# Phil Stong > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Phil_Stong > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Phil_Stong.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Stong > Source revision: 1300031795 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American author, journalist and Hollywood scenarist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} '''Philip Duffield Stong''' (January 27, 1899 – April 26, 1957) was an American author, journalist and Hollywood scenarist.{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/mccown2.htm|title=Robert McCown on Stong's State Fair|website=www.lib.uiowa.edu|accessdate=July 16, 2018}} He is best known for the 1932 novel ''[State Fair](/source/State_Fair_(novel))'', which was [adapted as a film](/source/film_adaptation) in [1933](/source/State_Fair_(1933_film)), [1945](/source/State_Fair_(1945_film)), [1962](/source/State_Fair_(1962_film)) and [1976](/source/State_Fair_(1976_film)), and as a [Broadway musical in 1996](/source/State_Fair_(musical)). ==Biography== Stong was born in [Pittsburg, Iowa](/source/Pittsburg%2C_Van_Buren_County%2C_Iowa), near [Keosauqua](/source/Keosauqua%2C_Iowa). His father operated the general store, which is now an antique store. The 1844 brick house where Stong was born{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} is located adjacent to the store and is now a private residence. He attended [Drake University](/source/Drake_University) in [Des Moines, Iowa](/source/Des_Moines%2C_Iowa). Stong scored his first success in 1932 with the publication of his famous novel, ''State Fair'', which was later adapted for the screen as the hit [Rodgers and Hammerstein](/source/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein) musical of the same name. In addition to his novels, his short stories were published in most of the leading national magazines of the time, and he wrote several screenplays. His novel ''Stranger's Return'' was also made into a [motion picture](/source/The_Stranger's_Return), starring Academy Award winning actor [Lionel Barrymore](/source/Lionel_Barrymore). About his writing career, he once said, "Fell while trying to clamber out of a low bathtub at the age of two. Became a writer. No other possible career." In a poll carried out by the ''[Saturday Review of Literature](/source/Saturday_Review_(U.S._magazine))'' asking American writers which Presidential candidate they endorsed in the [1940 election](/source/1940_United_States_presidential_election), Stong stated that he had voted for [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt) in the [1936 election](/source/1936_United_States_presidential_election), but that he was now going to vote for [Wendell Willkie](/source/Wendell_Willkie).''"Among those who voted for Mr.Roosevelt in 1936 but who will support the Republican candidate next Tuesday are... Phil Stong..."'' "Editorial: Presidential Poll", ''Saturday Review of Literature''. November 2, 1940 (p.8). Stong created a 466-page anthology published by [Wilfred Funk](/source/Wilfred_Funk) in 1941, ''The Other Worlds'', later issued with the descriptive subtitle ''25 Modern Stories of Mystery and Imagination''. It was considered by [Robert Silverberg](/source/Robert_Silverberg) (in the foreword to ''[Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction](/source/Best_of_the_Best%3A_20_Years_of_the_Year's_Best_Science_Fiction)'') to be the first anthology of science-fiction. Compiling stories from 1930s [pulp magazine](/source/pulp_magazine)s, along with what Stong called "Scientifiction" (a term created by magazine publisher and editor [Hugo Gernsback](/source/Hugo_Gernsback)), it also contained works of horror and fantasy. ''[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](/source/The_Encyclopedia_of_Science_Fiction)'' describes it as "about half sf and half horror" and observes that for science fiction the pulp magazines were a new source of material for hardcover reissue. In his essay ''How to Name a Dog,'' [James Thurber](/source/James_Thurber) reports that he met Stong's spaniel and learned, to its owner's embarrassment, that the dog's name was Thurber. He suggests, by way of revenge, that the reader name his dog Stong. Asked in 1951 to comment on [humanism](/source/humanism), Stong responded: "I’ve never gone deeply enough into any of the various definitions of “humanism” to be able to make any intelligent or instructive comment on the subject. When I read any of these tenuous expositions, they remind me (a) of the blind men and the elephant and (b) that I'd better have a glass of beer and get to bed. I don't see how you distinguish between the humanism of More and that of Dewey or of [Aristophanes](/source/Aristophanes) or Lackland or [Chaucer](/source/Chaucer) or Bunyan or Saintsbury or Taine. The boys that practice it seem to me tremendously more effective than the ones who preach it from the varied pulpits." Stong published more than forty books. He died of a heart attack at his home in [Washington, Connecticut](/source/Washington%2C_Connecticut), on April 26, 1957. He is buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Keosauqua. == Books == {{Col-begin}} {{Col-break}} ===Adult=== *''Adventures of "Horse" Barnsby'' (1956) *''Blizzard'' (1955) *''Buckskin Breeches'' (1937) *''Career'' (1936) *''Farmer in the Dell'' (1935) *''Gold in Them Hills'' (1957) *''Hiram, the Hillbilly'' (1951) *''Horses and Americans'' (1939) *''The Iron Mountain'' (1942) *''Ivanhoe Keeler'' (1939) *''Jessamy John'' (1947) *''The Long Lane'' (1939) *''Mississippi Pilot'' (1954) *''One Destiny'' (1941) *''The Princess'' (1941) *''The Rebellion of Lennie Barlow'' (1937) *''Return in August'' (1953) *''[State Fair](/source/State_Fair_(novel))'' (1932) *''Stranger's Return'' (1933) *''Village Tale'' (1934) *''Week-end'' (1935) *''Marta of Muscovy'' (1945) {{Col-break}} ===Edited by=== * ''[The Other Worlds: 25 Modern Stories of Mystery and Imagination](/source/The_Other_Worlds)'' ([Wilfred Funk](/source/Wilfred_Funk), 1941); (Garden City Publishing, 1942){{isfdb title|34899|The Other Worlds}}. Retrieved September 20, 2014 ===Juvenile=== *''[Honk, the Moose](/source/Honk%2C_the_Moose)'' (1935; [Newbery Medal](/source/Newbery_Medal) Honor Book) *''Farm Boy: A Hunt for Indian Treasure'' (1934) *''Phil Stong's Big Book: Farm Boy; High Water; No-Sitch, The Hound'' (1937) *''Young Settler'' *''The Hired Man's Elephant'' (1939) *''Captain Kidd's Cow'' (1941) *''Way Down Cellar'' (1942) *''Censored, the Goat'' (1945) {{col-end}} ''State Fair'' and ''Marta of Muscovy'' were published as [Armed Services Edition](/source/Armed_Services_Edition)s during WWII. ==References== {{reflist |25em |refs= Hassler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnuYKJSoHCMC&pg=PA474 pp. 474–75]. [http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/stong_phil "Stong, Phil"]. Revised July 9, 2014. ''[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](/source/The_Encyclopedia_of_Science_Fiction)'' (sf-encyclopedia.com). Retrieved September 20, 2014. Entry by 'PN', [Peter Nicholls](/source/Peter_Nicholls_(writer)). Thurber, James. The Beast in Me and Other Animals. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. }} ;Citations * Hassler, Donald M. ([Kent State University](/source/Kent_State_University)). "Phil(ip) (Duffield) Stong." Located in: Greasley, Philip A. (editor) ''Dictionary of Midwestern Literature: The Authors''. [Indiana University Press](/source/Indiana_University_Press), January 1, 2001. {{ISBN|0253336090}}, 9780253336095. ==External links== * {{isfdb name|999}} * {{LCAuth|n86086091|Phil Stong|50|}} * [https://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/629 Phil Stong's Papers] are housed at the University Of Iowa Special Collections & Archives {{Authority control}} {{State Fair}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stong, Phil}} Category:1899 births Category:1957 deaths Category:American children's writers Category:Newbery Honor winners Category:Drake University alumni Category:People from Van Buren County, Iowa Category:Novelists from Iowa Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American male novelists Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Screenwriters from Iowa Category:American male screenwriters Category:20th-century American screenwriters --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Phil Stong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Stong) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Stong?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.