Then he and three friends drove across country to Los Angeles, where
he literally dove into a career as a stunt man.
John, a skilled swimmer who tried out for the 1924 Olympics,
according to a publicity release for one of his books, was hired as
an extra for "Dante's Inferno." He volunteered to replace a stunt man
who refused to dive off a 137-foot cliff into the rocky waters off of
Santa Cruz Island. John asked for $60 and got it. He also got 16
stitches in his scalp.
For the next few years, John "doubled" -- did stunts for Hollywood
stars such as Tom Mix, John Barrymore and Zasu Pitts.
He wrote about his experiences in "Fly Away Home -- Memoirs of a
Hollywood Stuntman," published in February 1991.
John wrote his first novel in Hollywood, but didn't have a clue
how to get it published. He asked gossip columnist and Hollywood
power broker Louella Parsons for help. She got him a job on a New
York American newspaper. It was 1926. He was 21.
After a year, John headed for Europe, where the Paris Bureau of
the New York Herald Tribune hired him.
John wrote about his time in Paris and the extraordinary cast of
characters he met there in "Young Man in Paris," published in 1985.
Houston called the book "utterly fascinating," according to the dust
cover.
John wrote his first two books that sold, "Gun Girl" and "Stunt
Man," in Paris. By the time he came back to the United States, he was
considered a rising literary star, a member of Maxwell Perkin's
stable of authors at Charles Scirbner's Sons.
But Hollywood beckoned, Katy was waiting in the wings and the West
Coast became his home for the rest of his life.
