1927 Time cover featuring Arlen

Michael Arlen (born Rousse, Bulgaria, November 16, 1895, died June 23, 1956), original name Dikran Kouyoumdjian, was an Armenian essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter, who had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England. Although Arlen is most famous for his satirical romances set in English smart society, he also wrote gothic horror and psychological thrillers, for instance "The Gentleman from America," which was filmed in 1956 as a television episode for Alfred Hitchcock's TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Near the end of his life, Arlen mainly occupied himself with political writing. Arlen's vivid but colloquial style "with unusual inversions and inflections with a heightened exotic pitch"^[1], came to be known as Arlenesque. Image File history File links Time-magazine-cover-michael-arlen. ... Image File history File links Time-magazine-cover-michael-arlen. ... Rousse (also transliterated as Ruse or Russe; Bulgarian: Русе; Romanian: Rusciuc) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 178,000. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Screenshot of opening sequence of Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alfred Hitchcock Presents was a half-hour anthology television series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. ...

Very much a 1920s society figure resembling the characters he portrayed in his novels, and a man who might be referred to as a dandy, Arlen invariably impressed everyone with his immaculate manners. He was always impeccably dressed and groomed and was seen driving around London in a fashionable yellow Rolls Royce and engaging in all kinds of luxurious activities. However, he was well aware of the latent racism, the contempt for foreigners mixed with envy, with which his success was viewed. Sydney Horler (1888-1954), another popular author of the time, is said to have called Arlen "the only Armenian who never tried to sell me a carpet", while Arlen half-jokingly described himself as "every other inch a gentleman". The 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Sporty Parisian dandies of the 1830s: a girdle helped one achieve this silhouette. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Rolls-Royce car may refer to vehicles produced by: Rolls-Royce Limited (1906-1973) Rolls-Royce Motors (1973-2003) Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (2003-present) // Rolls-Royce cars Rolls-Royce Limited vehicles 1904-1906 10 hp 1905-1905 15 hp 1905-1908 20 hp 1905-1906 30 hp 1905-1906... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · The Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Blood libel · Black Legend Pedophobia · Ephebiphobia Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Ku Klux Klan National Party (South Africa) American Nazi Party Kahanism · Supremacism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism... Sydney Horler (July 18, 1888 - October 27, 1954) was a prolific British novelist specialising in thrillers. ... A carpet is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering. ... The term gentleman (from Latin gentilis, belonging to a race or gens, and man, cognate with the French word gentilhomme, the Spanish gentilhombre and the Italian gentil uomo or gentiluomo), in its original and strict signification, denoted a man of good family, the Latin generosus (its invariable translation in English...

Biography

Early Life: Coming to England

Michael Arlen was born Dikran Kouyoumdjian on November 16, 1895, in Rousse, Bulgaria, to an Armenian merchant family. In 1892, Arlen's family moved to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, after fleeing Turkish persecutions of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. In Plovdiv, Arlen's father, Sarkis Kouyoumdjian, established a successful import business. In 1895, Arlen was born as the youngest child of five, having three brothers, Takvor, Krikor, and Roupen, and one sister, Ahavni. In 1901, apparently not feeling satisfied with Bulgaria's position in the oncoming war, Arlen's family moved once more: this time to the seaside town of Southport in Lancashire, England. ^[2] Rousse (also transliterated as Ruse or Russe; Bulgarian: Русе; Romanian: Rusciuc) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 178,000. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Plovdiv (Bulgarian: ) is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 341,873([1]). It is the administrative centre of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria, as well as the largest and most important city of the historical region of Upper (ot Northern) Thrace, famous for its... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... Plovdiv (Bulgarian: ) is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 341,873([1]). It is the administrative centre of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria, as well as the largest and most important city of the historical region of Upper (ot Northern) Thrace, famous for its... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Southport (disambiguation). ... Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area...

Adolescence: Becoming a Writer

After attending Malvern College and spending a brief time in Switzerland, Arlen enrolled as a medical student at the University of Edinburgh,^[3] despite his and his family's intention to that he go to Oxford University. If we are to view Arlen's first published book, The London Venture, as being semi-autobiographical, then we will never know why Arlen made this "silly mistake" ^[4] of going to Edinburgh instead of Oxford. We know however what led Arlen to London, where he would make his break into a literary career. Malvern College is a coeducational English public school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded in 1865. ... The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582,[4] is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

In The London Venture, Arlen writes: "I, up at Edinburgh, was on the high road to general fecklessness. I only stayed there a few months; jumbled months of elementary medicine, political economy, metaphysics, theosophy--I once handed round programs at an Annie Besant lecture at the Usher Hall--and beer, lots of beer. And then, one night, I emptied my last mug, and with another side-glance at Oxford, came down to London; 'to take up a literary career' my biographer will no doubt write of me." (p. 132)

In 1913, after a few months of university, Arlen moved to London to live by his pen. A year later, World War I broke out and made Arlen's position in England as a Bulgarian national rather difficult. Arlen's nationality was still Bulgarian, but Bulgaria had disowned him because he would not serve in Bulgaria's army. Bulgaria being allies with Germany made England suspicious of Arlen, who could neither be naturalized as an English citizen, nor change his name. In London, Arlen found company in modernist literary circles with others who been looked upon suspiciously or had been denied military service. Among these were Aldous Huxley, D. H. Lawrence, Nancy Cunard, and George Moore.^[5] “The Great War ” redirects here. ... This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... D.H. Lawrence, age 21 (1906) David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 - 2 March 1930) was an important and controversial English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism and personal letters. ... Nancy Clare Cunard (March 10, 1896 – March 17, 1965) was an English writer, editor and publisher, political activist and poet. ... George Moore may refer to: George Moore (American Radio Presenter) George Edward Moore (1873–1958), G.E. Moore, British philosopher George Moore (Australian Radio Presenter) George Moore (jockey), Australian jockey George Moore (MLB pitcher) George Moore (Jumpers), fictional philosopher, lead character in Tom Stoppards play Jumpers George Moore (Medal...

Young Adulthood: The Beginnings

Arlen began his literary career in 1916, writing under his birth name, Dikran Kouyoumdjian, first in a London-based Armenian periodical, Ararat: A Searchlight on Armenia, and soon after for The New Age, a British weekly review of politics, arts, and literature. For these two magazines, Arlen wrote essays, book reviews, personal essays, short stories, and even one short play. 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... The New Age was a British literary magazine, noted for its wide influence under the editorship from 1907 to 1922 of A. R. Orage. ...

Arlen's last submissions to The New Age, a series of semi-autobiographical personal essays entitled "The London Papers," were assembled in 1920 and published with slight revisions as The London Venture. From this moment onwards, Arlen began to sign his works as Michael Arlen. Already in January and April 1920, Arlen two short stories, published in English Review, signed Michael Arlen. In 1922, Arlen naturalized as a British citizen and legally changed his birth name, Dikran Kouyoumdjian, to Michael Arlen. (See From Dikran to Michael for further detail on Arlen's name-change.) 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ...

In 1920, Arlen also spent some time in France with Nancy Cunard although she was married to someone else at the time—-a relationship which fuelled Aldous Huxley's jealousy.

Fame and Fortune

After "The London Venture", Arlen worked on romances, spicing them with elements of psychological thrills and horror, including The Romantic Lady, These Charming People, and "Piracy": A Romantic Chronicle of These Days. In These Charming People, for instance, Arlen wrote tales which included elements of fantasy and horror, in particular "The Ancient Sin" and "The Loquacious Lady of Lansdowne Passage". The volume also introduced a gentleman crook reminiscent of Raffles in the story "The Cavalier of the Streets". The title of another story, "When a Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", was the inspiration for the popular song of the same name. Smaug in his lair: an illustration for the fantasy The Hobbit Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ... A.J. (Arthur J.) Raffles is a character created by E. W. Hornung, a brother-in-law to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. ... A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square is the title of a well-known romantic British popular song with lyrics by Eric Maschwitz and music by Manning Sherwin. ...

The above works eventually culminated into the book that would launch Arlen's fame and fortune in the 1920s: The Green Hat, published in 1924. The Green Hat was turned into a play, starring Tallulah Bankhead, and a Hollywood movie in 1928, starring Greta Garbo. Because The Green Hat was considered provocative in the United States, the movie was not allowed to make any references to it and was therefore dubbed A Woman of Affairs. Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 - December 12, 1968) was an American actress, talk-show host and bon vivant. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

After the publication of The Green Hat, Arlen became almost instantly famous, rich, and like celebrities today, incessantly in the spotlight and newspapers. During this period of his fame, the mid-1920s, Arlen frequently travelled to the United States and worked on plays and films, including "Dear Father" and These Charming People.

Naturally, after all this fame and attention, Arlen felt somewhat anxious to write the book that would follow The Green Hat. Notwithstanding, Arlen wrote Young Men in Love (1927) and received mixed reviews.

After Young Men in Love, Arlen continued with Lily Christine (1928), Babes in the Wood (1929), and Men Dislike Women (1931), none of which received the enthusiastic reviews that The Green Hat had received. Babes in the Wood is a traditional childrens tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. ...

Adulthood: Off to America

In 1927, Arlen, feeling ill, joined D. H. Lawrence in Florence, where Lawrence was working on Lady Chatterly's Lover, for which Arlen served as a model for Michaelis. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... D.H. Lawrence, age 21 (1906) David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 - 2 March 1930) was an important and controversial English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism and personal letters. ... Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Lady Chatterleys Lover is a sexually explicit novel by D. H. Lawrence written in 1928. ...

In 1928, Arlen married Countess Atalanta Mercati in Cannes, France, to where he had moved. They had had two children, a son, Michael John Arlen born in 1930, and a daughter, Venetia Arlen, born in 1933. Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Cannes - receding storm Cannes, as seen from a ferry speeding towards lÎle Saint-Honorat Cannes (pronounced ) (Provençal Occitan: Canas in classical norm or Cano in Mistralian norm) is a city and commune in southern France, located on the Riviera, in the Alpes-Maritimes département and the r...

With his following novel, Man's Mortality (1933), Arlen turned to political writing and science fiction, brushing aside his earlier, smart society romances. Set fifty years in the future, in 1983, the book can be seen as portraying a Dystopia, whose rulers claim that it is a Utopia. Most critics compared it unfavourably with Huxley's Brave New World, which had been published the year before. Image File history File links Arlen's_Hell!.JPG‎ Image taken from http://homepages. ... The dust jacket (sometimes dust wrapper, abbreviated dj or dw) of a hardback book is the paper, usually illustrated and including front and back flaps, that protects the binding of the book from scratches. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia[1], kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. ... Left panel (The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Eden), from Hieronymus Boschs The Garden of Earthly Delights. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932. ...

In the following years, Arlen also returned to gothic horror with Hell! Said the Duchess: A Bed-Time Story (1934). In his final collection of short stories, The Crooked Coronet (1939), Arlen briefly returns to his earlier romantic, but also comic, style. Arlen's claim to fame in the world of crime fiction rests on one short story, "Gay Falcon" (1940), in which he introduced gentleman sleuth Gay Stanhope Falcon. Renamed Gay Lawrence, the character was taken up by Hollywood in 1941 and expanded into a long-running series of feature films with George Sanders in the title role, later taken over by Sanders's brother Tom Conway, with "The Falcon" again renamed Tom Lawrence. (Cf. Farewell, My Lovely.) The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Gay Falcon is a short story by Michael Arlen, which was first published in 1940 in Town & Country magazine. ... See also: 1939 in literature, other events of 1940, 1941 in literature, list of years in literature. ... ... // North America Sergeant York Buck Privates, starring Abbott and Costello Tobacco Road Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley - 20th Century-Fox Best Actor: Gary Cooper - Sergeant York Best Actress: Joan Fontaine - Suspicion Adam Had Four Sons Blossoms in the Dust, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon Bowery Blitzkrieg Buck... George Sanders (July 3, 1906 – April 25, 1972) was an English actor in British and American films. ... Tom Conway in Cat People (1942) Tom Conway (September 15, 1904 – April 22, 1967) was an English actor. ... Farewell, my Lovely, by Susie Cornfield, (published by Garret Books, London UK) is a collection of tails and tributes to much-loved, departed pets, including the author’s own Brains the MagnifiCat The book features stories from Jilly Cooper, David Blunkett and Ann Widdecombe and a foreword from the Daily...

In 1939, in the midst of World War II, Arlen returned to England to serve England in World War II. While his wife, Atalanta, joined the Red Cross, Arlen wrote columns for The Tatler. That same year, his final book, The Flying Dutchman (1939), was published, a political book, commenting harshly on Germany's position in World War II. 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Anarchist Black Cross was originally called the Anarchist Red Cross. The band Redd Kross was originally called Red Cross. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Tatler is a British magazine, originally founded in 1709 by Richard Steele. ... The Flying Dutchman by Albert Pinkham Ryder For other uses, see The Flying Dutchman (disambiguation). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

In 1940, Arlen was appointed Civil Defense Public Relations Officer for the East Midlands, but when his loyalty to England was questioned in the House of Commons in 1941, Arlen resigned and moved to America, where he settled in New York in 1946. For the next ten years of his life, Arlen suffered from writer's block, until he died of cancer on June 23, 1956. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Alec Waugh, "What Happened to Michael Arlen?", Harper's Monthly Magazine, 210:1257 (1955:Feb.), p. 86
2. ^ Harry Keyishian, Michael Arlen, Twayne, Boston: 1975, pp. 11-14
3. ^ Ibid., p. 11
4. ^ Michael Arlen, The London Venture, George H. Doran, New York: 1920, p. 131
5. ^ Waugh, p. 85

Selected Bibliography

Novels

• The London Venture (Heinemann, 1920)
• Piracy (Collins, 1922)
• The Green Hat (Collins, 1924)
• Young Men in Love (Hutchinson, 1927)
• Lily Christine (Doubleday, Doran, 1929)
• Men Dislike Women (Heinemann, 1931)
• Man's Mortality (Heinemann, 1933)
• Hell! Said the Duchess (Heinemann, 1934)
• The Flying Dutchman (Heinemann, 1939)

The Flying Dutchman is a 1939 novel by Armenian author Michael Arlen. ...

Short stories

• The Romantic Lady (Collins, 1921)
• These Charming People, Being a Tapestry of The Fortunes, Follies, Adventures, Gallantries and General Activities of Shelmerdene (that lovely lady), Lord Tarlyon, Mr Michael Wagstaffe, Mr Ralph Wyndham Trevor and Some Others of Their Friends of the Lighter Sort (Collins, 1923) (15 thematically connected short stories)
• May Fair, In Which Are Told the Last Adventures of These Charming People (Collins, 1925)
• Ghost Stories (Collins, 1927)
• Babes in the Wood (Hutchinson, 1930)
• The Crooked Coronet (Heinemann, 1937)
• The Ancient Sin and Other Stories (Collins, 1930) (collection)
• The Short Stories of Michael Arlen (Collins, 1933) (collection)

Babes in the Wood is a traditional childrens tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. ...

Further reading

• Michael J. Arlen, Exiles, Pocket, New York: 1971. (Biographical book of Arlen and his wife viewed from the perspective of Arlen's son. Includes details of Arlen's final years in New York, his writer's block, and his death).

• Michael J. Arlen, Passage to Ararat, Hungry Mind, Saint Paul: 1996. (On Arlen's ethnic identity and his son's quest for his lost Armenian roots. During this quest, Arlen's son tries to explain why his father preferred to live "free" from the Armenians.)

• Harry Keyishian, Michael Arlen, Twayne, Boston: 1975. (Critical review of Arlen's oeuvre. Contains a detailed bibliography.)

• Alec Waugh, "What Happened to Michael Arlen?", Harper's Monthly Magazine, 210:1257 (1955:Feb.)

See also

• Michael Arlen in Ararat
• Michael Arlen in The New Age
• Michael Arlen in English Review
• Michael Arlen and Horror
• From Dikran to Arlen

Writing under his birth name, Dikran Kouyoumdjian, Michael Arlen began his literary career as an essayist and editor for a London-based Armenian periodical Ararat: A Searchlight on Armenia, and soon after as an essayist, book reviewer, and short story writer, for The New Age, a British weekly review of...

External links

• Author photographs from the National Portrait Gallery, London
• The Green Hat—Tallulah Bankhead in Arlen's 1925 stage version of his own bestselling novel
• The Green Hat—Greta Garbo in the 1928 movie version entitled A Woman of Affairs
• List of Arlen's film productions as a scriptwriter
• Dikran Kuyumjian - Time magazine[[Category:Old Malvernians|Arlen, Michael|