Background
Forrest E. Fickling was born on April 15, 1925 in Long Beach, California, United States. Before World War II and the Korean War he lived in California and Washington State.
1945
Forrest E. Fickling, also known as Skip or G. G. Fickling.
Forrest E. Fickling attended three colleges, finally earning a degree from the University of Southern California in 1949.
Forrest E. Fickling attended three colleges, finally earning a degree from the University of Southern California in 1949.
Gloria Fickling with the photo of her husband Forrest E. Fickling.
Skip and Gloria Fickling with Anne Francis.
(She’s a cross between James Bond and The Avengers’ Emma P...)
She’s a cross between James Bond and The Avengers’ Emma Peel - a girl detective with the sleuthmanship of Mike Hammer and the measurements of Marilyn Monroe. This Girl for Hire is the first in a series of darkly funny and innuendo-laden crime novels originally published in the 1950s and 1960s. In this one, Honey finds herself playing strip poker with four murder suspects and a deck that’s as stacked as she is!
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1957
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1958
(In Girl On the Loose, Honey is kidnapped and dressed to l...)
In Girl On the Loose, Honey is kidnapped and dressed to look like an AWOL Marine named Sylvia Verse, only to have her kidnapper killed in a hail of bullets intended for Honey. Rescued by Lieutenant Mark Storm, she is informed that on the same night an old friend from Junior College was smothered to death shortly after giving birth. Meanwhile, in the same hospital, someone who matches Honey's description kidnaps a millionaire's new baby.
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1958
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1959
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1959
(Honey’s boy toy Rip Spensor, a Los Angeles Rams QB who go...)
Honey’s boy toy Rip Spensor, a Los Angeles Rams QB who got sacked by a steamroller (“ground right into the asphalt”), and Angela Scali, an Italian Hollywood bombshell that set out for an innocent weekend at a nudist colony run by some quirky evangelical Christians and ended up hanging dead in a romantic mountain glade (“the grass underneath red with her blood”). What connects the two: Both were associated with a certain blonde gumshoe with an unmistakable 38-22-36 figure and a license to carry.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585677582/?tag=2022091-20
1960
(Honey West is a character created by the husband and wife...)
Honey West is a character created by the husband and wife writing team Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym 'G.G. Fickling,' and appearing in eleven mystery novels by the duo. The character is notable as being one of the first female private detectives in popular fiction. She first appeared in the 1957 book This Girl for Hire and would appear in nine novels before being retired in the mid-1960s, with two comeback novels in 1971.
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1960
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1961
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1962
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1963
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1964
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1964
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1971
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1971
Forrest E. Fickling was born on April 15, 1925 in Long Beach, California, United States. Before World War II and the Korean War he lived in California and Washington State.
Forrest E. Fickling attended three colleges, finally earning a degree from the University of Southern California in 1949.
Forrest E. Fickling served in the United States Army Air Force during the last two years of World War II, then in the Marines during the Korean conflict. In between he met the love of his life, Gloria Gautraud, marrying her in May 1949.
After his military service, Fickling worked in advertising but took periodic breaks from this career to write novels, the first two of which were unsuccessful. Gloria supported him, sometimes working in publishing but often getting unskilled jobs to make ends meet. Finally, in 1957, Skip wrote "This Girl For Hire", the novel that introduced Honey West, a tawny-haired private eye with a mole near her lip, not unlike Anne Francis, the actress who would eventually portray Honey in the subsequent television series (Honey West (1965)). The name "Honey" was chosen because it is a term of endearment, while "West" was chosen because Fickling loved the western United States.
Gloria is usually given credit for co-authoring the Honey West novels, but she has said repeatedly that Skip did all of the writing. She does seem to have contributed her editorial skills, however, and many of the inner thoughts of the female private eye, as well as Honey's fashion sense, came from Gloria's suggestions. Skip is thought to have modeled Honey's spunky personality on Gloria's to a large degree, and his nom de plume, G. G. Fickling, appears to derive from the initials of his wife's maiden name.
Eight of the eleven Honey West novels were written from 1957 to 1961, during which time Fickling often releasing two books per year. The speed with which he wrote seems to be reflected in their slapdash construction, meandering plots, stereotyped characters and dialog. Timelines do not always make sense, and some details about Honey and other recurring characters are contradicted from novel to novel. Despite these detriments, Fickling's presentation of his female private eye was unique and compelling in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some critics believe that "Kiss For a Killer" (1960) and, to some extent, "This Girl For Hire" (1957) are almost worthy efforts.
While the early novels provided enough income to support the Ficklings, the sale of the television rights afforded them a comfortable retirement. The Honey West television series (1965-1966) did not, however, increase the demand for more novels in the series, and after the final entry in 1971, Fickling retired his creation. An attempt to republish the series in the 1980s met little success.
Skip Fickling died from a brain tumor on April 3, 1998, in Laguna Hills, California, just short of his 73rd birthday.
(Honey’s boy toy Rip Spensor, a Los Angeles Rams QB who go...)
1960(In Girl On the Loose, Honey is kidnapped and dressed to l...)
1958(She’s a cross between James Bond and The Avengers’ Emma P...)
1957(Honey West is a character created by the husband and wife...)
1960Forrest E. Fickling had patriotic feelings towards his native Western Coast of the United States.
Fickling had the inspiration but not the organization, so Gloria his wife used her talents as editor to pull the books together with plot devices.
Forrest E. Fickling married Gloria Gautraud in May 1949. They had three sons.
Honey West was featured on a television series bearing her name, which aired from 1965 to 1966 and starred Anne Francis.
