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Business
executive, man of letters, motion picture producer, poet - these
four discrete vocations come together in the unique person of
Allan Dowling.
Born in 1903 in New
York Allan began to write serious poetry at the age of
seventeen. His youthful wanderjähre in Europe from
1925 to 1935 recall the heyday of the international literary set
between two world wars. In Nice in 1926 Dowling became
friendly with Frank Harris, a connection that was to lead him, a
year later, daringly to "bring" into the United States the
plates of the first volume of Harris' controversial autobiography My
Life and Loves. During this period Dowling lived for a time in
London, where his circle of friends included George Bernard Shaw, H
G Wells and John Middleton Murry.
After his marriage in
London in 1927, Dowling settled in Nice for several years, and
numbered among his friends Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Henri
Matisse, Ralph Korngold, Kay Boyle and Laurence Vail. His only
child, a daughter, was born in 1928.
The end of his
European sojourn came in 1935. Returning to New York, he
embarked upon a business career, working with the builders of the
Empire State Building and with the management of a Wall Street
skyscraper. |
Before and after this
period Dowling published three books of verse and a children's
book. In 1948 he took over the Partisan Review, determined, he
says, "to make it the best literary monthly in the United States"
and was its owner and publisher for four years, until he turned to
producing movies in Hollywood.
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Among
his unusual films were "Donovan's Brain",
one of the earliest science fiction movies, starring Lew Ayres,
and "Hunters
of the Deep", a full length colour movie on
skin-diving, for which he wrote the script and had George Antheil
compose the score. This picture was honoured at the
Edinburgh Festival. |
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More recently Dowling
and Antheil collaborated on a cantata, Cabeza de Vaca, which
was produced as a CBS television special program on June 10,
1962. Currently [1962] Mr Dowling is director of an investment
firm in New York.
His publications
include the libretto of the cantata
Cabeza de Vaca, score by George Antheil, Shawnee Press;
The Five Jewels, Added Enterprises (Partisan Review);
A Poet's Youth, Wanderer Press; and the
Land of Bupp, illustrated by the Author, Wanderer Press.
His work has also
appeared in many important anthologies, including Americans
Abroad, New Directions No.8, New Partisan Reader, and Spirit
of Man.
Poems
include:
La
Vita Nuova, The White Stars, Acceptance of Autumn, A Devil's
Prayer,
A Sad Jungle, Regret, Gethsemane, Ballad of Despair, The Shepherd
Boy,
From the Grande Corniche, Epigram, The Needle Point of Now, The
Last Adam,
The Miracle, Trust, Memory of Magic, The Dead Thief, The Lake of
Annecy,
The Dreamer's Epilogue, No Ark No Arat, The Flame, The Song of the
Tired Men,
The Back Country, After Two Thousand Years, A Song of Longing,
The Mimosa, To Praise Delight, A Sense of the Moment and
The Island of Birds.
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Source: The Poems of
Allan Dowling - Read by the Poet
as recorded for The
Poetry and Literature Archives of the library of Congress.
Produced by B H Stambler.
Published by Gryphon Records - A Division of Collectors Guild, 507
Fifth Avenue, New York 17, NY, USA.
Record Number: GR 905.
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