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Michael Avallone (1924–1999)

Author of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Thousand Coffins Affair

97+ Works 1,292 Members 44 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

Michael Avallone also wrote under the following pseudonyms: Mile Avalione, Mike Avallone, Troy Conway, Mark Dane, Steve Michaels, Edwina Noone, Priscilla Dalton, John Patrick, Jeanne-Anne dePre, Dorothea Nile, Sidney Stuart, Dora Highland, Stuart Jason, Vance Stanton, Max Walker, and Lee Davis Willoughby.

Series

Works by Michael Avallone

The Haunted Hall (1970) 72 copies
The Tall Dolores (1953) 40 copies
A Woman Called Golda (1982) 25 copies
Friday the 13th Part 3: 3-D (1982) 24 copies
Fallen Angel (1974) 22 copies
Dead Game (1954) 20 copies
Hawaii Five-O (1968) 20 copies
The Crazy Mixed-Up Corpse (1957) 20 copies
Keith, The Hero (1970) 19 copies
Devil, Devil (1960) 18 copies
Cannonball Run (1981) 15 copies
The Partridge Family (1970) 15 copies
Violence in Velvet (1956) 14 copies
The Bedroom Bolero (1963) 13 copies
The February Doll Murders (1967) 13 copies
The Voodoo Murders (1957) 13 copies
Assassins Don't Die in Bed (1968) 12 copies
Death Dives Deep (1971) 12 copies
The Flower Covered Corpse (1969) 11 copies
The Alarming Clock (1961) 11 copies
The Man from Avon (1967) 11 copies
The Doomsday Bag (1969) 10 copies
The Werewolf Walks Tonight (1974) 10 copies
The Horrible Man (1968) 10 copies
Killer on the Keys (1973) 9 copies
The Living Bomb (1972) 9 copies
Shoot it Again, Sam (1972) 9 copies
London Bloody London (1972) 9 copies
The Spitting Image (1954) 9 copies
The Fat Death (1966) 8 copies
Kill Her--You'll Like It (2015) 8 copies
The Craghold Legacy (2019) 7 copies
Where Monsters Walk (1978) 7 copies
Mannix (1968) 6 copies
Little Miss Murder (1908) 6 copies
Space Science Fiction, Spring 1957 (Vol. 1 ∙ No.1) — Uncredited editor — 6 copies
The Hot Body (2015) 6 copies
Shock Corridor (1990) 6 copies
The X-Rated Corpse (1973) 6 copies
Lust Is No Lady (1964) 6 copies
The Girl in the Cockpit (1974) 5 copies
The Big Stiffs (1998) 4 copies
The Coffin Things (1968) 3 copies
The Walking Wounded (2019) 3 copies
Krakatoa East of Java (1969) 3 copies
Station Six-Sahara (1964) 3 copies
All the Way 2 copies
Nid de frelons 2 copies
Flash au Far West (1968) 2 copies
The Doctors (1970) 2 copies
The Blue-Eyed Monster (1969) 2 copies
The Felony Squad (1967) 2 copies
Doctors 1 copy
The Incident (1968) 1 copy
Pan partout (1983) 1 copy
Dark On Monday (2021) 1 copy
The Darkening Willows (1965) 1 copy
90 Gramercy Park (1965) 1 copy
Orgies funéraires (1980) 1 copy
Missing! 1 copy
Hornets' Nest (1970) 1 copy
One more miracle (1976) 1 copy

Associated Works

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Avallone, Michael
Legal name
Avallone, Michael Angelo, Jr.
Other names
Avalione, Mile
Avalone, Mike
Conway, Troy
Dane, Mark
Michaels, Steve
Noone, Edwina (show all 18)
Dalton, Priscilla
Patrick, John
dePre, Jeanne
Nile, Dorothea
Stuart, Sidney
Highland, Dora
Jason, Stuart
Stanton, Vance
Walker, Max
Willoughby, Lee Davis
Noon, Ed
Carter, Nick
Birthdate
1924-10-27
Date of death
1999-02-26
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
New York, New York, USA
Place of death
Los Angeles, California, USA
Places of residence
Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA
Occupations
novelist
Relationships
Avallone, David (son)
Disambiguation notice
Michael Avallone also wrote under the following pseudonyms: Mile Avalione, Mike Avallone, Troy Conway, Mark Dane, Steve Michaels, Edwina Noone, Priscilla Dalton, John Patrick, Jeanne-Anne dePre, Dorothea Nile, Sidney Stuart, Dora Highland, Stuart Jason, Vance Stanton, Max Walker, and Lee Davis Willoughby.

Members

Reviews

A pretty good story. Not as much violence and misogyny as you would normally expect, which I appreciated.
½
 
Flagged
grandpahobo | 1 other review | Jul 21, 2022 |
review of
Michael Avallone's Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 1-2, 2019

I enjoyed watching Charlie Chan movies on TV in the 1960s when I was young & still living w/ my parents. In 2014, remembering the pleasure I got from these movies but retroactively suspicious of them as symptoms of the racism of their times, I decided to revist them & analyze them. The result was this movie I made:

402. "CHAN(geling)"
- a media analysis of yellowface in Warner Oland movies by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- made from January to February, 2014
- edit finished on February 21, 2014
- 30:05
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XMP8mU1OfSY

I allowed ready availability of materials to limit how far I wd go w/ the project. As such, I got every relevant Warner Oland movie I cd find from my public library but didn't succeed in getting out "The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu" (1929) in wch Oland played the title character. This wd've been an important addition to the films analyzed. In the long run, I found the Charlie Chan films to be full of stereotypes-as-character-definition but to be presenting Chan as a positive Chinese figure to be treated respectfully. Given the long history of negative stereotyping of Chinese since the mid-19th-century & the brutality wch Chinese immigrants were subjected to, I found the Charlie Chan character to be generally a positive force.

5 yrs later, in 2019, I decided to read some Earl Derr Biggers Charlie Chan out of curiousity. I didn't find any at my favorite local bkstore but I did find 2 Charlie Chan novels written by other authors who'd continued the character post-Biggers. Such a practice isn't uncommon. There're Sherlock Holmes stories written post-Arthur-Conan-Doyle by hundreds of authors (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_of_new_Sherlock_Holmes_stories ). Then there's Poodle Springs a Philip Marlowe novel started by Raymond Chandler but left unfinished by him — it was then finished by Robert B. Parker. Popular characters are kept alive after their authors' death not only for commercial reasons but b/c readers haven't had enuf. Charlie Chan must've been very popular. There was a Charlie Chan Mystery Magazine that put out at least 4 issues from 1973 to 1974. Biggers, the creator of the character, was dead by 1933 so enthusiasm for Chan wd've still been strong enuf 40 yrs later to generate a magazine.

Avallone's Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen was published in February, 1981, & turned into a movie w/ well-known actors Peter Ustinov, Angie Dickinson and Lee Grant in the same yr. Given that the movie story is credited online to Jerry Sherlock & given tht the bk has images from the movie on its cover I reckon that Avallone wrote the novelization of the story published as a marketing tie-in to the movie. As such, this is very much the kind-of-thing-I-wdn't-ordinarily-read but I'm not always so rigid, eh?

In the meantime, I've also been reading Yunte Huang's Charlie Chan — The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History (2010), wch I'll review eventually, a scholarly look at the Chan character & his greater social context. Huang's bk goes into much greater detail than I did in my "CHAN(geling)" & is a much more valuable resource than anything I'm likely to add in my Charlie Chan reviews.

Avallone's dedication says:

"For those splendid entertainers
of childhood—Earl Derr Biggers,
Warner Oland, and Keye Luke"

Keye Luke was the actor who was probably most well-known, at least in the present context, as the man who played Charlie Chan's Number One Son.

As a way of introducing the plot, there's this on p 1:

"CHARLIE CHAN TAKES OVER
LUPOWITZ SUICIDE CASE
Claims Wealthy Pineapple
Magnate Was Murdered


"That was the bold, black, screaming headline and breakfast-interrupting sensation which alerted all the five islands of Hawaii, not to mention the world, to the latest deductive pyrotechnic of the globe's Greatest Living Detective. . . ."

Hhmm, so Chan's now "the globe's Greatest Living Detective"!! Looked at in the timeline of the USA's demonization of the Chinese in general & of Chinese immigrants in particular, the character of Charlie Chan has now considerably counterbalanced the insidious Fu Manchu by providing an extremely positive image.

"And the bland, untroubled face had none of the Fu Manchu sinister aspect, despite the drooping string moustache. Rather, Charlie Chan's face reflected the patience and the wisdom of centuries of deep thought and conclusions about Life, Death, and man's inhumanity to man." - p 8

It's the Chinese who're being given credit for centuries of wisdom & Chan who's being credited for having absorbed this knowledge. Some people might find this too stereotyping in a way similar to thinking that all Asian-American students are assiduous scholars. Having personally had highly unpleasant & inaccurate stereotypes projected on me most of my life since I was 12 I'd much prefer stereotypes that are at least friendly & respectful.

One of the weak points in the presentation of Chan is in his stereotyped pidgin English & somewhat corny sayings (although I, personally, find the sayings entertaining w/o finding them to be particularly relevant to things-Chinese):

""Contradiction, please." said Charlie Chan. "Hasty departure merely indicated guilty mind."" - p 7

""I've got it, Pop!" Lee Chan exploded suddenly. "The killer is somebody who stirs their tea with a fork."

"Number One Son jump to conclusions like kangaroo on trampoline."" - p 9

""Ah, Slyvia." Chan bowed. "Most pleased to see maternal grandmother of Number One Grandson. Trust you are in good health."

""We're all getting older, Charles."

""Merely a condition of living. Growing old not always pleasant but alternative is worse."" - p 70

["And Death was still the black camel that paused unbidden at every gate—for everyone." (p 81) There's a Charlie Chan movie called "The Black Camel"]

But not all Chan stories tell it this way. E.G.: in my "CHAN(geling)" movie I've selected a section from the "Charlie Chan in Paris" movie (1935) that shows Chan parodying he Pidgin English that a drunken foil character addresses him in: https://youtu.be/XMP8mU1OfSY?t=408 .

Another aspect of this story that some, seeking racism to critique, tht might annoy critical readers is that the story features a "Dragon Queen". The Dragon Queen is a cliché that's the female equivalent of Fu Manchu, a diabolically clever Asian woman ever-ready to murder or otherwise victimize. She's enthralling.

I think of Asian-American actress Anna May Wong:

"In 1935 Wong was dealt the most severe disappointment of her career, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to consider her for the leading role of the Chinese character O-Lan in the film version of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, choosing instead the white actress Luise Rainer to play the leading role." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_May_Wong

It was, unfortunately, typical of Hollywood at the time to deny Asian actresses any roles except as 'bad people', such as Dragon Ladies. Only the white women cd get good roles in yellow face. B/c of this:

"Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe in the late 1920s, where she starred in several notable plays and films, among them Piccadilly (1929)." - ibid

African-American jazz musicians went to Paris in the 1960s for similar reasons: in Paris they cd be respected as the talented people they were instead of discrimanted against by racists in the US.

As such, any movie featuring a Dragon Lady evokes the racist legacy in one way or another. In the case of the movie that this bk is the apparent novelization of, I speculate that having a 'white' actress, Angie Dickinson, as the Dragon Lady is a deliberate reversal of earlier Hollywood stereotyping.

Chan, at the scene of an apparent suicide, quickly sees thru the subterfuge:

"When later, clock read two-forty-two, Lupowitz still at desk, gun still pointed at head. Killer knew that when rigor mortin set in, victim's hand would tighten on trigger of gun and . . ."

"In imagination's vivid domain, all could now hear the thunderous blast of the gun in Bernard Lupowitz's hand, though his death had been many hours ago." - p 14

The novel, &, presumably, the movie (wch I haven't seen), has a somewhat campy sense of humor:

"The man in the wheeelchair, who had lighted a cigarette somewhere along the route of his motorized drive, now paused before the stern portrait and looked about furtively, before triumphantly, with a quick motion, flicingd some ashes from his cigarette into the urn." - p 25

This dark humor gets amplified:

"She picked up the urn and pressed it to her bosom.

""My dearest Bernie . . ."

"Then she looked starlted, staring into the urn, and gasped.

""Oh, my God! You're gaining weight!"" - p 31

Alas, Number One Son is KILLED & replaced as a side-kick by HIS son, who's half-Jewish — thusly complicating any potential stereotyping:

"Lee Jr. loved Chinatown. The sights, the sounds, the colors, the traditions, the entire milieu.

"That was inherited too, probably. Once a Chinaman, always a Chinaman. Half-Jewish or not." - p 48

""Ever since he was orphaned when my beautiful daughter and her husband were—were—"

""Killed?"

""I was an auto accident."

""It was the curse," Mrs. Dangers said with triumphant force. "The Curse of the Dragon Queen."" - p 29

Lee Jr., the grandson, is a klutz, a klutz w/ an infatuated girlfriend:

""Cordelia!"

"As she flung her arms about him for an adoring embrace, his hand struck her elbow. The upper end of the riding crop poked directly into one eye. Cordelia recoiled in pain, crying out.

""I'm sorry, darling—" As Lee Jr. [a]ttempted to comfort her in his arms, he pushed against the riding crop so that it thrust very solidly into Cordelia's stomach. "Oops," Lee Jr. said miserably, "I'm so clumsy."

""No, you aren't, darling," Cordelia smiled finely, still very much in love with him. "You're just uncoordinated."" - p 45

He's downright dangerous.

"He inserted a key, which was attached to his belt by a chain, into the lock of the ancient door. When he stepped inside, he did not realize the key was still in the lock.

"He kept on walking, heading for the battered desk in the small, cheaply furnished office. This easily pulled the door off its rusting hinges. Lee Jr. sighed, removed the key from the lock, and stood the old door against the wall for the time being." - p 59

"Later that night, at Charlie Chan's behest, the hunt was truly on. The matchbook clue had led them all to a nefarious San Francisco street. All being Chan, Lee Jr., Chief Baxter, Masten, and Cordelia Farrington the Third. She had insisted on coming and Lee Jr. had been unable to dissuade her. Who could argue with a WASP with a made-up mind? Not Lee Jr. He was learning fast." - p 101

This bk was given to me by someone who wanted to get rid of it b/c "it's racist". They hadn't read the bk & didn't really know anything about it. I tried to explain, to no avail, that it wasn't necessarily racist. As such, a sub-theme of this review is: 'racist or not racist?'. What if I were to say that the most racist thing about it so far, for me, is "Who could argue with a WASP with a made-up mind?"? As for "Cordelia Farrington the Third"? When was the last time you met a woman who was a "Jr." or a "the 2nd" or a "the Third"? Probably never, I reckon. It's usually men who get stuck w/ being put in a megalomaniacal lineage. Having Cordelia be "the Third" is, presumably, more campy humor.

""Nobody leaves the premises. Musician murdered!"

"All eyes were on him. Nobody saw the scarlet Chuangtsan dress as it disappeared through a side door." - p 106

Even Charlie Chan didn't notice. Personally, if a dress disappeared & the woman wearing it stayed put even I wd've noticed & I'm not a detective. But where were we?

"Within the theater proper, a movie was already on. It was an ancient Charlie Chan movie, no less, complete with Warner Oland, Keye Luke, and all the props and gimmicks of another day. It was like a time capsule" - p 151

I enjoyed this bk.. even tho it's lit lite. I find the Charlie Chan character engaging & entertaining.. but I'd never be silly enuf to take him as somehow representative of Chinese people or of Chinese-Hawaiians or of Chinese-Americans. Chan is fiction.
… (more)
 
Flagged
tENTATIVELY | Apr 3, 2022 |
That was cute!! Wonder if they still air those anywhere?
 
Flagged
aldimartino | 1 other review | Nov 24, 2020 |
That was cute!! Wonder if they still air those anywhere?
 
Flagged
Andy_DiMartino | 1 other review | Nov 24, 2020 |

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Associated Authors

Boris Karloff Introduction
Bruce Minney Illustrator
Winston K. Marks Contributor
Tedd Thomey Contributor
Philip Latham Contributor
John Jakes Contributor
Russ Winterbotham Contributor
Adam Chase Contributor
Milton Lesser Contributor
Carl Jacobi Contributor
Charles Eric Maine Contributor
Mack Reynolds Contributor
Mark Mallory Contributor
Tom Ryan Cover artist

Statistics

Works
97
Also by
2
Members
1,292
Popularity
#19,861
Rating
½ 3.3
Reviews
44
ISBNs
52
Languages
2
Favorited
1

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