What do you think?
Rate this book
Valedictory
Seeing graduation evening through the eyes of the retiring janitor.
92 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
4 people want to read
About the author
MacKinlay Kantor
228 books66 followersBenjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel
Andersonville
Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. His mother, a journalist, encouraged Kantor to develop his writing style. Kantor started writing seriously as a teen-ager when he worked as a reporter with his mother at the local newspaper in Webster City.
Kantor's first novel was published when he was 24.
During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying on several bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service).
Nevertheless he was decorated with the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Carl Spaatz, then the U.S. Army Air Corp commander. He also saw combat during the Korean War as a correspondent.
In addition to journalism and novels, Kantor wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy (aka Deadly Is the Female) (1950), a noted film noir. It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940 in a "slick" magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. In 1992, it was revealed that he had allowed his name to be used on a screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
Several of his novels were adapted for films. He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 73, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.
Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. His mother, a journalist, encouraged Kantor to develop his writing style. Kantor started writing seriously as a teen-ager when he worked as a reporter with his mother at the local newspaper in Webster City.
Kantor's first novel was published when he was 24.
During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying on several bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service).
Nevertheless he was decorated with the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Carl Spaatz, then the U.S. Army Air Corp commander. He also saw combat during the Korean War as a correspondent.
In addition to journalism and novels, Kantor wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy (aka Deadly Is the Female) (1950), a noted film noir. It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940 in a "slick" magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. In 1992, it was revealed that he had allowed his name to be used on a screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.
Several of his novels were adapted for films. He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 73, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 4, 2022
This is an easygoing, sentimental tale set in the 1920s, really not much more than a short story, and an impatient reader might say that nothing much happens in it.
An aging school janitor on the verge of retiring helps the students of a small-town school somewhere in the rural Midwest prepare for their graduation ceremony. Along the way, he recalls his interactions with various students. He's known them for most of their lives, and their parents and sometimes grandparents, too. He's been called to classrooms to tell about his experiences in the Civil War, and he's occasionally talked with them individually, to counsel, or caution, or sometimes just to distract them from their troubles. All strictly informally, of course. He's not a teacher or an administrator, after all, just old Ty the janitor, a modest fellow who doesn't toot his own horn. But through his memories, we find out that he's been a critically important influence in the lives of many of the students.
An easygoing, gentle tale that highlights the importance of kindness, attentiveness and wisdom in ordinary life, far from the noisy blare of Great Deeds and Grand Adventures.
An aging school janitor on the verge of retiring helps the students of a small-town school somewhere in the rural Midwest prepare for their graduation ceremony. Along the way, he recalls his interactions with various students. He's known them for most of their lives, and their parents and sometimes grandparents, too. He's been called to classrooms to tell about his experiences in the Civil War, and he's occasionally talked with them individually, to counsel, or caution, or sometimes just to distract them from their troubles. All strictly informally, of course. He's not a teacher or an administrator, after all, just old Ty the janitor, a modest fellow who doesn't toot his own horn. But through his memories, we find out that he's been a critically important influence in the lives of many of the students.
An easygoing, gentle tale that highlights the importance of kindness, attentiveness and wisdom in ordinary life, far from the noisy blare of Great Deeds and Grand Adventures.
Displaying 1 of 1 review