Francis Joseph Xavier Scully; (April 28, 1892 – June 23, 1964) was an American journalist, author, humorist, and a regular columnist for the entertainment trade magazine Variety.

Career

Scully in 1937

Scully studied journalism at Columbia University, was on the reporting staff at The New York Sun and was a contributor to Variety. His books include Rogues' Gallery and Fun In Bed: The Convalescent's Handbook. Scully received screenwriting credit for the American version of the film Une fée... pas comme les autres (The Secret of Magic Island).

Shortly after Scully moved to Burbank, California with his family in 1934, fellow journalist and author Upton Sinclair won the Democratic primary for the upcoming gubernatorial election. A supporter of Sinclair's End Poverty in California plan, Scully founded the Author's League for Sinclair, which attracted the likes of Gene Fowler and Dorothy Thompson.

In January 1939, Scully was appointed administrative assistant and secretary of the California Department of Institutions by director Aaron Rosanoff. Just nine months later, Scully was fired and replaced with Rosanoff's daughter Marjorie. A year later, Scully testified against Rosanoff and detailed abusive conditions at the Whittier State School for Boys. He further alleged that his lack of involvement in the abuse was the reason why he was targeted in an indictment for misappropriating funds. He was later acquitted of all charges.

During the 1940 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Scully joined a left-wing slate pledged to lieutenant governor Ellis E. Patterson for president. They opposed incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt on the grounds he was focusing too much on foreign affairs and not enough on domestic unemployment. The Patterson slate lost to Roosevelt's by a margin of fifteen to one.

Aztec UFO hoax

Author Frank Scully (right), confidence man Silas Newton (center), and KMYR radio salesman George Koehler (left) discuss Newton's claims of magnetism-powered flying saucers.

Scully publicized the Aztec, New Mexico UFO hoax when, in 1949, he wrote two columns in Variety claiming that dead extraterrestrial beings were recovered from a flying saucer crash.

Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers expanded on the themes of flying saucer crashes and dead extraterrestrials, with Scully describing one of his sources as having "more degrees than a thermometer". In that book, he promoted the pseudohistorical claims of Paxson Hayes that prehistoric giants inhabited the Americas.

In 1952 and 1956, True magazine published articles by the San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Philip Cahn that purported to expose Scully's sources as confidence tricksters who had hoaxed Scully. Scully's 1963 book, In Armour Bright, also included material about alleged flying saucer crashes and dead extraterrestrials.

Vatican knighthood

Scully was inducted as a Knight of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1956.

Publications

Books

  • Scully, Frank (1932). . Preface by Logan Clendening. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1934). More Fun in Bed: The Convalescent's Handbook. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1936). Bedside Manna: The Third Fun in Bed Book. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1938). Just What the Doctor Ordered. Fun in Bed (Series Four). New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1943). Rogues' Gallery: Profiles of My Eminent Contemporaries. Hollywood: Murray & Gee, Inc. OCLC.
  • —— (1950). . New York: Henry Holt and Company. OCLC.
  • —— (1951). Blessed Mother Goose: Favorite Nursery Rhymes Retold for Today's Children. Illustrated by Keye Luke. New York: Greenberg. OCLC.
  • —— (1951). Blessed Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Today's Children. Illustrated by Keye Luke. Hollywood: House-Warven. OCLC.
  • —— (1951). The Best of Fun in Bed. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1955). . New York: Greenberg. OCLC.
  • —— (1962). This Gay Knight: An Autobiography of a Modern Chevalier. Introduction by Dale Francis (1sted.). Philadelphia: Chilton Co., Book Division. OCLC.
  • —— (1963). In Armour Bright: Cavalier Adventures of My Short Life Out of Bed. Introduction by Jack Paar (1sted.). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. OCLC.

Contributions, introductions, forewords

  • Tchirikova, Olga Wassilieff (1934). Scully, Frank (ed.). Sandrik, Child of Russia. Introduction by Grand Duke Alexander. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. OCLC.
  • Kirkus, Virginia (1935). Scully, Frank (ed.). Fun in Bed For Children: First Aid in Getting Well Cheerfully. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • —— (1935). Scully, Frank (ed.). Junior Fun in Bed: Making a Holiday of Convalescence. New York: Simon & Schuster. OCLC.
  • Scully, Frank (1940). "The Beaut from Montana". In Gingrich, Arnold (ed.). The Bedside Esquire. New York: Tudor Publishing Company. OCLC.
  • Sper, Norman (1942). Norman Sper's Football Almanac [Eastern section, 1942]. Introduction by Frank Scully. New York: Greenberg, Inc. OCLC.
  • Francis, Dale (1960). Kneeling in the Bean Patch. Forewords by Frank Scully. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons. OCLC.
  • Walker, Gerald, ed. (1963). My Most Memorable Christmas. A Pocket Book special, 10021. Anecdote contributed by Frank Scully. New York: Pocket Books. OCLC.

Feature films

  • Scully, Frank (Writer (1964 U.S. version)) (1957). Une fée... pas comme les autres (in French). France/Italy: Cine del Duco, Del Duca Films.

Archives

See also

External links

  • atIMDb
  • , a detailed account of Behind the Flying Saucers and subsequent exposé