A look back

By Staff
Researched by Dr. Bill Stewart
This is the last in a brief series dealing with best-selling Hartselle author William Bradford Huie (1910-1986).
1952-May 22, A mere six months since it was published, William Huie's book, The Revolt of Mamie Stover, is enjoying tremendous sales. The New York Times book reviewer, Henry Cavendish, characterized it as a "rancid but highly readable novel" in which the author "turns his crusading zeal to an expose of the world's oldest profession as practiced at the Honolulu gateway to the Pacific in World War II. No holds are barred and few words are banned."
1942-May 23, The book reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer says that Mud on the Stars, Huie's first novel, is "a remarkably good book! It will shock you in some places because he writes frankly and honestly of politics, of sex, of religion-but it is also a most heartening book."
1984-May 24, Hartselle novelist William Bradford Huie plans to relocate to Scottsboro within the next several weeks.
1960-May 25, Variety's reviewer says "Wild River," the latest film based on a Huie book, "is an important motion picture (that) has caught something timeless and essential in the human spirit and shaped it in the American image . . . (It) will generate comment along the lines of Academy Award speculation and . . . should ring up a hot box office."
1960-May 26, "Wild River" opened at the Victoria Theatre in New York today.
1960-May 27, The New York Times film reviewer is not as favorable in his opinion of "Wild River" as the Variety critic is. The fault with the production is not with the Huie book but results from the difficulty in successfully merging Borden Deal's Dunbar's Cove with Mud on the Stars. The movie features Montgomery Clift, Jo Van Fleet, and Robert Earl Jones in major roles.
1930-May 28, William Huie is now on vacation at home following his teaching stint at MCHS. Six weeks from now, though, he will return to Tuscaloosa to complete his studies at the University.