Jack Stang
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Jack Stang born John A. Stang (October 29, 1923 – January 7, 1996) was Mickey Spillane's inspiration for the private eye character Mike Hammer in his novels.[1][2]
World War II[edit]
During World War II Stang was a U.S. Marine[1] who served in the Pacific Theater on Samoa, Guadalcanal and Bougainville. He was wounded in action, and was one of four men in his platoon to survive.[citation needed]
Newburgh Police[edit]
Following the war, Stang was a Newburgh, New York policeman where Spillane, then residing at Orange Lake in suburban Newburgh, met him in 1946.[3]
Bar and grill[edit]
After leaving the Newburgh Police, Stang operated Stang's, a popular riverfront bar and grill at 4th and Front Street in Newburgh.[4] After it was devastated by a fire, it reopened as a children's clothing store run by Fran Stang, Jack's mother. The old Newburgh riverfront neighborhood, four blocks wide and about a mile long, was demolished in the late 1960s as part of an 'Urban Renewal' program, and the bar property exists as of 2008 as part of a grassy slope and parking lot complex.
Actor[edit]
"I had the right guy, Jack Stang, a real cop, only he couldn’t act...(Who would’ve been the best guy to play Mike Hammer?) Jack Stang, if he could act. He was a tough Marine. He went into one Japanese island in the Pacific, with 240 men, he was one of four came out." (We look at pictures of Stang’s screen test, which Mickey wrote) "That’s Jonathan Winters, the comedian, playing the corpse. And that’s me…jeez, did I ever look like that!" —Mickey Spillane, 2002[1]
Stang appeared with Spillane in the 1954 film Ring of Fear and had an unbilled appearance in I, the Jury. Spillane wrote, directed, and filmed a 1955 Mike Hammer screen test with Stang to enable Stang to play Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly.[5][6] Stang was never able to play Mike Hammer, even though every time Spillane was asked who would be the right person to play Hammer, the answer was always the same: Jack Stang.[citation needed] Hollywood studios at that time would use only known actors so that they could receive financing.[citation needed] Biff Elliot was cast as Hammer in I, the Jury, and Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly, the second Hammer film.
Jack Stang was signed to Wayne-Fellows Productions at Warner Bros. He also acted in a Highway Patrol episode and Broderick Crawford wanted him to be a regular in the series. He was offered a role by Otto Preminger to be in The Man with the Golden Arm starring Frank Sinatra. Just as Stang's star was about to shine, he left the fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle behind to be with his family.
In popular culture[edit]
"Jack Stang" is also the name of the protagonist of Dead Street, the first book published with Spillane's byline after his death (it was "prepared for publication" by Max Allan Collins).[7] The book features a neighborhood being torn down, as was Stang's section of Newburgh.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Carlson, Michael (June 29, 2002). "Mickey Spillane Interview". Crime Time Magazine. Oldcastle Books / CT publishing. Archived from the original on December 31, 2004. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
The best part about interviewing Mickey Spillane is the fun he appears to be having...I likened it to a cowboy trying to saddle a wily old mustang that refuses to be broken and knows all the cowboy tricks. Mickey holds little back, and he is so animated with stories you soon realise that one of the keys to his success is his genuine interest in people. He's the kind of person who would fit in anywhere. There are a number of stories he asked be off the record, and a couple of them then popped up a few nights later during his Guardian Lecture, but I've kept to his request. I've also had to leave out Mickey's instructions on how to kiss a duck's tail without ruffling the feathers, mostly because there's no way I can describe it in prose. Mickey's persona is that of a tough guy who doesn't really care about his art, but as this interview makes clear, good story telling grows from understanding people, and Spillane has a PhD in people...
- ^ Corliss, Richard (July 22, 2006). "The Prince of Pulp". Time. p. 3. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
Before the war he had peddled a comic-book character named Mike Danger, the Hammer prototype. Now he updated it, fleshing it out with traits of a Marine friend, Jack Stang (whom he later proposed should star as Hammer, even directing a short film with Stang in the role, but it didn't take.)
- ^ Stang, Jack Jr. (2012). The Real Mike Hammer. Cork: BookBaby. ISBN 9781620950241. OCLC 895432782. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
(eBook) The reader should know that Jack Stang was my father and I have chosen to tell this story in his voice.
- ^ Stang, Jack Jr. "Interrogate the Suspect". The Real Mike Hammer. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Spillane, Mickey (July 1955). "Mike Hammer Screen Test (script from "Tomorrow I Die")". Male. via: The Unofficial Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Pronzini, Bill; Adrian, Jack (1995). Hard-boiled : an anthology of American crime stories. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195084993. OCLC 1167037513. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
- ^ Stang, Jack Jr. (May 10, 2012). Examine the Case. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
