Community Corner
University Park Housed Famous Author
James M. Cain lived in University Park for 30 years and authored 22 books.
University Park residents may be familiar with one famous resident Jim Henson, creator of Sesame Street, however they may not have heard James Mallahan Cain, a famous author and creator of the American Roman Noir.
Cain lived at 6707 44th Avenue from 1948 to 1977. He was also known for writing hardboiled crime fiction.
Born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1892, his father was a distinguished educator and later the president of Washington College in Chestertown,Md. His mother was an opera singer.
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A bright student, by the age of 20, Cain had both a bachelor’s degree and a Masters degree from Washington College. He worked various jobs including as a writer for the Baltimore American, immediately following college. In 1918, he was drafted in to World War I. While he was in the U.S. Army he worked as an editor for the 79th Division newspaper Lorraine Cross.
Following the war, he got a job working for the Baltimore Sun. From 1923 to 1924 he worked at St. John's College in Annapolis as a professor of journalism. Soon to follow was a job as editorial writer for the New York World under Walter Lippmann.
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Cain worked briefly for the New Yorker magazine, but did not like the atmosphere. Soon he moved to Hollywood to work for Paramount Studios. They offered him a $200 a week more than the New Yorker.
He married Mary Clough, his childhood sweetheart in 1920. After three years their marriage ended in divorce. Next, he married Elina Sjösted Tyszecka. Although Cain never had any children of his own, he had a close relationship with Elina’s two children from a prior marriage. Not much later he sold his first book of fiction.
From 1932 to 1947, Cain lived in southern California and wrote for films. He was never lauded as a great screenwriter, though he was respected for his keen sense of dialogue. He spent 15 years in Hollywood and in that time he only received credit for working on thee films Algiers, Stand up and Fight, and Gypsy Wildcat.
In the 1940’s three of his novels were turned into major motion pictures.
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), a man is caught in a trap of sex and violence. The story was filmed by Billy Wilder, who hired Raymond Chandler to write the script
- Mildred Pierce (1941) filmed in 1945 staring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden ,a tale about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter.
- Double Indemnity (1943) an adulterous couple attempts to commit the perfect insurance murder. Directed by Billy Wilder , starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. Raymond Chandler also wrote the screen play. He altered the story, changed characters names, and used flashback to narrate. Cain approved of the effort.
Cain married actress Aileen Pringle in 1944. That marriage ended in divorce two years later. Soon after that he married Florence Macbeth, who like his mother was an opera singer. They moved to University Park in 1948. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1966.
While he lived in University Park, he wrote for the Washington Post. He also published 13 other books many of which use locations and people from Hyattsville, Riverdale Park, College Park, University Park and Prince Georges Plaza.
Two of these books were published after his death.
The following is a list of books published after his move to University Park.
- The Butterfly (1947)
- The Moth (1948)
- Sinful Woman (1948)
- Jealous Woman (1950)
- The Root of His Evil (1951)
- Galatea (1953)
- Mignon (1962)
- The Magician's Wife (1965)
- Rainbow's End (1975)
- The Institute (1976)
- The Baby in the Icebox (1981)
- Cloud Nine (1984)
- The Enchanted Isle (1985)
Cain never wrote any of the screenplays for his famous movies but in all 13 films were made based on his books.
He died at his home in University Park from a heart attack on October 27, 1977 at age 85.
The University Of Maryland has his typewriter and a few of his personal possessions plus some first editions of his novels in the archive of the Marylandia Room located in the McKeldin library.