Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Alan R. Riefe (1925 - 2001)

Alan R. Riefe was a professional writer for most of his life. In this case by "professional", we mean just that, he wrote for a living,   And for a full time writer, living  near New York in the 1960s-1970s, it's not surprising that he shows up in a few comic books. Unfortunately many of his comic books were in that period of time just before comics began to run credits in most comics, so we're not sure exactly how many he wrote.

He was born 18 May 1925 in  Waterbury, Connecticut,   He served in the military during World War 2.  In 1947, he had been a  special student of pianoforte at the New England Conservatory of Music. The next year he was a Junior at  Colby College in Waterville, Maine.  He married in 1948, but sadly, his wife died about ten months later.   He graduated from Colby College in 1950.   His brother also attended there, and joined the CIA in 1952.  A quick run through Alan Riefe's novels shows no spy stories however.

From 1951 to 1965, he claims to have written for 24 network TV shows,  however
 Johnny Cyper ( shown in 1967) Oriolo Studios, an animated cartoon series
      is all I know for sure.

In 1955, he married again, this time it was a long marriage, with four children.
In 1965, he stopped writing for TV and began writing for magazines, comics, and novels.

    Magazines include SF stories for Boy's Life in 1964, 1966;
             Talking Pictures #1 -3 (Herald House, 1964-1965)   gag photos. He wrote the entire three issues


   
    Books: Quite frankly he wrote too many books for me to list here, but I'll list some
   Illustrated Woman Driver's Manual (1966) cartoon humor
    Sanford and Son (1973) photo caption humor
   Viper (1990) horror
    Sacred To Death (1991) horror

    as Barbara Riefe (his wife's name) from 1976 to 2000, Gothics and romance
     
  
     
   Book Series:
       Cage (6 total) 1975
       Tyger (2 total) 1975 -1976
       Doc And Raider (5+ total) 1979    using house name, J. D. Hardin
       Fancy Hatch (4 total)  1984  using name Zachary Hawkes
       Slocum (? total)      using house name Jake Logan
       Shackleford Legacy (? total)  using Barbara Riefe 



    Comic Books known: (all DC)
       Adventures Of Jerry Lewis #117 March-April 1970 (Jerry meets the non-super powered Wonder Woman, Dinah Prince)
       House of Mystery #193 July - August 1971 Voodoo Vengeance!
       Witching Hour #3 June - July 1969 The Death Watch
       Witching Hour #4 Sept-Oct 1969 Disaster In A Jar
It's known that he wrote more Jerry Lewis comics, as well as a war story.  None of which are credited.


He died 25 January 2001, he had been living in Wilton, Connecticut.




8 comments:

  1. I enjoy his romance novels I just read Olivia from the Shackleford Legacy.

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  2. Alan Riefe and I were roommates in Greenwich Village, 1952-55.

    He was a great guy, a hard-working professional write I am proud to have had as a friend until the day he died

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    Replies
    1. do you remember his daughter around that time? I am her daughter and trying to piece together that part of his life.

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    2. I went to Colby College with Al Riefe. I went to high school and college with his first wife, (Martha Daggett).
      She had been a great friend when we were kids. Al was in a Varsity Show that I wrote in college. He was a show-stopper.

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  3. I remember Alan. He was a good friend of my dad's when they used to work together at an ad agency in the 60's. Funny man. Wrote a series of letters - http://jokes.cc.com/funny-police---military/ol3rpe/the-12-days-of-christmas
    ...that are all over the internet but never attributed to a particular writer. He wrote them. Sad to hear he's gone.

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  4. Hi and thanks for posting this. Do you have any information as to how Mr. Riefe came to write Tales of Horror (1965), a collection of one-page horror stories? Thanks very much.

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    Replies
    1. they were part of a radio series starring Basil Rathbone called "Beyond the Green Door." he was freelancing at the time, comic books, anything they'd pay him for.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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