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CNN Sunday Morning
Evan Hunter is Ed McBain
Aired February 10, 2002 - 08:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES OBRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now the story of a New York author whose latest book veers uncomfortably close to reality in the grim new world of mass attacks by terrorists. CNN's Aaron Brown introduces us to Evan Hunter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): He looks like a retired college professor or perhaps even a painter, which is what he once wanted to be.
EVAN HUNTER, AUTHOR: Oh, thank you. That's so kind.
BROWN: But to millions of readers worldwide, he is simply this: an icon.
HUNTER: Thank you. Thank you for coming tonight. I appreciate it.
BROWN: His name is Evan Hunter, and to the world at large, he is not a familiar face. But what he's written is very, very well known. He was in his late 20s when he wrote a novel about kids and teachers in New York City -- "The Blackboard Jungle." A few years later, he wrote the screenplay for one of the flat out scariest movies of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."
(on camera): You know that I'm still afraid of birds.
HUNTER: Good. I mean, a lot of people are.
BROWN (voice-over): But his most enduring and most popular successes have come from a series of books he's written under a pseudonym. Evan Hunter is Ed McBain, the author of more than 50 novels of the 87th precinct.
HUNTER: The Evan Hunter fans, or the people who began reading -- began knowing me through "The Blackboard Jungle" and then the various other Evan Hunter novels I've written do not know -- they're surprised to learn that I'm Ed McBain. And when they do learn, they say, "Oh, I would -- I don't read mysteries."
BROWN: But millions do. His publisher estimates that Evan Hunter or Ed McBain has sold more than 100 million books around the world. (on camera): Has anyone that you know of written more books in a series for a longer period of time than you?
HUNTER: I don't think so. I think it's the longest running mystery series, certainly. I don't know of any other sorts of series' characters that may be around.
BROWN (voice-over): Now time for a quick confession. I've been addicted to the 87th precinct for years, and began reading his latest McBain novel, "Money, Money, Money," after the attacks of September 11th. A way to retreat a bit, to calm down. And in the middle of the book there is a sharp left turn to a terrorist group called al Qaeda and a single terrorist names Osama bin Laden.
HUNTER: In fact, it was all spinning around terrorism, and I thought, this can't really be happening.
BROWN: It was, of course. And in a eerie way, Evan Hunter -- Ed McBain -- had dreamed it up on a far smaller scale. He began the novel as a story about counterfeiting.
HUNTER: And I thought, so here's counterfeit money linked to a terrorist state. So what would happen if this money somehow got involved in terrorism and what would happen if the CIA -- which has been known to support terrorist states -- was somehow involved in it as well? And then I thought, what would happen if all of this took place in the ragtag end of the universe in the 87th precinct, where these cops stumble into this vast conspiracy?
BROWN: Here's an excerpt from the book. Evan Hunter reading it before an adoring audience at the New York Public Library. Detectives, including his main character, Steve Carella (ph), have just discovered the body of a woman eaten by a lion at the city zoo.
HUNTER: Half of the zoo was in the 87th precinct, the other half was in the 88th. By Carella's (ph) rough estimate, four-fifths of the vic's body was in the 87th. The remaining fifth, the vic's leg, was over there in the 88th, where fat Olly (ph), watching a young lion claw and gnaw at the leg, was beginning to get hungry himself.
BROWN: Evan Hunter will be the first to admit that his novels, such as the one called "Ice" have almost never translated well to either movies or TV. This Japanese movie, by the famed director Akira Kurosawa is based on an Ed McBain novel called, "High and Low." It's the closest movie to his work, he says. But he's not giving up.
HUNTER: I'd like to see it done well for a change. Once, I'd like to see it done well.
BROWN: Evan Hunter, Ed McBain, is 75 now and he certainly could retire. After more than 90 works of fiction, he's one of the most prolific and successful writers ever. But he's already at work on a new 87th precinct novel, because he believes Americans need the diversion of a well-written book more than ever.
HUNTER: The appeal with thrillers is that somebody does a bad thing -- murder usually -- and the cops come in. And they -- the good guys come in. And by the end of the book they set it all right again. And the reader can close the book and pull the covers up to his nose and go to sleep, secure in his own comfy little bed, which is not always the case in reality. You know, so far it's not coming out all right, is it? We're trying to make it come out all right and we will eventually, but it's going to take a while.
BROWN: Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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