Robert C. Ruark, Author

[Texas Star]

Not to take from the Hemingway thread, I always preferred Ruark. Thought he improved and enhanced Hemingway's style, although some critics said he just copied H.

Any enthusuasts? Favorites?

I like best his, "Horn of the Hunter", about his first safari, "Something of Value", "Uhuru", and, "The Honey Badger."

But I read his Old Man stuff and I think a column in, "Field & Stream", and I have his safari article in, "Playboy" from (I think) April, 1965. It appeared soon before his death, and in two years, we had lost two of my favorite authors, him and Ian Fleming. (I began reading novels early in life.)

I think his African material was the best yet seen, and the most authentic, sometmes tackling tough political issues to tell the truth about Mau-Mau. I was disappointed with the movie version of, "Something of Value", where PC took over to some degree and it featured black actors who were themselves activists, probably not too keen to tell the facts about "freedom" movements in Africa.But that wasn't Ruark's fault. He did his part. Blame the lessened goodness of the film on Hollywood. The movie was still worth seeing.

And he instilled in me at an early age the desire to hunt in Africa, something that I've never achieved. But he made the landscape and the game and the conditions come alive in print as few have.

 

[RonJ]

Something of Value is my favorite novel. Big game safaris and British big game rifles, stir in high sdventure and the Mau Mau revolution and it's hard to come up with better ingredients for a good book.

 

[silentflyer]

If you are ever in Southport, NC.,Robert Rauark grew up there and they have a museum there with many of his books,writings,photos,personal items etc.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Tex; Robert Ruark is one of my favorite authors also. Hemingway was good but Ruark was more in this era. I have most of his Old Man & the Boy books but gave them to my grandson who is quite a hunter. He enjoys them as much as I did. Ruark died early aged 50, led quite a life. Died of alcoholism I think but a real American writer & hunter. I miss his writing for sure.

 

[jlrhiner]

I came to Ruark through reading Capstick. Kind of a natural progression, if somewhat reversed. I think I've read about everything he wrote, but favored Something of Value most of all. I really never got into Hemingway, but have read some of his work.

 

[Texas Star]

Did anyone read the tear-jerker account of how Ruark had an old dog dying at his estate in Spain?

It's the most poignant thing I've read by a man mourning his dog. Ruark couldn't bring himself to kill the dog, so called a friend in the Guardia Civil to shoot it.

I think that item ran in, "Field & Stream."

In the 1965, "Playboy" account of a safari, he told how he was warned by a witch doctor that he would soon see three big bull elephants, and must shoot one, for he would see no more on that hunt. It turned out to be true. His account of how the old man made smoke and cast magical bones before devining this info was pretty eerie. It took place in Mozambique, then still Portuguese territory, after he found himself unwelcome in Kenya in the aftermath of that country's newfound independence.

According to his white hunter pal, Harry Selby, Ruark got in a mess by accusing some new govt. minister of having been in the Mau-Mau conspiracy. Ruark barely escaped Kenya before being detained. He never returned to Kenya.

Ruark also wrote a book on women, of whom he had some experience. On the back cover of the paperback edition, he is shown by a fireplace in a nice den, with a tiger rug on the wall. I guess he also hunted in India back when tigers were still lawful game animals. Or, maybe he just got a good deal on a tiger rug... it was a nice den.

 

[5-Shot]

Count me in. RR's my favorite. I've read all his books, several of them many more times than once. Years ago I read Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa" and RR's "Horn of the Hunter" back to back for comparison. You can guess how my vote went.

Ed

 

[Raider]

Ruark was a quite a writer and introduced me to Africa and hunting. Something of Value was the first book I read and my favorite. He wrote a nationally syndicated column that appeared in my hometown paper too. I will never forget how he signed the column at the end of each article.

"Your obsvnt servant
Robert Ruark"

Charlie

 

[Frank237]

My freshman year HS English Teacher was an interesting fellow. WW2 Vet who flew Bombers in Europe. He suggested I read "Horn of the Hunter", as I'd done a report on some hunting related book.

I ended up reading all of the Ruark books. I'm another one who found Robert Ruark far more enjoyable than Hemingway.

FN in MT

 

[max]

I really enjoyed the Old Man and The Boy when I was growing up. There was a department store in Champaign that my mother went to. They had a huge book department and I would hang out there and read as much Ruark as I could. I also enjoyed riding up and down on the escalator. Hey, I was a country boy.

 

[Tam 3]

"Poor No More" hasn't been mentioned yet. The movie, "Something of Value" is a waste of time. IMO

Regards,

Tam 3

 

[tyusclan]

Ruark on Cape Buffalo: 'They look at you like you owe them money.'

I also like Ruark better than Hemingway. Hemingway's writings were too dark for my taste.

 

[Texas Star]

"Poor No More" hasn't been mentioned yet. The movie, "Something of Value" is a waste of time. IMO

Regards,

Tam 3

Ruark was proud that he'd made it financially. He was getting $65,000 a year for his column alone, back when that was still good money.

He bought a Rolls-Royce and some girl he knew mistook it for an old Pierce-Arrow!

 

[ACP230]

I have several Ruark books around here.
He was a good writer and shotgun shooter.
Confessed in his safari book that he wasn't much of a rifle shooter.

He also served in World War II on the Murmansk run.
He recounts seeing a U-boat "that wasn't there" in the middle of
a convoy on that run one time. Sort of like the "Unexplained"
thread on this site, eh?

 

[Texas Star]

I have several Ruark books around here.
He was a good writer and shotgun shooter.
Confessed in his safari book that he wasn't much of a rifle shooter.

He also served in World War II on the Murmansk run.
He recounts seeing a U-boat "that wasn't there" in the middle of
a convoy on that run one time. Sort of like the "Unexplained"
thread on this site, eh?

He also got to Italy, and shot an enemy soldier in an alley with a P-38 9mm.

Later was in the Pacific and his writing career began to flourish.

He got away from the Navy with his .45 auto and typewriter and later had to pay for them. But he got to keep them.

Does anyone recall his short story, "Sheila" in, "Playboy"? The protagonist was seeing a chick in London and a bomb or V-1 rocket landed on her apartment and left just a hole. Sad, but good.

 

[Onomea]

I will look that story up, T-star, as last year while in hospital for a couple weeks I subscribed to all of Playboy, current and archives, for my iPad at something like $8 a month. The story sounds familiar to me so I may well have read it when it first came out.

When you refer to a book he wrote about women, do you mean The Honeybadger, which I assume is a roman a clef?

 

[C&R Bill]

I read Something of Value back in High school & still remember it vividly. Along with Hemingwayit made me want to hunt africa, which I have yet to do but have on my bucket list.
Another cool fact about Ruark was he had a shoulder mount of a warthog on the door of his bathroom. When the door was closed & you were seated on the toilet you would have been nose to nose with it..........

 

[Tam 3]

I think that "Sheila" was a excerpt from "The Honey Badger".

Regards,

Tam 3

 

[Texas Star]

I will look that story up, T-star, as last year while in hospital for a couple weeks I subscribed to all of Playboy, current and archives, for my iPad at something like $8 a month. The story sounds familiar to me so I may well have read it when it first came out.

When you refer to a book he wrote about women, do you mean The Honeybadger, which I assume is a roman a clef?

Onomea-

The Honey Badger was said to have been somewhat autobiographical, yes, but the book on women was, I think, a collection of newspaper columns.

"Sheila" may have appeared in more than one place. I'm virtually certain that I read it in, "Playboy"", and that it was probably written for that title, where Ruark was Travel Editor.

Several of the James Bond books by Fleming were also excerpted there, just prior to release at booksellers.

I'll see if I can find my copy of, "Use Enough Gun", a collection of Ruark's stuff. "Sheila" may be in there. But, "The Honey Badger" was a complete novel, and I doubt that a short story would be interjected into it.

One thing that struck me was how the lead character (based on the author) placed his shoes outside his NYC hotel room for polishing by a valet, and how he described the shoes, good calfskin with pink insides. It made me want to go get good new shoes. I did buy a pair of Russell's Birdshooter boots based on his recommendation.

The April, 1965, "Playboy" safari article showed a large photo of suggested gear. Interesting to see what has survived.. . items that can still be bought. The .375 H&H M-70 is now much improved, but the Russell's Canadian survival knife (the larger Model 4, not the basic Belt Knife) is still about the same, as is the Woodsman's Pal chopper.

I don't have the issue in front of me (it's in a closet), but don't think the binocular was anythng special. I'd have featured Zeiss 8X30B and 8X50B binoculars and a Randall knife or two and a Swiss Army knife. There may have been one of the latter. I know that Bob Lee mentioned their usefulness in his safari book, and I bought my first SAK from his Hunting World catalog.

I suspect that some of the gear pictured was from Ruark and a fashion editor selected the rest. But there was definitely a pair of those Birdshooter boots from Russell's. I bought a pair, with Vibram soles. They were okay, I guess, but I've come to prefer a stronger boot with a non- moccasion toe as being tougher and more protective, especially on rocky ground. But for uplands use and in Kenya, I can see why Ruark liked the boots. Their chukka boot might be even better. I liked mine, but wished that I had ordered them wth heel counters.

 

[Onomea]

..."Sheila" may have appeared in more than one place. I'm virtually certain that I read it in, "Playboy"", and that it was probably written for that title, where Ruark was Travel Editor....

I checked and identical characters appear in both, Alec Barr and Sheila, and at the very least a similar plot: merchant marine, WWII, North Atlantic, London. I need to reread and compare, but I bet it's an excerpt, as Tam 3 says.

The Playboy story was published in June 1965. Ruark died in London in July 1965.