Speed Lamkin

Hillyer Speed Lamkin (born Monroe, Louisiana, 1928) is an American novelist and playwright. He is best known for his first novel Tiger in the Garden (1950) and was called "the poor man's Truman Capote" by the composer Ned Rorem. He was a recipient of a 1950 O. Henry Award for his short story Comes a Day.

Background

Lamkin was the son of Ebb Tyler Lamkin (1893-1958), a prominent member of Monroe society, and his wife, the former Layton Speed. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Hillyer Rolston Speed, an insurance executive.

He had one sibling, Marguerite, who became a voice coach for Southern-themed films such as Baby Doll, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Long, Hot Summer, and Raintree County. She is now known as Marguerite Littman.

Education

Lamkin graduated Harvard University in 1948, which he had entered at the age of 16.

Literary career

Called a "niggery, flirty, shrewd, frivolous, perceptive young person" by Christopher Isherwood, Lamkin became a literary sensation at age 22 with the publication of his 1950 novel, Tiger in the Garden. The New York Times called the Southern tale "a diffuse examination of the retirement of aristocrats before the vitality of 'new' crude opportunists" but criticized its "overall sense of a low-powered, highly polished Hollywood product".

Lamkin and his friend Gus Field wrote a dramatic adaptation of Isherwood's story Sally Bowles but it was rejected in favor of an adaptation by John van Druten. He also contributed fiction to Mademoiselle and wrote a 90-minute television script about the life of Washington, D.C. hostess and ambassador Perle Mesta in 1956; its intended star was Rosalind Russell though the role was eventually played by Shirley Booth. In 1950 he was hired to write an English-language version of La Otra, a Mexican film starring Dolores del Rio; it was reportedly being written as a vehicle for Joan Crawford.

He also wrote for television and Broadway, notably Comes a Day, a 1958 play that starred Judith Anderson, Brandon de Wilde, Michael J. Pollard, Eileen Ryan, and George C. Scott. Produced by Cheryl Crawford and Alan J. Pakula, the play was not a success, being described by The New York Times as "a puzzling drama" that was "uneven [and] baffling" and which bore "a surface resemblance to art in the Tennessee Williams manner.

After Comes a Day closed, Lamkin returned to Monroe, Louisiana, to live.

Published works

• Tiger in the Garden (Houghton Mifflin, 1950)
• Comes a Day, short story, winner of O. Henry Award, 1950
• The Easter Egg Hunt (Houghton Mifflin, 1954)
• Midsummer, a television play for Matinee Theatre, 1955
• The Hostess with the Mostess, a television play, 1957
• Comes a Day, a three-act play, 1958
• Out by the Country Club, a short story turned play, written with Eva Wolas, 1961

References

External links

"In Good Taste", a profile of Speed Lamkin in The (Monroe) News-Star, 13 July 2008