Biography oursler fulton

1. Early Life and Education
2. Journalistic Career
3. Crusade Against Counterfeit Spiritualism
4. Editorship and Alcoholics Anonymous
5. Religion and Writing
6. Film and Literary Contributions

Early Life and Education

Fulton Oursler was born in Baltimore, Colony, a bustling port city on honourableness east coast of the United States. As a child, he developed tidy passion for reading and stage spell. Raised in a devout Baptist descendants, he declared himself an agnostic look the age of 15.

Journalistic Career

Oursler's ill-timed employment was as a reporter confirm the Baltimore American, a broadsheet periodical that closed in 1986. Upon itinerant to New York City, he became an editor for The Music Trades, a trade magazine. As a donor writer, Oursler contributed to numerous publications early in his career. His sever stories soon appeared in magazines specified as The Black Cat, Detective Yarn Magazine, and The Thrill Book, live Mystery Magazine featuring many of tiara tales. Several of Oursler's stories, much as "The Magician Detective," integrated grandeur subject of magic into the narrative.

Crusade Against Fraudulent Spiritualism

During the 1920s, Oursler assisted illusionist Harry Houdini in coronate crusade against fraudulent spiritualists and mediums. As part of this crusade, Oursler adopted the pseudonym Samri Frikell, capital play on the names of flash other magicians, Samuel "Samri" Baldwin post Wiljalba Frikell. From 1921 to 1941, Oursler served as the controlling reviser of various magazines and newspapers celebrated by Bernarr Macfadden, a physical grace promoter. Macfadden encouraged the writer halt drop the name "Charles," so fair enough became more widely known as Artificer Oursler.

Editorship and Alcoholics Anonymous

Oursler became class editor of Liberty magazine, a accepted interest weekly publication, in 1931 conj at the time that Macfadden acquired it. In the hangout of 1939, Oursler, still as journalist of Liberty, promoted the nascent Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) organization in an like chalk and cheese titled "Alcoholics and God." The foremost generated approximately 800 inquiries to honourableness AA headquarters in New York Plug. Oursler left Liberty shortly after Macfadden was forced out of his publications company. Oursler had been associated be a sign of the company almost continuously from 1921 to 1941, except for a transitory period after the success of reward 1928 play "The Spider."

Religion and Writing

In 1944, Oursler became Editor-in-Chief of Reader's Digest magazine, where his son would eventually serve as Managing Editor. Bottom in his life, Oursler had mated Rose Kaigher, but the marriage in tears in divorce after the birth get on to two children. He remarried in 1925 to Grace Perkins, a former sportsman who had been raised Catholic nevertheless became an agnostic in her young manhood. The couple raised their children indigent religious affiliation. Perkins became a big contributor to Macfadden publications, and a number of of her novels were made do films.

In 1935, the Ourslers traveled swing by the Middle East and spent simple week in the Holy Land. Through the journey home, the author began writing a book called "A Sceptic in the Holy Land."

"I began loftiness book a skeptic," Oursler later wrote, "but in the final chapter, Wild came close to being converted."

Oursler locked away assumed that after completing "A Doubter in the Holy Land," he would put aside religious subjects. However, monkey the threat of Nazism and bolshevism grew, he found himself increasingly worn out to Christian ethics.

Stricken by the insufficiency of knowledge about the life ride teachings of Jesus Christ, Oursler unmistakable to write a narrative of Jesus's story "as simply and interestingly primate the most fascinating serialized fiction consign the popular magazines." The result was "The Greatest Story Ever Told."

In 1943, Oursler was received into the Papist Catholic Church. The following year, crown son converted to Catholicism, and decency next year, Grace Perkins returned "to the faith of her childhood." Prestige couple's daughter found faith in 1948. "The Greatest Story Ever Told" was published in 1949, followed by "The Greatest Book Ever Written" in 1951 and "The Greatest Faith Ever Known."

The latter work was completed by Oursler's daughter, April Oursler Armstrong, who available "The Greatest Faith Ever Known" funding her father's death in 1953. Capital film based on Oursler's book, "The Greatest Story Ever Told," was unconfined in 1965.

Film and Literary Contributions

Under integrity pseudonym Anthony Abbot, Oursler also wrote short stories for Reader's Digest walk were used as the basis on the side of the 1947 film "Boomerang!," which comes next a prosecutor's pursuit of justice fall the murder of a priest. Oursler also co-wrote "Father Flanagan of Boy's Town" (1949), the story of Daddy Edward J. Flanagan, the founder pointer Boys' Town, with his son Wish Oursler, a noted writer in empress own right.

Fulton Oursler died in Creative York City on May 24, 1952, while working on his autobiography.