Description of the Louis L'Amour Biography Project - II

By Beau L'Amour

Here are the names of the people that I would like to contact. If you find your name on the list, I would be very grateful if you would write to me. If you know someone on the list I would appreciate it if you would see if you could get them to write me or give me their contact information. Some of these people may have known Louis as "Duke" LaMoore or Michael "Micky" Moore as Louis occasionally used those names. Many of the people on this list may be dead. If you are a family member (or were a very good friend) of anyone on the list who has passed away, I would like to hear from you, too. Some of the names I have marked with an asterisk (*), if there is anyone out there who knows anything at all about these people I would like to hear it. You may either respond in the space below or write to us at:

Louis L'Amour Biography Project
4445 356th Dr SE
Fall City, WA 98024

Because of the many demands on our time we will no longer be responding to fan mail sent to this address . . . it is for correspondence regarding the biography only! Sorry.

J.E. Sparks - A special education teacher at Beverly Hills High School in the 1960s and '70s. Any information on recordings of Louis L'Amour that he made for his classes would be greatly appreciated.

Ted Nelson - took a trip to Wyoming with Louis back in the 1940s or 1950s.

Bill and Nadine Hamon - Louis used to know them in Oklahoma City and at one time they used to work a Fine Arts Institute in Omaha, NE.

Irving Kahn and Ben Lyon - Worked in Hollywood during the late 1940s.

Kathy Greenlaw - A friend of Louis' in the late 1940s.

Truman - of "Truman's," a restaurant in Westwood in the 1940s.

Tully Brown - Who had a position with the Wilshire Bank of America in 1949.

Jack Berges - Had a store in Hollywood in the late 1940s.

Ed Roth - Who lived in Hollywood in the late 1940s and was often see with a woman named Maxene.

Alphonso Bedoya - Actor. Best known for his role as "Goldhat" in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. I'm looking for someone who knew him personally in the '40s or '50s or if anyone knows if there has ever been a biography done on him that details the same period.

Bob and Gail "Boots" Davis - Wasn't she in a western TV series? Louis knew them in 1949.

Frank Godsoe - an Amarillo sports writer.

Harry Gilstrap - who flew to Tascosa with Louis in 1946.

Maggie Savage, Cully Richards, Joe Frisco, Cyril Smith, Sam Roberts, Nicky Conners - I am looking for any of these people or anyone who personally knew them.

Al Holdcraft - a friend that Louis occasionally met in Hollywood in the 1940s

Scotty - who worked for the "Citizen News"

Joe Zdana - who Louis knew in the late 1940s.

Becker - a friend of Louis and Joe's.

Welch - who took a trip with Louis in 1947.

Ray Gray - A policeman in L.A. as of 1949.

Bodil Mueller - A Danish actress Louis met in 1949.

Ed Jacobs - who was in the 670th Tank Destroyers with Louis and was friends with him after the war in L.A.

Marcel Clower - who introduced Louis to Mauri Grashin.

Jim Hendryx, Charles N. Heckelmann, Mike Tilden, Jim O'Connell - Editors from New York City.

Adolphe DeCastro - A friend of Louis' who wrote him some letters of recommendation to various people in Mexico.

Marian Payne - Married a guy named Duane. Louis knew her in Oklahoma in the mid to late 1930s. She moved to New York for awhile; she may have lived in Wichita at some point.

Chaplain Phillips - Louis first met him at Fort Sill, then again in Paris at the Place de Saint Augustine Officer's Mess. The first meeting was in 1942 the second in 1945.

Anne Mary Bentley - Friend of Louis' from Oklahoma in the 1930s. Possibly a musician of some sort. Lived in Denver for a time.

Pete Boering* - Born in the late 1890s. Came from Amsterdam, Holland. His father may have been a ship's Captain. Louis and Pete sailed from Galveston together in the mid 1920s.

Betty Brown - Woman that Louis corresponded with extensively while in Choctaw in the late 1930s. Later she moved to New York. Jacques Chambrun* - Louis' agent from the late 1930s through the late 1950s.

Des - his first name. Chambrun's assistant in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Joe Friscia* - One of two guys that joined Hagenbeck & Wallace circus in Phoenix with Louis in the mid 1920s. They rode freights across Texas and spent a couple of nights in the Star of Hope mission in Houston. May have been from Boston.

Harry "Shorty" Warren* - Shipmate of Louis' in the mid 1920s. They sailed from Galveston to England and back. Harry may have been an Australian.

Joe Hollinger* - Louis met him while with Hagenbeck & Wallace circus where he ran the "privilege car". A couple of months later he shipped out with Louis. This was in the mid 1920s.

Joe Hildebrand* - Louis met him on the docks in New Orleans in the mid 1920s. Then ran into him later in Indonesia. Joe may have been the First Mate and Louis Second Mate on a schooner operated by Captain Douglas. This would have been in The East Indies in the later 1920s or early 1930s. Joe may have been an aircraft pilot and flown for Pan-Am in the early 1930s.

Turk Madden* - Louis knew him in Indonesia in the late 1920s or early 1930s. They may have spent some time around the "old" Straits Hotel and the Maypole Bar in Singapore. Later on, in the states, Louis traveled around with him putting on boxing exhibitions. Madden worked at an airfield near Denver as a mechanic in the early 1930s. Louis eventually used his name for a fictional character.

"Cockney" Joe Hagen* - Louis knew him in Indonesia in the late 1920s or early 1930s. He may have been part of the Straits Hotel, Maypole Bar crowd in Singapore.

Richard LaForte* - A merchant seaman from the Bay Area. Shipped out with Louis in the mid 1920s.

Mason or Milton* - Don't know which was his real name. He was a munitions dealer in Shanghai in the late 1920s or 1930s. He was killed while Louis was there. His head was stuck on a pipe in front of his house as a warning not to double cross a particular warlord.

Singapore Charlie* - Louis knew him in Singapore and served with him on Douglas' schooner in the East Indies. Louis was second mate and Charlie was bo'sun. He was a stocky man of indeterminate race and if I remember correctly Dad told me he had quite a few tattoos. In the early 1930s Louis helped get him a job on a ship in San Pedro, CA that was owned by a movie studio.

Renee Semich - She was born Vienna (I think) and was going to a New York art school when Louis met her. This was just before WWII. Her father's family was from Yugoslavia or Italy, her mother from Austria. They lived in New York, her aunt had an apartment overlooking Central Park. For awhile she worked for a company in Waterbury, CT.

Aola Seery - Friend of Louis' from Oklahoma City in the late 1930s. She was a member of the "Writer's Club" and I think she had both a brother and sister.

Enoch Lusk - Owner of Lusk Publishing Company in 1939, original publisher of Louis' "Smoke From This Altar." Also associated with the National Printing Company, Oklahoma City.

Helen Turner* - Louis knew her in late 1920s Los Angeles. Once a showgirl with Jack Fine's Follies.

James "Jimmy" Eades - Louis knew him in San Pedro in the mid 1920s.

Frank Moran - Louis met him in Ventura when Louis was a "club second" for fighters in the later 1920s. They also may have known each other in Los Angeles or Kingman in the mid 1920s. Louis ran into him again on Hollywood Blvd. late in 1946.

Jud and Red Rasco* -- Brothers, cowboys, Louis met them in Tucumcari NM. Also saw them in Santa Rosa NM. This was in the early to mid 1920s.

Olga Santiago or Scarpone - friend of Louis from late 1940's Los Angeles. Last saw her at a book signing in Thousand Oaks CA. She married a guy named Ray Scarpone in the early fifties.

Jose Craig Berry - A writer friend of Louis' from Oklahoma City in the late 1930s. She worked for a paper called the Black Dispatch.

Evelyn Smith Colt - she knew him in Kingman at one point, probably the late 1920s. Louis saw her again much later at a Paso Robles book signing.

Kathlyn Beucler Hays - Friend from Choctaw, taught school there in the 1930s. Louis saw her much later at a book signing in San Diego.

Floyd Bolton* - A man from Hollywood that who came out to Oklahoma to talk to Louis about a possible trip to Java to make a movie in 1938.

Lisa Cohn - reference librarian in Portland; family owned Cohn Bros. furniture store. Louis knew her in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Mary Claire Collingsworth - friend and correspondent from Oklahoma in the 1930s.

C. A. Donnell - Guy in Oklahoma City in the early 1930s who rented Louis a typewriter.

Captain Douglas* - Captain of a ship in Indonesia that Louis served on. A three masted auxiliary Schooner.

Leonard Duks* - I think that this was probably a shortened version of the original family name. A First Mate in the mid 1920s. I think that he was a U.S. citizen but he was originally a Russian.

Maudee Harris - my Aunt Chynne's sister.

Parker LaMoore and Chynne Harris LaMoore* - Louis' eldest brother. Parker was Secretary to the Governor of Oklahoma for awhile, then he worked for the Scripts-Howard newspaper chain. He also worked with Ambassador Pat Hurley. He died in the early 1950s. Chynne was his wife and she lived longer than he did but I don't know where she lived after his death.

Mrs. Brown - Who worked for Parker LaMoore in the 1930s - the 1950s.

Haig* - his last name. Louis described him as a Scotsman, once an officer in the British-India army. Louis says he was "an officer in one of the Scottish Regiments." Louis knew him in Shanghai in the 1930s and we don't know how old he would have been at the time. He may have been involved in some kind of intelligence work. He and Louis shared an apartment for awhile which seems to have been located just off Avenue King Edward VII.

Lola LaCorne - who along with her sister and mother were friends of Louis' in Paris during World War II. She later taught Literature at the Sorbonne, had (hopefully still has) a husband named Christopher.

Dean Kirby - Pal from Oklahoma City in the late 1930s who seems to be a copywriter or something of the sort. Might have worked for Lusk Publishing.

Bunny Yeager - Girlfriend of Dean Kirby's from Oklahoma City. Not the famous photographer for Playboy.

Virginia McElroy - Girl with whom Louis went to school in Jamestown.

Guardsman Penwill - A British boxer in the period between the mid 1920s and the mid 1930s.

Arleen Weston Sherman - friend of Louis' from Jamestown, when he was 13 or 14. I think her family visited the LaMoore's in Choctaw in the 1930's. Her older sister's name is Mary; Parents' names are Ralph and Lil.

Harry Bigelow - Louis' knew him in Ventura. He had a picture taken with Louis' mother Emily LaMoore at a place named Berkeley Springs around 1929. Louis may have known him at the Katherine Mine, near Kingman AZ or in Oregon.

Tommy Pinto - boxer from Portland; got Louis a job at Portland Manufacturing.

Nancy Carroll - An actress as of 1933. Louis knew her from the chorus of a show at the Winter Garden in New York and a cabaret in New Jersey where she and her sister danced occasionally, probably during the mid to late 1920s.

Judith Wood - Actress. Louis knew her in Hollywood in the late 1920s.

Stanley George - the George family relocated from Kingman AZ to Ventura CA, possibly in the late 1920s.

Francis Lederer* - Actor that Louis knew in late 1920s Los Angeles. I'm looking for anyone who knew him in Hollywood between 1926 and 1931.

Lt. Rix - who served in the 3622 Quartermaster Truck Co. in Europe in 1944 - 45.

Pablo De Gantes* - Ex-soldier of fortune who occasionally wrote magazine articles for Lands of Romance in the 1930s. This man used several names and I believe he was actually a Belgian. He lived in Mexico at one time.

Lt. King - who traveled all they way from Camp Beale, California through Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania and on to England with Louis when he was shipped overseas in early 1944.

K.C. Gibson or his two nephews - Louis met them when they picked him up hitchhiking in October of 1924. They were crossing New Mexico and Arizona bound for Brawly, CA.

Wilma Anderson - A friend of Louis' from Oklahoma who worked in the Key campaign headquarters in 1938.

Johnny Annette - a boxer that Louis fought a bout with in Woodward, Oklahoma (or Kansas) in the 1930s.

Harry Bell - A boxing promoter that Louis worked with in Oklahoma City in the 1930s.

Joe Bickerstaff* - Also an occasional boxing promoter. Who knew Louis in Klamath Falls in the late 1920s.

Pat Chaney - Friend of Louis' from Choctaw, Oklahoma in the late 1930s.

Mr. Lettsinger* - An older man that Louis knew in Klamath Falls, OR in the late 1920s. I think that he was from the mid-west or south.

Tommy Danforth* - A boxing promoter from Prescott, AZ in the mid 1920s. Was using the VA hospital at Ft. Whipple.

Ned DeWitt* - Knew Louis in Oklahoma in the 1930s, also a friend of Jim Thompson.

Austin Fullerton - who sold tickets for athletic events in Oklahoma City in the late 1930s.

Martha Nell Hitchcock - A friend from Edmond, OK in the 1930s.

Tommy Tucker* - Boss Stoker on British Blue Funnel ships in the mid 1920s to mid 1930s period.

Dynamite Jackson* - An African-American fighter that Louis helped promote in Oklahoma in the 1930s.

Orry Kelly - Designer in Hollywood, Louis knew him in the late 1940s.

Dorthy Kilgallen - a newspaper columnist who worked in LA in the 1950s. We have several good accounts of her death and so are looking for someone who actually knew her.

Henry Li - who Louis knew from 1943 when he was at Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

Savoie Lottinville* - of the University of Oklahoma.

Julio Lopez - who Louis worked for very briefly in Phoenix in the mid 1920s.

Joe May - a rancher that Louis boxed with in Ft. Sumner New Mexico. in the 1920s.

Ann Mehaffey - friend of Louis' from the time he spent at Camp Robinson, Arkansas.

Sam Merwin or Sam Mines* - who once worked with Leo Margulies at Standard Magazines/Better Publications.

Jack Natteford - Screenwriter who worked with Louis in the 1950s

Joe Paskvan - once of the Oklahoma Writer's Project who Louis knew in the late 1930s.

Billy Prince - Who went to sea in the late 1930s on the Wallace E. Pratt, a Standard tanker.

Countess Dulong de Rosney (Toni Morgan)* - who Louis knew from France in the mid 1940s.

Dot and Truitt Ross - Brother and sister that Louis knew in Oklahoma in the 1930s.

Mary Jane Stevenson - A friend of Louis' from LA in the late 1940s.

Orchid Tatu - who lived in Sparta, Wisconsin in mid 1940s.

Florence Wagner - Wife of Rob Wagner of Rob Wagner's Script

Doris Weil - a roomer in the flat where Louis lived in the late 1940s

Anyone who served on S.S. Steel Worker between 1925 and 1930. In particular Captain C. C. Boase, 2nd Mate Ralph Jones, 3d Mate Raymond Cousins, Radio Operator Stanley Turbervil, Carpenter George Mearly, Bo'sun H. Allendorf, Chief Engineer C. B. Dahlberg, 1st Asst Eng. O. E. Morgan, 2nd Asst Eng. W. Haynes, 3d Asst Engineers George G. Folberth & William Stewart, Oilers A Chagnon & A. Kratochbil, Firemen William Hohroien, J. Perez, Manfrido Gonzales, John Fennelly & E. G. Burnay, Wipers A. Sanchez, J. J. Dalmasse & F. Clifford, Steward J. Shiel, Messmen Dean Bender, William Harvey & J. H. Blomstedt, Able Bodied Seamen Ernest Martin, Chris Moore, Karl Erickson, Steve Schmotzer, Michael Llorca, Louis Armand, Joseph Morris, Herbert Lieflander, William Reichart & H. F. Waite.

Anyone familiar with Singapore in the late 1920s, the old Straits Hotel, and the Maypole Bar.

Anyone who is very knowledgeable in the military history, and/or politics in western (Shansi, Kansu, and Sinkiang provinces) China in 1928-36.

I am also looking for seamen who served on the following ships - The Catherine G. Sudden between 1925 and 1936. The Yellowstone between 1925 and 1936. The S.S. Steadfast between 1924 and 1930. The Annandale, a four masted bark, between 1920 and 1926. The Randsberg, a German freighter, between 1925 and 1937.

Anyone who knows anything about an old square-rigged sailing vessel called the "Indiana" that was used in movies in the 1920s and '30s. This ship was docked at San Pedro.

Anyone who knows anything about the following boxers - Jonny "Kid" Stopper, Jack Horan, "Kid" Yates, Butch Vierthaler (Bill Thaler). Ira O'Neil, Jimmy Roberts, Jimmy Russo, Jack McGraf, or Jackie Jones - Guys that Louis met in Phoenix in October of 1924. None of these men was born after 1909.

Anyone who knows anything about a fight (I assume with small arms) between two trading schooners that was stopped by a British warship near Pinaki in the South Pacific. This would have been between 1926 and 1932.

Anyone from the family or group that Louis guided around Egypt sometime between 1926 and 1937. Although he very much looked the part Louis finally admitted that he wasn't a real guide and that he'd been using a tour book from a library to learn about where he was taking them. They may have been staying at Shepherd's. Some or all of the party were Americans and there may have been as many as 12 of them.

Anyone who might know about a flight that Louis took across Africa with a French officer with stops at Taudeni and Timbuktu. This would have been between the mid 1920s and late 1930s.

Anyone familiar with an island in the Spratly group called Itu Aba.

Anyone who knows anything about a very short lived magazine published in Oklahoma City in 1936 called Uptown Magazine.

Anyone who knows if Norman Foster and Rex Bell (George Francis Beldam) ever went to sea during the 1920s or early 1930s.

Anyone who knows where the personal and business papers of B. P Schulberg (not Budd) and Sam Katz are archived. Both of these men worked at Paramount Publix Pictures. The period that I am interested in is the late 1920s to the early 1930s.

Anyone familiar with the Royal Government Experimental Hospital in Calcutta, India.

I would like to hear from men who served in the following military units - The 3622 Quartermaster Truck Company between June of 1944 and December of 1945. The 3595 Quartermaster Truck Company after October 1945 and before January 1946. The 670th Tank Destroyer Battalion, in 1943 at Camp Hood, Texas. The 808th Tank Destroyer Battalion at Camp Phillips, Kansas in 1943.

Soldiers or Officers who - Took basic training at Camp Robinson, Arkansas between September 1942 and January 1943. Took winter training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin and near Land o' Lakes and Watersmeet in the northern Michigan peninsula between October 1943 and February 1944. Remembers Louis in early 1944 when he was staying at the St Francis Hotel and the Belleview in San Francisco. During this time he worked at the Oakland Air Base, and Fort Mason, CA. Later he was at Camp Beale, CA.

Anyone who worked with the Oklahoma WPA Writers Project.

Any recordings that anyone knows about of any of Louis' speeches.

Thank You!

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