{{short description|American writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Henry Felsen | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = August 16, 1916 | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York | death_date = March 2, 1995 | death_place = | occupation = Writer | years_active = 1940 - 1977 | notable_works = ''Hot Rod'' }} '''Henry Gregor Felsen''' (August 16, 1916 – March 2, 1995) was an American writer, particularly of middle grade (MG) and teen (YA) books.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Felsen, Henry Gregor {{!}} ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa |url=http://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/agents/people/927 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250613010643/http://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/agents/people/927 |archive-date=June 13, 2025 |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=aspace.lib.uiowa.edu |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> He wrote both under his own name and a title under the pen name of '''Angus Vicker'''.
==Biography==
Felsen was born and attended school in Brooklyn, the son of Harry and Sabina Bedrick Felsen. He attended the University of Iowa for two years, where he met his first wife Penny, from whom he was later divorced.<ref>{{cite web |last=Welch |first=Holly Felsen |title=About Hank |url=http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/About_Henry.html |work=Biography |publisher=Holly Welch |access-date=July 7, 2011 |archive-date=March 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326172836/http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/About_Henry.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He taught part-time at Drake University (1964–1969), and in 1977 left Iowa to spend his remaining years travelling. His second wife Karen Kangas survived him, as did a son (Dan) and daughter (Holly) from his first marriage, and two stepchildren.
==Career==
After struggling financially during the Great Depression, Felsen sold nine books and hundreds of stories in his first eighteen months of full-time freelance writing in the early 1940s. After war service with the Marine Corps, during which he edited the Corps magazine ''Leatherneck'' and also wrote magazine articles while stationed in the Pacific, he returned to Iowa where he lived for most of the rest of his life.
His best-selling book was ''Hot Rod'',<ref name="hotrod">{{cite web |work=Backstory |author=Felsen, Henry Gregor |title=Hot Rod |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1950 |isbn=978-0-525-32245-0 |url=http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/Hot_Rod_Backstory.html |access-date=July 7, 2011 |archive-date=March 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326172843/http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/Hot_Rod_Backstory.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> one of a rodding series that also included ''Street Rod'' and ''Crash Club'' and sold about eight million copies in all. He wrote about 60 books, many of them moralistically exploring the evils of drugs, sexism and racism.
He is also credited with one screenplay, for the 1968 film ''Fever Heat'', based on his novel of the same name which had been published under the pen name of Angus Vicker.
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |title=He's in Submarines Now |url=https://archive.org/details/HesInSubmarinesNow |publisher=McBride |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |title=He's in the Coast Guard Now |publisher=McBride |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |title=Jungle Highway |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |title=Navy Diver |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |title=Struggle is Our Brother |url=https://archive.org/details/struggleisourbro00fels |url-access=registration |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |title=Submarine Sailor |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1942 }} * {{cite book |author=Vicar, Henry |title=The Company Owns the Tools |url=https://archive.org/details/companyownstools00vicarich |publisher=Westminster Press |year=1942 |author2=Felsen, Henry Gregor }} * {{cite book |title=Pilots All |publisher=Harper |year=1943 }} * {{cite book |title=Some Follow the Sea |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1943 }} * {{cite book |title=Bertie Comes Through |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75580 |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1947 }} * {{cite book |title=Flying Correspondent |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1947 }} * {{cite book |title=Bertie Takes Care |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1948 }} * {{cite book |title=Bertie Makes a Break |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1949 }} * {{cite book |title=Davey Logan, Interne |url=https://archive.org/details/daveyloganintern00fels |url-access=registration |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1950 }} * {{cite book |title=Hot Rod |publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company |year=1950 |isbn=978-0-525-32245-0 |url=http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/Hot_Rod_Backstory.html |access-date=July 7, 2011 |archive-date=March 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326172843/http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/Henry_Gregor_Felsen/Hot_Rod_Backstory.html |url-status=dead }} * {{cite book |title=Cub Scout at Last! |publisher=Scribners |year=1952 }} * {{cite book |title=Two and the Town |publisher=Charles Scribner's & Sons |year=1952 }} * {{cite book |title=Doctor, It Tickles! |publisher=Prentice-Hall |year=1953 }} * {{cite book |title=Street Rod |url=https://archive.org/details/streetrod00fels |url-access=registration |publisher=Random House |year=1953 }} * {{cite book |title=Anyone for Cub Scouts? |publisher=Charles Scribner's & Sons |year=1954 }} * {{cite book |author=Vicker, Augus |title=Fever Heat |publisher=Dell |year=1954 |isbn=978-0-917473-09-8 |author2=Felsen, Henry Gregor |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/feverheat00fels }} * {{cite book |title=The Cup of Fury, AKA Rag Top |publisher=Random House |year=1954 |isbn=978-0-917473-08-1 }} * {{cite book |title=The Boy Who Discovered the Earth |url=https://archive.org/details/boywhodiscovered00fels |url-access=registration |publisher=Charles Scribner's & Sons |year=1955 }} * {{cite book |title=Medic Mirth |publisher=Ace Books |year=1956 }} * {{cite book |title=Crash Club |publisher=Random House |year=1958 }} * {{cite book |title=Boy Gets Car, AKA Road Rocket |publisher=Random House |year=1960 |isbn=978-0-394-90976-9 }} * {{cite book |title=Letters to a Teen-Age Son |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |year=1962 }} * {{cite book |title=To My Son, the Teen-Age Driver |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |year=1964 }} * {{cite book |title=Here is Your Hobby: Car Customizing |publisher=G. P. Putnam's & Sons |year=1965 }} * {{cite book |title=A Teen-Ager's First Car |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |year=1966 }} * {{cite book |title=Why Rustlers Never Win |publisher=Scholastic Book Service |year=1966 }} * {{cite book |title=To My Son in Uniform |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-396-05468-9 }} * {{cite book |title=The Spaceman Cometh |publisher=Perfection |year=1971 }} * {{cite book |title=Necktie Party, The and Some Other Comic Western Tales |publisher=Perfection |year=1971 }} * {{cite book |title=Why Outlaws Rue the Day, The Little Texas Stranger, Why Banks is Robbed in Texas |publisher=Perfection |year=1971 }} * {{cite book |title=Living With Your First Motorcycle |url=https://archive.org/details/livingwithyourfi00fels |url-access=registration |publisher=G. P. Putnam's & Sons |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-399-60978-7 }} * {{cite book |title=Can You Do It Until You Need Glasses: The Different Drug Book |year=1977 |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company 1977 |isbn=978-0-396-07483-0 }}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.henrygregorfelsen.com/}} * [http://www.damfino.com/authors/hfelsen/bibliography.html Henry Gregor Felsen bibliography] * University of Iowa [https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/556 Papers of Henry Gregor Felsen] * The Iowan Books – Hot Rod, new edition [http://www.iowan.com/shop/?hot_rod&show=product&productID=21666 http://www.iowan.com/shop]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Felsen, Henry Gregor}} Category:1916 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American children's writers Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American male screenwriters Category:American writers of young adult novels Category:American male novelists Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:Drake University faculty Category:United States Marines Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Novelists from Iowa Category:Screenwriters from Iowa Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II