Gipson, Fred, 1908-1973

Journalist and author of Western and children's literature.

From the description of Papers, 1920-1973. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122494214

Texas novelist and journalist Fred Gipson is best known for his novel, Old Yeller, which was pronounced a classic almost immediately after its publication in 1956. Old Yeller, Savage Sam, and Hound Dog Man (as "Return of the Texan") were all produced as films, working from scripts by Gipson.

From the description of Fred Gipson Papers, 1948-1957. (Texas State University-San Marcos). WorldCat record id: 50137121

Texas novelist and journalist Frederick Benjamin Gipson was born February 7, 1908, in Mason, TX, and is best known for his novel, Old Yeller . He graduated from high school in 1926, worked various jobs until he attended the University of Texas from 1933-37. Although he did not complete his degree, he found work as a reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times from 1938-40. He began working as a freelance writer in 1940, publishing many short stories, especially in the Southwest Review . His first non-fiction book, Fabulous Empire : Colonel Zack Miller’s Story, was published in 1946, and his first fictional work, Hound-Dog Man in 1949.

Gipson went on to publish many more fiction and non-fiction works, winning numerous awards, and garnering special recognition for Old Yeller, which was pronounced a classic almost immediately after its publication in 1956. Although many of his fictional works were written for young audiences, “Fred Gipson’s tales of the Texas hill country have charmed young and old, in print and film, for more than three decades… (He) was a top-notch storyteller, he had a good ear for dialect and a light hand in transcribing it. He handled well, if not very originally, that most familiar them in American fiction: initiation,” (William T. Pilkington, Twentieth Century Western Writers ). Old Yeller, Savage Sam, and Hound Dog Man (as Return of the Texan ) were all produced as films, working from scripts by Gipson. The author died at his home near Mason, in 1973.

From the guide to the Fred Gipson Papers, 1948-1957, (Southwestern Writers Collection, Special Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos)

Frederick Benjamin Gipson, journalist and author of western and children's literature, was born February 7, 1908, near Mason, Texas. As the son of cotton farmers, Gipson worked as a field laborer while attending Mason High School. After graduating in 1926, Gipson worked as a goat driver, mule skinner, and day laborer before enrolling as a journalism major at the University of Texas in 1933. That same year Gipson won a writing contest for which J. Frank Dobie, the Texas folklore writer, was a judge. Gipson's winning story, Hard-Pressed Sam, was later published in the Southwest Review. He also wrote for the University's student paper, The Daily Texan. Gipson married Tommie Eloise Wynn in 1940 with whom he had two children; they were divorced in 1964. In 1967 Gipson was married to Angelina Torres.

Gipson's career as a newspaper reporter and columnist from 1937 to 1940 included work for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Denver Post, the San Angelo Standard-Times, and the Paris, Texas News. In 1940 Gipson moved back to Mason, Texas, where he began writing a syndicated newspaper column, Around Our Place, as well as fiction for pulp western publications. In 1943 Gipson sold his first story to Colliers magazine, followed by sales to other magazines such as Reader's Digest, Look, and Liberty. His first book, Fabulous Empire: Colonel Zack Miller's Story, was published in 1946. Other nonfiction works by Gipson include Big Bend, with J. Oscar Langford (1952), Cowhand: the Story of a Working Cowboy (1953), and The Cow Killers: With the Afton Commission in Mexico (1956).

Although he was successful as a writer of nonfiction, it was as a novelist that Gipson became best known. In 1945 Gipson met literary agent Maurice Crain, which led to a long-term association between the two Texans. Gipson's first best sellers, Hound-Dog Man (1949) and The Home Place (1950), were listed in the New York Times best seller list and were optioned for film rights by Twentieth Century-Fox. From 1953 to 1955 Gipson wrote for and served as associate editor of True West, a pulp magazine of nonfiction western stories founded by Joe A. Small. From the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Gipson published four more novels for young readers, Trail Driving Rooster (1955), Recollection Creek (1955), Old Yeller (1956), and Savage Sam (1962). Gipson wrote the screen adaptation of Old Yeller (1958) for Walt Disney Studios as well as the screen adaptations of Hound-Dog Man (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1959) and Savage Sam (Walt Disney Studios, 1963).

Gipson was the recipient of several literary awards including the William Allen White Children's Book Award, 1959 and the First Sequoyah Award, Oklahoma, 1959. In 1965 Gipson became president of the Texas Institute of Letters and was named a “Fellow” in 1970. Gipson died at his ranch in Mason County on August 17, 1973, and was, by special proclamation of the governor, buried in the State Cemetery in Austin, Texas. Two of his novels for young readers, Little Arliss (1978) and Curley and the Wild Boar (1980), were published posthumously.

From the guide to the Fred Gipson Papers TXRC95-A71., 1920-1973, (Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin)

Author Frederick (Fred) Benjamin Gipson (1908-1973), born in Mason, Texas, graduated from Mason High School in 1926 and entered the University of Texas in 1933 after working as a rancher.

He wrote for the Daily Texan and the Ranger, but left the university before graduating due to a lack of money. By 1940, he had worked for several newspapers, including the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the San Angelo Standard-Times, and the Denver Post. After quitting journalism, he began selling short stories to pulp Western magazines. Gipson published his first book, entitled The Fabulous Empire: Colonel Zack Miller's Story, in 1946. It performed moderately well, but his second book, Hound-Dog Man (1949), sold over 250,000 copies in its first year. He wrote many books, including The Home Place (1950), Big Bend: A Homesteader's Story (1952), Cowhand: The Story of a Working Cowboy (1953), The Trail-Driving Rooster (1955), and Recollection Creek (1955). He also wrote the children's classic, Old Yeller, in 1956, which received a Newbery Honor in 1957, and its sequel, Savage Sam, in 1962.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Gipson, Frederick Benjamin" http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/fgi32.html (accessed August 13, 2010).

From the description of Fred Gipson Papers, 1963-1967 (University of Texas Libraries). WorldCat record id: 741764036