View source for Rex Beach

{{short description|American writer and water polo player}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = Rex Beach
| birth_name  = Rex Ellingwood Beach 
| image       = Rex Beach wearing a stetson.jpg
| birth_date  = September 1, 1877
| birth_place = [[Atwood, Michigan]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1949|12|07|1877|09|01}}
| death_place = [[Sebring, Florida]], U.S.
| occupation  = [[Novelist]], [[playwright]]
| yearsactive =
}}

'''Rex Ellingwood Beach''' (September 1, 1877 – December 7, 1949) was an American [[novelist]], [[playwright]], and Olympic [[water polo]] player.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/102427 |title=Rex Beach |work=Olympedia |access-date=February 24, 2021}}</ref>

==Early life==
Rex Beach was born in [[Atwood, Michigan]], and moved to [[Tampa, Florida]], with his family where his father was growing [[fruit tree]]s. Beach studied at [[Rollins College]], Florida (1891–1896), the [[Chicago College of Law]] (1896–97), and [[Kent College of Law]], [[Chicago]] (1899–1900).<ref>{{EB1922|wstitle=Beach, Rex|inline=1}}</ref>

== Olympics ==
{{MedalTableTop|name=no}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[water polo]]}}
{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Water polo at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1904 Summer Olympics|1904 St. Louis]]|[[Water polo at the 1904 Summer Olympics|Team competition]]}}
{{MedalBottom}}

In 1904, Beach was a member of the American water polo team which won the silver medal in the [[1904 Summer Olympics]] in [[St. Louis]].

==Writing career==
In 1900 he was drawn to [[Alaska]] at the time of the [[Klondike Gold Rush]].<ref>Adicks, Richard. ''The Booklover's Guide to Florida''. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, 1992. Page 160.</ref> After five years of unsuccessful prospecting, he turned to writing. His second novel ''[[The Spoilers (Beach novel)|The Spoilers]]'' (1906) was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which he witnessed while he was prospecting in [[Nome, Alaska]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Spoilers|url=http://www.miningswindles.com/html/the_spoilers.html|work=miningswindles.com|access-date=10 May 2010}}</ref> ''The Spoilers'' became one of the [[Publishers Weekly lists of bestselling novels in the United States|best selling novels]] of 1906.

[[File:Cabin of Rex Beach, Rampart, Alaska. Same source as photo ^966. - NARA - 297812.jpg|thumb|240 px|right |Rex Beach Cabin, Rampart, Alaska]]
His adventure novels, influenced by [[Jack London]],<ref>Server, Lee, 2002, ''Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers'', Facts on File Inc., pp. 24–25.</ref> were immensely popular throughout the early 1900s. Beach was lionized as the "[[Victor Hugo]] of the North," but others found his novels formulaic and predictable. Critics described them as cut from the "he-man school" of literature. Historian [[Stephen Haycox]] has said that many of Beach's works are "mercifully forgotten today."<ref>''Haycox, Stephen, 1988, A Warm Past, Travels in Alaska History'', North Press, p. 113.</ref>

One novel, ''The Silver Horde'' (1909), is set in Kalvik, a fictionalized community in [[Bristol Bay]], Alaska, and tells the story of a down on his luck gold miner who discovers a greater wealth in Alaska's run of salmon (silver horde) and decides to open a cannery. To accomplish this he must overcome the relentless opposition of the "salmon trust," a fictionalized [[Alaska Packers' Association]], which undercuts his financing, sabotages his equipment, incites a longshoremen's riot and bribes his fishermen to quit. The story line includes a love interest as the protagonist is forced to choose between his fiancée, a spoiled banker's daughter, and an earnest roadhouse operator, a woman of "questionable virtue." Real-life cannery superintendent [[Crescent Porter Hale]] has been credited with being the inspiration for ''The Silver Horde'', but it is unlikely Beach and Hale ever met.

After success in literature, many of his works were adapted into successful films; ''The Spoilers'' became a stage play, then was remade into movies five times from 1914 to 1955, with [[Gary Cooper]] and [[John Wayne]] each playing "Roy Glennister" in 1930 and 1942, respectively.

''The Silver Horde'' was twice made into a movie, as a silent film in 1920 starring [[Myrtle Stedman]], Curtis Cooksey and [[Betty Blythe]] and directed by [[Frank Lloyd]]; and a talkie version ''[[The Silver Horde (1930 film)|The Silver Horde]]'' (1930) that starred [[Jean Arthur]], [[Joel McCrea]], and [[Evelyn Brent]] and was directed by [[George Archainbaud]].

Beach occasionally produced his films and also wrote a number of plays to varying success. In 1926 Beach was paid $25,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=25000|start_year=1926}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) to write a brochure entitled ''The Miracle of Coral Gables'' to promote the real estate development of [[Coral Gables, Florida]], a planned city.<ref>{{cite book | title=Miami U. S. A. | publisher=Henry Holt | author=Muir, Helen | year=1953 | location=New York}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Rex Beach moved to Sebring in the 1920s, where he lived at the [[Harder Hall]] Hotel before buying a home in town in 1929.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mar 08, 1929, page 17 - The Ephrata Review at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ephrata-review/170424489/ |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> In 1949, two years after the death of his wife Edith, Beach committed suicide in [[Sebring, Florida]] at the age of 72.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rex Beach Suicides |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/84360585 |newspaper=Daily News |date=8 December 1949 |access-date=28 May 2019}}</ref> In 2005, when the home Beach lived in was remodeled, a bullet was found in the wall, believed to be the bullet that ended his life.<ref>Gayle Rajtar and Steve Rajtar, [http://winterparkmag.com/winterparkmag/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=522&Itemid=78 "Author Rex Beach's life was the stuff that inspires novels,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307001554/http://winterparkmag.com/winterparkmag/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=522&Itemid=78 |date=2012-03-07 }} ''Winter Park Magazine'', December 2009.</ref>

Beach served as the first president of the [[Rollins College]] Alumni Association. He and his wife are buried in front of the Alumni house.<ref>[http://tars.rollins.edu/olin/archives/150EBEACH.htm Tars.rollins.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090910055705/http://tars.rollins.edu/olin/archives/150EBEACH.htm |date=2009-09-10 }}</ref>

Beach, and his most famous novel, were commemorated in 2009 by the naming of a public pedestrian/bicycle trail in [[Dobbs Ferry, NY]], a former place of residence. The trail is called "Spoilers Run".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/64200181/Spoilers-Run-Agreement|title=Spoilers Run Agreement|work=scribd.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326162553/https://www.scribd.com/doc/64200181/Spoilers-Run-Agreement|archive-date=2016-03-26}}</ref>

== Novels ==
{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* ''Pardners'' (1905) (10 short stories)
* ''[[The Spoilers (Beach novel)|The Spoilers]]'' (1906)
* ''The Barrier'' (1908)
* ''The Silver Horde'' (1909)
* ''Going Some'' (1910)
* ''The Ne'er-Do-Well'' (1911)
* ''The Net'' (1912)
* ''The Iron Trail'' (1913)
* ''The Auction Block'' (1914)
* ''Heart of the Sunset'' (1915)
* ''Rainbow's End''  (1916)
* ''The Crimson Gardenia'' (1916) (short stories)
* ''Laughing Bill Hyde'' (1917) (short stories)
* ''The Winds of Chance'' (1918)
* ''Too Fat to Fight'' (1919)
* ''Oh, Shoot'' (1921)
* ''Flowing Gold'' (1922)
* ''Big Brother'' (1923)
* ''North of Fifty-Three'' (1925)
* ''The Goose Woman''
* ''Padlocked''
* ''The Mating Call''
* ''Don Careless'' and ''Birds of Prey'' (1928)
* ''Son of the Gods'' (1929)
* ''Money Mad''
* ''Men of the Outer Islands''
* ''Beyond Control''
* ''Alaskan Adventures''
* ''Hands of Dr. Locke''
* ''Masked Women''
* ''Wild Pastures''
* ''Jungle Gold''
* ''Valley of Thunder''
* ''The World in His Arms'' (1946)
{{Div col end}}

==Films based on his novels==
{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* ''[[The Spoilers (1914 film)|The Spoilers]]'' (dir. [[Colin Campbell (director)|Colin Campbell]], 1914)
* ''[[The Ne'er-Do-Well (1916 film)|The Ne'er-Do-Well]]'' (dir. [[Colin Campbell (director)|Colin Campbell]], 1916)
* ''[[Pardners (1917 film)|Pardners]]'' (1917)
* ''[[The Barrier (1917 film)|The Barrier]]'' (dir. Edgar Lewis, 1917)
* ''[[The Auction Block (1917 film)|The Auction Block]]'' (dir. [[Laurence Trimble]], 1917)
* ''[[Heart of the Sunset]]'' (dir. [[Frank Powell]], 1918)
* ''[[Laughing Bill Hyde]]'' (dir. [[Hobart Henley]], 1918)
* ''[[The Silver Horde (1920 film)|The Silver Horde]]'' (dir. [[Frank Lloyd]], 1920)
* ''[[The Iron Trail]]'' (dir. [[Roy William Neill]], 1921)
* ''[[Fair Lady (film)|Fair Lady]]'' (dir. [[Kenneth Webb (director)|Kenneth Webb]], 1922) — based on ''The Net''
* ''[[The Ne'er-Do-Well]]'' (dir. [[Alfred E. Green]], 1923)
* ''[[The Spoilers (1923 film)|The Spoilers]]'' (dir. [[Lambert Hillyer]], 1923)
* ''[[Big Brother (1923 film)|Big Brother]]'' (dir. [[Allan Dwan]], 1923)
* ''[[Flowing Gold (1924 film)|Flowing Gold]]'' (dir. [[Joseph De Grasse]], 1924)
* ''[[The Recoil (1924 film)|The Recoil]]'' (dir. [[T. Hayes Hunter]], 1924)
* ''[[A Sainted Devil]]'' (dir. [[Joseph Henabery]], 1924) — based on ''Rope's End''
* ''[[The Goose Woman]]'' (dir. [[Clarence Brown]], 1925)
* ''[[Winds of Chance]]'' (dir. [[Frank Lloyd]], 1925)
* ''[[The Auction Block (1926 film)|The Auction Block]]'' (dir. [[Hobart Henley]], 1926)
* ''[[The Barrier (1926 film)|The Barrier]]'' (dir. [[George Hill (director)|George Hill]], 1926)
* ''[[Padlocked]]'' (dir. [[Allan Dwan]], 1926)
* ''[[The Michigan Kid (1928 film)|The Michigan Kid]]'' (dir. [[Irvin Willat]], 1928)
* ''[[The Mating Call]]'' (dir. [[James Cruze]], 1928)
* ''[[Son of the Gods]]'' (dir. [[Frank Lloyd]], 1930)
* ''[[The Spoilers (1930 film)|The Spoilers]]'' (dir. [[Edwin Carewe]], 1930)
* ''[[The Silver Horde (1930 film)|The Silver Horde]]'' (dir. [[George Archainbaud]], 1930)
* ''[[White Shoulders]]'' (dir. [[Melville W. Brown]], 1931) — based on ''The Recoil''
* ''[[Young Donovan's Kid]]'' (dir. [[Fred Niblo]], 1931) — based on ''Big Brother ''
* ''[[The Past of Mary Holmes]]'' (dir. [[Harlan Thompson]] and [[Slavko Vorkapich]], 1933) — based on ''The Goose Woman''
* ''[[The Barrier (1937 film)|The Barrier]]'' (dir. [[Lesley Selander]], 1937)
* ''[[Flowing Gold (1940 film)|Flowing Gold]]'' (dir. [[Alfred E. Green]], 1940)
* ''[[The Spoilers (1942 film)|The Spoilers]]'' (dir. [[Ray Enright]], 1942)
* ''[[The Michigan Kid]]'' (dir. [[Ray Taylor (director)|Ray Taylor]], 1947)
* ''[[The Avengers (1950 film)|The Avengers]]'' (dir. [[John H. Auer]], 1950) — based on ''Don Careless''
* ''[[The World in His Arms]]'' (dir. [[Raoul Walsh]], 1952) 
* ''[[The Spoilers (1955 film)|The Spoilers]]'' (dir. [[Jesse Hibbs]], 1955)
{{Div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=4000| name=Rex Beach}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Beach, Rex|name=Rex Beach|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Rex Ellingwood Beach}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1227}}
* {{OL author|1478737A}}
* {{IMDb name|0063492}}
* {{Find a Grave|58170893}}
* [http://lib.rollins.edu/olin/oldsite/archives/150EBEACH.htm Rex Beach Collection at Rollins College Library]
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.rexbeach|Rex Beach Papers]]. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
*{{sports links}}

{{The Spoilers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beach, Rex}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1949 suicides]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male water polo players]]
[[Category:Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Novelists from Florida]]
[[Category:Novelists from Michigan]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in water polo]]
[[Category:People from Antrim County, Michigan]]
[[Category:People from Dobbs Ferry, New York]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Greenburgh, New York]]
[[Category:People from Nome, Alaska]]
[[Category:People from Sebring, Florida]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Highlands County, Florida]]
[[Category:People of the Klondike Gold Rush]]
[[Category:Rollins College alumni]]
[[Category:Suicides by firearm in Florida]]
[[Category:Water polo players at the 1904 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Writers from Tampa, Florida]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]