Phil Stong

Who was Phil Stong?

Philip Duffield Stong was an American author, journalist and Hollywood scenarist. He is best known for writing the novel State Fair, on which three films and one musical by that name were based.

Stong was born in Pittsburg, Iowa, near Keosauqua. His father operated the general store, which is now an antique store. The 1844 brick house where Stong was born is located adjacent to the store and is now a private residence. He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Stong scored his first success in 1932 with the publication of his famous novel, State Fair, which was later adapted for the screen as the hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name. In addition to his novels, his short stories were published in most of the leading national magazines of the time, and he wrote several screenplays.

About his writing career, he once said, "Fell while trying to clamber out of a low bathtub at the age of two. Became a writer. No other possible career."

Stong's The Other Worlds: 25 Modern Stories of Mystery and Imagination, was considered by Robert Silverberg to be the first anthology of science-fiction. Compiling stories from 1930s pulp magazines, along with what Stong called "Scientifiction" it also contained works of horror and fantasy.