Name Albert Leffingwell | ||
Albert Leffingwell (1895–1946) was a novelist who wrote crime and mystery thrillers under the pen names Dana Chambers and Giles Jackson.
Biography
Albert Fear Leffingwell was born April 24, 1895 in Cambridge, MA, the first son of Dr. Albert Tracy Leffingwell, and Dr. Elizabeth Fear. He graduated from Harvard, Class of 1916.
In 1916, while still at Harvard, he wrote a book of poetry, Castles in Spain, and had 2 poems published in the Harvard publication, Made to Order. He served in WWI in France as a member of the Intelligence Department, 108th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division, under the command of General John F. O'Ryan.
Following his return from the war, he began his career in advertising, co-founding the advertising agencies, Riegel & Leffingwell, and Olmstead, Perrin, & Leffingwell in New York City. in 1929, Olmstead, Perrin, & Leffingwell was absorbed by the ad giant, McCann, a year before its merger with Erickson.
In 1928, he wrote Toujours de l'avant, about the Pineaud perfumery in France. This book was illustrated with numerous water colors by Will Hollingsworth, who also provided illustrations for many of Leffingwell's advertising accounts, such as Brooks Brothers and Forstmann's Woolens. In 1930, he wrote a short monograph in memory of his younger brother, Dana, which was also illustrated by Hollingsworth.
Between 1939 and 1946, he wrote 13 crime and mystery thrillers under his own name, as well as the pseudonyms, Dana Chambers and Giles Jackson. His first novel, Some Day I'll Kill You, introduced the radio ad man turned hard-boiled detective, Jim Steele, who would re-appear in a number of subsequent novels, and later be referenced a number of times by Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye (Ch. 10, "I told them my name was Jim Steele, just for the hell of it.").
Albert Leffingwell died in 1946 in New Haven, CT. Brothers included Thomas Arthur Leffingwell (Cornell Class of 1918), former Mayor of Aurora, NY, and owner of "Hygh-Fylde Farms", and Dr. Dana Jackson Leffingwell (Cornell Class of 1921, and Associate Professor of Zoology at the State College of Washington). He was married to Helen Lillian Urie, and had 2 daughters, Elisabeth and Joan Jackson.