Author John Jakes
By John Jakes
John Dann MacDonald lived and wrote in Sarasota from 1952 until the end of his life in 1986. July 24 of this year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth in Pennsylvania. He was an unparalleled observer of the American scene and, in my view, not as highly regarded in literary circles as he should have been. This may be due to his heavy presence in paperback originals, most published early in his career.
Thanks to the generosity of the Herald-Tribune this column will appear weekly until the big birthday. Each week a different writer will speak to John D’s personality, his impact on the writer’s work, or a related subject. Writers have been chosen because of special affection for John D’s writing, or ties to this part of Florida.
John D and his wife Dorothy lived at two locations, Point Crisp Road and Ocean Place. Their son Maynard lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, and several grandchildren reside in the U.S.
In 1952, along with some colleagues, John D helped organize a group of writers calling itself the Liars. The title comes from games of liar’s poker played with dollar bills. Meetings were originally held at the Plaza Restaurant, long gone. Meeting sites have changed from time to time but the group is still going strong. The Liars have welcomed many a visitor—some of the most distinguished names in the writing profession.
John D. MacDonald / PHOTO COURTESY SARASOTA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES
Although John D served as president of Mystery Writers of America in 1962, it’s incorrect to call him “only” a writer of crime novels. His interest, and his work, embrace much more. He wrote science fiction, some of it collected in Other Times, Other Worlds, a Gold Medal book of 1978. Goaded by a fellow member of the Liars, he wrote Condominium, pledging to write a best-seller which then became a TV mini-series. Condominium is a sort of Grand Hotel of the Florida Gulf Coast—many characters in a waterside building menaced by a hurricane.
His novel The Executioners was twice filmed as Cape Fear. Then, of course, there is the memorable and enduring Travis McGee series. McGee the “salvage specialist” lives off his boat, The Busted Flush, at a Ft. Lauderdale marina. His friend Meyer, a retired economist, docks his boat there, too, and their conversations, in between whipping bad guys and partying with attractive ladies, provide much of the material that earns John D his place as a keen observer of the fancies and follies of America. Efforts to transfer Travis McGee to the screen have thus far not been successful but there are repeated attempts, so we can always hope.
The “John D and Me” columns will honor not only a writer who was a longtime local resident, but one of the great, sometimes unsung literary figures of our time.
John Jakes is a Sarasota resident and a member of the Liars. His last 18 novels were New York Times best-sellers.
Next week: Stephen King
