| Honey West | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | This Girl for Hire (1957) |
| Created by | G.G. Fickling |
| Portrayed by | Anne Francis |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | private detective |
Honey West is a fictional character created by Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling", and appearing in eleven mystery novels by the duo.
The character is notable as being one of the first female private detectives in popular fiction. She first appeared in the 1957 book This Girl for Hire and would appear in 10 novels before being retired in the mid-60s with two comeback novels in 1971.[1]
Contents |
Creation [link]
The Honey West character was created by Gloria and Forrest E. "Skip" Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling" in the late 1950s. Skip had been a United States Army Air Forces Air Gunner during World War II, then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve after the war where he was called back into active service during the Korean War.[2] The G.G. represented the initials of his wife, Gloria Gautraud, whom he married in 1949 with initials being used so the sex of the author would remain vague. Though Gloria said that most of the writing was done by Forrest, Forrest said Gloria's ideas were used to make a plausible female character with Gloria also providing Honey's dress sense; Gloria having been an assistant fashion editor at Look Magazine and a fashion writer for Women’s Wear Daily. Forrest told the Los Angeles Times "I first thought of Marilyn Monroe, and then I thought of [fictional detective] Mike Hammer and decided to put the two together... We thought the most used name for someone you really like is Honey. And she lives in the West, so there was her name."[3]
Books [link]
- This Girl for Hire (1957)
- Girl on the Loose (1958)
- A Gun for Honey (1958)
- Honey in the Flesh (1959)
- Girl on the Prowl (1959)
- Kiss for a Killer (1960)
- Dig a Dead Doll (1960)
- Blood and Honey (1961)
- Bombshell (1964)
- Honey on her Tail (1971)
- Stiff as a Board (1972)
Other media [link]
Television series [link]
The character was also the basis for a short-lived ABC TV series in the 1965-66 television season starring Anne Francis and John Ericson. There were 30 episodes. The series was executive produced by Aaron Spelling who went on to create a similar themed, but more successful, series about sexy, capable female private eyes, Charlie's Angels, in the 1970's. Nolan Miller who designed Anne Francis' gowns went on to design the clothes in the 1980's for Dynasty, also an Aaron Spelling production.
Comics [link]
Gold Key Comics released a one-shot Honey West comic book in June 1966. In August 2010, Moonstone Books began a Honey West comic book series, written by Trina Robbins with art by Cynthia Martin[4] then Elaine Lee and Ronn Sutton.
Audio [link]
In 2011, the AudioComics Company announced plans to adapt Elaine Lee and Ronn Sutton's three-part Moonstone mini-series as a full-cast audio drama, in conjunction with the publishing company. Starring audio book narrator Carrington MacDuffie as Honey, the adaptation will be released on compact disc and digital download in April, 2012.
Proposed film [link]
At various times a proposed film with Reese Witherspoon as Honey West was mentioned, but never made.[5]
See also [link]
Notes [link]
- ^ Barnett, Colleen Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction, Volume 1: 1860-1979 Poisoned Pen Press, 2006
- ^ https://www.mysteryfile.com/Honey%20West/Honey_West.html
- ^ Obituary, Los Angeles Times https://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/11/local/me-38189
- ^ https://www.moonstonebooks.com/Honey.asp
- ^ https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/183-HONEY-WEST-HEADED-TO-THE-BIG-SCREEN.html
References [link]
- Frederickson, John C. Honey West BearManor Media (June 1, 2009)
External links [link]
- Honey West at the Internet Movie Database
- Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Honey West at Thrilling Detective.com
- Official Honey West Movie Website
https://wn.com/Honey_West
Honey West (disambiguation)
Honey West may refer to:
Honey West (TV series)
Honey West is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC during the 1965–1966 television season. Based upon a series of novels that had launched in 1957, the series starred Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West and John Ericson as her partner, Sam Bolt.
Only 30 half-hour episodes were produced. The entire series is available on DVD.
Creation
The Honey West character was created by Gloria and Forrest E. “Skip” Fickling under the pseudonym “G.G. Fickling” in the late 1950s. Skip had been a United States Army Air Forces Air Gunner during World War II, then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve after the war where he was called back into active service during the Korean War. The G.G. represented the initials of his wife, Gloria Gautraud whom he married in 1949 with initials being used so the sex of the author would remain vague. Though Gloria said that most of the writing was done by Forrest, Forrest said Gloria’s ideas were used to make a plausible female character with Gloria also providing Honey’s dress sense. Forrest told the Los Angeles Times, “I first thought of Marilyn Monroe, and then I thought of [fictional detective] Mike Hammer and decided to put the two together ... We thought the most used name for someone you really like is Honey. And she lives in the West, so there was her name.”
