Rex Stout: the boy genius who never stopped achieving
It's safe to say there'll never be another mystery writer like Rex Stout. For starters, "mystery writer" was but one of many things he accomplished. Yes, he wrote 46 books featuring his sedentary detective, Nero Wolfe, but that was merely one facet of his fascinating life.
Stout was, among other things, a banker, yachtsman, manager of 3,000 writers of propaganda during World War II, gentleman farmer, big businssman, cigar salesman, pueblo guide, hotel manager, architect, cabinet maker, pulp magazine writer, proponent of world government, crow trainer, jumping-pig trainer, mammoth pumpkin grower, conversationalist, politician, orator, potted-plant wizard, gastronome, musical amateur, president of the Author's Guild and usher. Oh, and he was also a child prodigy.
Stout was born in 1886, the sixth of nine children. A whiz in arithmetic, he was a public character in his native Kansas and was exhibited all over the state by age 9. The boy was blindfolded while someone wrote a long column of figures on a blackboard. Then the blindfold was removed and he was turned around, and within a few seconds, he could give a correct total.
Fearing that his personality would be warped, Rex's parents called a halt to the exhibitions and took him out of school for a time. In this period, he finished reading his way through his father's library - 1,200 volumes of biography, history, philosophy, and fiction.
After he graduated from high school (he won a statewide spelling contest while there) and a brief university stay, he joined the Navy. Upon discharge, he drifted into magazine writing, cranking out a potboiler a month. He tired of that, created a banking program for children, and eventually retired at age 41 with $400,000 in 1927 -- about $7 million in 2023 dollars
Stout went to Paris to write serious fiction. He turned out four novels, all to favorable critical comment. But the Depression reduced his fortune, so he turned to new ways to make quick money writing. The detective novel proved the solution. His first Nero Wolfe book, "Fer-de-Lance," came out in 1934 and brought in solid cash. Many others followed.
As World War II approached, Stout carried on a personal campaign against Hitlerism, eventually hosting several radio programs that debunked Nazi propaganda. He was also chairman of the War Writers Board and was a frequent and eloquent speaker at forums and rallies around the country.
After the war, he resumed his Nero Wolfe novels. (Wolfe supposedly was inspired by the fictional Mycroft Holmes, solved crimes by pure brain power, abetted by his efficient legman, Archie Goodwin. The vowels in Nero Wolfe are in the same order as Sherlock Holmes. Who knew?)
The Nero Wolfe books sold more than 45 million copies. "I write for 39 consecutive days each year," he said. "I figure six weeks for a book but I shave it down."
One of our co-owners, Dan, once had a long conversation with one of Stout's daughters, Rebecca. "He used to come down from writing and say, 'You won't believe what Nero did today,'" she told him.
"He was a wonderful, wonderful father."
