Burtis, Thomson
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1896-1971) US author, several of whose stories were filmed; his novels are usually Young Adult tales involving derring-do in the air, the best-known probably being the Rex Lee sequence beginning with Rex Lee, Gypsy Flyer (1929), none of these titles venturing into the fantastic. Some of his short stories, like "Air Raiders" (February 1925 American Boy) or "Barrett of the Air Police" (January 1928 American Boy) are sf, as is The War of the Ghosts: A Flying Adventure Story (March-June 1932 American Boy as "Spell of the Ghost" as by Henry Thomson; 1932), set partly at the North Pole in the 1980s, where a Scientist with the powers of a Superman fights against the worldwide economic hegemony of (presumably neo-liberal) American industrialists. After winning a plagiarism suit against Universal Pictures in 1953, Burtis sank from sight. [JC]
Henry Thomson Burtis
born New York: 2 October 1896
died Santa Monica, California: 24 April 1971
works (selected)
- Haunted Airways (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co, 1930) [first appeared November 1929-February 1930 American Boy: hb/Frank Dobias]
- The War of the Ghosts: A Flying Adventure Story (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co, 1932) [first appeared March-June 1932 American Boy as "Spell of the Ghost" as by Henry Thomson: hb/Frank Dobias]
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