Title: Leonard Wibberley
Collection no: 172
Description: Typescripts and galleys for various published books by the Irish-American novelist, playwright, and children's author. Leonard Wibberly was born April 9, 1915, in Dublin Ireland. He attended schools in Ireland and England and was an apprentice to a London publisher. At sixteen he became a copy boy on the Sunday Dispatch; during the Depression, he worked as street fiddler, ditchdigger, dishwasher, and cook. From 1932-36, he was a reporter for the London Daily Mirror and assistant London editor for Malayan Straits Times and Singapore Free Press; he then became editor of Trinidad Evening News, Trinidad, West Indies, 1936-38, and worked for oil company in Trinidad, 1939-41. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1943 to work for Walsh Kaiser Shipyards while also serving as cable editor for Associated Press. He was U.S. correspondent for London Evening News, and member of staff, Los Angeles Times, from 1950 until his death of a heart attack, November 22, 1983, in Santa Monica, Calif. He produced more than one hundred books, including stories for children, historical novels, satires, plays, and mysteries. Many of these were written under pseudonyms. His favorite novels were the African trilogy--The Road from Toomi, Meeting with a Great Beast, and The Last Stand of Father Felix. However, Wibberly is best known for his "Mouse" trilogy, a political satire containing The Mouse That Roared, The Mouse on the Moon, and The Mouse That Saved the West; the first two were made into successful motion pictures.
Extent: 172-1 through 172-7
Library: Special Collections
Formats: Manuscripts
Topics: American Language and Literature, English Language and Literature, Los Angeles
Access: Open for research
Use of this collection is by appointment only. Please contact:
- Name: Claude Zachary
- Title: University Archivist, Manuscripts Librarian
- Email: czachary@usc.edu
- Phone: 213-740-2587
- Fax: 213-740-2343
