Give ‘em the Ax

Erle Stanley Gardner (Jul. 17, 1889-Mar. 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. Though best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces, as well as a series of non-fiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.

The best-selling American author of the 20th century at the time of his death, Gardner also published under numerous pseudonyms, including A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr.

Born in Malden, Massachusetts, Erle Stanley Gardner pursued a legal education and passed the state bar exam in 1911. He opened his first law office in Merced in 1917, but closed it after accepting a position at a sales agency. In 1921 he returned to law as a member of the Ventura firm Sheridan, Orr, Drapeau and Gardner, where he remained until 1933. In 1937 Gardner moved to Temecula, California, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Gardner enjoyed litigation and the development of trial strategy, but was otherwise bored by legal practice. In his spare time he began writing for pulp magazines; his first story was published in 1923. He created many series characters for the pulps, including Ken Corning, crusading lawyer, crime sleuth, and archetype for his most successful creation, Perry Mason, which eventually ran to over 80 novels.

Gardner also created characters for various radio programs, including Christopher London (1950), starring Glenn Ford, and A Life in Your Hands (1949-1952). He created Perry Mason as a recurring character for a series of Hollywood films of the 1930s, and then for a titular radio program, which ran from 1943-1955. In 1954 CBS proposed transforming Mason into a television soap opera. In 1957 Perry Mason became a long-running CBS-TV series starring Raymond Burr in the title role.

Gardner died in 1970 at his ranch in Temecula, aged 80.