to be Archie Goodwin?

Much of the fun of the Nero Wolfe series is the interaction between Archie and Wolfe. Wolfe admits that one of the reasons he keeps Archie on is because Archie is the only one who can force him to work. Wolfe is naturally lazy and hates even having to think hard. He would rather read or play with maps. Archie has a talent for goading him into accepting cases and working those cases once taken. He has a constant eye on the bank balance and knows better than Wolfe how expensive the household is to run. A Manhattan brownstone with a roof full of orchids, gourmet food, cases of beer, live-in chef and live-in gardener, not to mention live-in assistant detective do not come cheap, even in Depression era terms. Wolfe needs several thousand a week to keep going.

Another of Archies main duties is to track down witnesses and haul them back to the brownstone for questioning. Often this is at bizarre times, such as 11 pm. Archie has enough charm with women and ability to threaten men that he rarely fails. If the witness happens to be a pretty young woman, the persuading often occurs at the Flamingo Room. I love how Archie can always manage to find a way to get an impromptu date on the expense account.

Since Wolfe almost never leaves home, New York is presented through Archie's eyes. He has a talent for describing street scenes, buildings, penthouse apartments, and people. As a detective, he has a good eye for detail and his descriptions are always useful and usually entertaining.

Archie Goodwin's favorite lunch counter
meal is a ham sandwich with milk

From 1934 until his death in 1975, Rex Stout wrote nearly eighty Nero Wolfe novels and novellas.

1934 Fer-de-Lance
1935 The League of Frightened Men
1936 The Rubber Band
1937 The Red Box
1938 Too Many Cooks
1939 Some Buried Caesar
1940 Over My Dead Body
1940 Where There's a Will
1942 Black Orchids
1944 Not Quite Dead Enough
1946 The Silent Speaker
1947 Too Many Women
1948 And Be a Villain
1949 Trouble in Triplicate
1949 The Second Confession
1950 Three Doors to Death
1950 In the Best Families
1951 Curtains for Three
1951 Murder by the Book
1952 Triple Jeopardy
1952 Prisoner's Base
1953 The Golden Spiders
1954 Three Men Out
1954 The Black Mountain
1955 Before Midnight
1956 Three Witnesses
1956 Might as Well Be Dead
1957 Three for the Chair
1957 If Death Ever Slept
1958 And Four to Go
1958 Champagne for One
1959 Plot It Yourself
1960 Three at Wolfe's Door
1960 Too Many Clients
1961 The Final Deduction
1962 Homicide Trinity
1962 Gambit
1963 The Mother Hunt
1964 Trio for Blunt Instruments
1964 A Right to Die
1965 The Doorbell Rang
1966 Death of a Doxy
1968 The Father Hunt
1969 Death of a Dude
1973 Please Pass the Guilt
1975 A Family Affair
1985 Death Times Three

New York has almost as much personality as any character Rex Stout created. Stout has filled it with eccentric people and plenty of bustle.

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The Tombs was New Yorks old city jail. Archie spent many nights here after being arrested by exasperated police as a "material witness." Four prisons have been nicknamed "The Tombs" since 1838. The one pictured stood from 1902 until 1941.

I believe that the "Flamingo Room," Archie's favorite nightclub was based upon the Stork Club. The Stork Club was popular hangout for celebrities and politicians from 1929 until 1965.

These pictures give some idea of what New York looked like during the 1930's.

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I don't know that this has anything to do with Rex Stout or Nero Wolfe, but isn't it a great photo?



Workmen Atop Gargoyle on Chrysler Bui...

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Before creating Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout wrote many crime and adventure stories.

1913 Her Forbidden Knight
1914 Under the Andes
1914 A Prize for Princes
1916 The Great Legend
1929 How Like a God
1930 Seed on the Wind
1931 Golden Remedy
1933 Forest Fire
1934 The President Vanishes
1935 O Careless Love!
1937 The Hand in the Glove (Dol Bonner, a female detective who appears occasionally in the Nero Wolfe stories, is the main character)
1938 Mr. Cinderella
1939 Mountain Cat
1939 Red Threads (This one features Inspector Cramer, Nero Wolfe's police nemesis)
1941 Alphabet Hicks
(a mystery republished as The Sound of Murder)

Rex Stout also wrote a short series about Tecumseh Fox, a detective from upstate New York:

1939 Double for Death
1940 Bad for Business
1941 The Broken Vase

The earliest movie based on a Rex Stout work was "The President Vanishes" in 1934. In 1936, "Meet Nero Wolfe" was produced based on Fer-de-Lance and starring Edward Arnold. The League of Frightened Men with Walter Connolly followed in 1937. Reportedly, Rex Stout was not happy with the Hollywood depictions of Nero Wolfe and not much more was done until television picked up Nero Wolfe in the 1970's.

Thayer David starred as Nero Wolfe in a pilot for a series in 1979. His death put an end to the concept. In 1981, Paramount tried again with William Conrad. Unfortunately this series lasted only 14 episodes.

From 2000 to 2002, A&E produced a good series starring Maury Chaykin. This series was based on the novels and was reasonably faithful to them.

Edward Arnold portrayed the first Nero Wolfe in "Meet Nero Wolfe."

Walter Connolly starred in "The League of Frightened Gentlemen."

Lee Horsley and William Conrad were the stars of the 1981 TV series.

The last actor to portray Nero Wolfe was Maury Chaykin in the A&E series.