Charles Wertenbaker
Charles Christian Wertenbaker | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 8 January 1955 Paris | (aged 53)
Occupation(s) | journalist and writer |
Years active | 1931–1954 |
Employer | Time |
Spouse(s) | Nancy Hale 1935-1941, Lael Tucker Wertenbaker |
Children | William b.1938, Christian Wertenbaker, Timberlake Wertenbaker |
Parent | William C. "Bill" Wertenbaker |
Charles Christian Wertenbaker.[1] (11 February 1901 – 8 January 1955) was an American journalist for Time, and author.
Career
[edit]Wertenbaker was born in 1901, the son of American football coach Bill Wertenbaker.
Wertenbaker worked for Time publications (Fortune, Life, and Time) from 1931 to 1948.[1] In 1940, William Saroyan lists him among "associate editors" at Time in the play, Love's Old Sweet Song.[2]
By 1942, Wertenbaker was the magazine's foreign editor. Whittaker Chambers, who served as foreign editor later in World War II, described him and other colleagues in his 1952 memoir:
I had scarcely edited it so long when most of Time's European correspondents joined in a round-robin protesting my editorial views and demanding my removal . They were seconded by a clap of thunder out of Asia, from the Time bureau in Chungking. Let me list the signers of the round-robin, or those among Time's foreign correspondents who supported it, and continued to feed out news written from the viewpoint that the Soviet Union is a benevolent democracy of unaggressive intent, or that the Chinese Communists are "agrarian liberals," for I think that they are enlightening. Foremost among them were: John Hersey, John Scott (son of my old teacher of the law of social revolution, Scott Nearing), Charles C . Wertenbaker, the late Richard Lauterbach, Theodore White.[3]
Towards the end of the war, Wertenbaker reported from Paris, where he knew people like Ernest Hemingway and Irwin Shaw.[4] He was one of many journalist who hung out at the Bar in the Hotel Scribe, as painted by colleague Floyd MacMillan Davis in Paris in 1945.[5] Wertenbaker described the scene in an article for Life (magazine).[6]
After the war, he remained in France, where he continued as both journalist and author.[7][4]
Personal life
[edit]In 1942, Wertenbaker married Lael Tucker Wertenbaker, also a Time journalist,[4] whom an official of the German Nazi propaganda ministry called a dangerous woman.[8]
Later, she became an author. Her best known book is Death of a Man, an account of her husband's illness and death by euthanasia. In 1962, Garson Kanin adapted the book for a Broadway play called A Gift of Time.[7]
They had a son, Dr. Christian Wertenbaker,[8] and a daughter, Timberlake Wertenbaker, a playwright.[4]
In 1955 Lael Tucker Wertenbaker and her son Christian were interviewed by Orson Welles on the Basque Country. Living in Ciboure, Basque, at that time, Lael gives a lively insight to that small town on the northern side of the Pyrenees and basque people and culture. Christian gives some short answers.[9] In 1955, Orson Welles became involved in a BBC series of documentaries, titled "Around the World with Orson Welles".
Death
[edit]Wertenbaker died of colon cancer in 1955. After his death in Paris, his wife moved to New York and New Hampshire in 1966, settling in Keene, New Hampshire in 1985.[4]
Writing
[edit]Wertenbaker began publishing books in college.
Books
[edit]- Boojum! (1928)
- Peter the Drunk (1930)
- Before They Were Men (1931)
- To My Father (1936)
- A New Doctrine for the Americas (1941)
- Invasion (1945)
- Write Sorrow on the Earth (1947)
- The Death of Kings (1954)
Articles
[edit]- Time (sampling)
- Harper's Magazine: "Journey with Young Guitars" (December 1955)[19]
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ a b "Theater: Death on Demand". New York: Random House. 2 March 1962. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Saroyan, William (1940). Love's Old Sweet Song: A Play in Three Acts. Samuel French. p. 72. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
- ^ Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. New York: Random House. p. 498. LCCN 52005149. 52-5149.
- ^ a b c d e Nemy, Enid (29 March 1997). "Lael Wertenbaker, 87, Author Who Wrote of Husband's Death". New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ ""Bar in the Hotel Scribe" (Paris) by Floyd Davis". Flickr. c. 1944. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (16 July 1945). "Paris 1945". Life (Vol. 19, No. 3). pp. 46–55.
- ^ a b "Books: Hemispheric". New York: Random House. 24 March 1941. Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ a b NEMY, ENID (29 March 1997). "Lael Wertenbaker, 87, Author Who Wrote of Husband's Death". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ^ Around the World with Orson Welles - Orson Welles on the Basque Country with Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (19 April 1943). "Precision in the North". Time. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (4 September 1944). "Paris is Free: Merci! Merci! Merci!". Time. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (15 January 1945). "Germany's Chance on the Western Front". Time. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (2 April 1945). "This Invasion Was Different". Time. Archived from the original on December 21, 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (21 July 1947). "No. 21". Time. Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (11 November 1950). "The Pursuit of the Wild Pigeon". New Yorker. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (20 October 1951). "Department of Amplification". New Yorker. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (26 December 1953). "The World on His Back". New Yorker. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (5 June 1954). "The Testing of M. Thulier". New Yorker. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
- ^ Wertenbaker, Charles (December 1955). "Journey with Young Guitars". New Yorker. Retrieved 9 November 2012.