Gil Orlovitz

Gil Orlovitz (1918-1973) was an American poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and screenwriter.

Biography

Orlovitz was born in Philadelphia, PA. He worked as a staff writer for Columbia Pictures, co-writing the screenplay for Over-Exposed and writing episodes of The Adventures of Jim Bowie and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp . He published several books of poetry during the 1950s and 1960s and his poetry, plays and short stories appeared in several anthologies and journals. He published two novels, Milkbottle H and Ice Never F, the first two parts of a planned trilogy, in 1967 and 1970 respectively. He died in 1973 at the age of 55.

Selected bibliography

Poetry collections

• Concerning Man. New York: The Banyan Press, 1947.
• Keep to Your Belly, drawings by Paul Lett. New York: Louis Brigante, 1952.
• The Diary of Dr. Eric Zeno. San Francisco: Inferno Press, 1953.
• The Diary of Alexander Patience. San Francisco: Inferno Press, 1958.
• The Papers of Professor Bold. Eureka, CA: The Hearse Press, 1959.
• Selected Poems. San Francisco: Inferno Press, 1960.
• Art of the Sonnet. Nashville: Hillsboro Publications, 1961.
• Couldn't Say, Might Be Love. London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1969.
• More Poems. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1972.

Novels

• Milkbottle H. London: Calder and Boyers, 1967; New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1968.
• Ice Never F. London: Calder and Boyers, 1970.

Short stories

• "What Are They All Waiting For?", included in Discovery #2, ed. Vance Bourjaily. New York: Pocket Books, 1953.
• "Lila Bohmer", included in Strange Desires, ed. Vernon Shea. New York: Lion Books, 1954.
• "I'm Just in Sparta on a Visit", included in The Award Avant-Garde Reader (also ed.). New York: Award Books, 1965.

Screenplays

• Over-Exposed , co-written with James Gunn, from a story by Richard Sale and Mary Loos. Columbia Pictures, 1956.

Anthology

• What Are They All Waiting For? Stories, Poems & Essays: 1944-1962. Arlington, MA: Tough Poets Press, 2018.

Sources

• Stern, Gerald. "Miss Pink at Last: An Appreciation of Gil Orlovitz". Philadelphia: The American Poetry Review , Vol. 7, No. 6 (November/December 1978), pp. 27–31.
• Chatfield, Hale. "Literary Exile in Residence". Gambier, OH: The Kenyon Review , Vol. 31, No. 4 (1969), pp. 545–553.
• Daniels, Guy. "Notes Toward a Bibliography of Gil Orlovitz". Philadelphia: The American Poetry Review, Vol. 7, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1978), pp. 31–32.
• Fagan, Edward R. "Disjointed Time and the Contemporary Novel". University Park, PA: The Journal of General Education, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jul 1971), pp. 151–160.

External links

• "Gil Orlovitz, Poet, Died in July; Traced to City Paupers' Grave" New York Times
• "Some Thoughts on Gil Orlovitz" by Matt Ferrara Archived 2016-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
• "Gil Orlovitz: An Astonishing Faith in Words" by S. D. Stewart