BIX & BONES - WWII novel of one-of-a-kind bomb group. History
of this story, which has now become a newly-completed novel, byMark
Druck, retired Major, USAFR, entitled: "BIX & BONES " Original
version of this material, written in 1946, by a young officer just
returned from WWII, writing of experiences he had just been
through, focusing on the B-25 "wild ride," the sort of missions he
flew in the 38th Bomb Group, 5th U.S. Army Air Force, against the
Japanese. The missions were truly unique, flown in Billy Mitchell
bombers, coming in over a target at altitudes UNDER 20 FEET, at 300
to 350 MPH, with parachutes on the bombs to slow their
approximately 15-foot drop, thus enabling the bomber to escape the
bomb blast. Knowing nothing of structure for a novel, he wrote a
sort of 'my life in combat' story. Having completed this work, he
came to New York, met a literary agent, Maurice Crane, with
MacIntosh & Otis agency, who had been a gunner on a B-17 over
Germany. His plane was shot down, he became a prisoner of war. When
men in the camp learned he was an agent, they 'promised' Crane to
send their novels to him. As a result, he collected dozens of mss.
When the early version of this mss came in, 'over the transom, '
Crane decided it would be 'one of the six' war stories he would
represent. He praised the characterizations and dialogue as 'most
valid.' Then came June, 1950. The Korean War. Crane phoned to say
"War is no longer in fashion." He returned all six of the mss he
had collected on WWII. Slow fade to 1978. Having met the Weisers,
Olga was told about the war novel. "Let George read it," she said.
It was submitted on Thursday. Two business days later - Monday -
Olga called to say "We sold it." It was published under the title,
"The Final Mission," as a paperback. Zebra Books was thought to
have printed 65,000 copies of the novel. Meanwhile, drastic changes
had been made in the basic story and characters. In 1948, he
studied playwrighting at the Dramatic Workshop, then a famous
theatre school, he was directed to go there by the theatre world's
most famous playwright agent, Harold Freedman (he represented
nearly all the then successful playwrights in USA and England - of
any 10 plays and musicals produced on Broadway and the West End,
London during period from late 1920s-1960s, Harold Freedman
represented probably six or seven). History of the material in 'BIX
&BONES' - page 2 During his studies under Irwin Piscator, the
famous German director, who ran the theatre school, which became
part of the NEW SCHOOL, he dramatized the material in the mss. It
became a drama, titled, "All-American," and won an award as one of
the best Off-Broadway plays of l949. In dramatizing the material
and background and characters and dialogue, he created a plot,
reorganized the characters to make them three-dimensional, and
invented a basic conflict. The basic plot, the new characters, the
one-on-one situations that were in that play are now the basis of
the current version of the novel, called BIX & BONES: Harold
Freedman, who had become his agent by this time (representing Druck
on four plays at the time of his sudden death), felt the play could
be sold to movies, because of the strong head-to-head conflict
between the lead characters, the action scenes, and the dialogue.
He had sold many plays to movies, including My Fair Lady, for the
biggest price paid for a property up to that time, and including
leasing for ten years the film rights of Harvey. He described "Bix
& Bones" as the "Journey's End" of WWII:
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