Bertrand R. Brinley (19 June 1917 in Hudson, New York – 20 October 1994 in Luray, Virginia) was an American writer of short stories and children's tales. He was best known for his Mad Scientists' Club stories.
The stories in The Mad Scientists' Club originally appeared over several years in Boys' Life magazine, starting in 1961, and were later collected into book form. The Mad Scientists' Club, The New Adventures of The Mad Scientists' Club and The Big Kerplop! were first published by the now-defunct MacRae Smith Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Much of the character of Mammoth Falls, the fictional town where the Mad Scientists' adventures take place, was based on the town of West Newbury, Massachusetts, where Brinley lived during part of his youth and where he graduated from high school in 1935. [1] West Newbury contributed a good many place names and several of the characters to the Mad Scientists' Club stories.
They have since been republished by Purple House Press in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Brinley's final work, The Big Chunk of Ice, was published posthumously in 2005 by Purple House Press with permission from his son, Sheridan Brinley.
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip.
John Anthony Bellairs was an American author best known for his fantasy novel The Face in the Frost and many Gothic mystery novels for children featuring the characters Lewis Barnavelt, Rose Rita Pottinger, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday. Most of his books were illustrated by Edward Gorey. At the time of his death, Bellairs' books had sold a quarter-million copies in hard cover and more than a million and a half copies in paperback.
Newbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,716 at the 2020 census. Newbury includes the villages of Old Town, Plum Island and Byfield. Each village is a precinct with its own voting district, various town offices, and business center.
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mooring, winter storage, and maintenance of recreational boats, motor and sail, still contribute a large part of the city's income. A Coast Guard station oversees boating activity, especially in the sometimes dangerous tidal currents of the Merrimack River.
West Newbury is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Situated on the Merrimack River, its population was 4,500 at the 2020 census.
John Phillips Marquand was an American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938. One of his abiding themes was the confining nature of life in America's upper class and among those who aspired to join it. Marquand treated those whose lives were bound by these unwritten codes with a characteristic mix of respect and satire.
Pearl Zane Grey was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was his best-selling book.
Rowley is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,161 at the 2020 census.
The Swallows and Amazons series is a series of twelve children's adventure novels by English author Arthur Ransome. Set in the interwar period, the novels involve group adventures by children, mainly in the school holidays and mainly in England. They revolve around outdoor activities, especially sailing. Literary critic Peter Hunt believes it "changed British literature, affected a whole generation's view of holidays, helped to create the national image of the English Lake District and added Arthur Ransome's name to the select list of classic British children's authors." The series remains popular and inspires visits to the Lake District and Norfolk Broads, where many of the books are set.
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New York stage, winning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Robert Anderson's You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1968). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Thousand Clowns (1965).
The Mad Scientists' Club is a series of four books written for children by Bertrand R. Brinley and illustrated by Charles Geer.
Adolphus Washington Greely was a United States Army officer and polar explorer. He attained the rank of major general and was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Charles Hand Geer was an American illustrator, painter and author. He illustrated numerous books, mainly for children and young adults, and created a wide variety of cover paintings for books in many genres.
Megan Jo McDonald is an American children's literature author. Her most popular works is the series of books which concern a third grade girl named Judy Moody. McDonald has also written many picture books for younger children and continues to write. Her most recent work was the Julie Albright series of books for American Girl.
The family name Snodgrass is said to originate from lands in the parish of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, known as Snodgrasse, or Snodgers, at a bend in the River Garnock at 55°38' north, 4°42' west, which were rented out in plots. Both forms are recorded in Ayrshire and in Glasgow between the 13th and 16th centuries. The name means "smooth grass" (Juncus), i.e. grass without nodes, in Middle English. In 1528 a charter from the King lists the lands of "Snotgerss" as being one of the confirmed possessions of Hugh, third Earl of Eglinton; the next record seen of the name is in the late 17th century.
David and the Phoenix is a 1957 children's novel about a young boy's adventures with a phoenix. It was the first published book by American children's writer Edward Ormondroyd.
Mark Crilley is an American comic creator, artist and children's book author and illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls and Brody's Ghost. He produces instructional videos on drawing on YouTube in various styles, including manga-styles. He was at one point an English teacher in Fukushima, Japan, as well as Changhua, Taiwan.
Purple House Press is a publishing house based in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Founded in 2000 by former software engineer Jill Morgan, it specializes in bringing out-of-print children's books back into print.
Elmer Harold Burnham was an American football coach and all-around athlete, known particularly for his basketball skills both in college and in amateur YMCA play in Indiana. He was the head football coach at Purdue University in 1942 and 1943. Burnham's 1943 Purdue squad went 9–0 and shared the Big Ten Conference title with Michigan. From 1944 to 1960, Burnham served as the head coach at the University of Rochester, where he compiled a record of 82–48–6 in 17 seasons. Burnham served as Purdue's freshman football coach for seven years before assuming the role as varsity head coach in 1942. Before coming to Purdue, Burnham coached football at Central High School in South Bend, Indiana, for 16 seasons, tallying a mark of 118–30–8.
Julian Denegal Steele was an American social worker, activist, and federal, state, and local office holder—often the first black person to hold such a post in New England.
the president of the graduating class, Bertrand Russell Brinley