Bill Hillman's

Zane Grey Tribute Site

www.erbzine.com/zanegrey
.
Zane Grey (1872-1939) was the best-selling author of over 85 books which have sold well over 100 million copies worldwide. Most of these books drew upon the American Old West or the great outdoors for inspiration and are acknowledged as some of the best Western adventure novels ever written. 

Although Grey died in 1939, his legacy remains with us today -- he has inspired countless imitators and his work has been adapted to all modern media -- movies (a record 111 films), radio & television (Zane Grey Western Theatre), magazines (Zane Grey Magazine), comics (King of the Royal Mounted, etc.), paperbacks, talking books, Internet (websites and electronic texts), etc.

Zane Grey almost single-handedly created the "Myth of the West."

He celebrated the natural beauty of the West and
glorified the character and frontier values of its people.
His respectful treatment of Indians was ahead of its time and his
word paintings of some of the worlds most spectacular country may never be equaled.

,

Annual Convention


 ZANE GREY INDUCTED INTO THE
ARIZONA MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT HALL OF FAME
www.azmusichalloffame.org/zane-grey/

ZANE GREY
Inductee Biography
Pearl Zane Grey was born January 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1889 Zane moved from Zanesville to Columbus, Ohio.

From an early age he had a great interest in history. He would eventually become a world renowned author whose books brought the American frontier and the wild west to life in the world. He wrote his first story, "Jim of the Cave," when he was fifteen.

As a teen, he had aspirations of becoming a major league baseball player. He was spotted by a baseball scout and received offers from many colleges. Grey chose the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship, where he studied dentistry. He graduated in 1896. Grey went on to play minor league baseball with several teams, including the Newark, New Jersey Colts in 1898 and also with the Orange Athletic Club for several years.

He struggled with the idea of becoming a writer or baseball player for his career, but decided that dentistry was the most practical choice.  His father was a dentist and he followed in his footsteps and became a dentist himself. In his mid-20’s he started using his middle name, Zane instead of Pearl.  Grey established his practice in New York City under the name of Dr. Zane Grey. He began to write in the evening to offset the tedium of his dental practice. Grey eventually closed his dental practice and became a full time writer.

In 1907 Grey arranged for a mountain lion-hunting trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Upon returning home in 1909, Grey wrote a new novel, The Last of the Plainsmen. With the birth of his first child pending, Grey felt compelled to complete his next novel and his first Western, The Heritage of the Desert. He wrote it in four months in 1910. It quickly became a bestseller. Two years later, in 1912, Grey produced his best-known book, Riders of the Purple Sage. This was to be his best selling book.   It is one of the most successful Western novels of all time.

In addition to the commercial success of his printed books, many films and TV shows were made of his works. As of 2012, 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater, had been made that were based loosely on Grey’s novels and short stories

Grey’s greatest passion was for fishing. From 1918 until 1932, he was a regular contributor to Outdoor Life magazine. The Greys moved to California in 1918. In 1920 they settled in Altadena, California.

He built a cabin around this time in Arizona.  From 1923 to 1930, he spent a few weeks a year at his cabin on the Mogollon Rim, in Central Arizona. Grey’s career blossomed at the same time the motion picture industry was beginning.  His works were adapted to the screen from the earliest day of movies. Zane loved the rugged country of Arizona and spent a lot of time here.

He visited many areas of Arizona and Zane Grey stories abound in Northern Arizona. The time he spent in Arizona has put his mark on our history. The Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff has placed plaques of recognition up honoring the times he spent staying there and writing. After years of decay, the cabin he had built on the Mogollon Rim was restored in 1966 by Bill Goettl, a Phoenix air conditioning magnate. He opened it to the public as a free-of-charge museum.

The Dude Fire destroyed the cabin in 1990.  It was later reconstructed 25 miles away in the town of Payson. In 2003, the Zane Grey Cabin Foundation raised $200,000 to build a replica of the cabin on the grounds of the Rim Country Museum in Payson’s Green Valley Park. It’s still a popular tourist destination. A first-edition copy of one of Grey’s first books, Betty Zane, is displayed at the cabin in Payson.

Zane Grey died of heart failure on October 23, 1939, at his home in Altadena, California. He was buried in the Lackawaxen and Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.

The National Park Service maintains his former home in Lackawaxen as the Zane Grey Museum. Zanesville, Ohio also has a museum named in his honor, the National Road-Zane Grey Museum. His home in Altadena, CA is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Zane Grey Terrace, a small residential street in the hillsides of Altadena, is named in his honor.

“My beloved Arizona” was the term of endearment Zane Grey bestowed upon this state. Our history, landscape and people inspired many of his western novels. Zane Grey was a major force in shaping the myths of the Old West.  He inspired many Western writers who followed him. His tales of the western frontier made him “The Father of the Western Novel." Arizona is proud to have been one of Zane Grey’s favorite inspirations to write classic novels depicting the great old days of our wild western culture.

ZANE GREY VIDEO


You can find out more information about Zane Grey at the Zane Grey West Society website at: www.zgws.org.
and
www.facebook.com/ZaneGreysWestSociety

Explore Our Zane Grey Tribute Features
CONTENTS


Zane Grey Intro
The Edgar Rice Burroughs / Zane Grey Connection ~ Pt. 1
The Edgar Rice Burroughs / Zane Grey Connection ~ Pt. 2
The Edgar Rice Burroughs / Zane Grey Connection ~ Pt. 3
Zane Grey Bibliography Intro
Zane Grey Bibliography Illustrated Pt. 1
Zane Grey Bibliography Illustrated Pt. 2
Zane Grey Bibliography Illustrated Pt. 3
Zane Grey Bibliography Illustrated Pt. 4
Zane Grey Magazines Bibliography
Magazine Serials, Articles & Short Stories Bibliography
Zane Grey Comics I: Dell Westerns
Zane Grey Comics II: King of the Royal Mounted & BLBs
Zane Grey Biography
Zane Grey Altadena
Zane Grey Cover Mosaic
Zane Grey On The Web
Zane Grey Memorabilia & Letters
Zane Grey On Film
The Words of Zane Grey in e-Text (Novels, Shorts, etc.)


Hundreds of Google Images in Collage Format
www.erbzine.com/zanegrey/wall

The Web's Only Illustrated Zane Grey Bibliography
Alphabetical Sort

Illustrated Biblio Pt. 1
Illustrated Biblio Pt. 2
Illustrated Biblio Pt. 3
Illustrated Biblio Pt. 4

Other Zane Grey Bibliographies
Chronological Sorts

Text Only
Comics I: Dell
Comics II: King & BLB
ZG Magazines I
ZG Magazines II
Zane Grey On Film
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The Edgar Rice Burroughs / Zane Grey Connection
ERB/ZG Connection 1
ERB/ZG Connection 2
ERB/ZG Connection 3
Zane Grey Bibliography
Zane Grey Intro
BILL HILLMAN
hillmans@westman.wave.ca

OFF-SITE ZANE GREY REFERENCES
Research Sources
www.zgws.org/archives/exhibits/show/zgwsnews

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