Talk:Jay Williams (author)

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Obituary from New York Times, Sunday, July 16, 1978

JAY WILLIAMS, AUTHOR, DIES AT 64; WROTE MANY BOOKS FOR CHILDREN by George Goodman Jr. ______________________________________________________________ Jay Williams, a prolific writer, principally of historical novels and science fiction stories for children, died Wednesday on a visit to Britain. The 64-year old author also maintained a home in Redding, Conn.

Though Mr. Williams was recently best known for his Danny Dunn Books, a series of science fiction tales for youths, he won high praise for works such as "Tomorrow's Fire", an adventure set in the context of the Third Crusade, published by Atheneum in 1964. "The Siege," published in 1955 by Little, Brown was also well received by critics, including Orville Prescott, who wrote in the New York Times that "Mr. Williams really knows the period of which he writes and really cares about subtleties of characterization".

Mr. Williams also wrote mystery novels under the non de plume of Michael Delving. The setting for these was England. Steeped in English history, Mr. Williams conducted exhaustive research into his writing projects.

HAD BEEN AN ACTOR

Born in Buffalo, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson, Jay Williams was an actor during his early years. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his craft as early as college. Between 1931 and 1934 he attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, where he majored in English and took part in amateur theatrical productions.

Out of school and out of work during the end of the Depression, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York, "Borscht Belt" circuit. from 1936 until 1941, Mr. Williams worked as a press agent for Dwight Deere Wiman, Jed Harris and the Hollywood Theater Alliance. And even though he played the feature role in the prize-winning film "Little Fugitive", produced in 1953, he had turned his attention to writing as a full-time career after his discharge from the army in 1945. He was the recipient of a Purple Heart.

BOOK ON EXTINCT SPECIES

"The Counterfeit African" was published in 1945. "The Sword and the Scythe" appeared one year later. "Eagles Jake and Indian Pete" was published 1947, and "The Good Yeoman", an adult-oriented novel about the Robin Hood legend, appeared in 1948.

Another book for adults, his only nonfictional work, was entitled "Fall of the Sparrow" and dealt with the subject of extinct animal species, "creatures ranging from dragons to the dodo and basilik." In it Mr. Williams was said to employ a style that characterized much of his other work, wry humor and sardonic wit.