WLA Literary Awards Committee

2006 Notable Wisconsin Authors

Richard Schickel
Author

Richard Warren Schickel was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1933. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a political science/history degree, he jointed Sports Illustrated in New York as a junior reporter. For the next several years he worked for various New York based media companies. He began film reviewing in 1965, working for Life magazine and is currently the film reviewer for Time.

He is also well known for his teleplays, documentary scripts, novels, and in particular for his in-depth examinations of Hollywood history and its celebrities.

In his 1985 work Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity he explores what it means to be famous in a media-conscious society, and how the many levels of fame can be exploited to serve less than noble goals.
His biographies of key cinema personalities are thoughtful and thorough, but nevertheless entertaining and accessible.

Selected Bibliography

Harold Lloyd: The Shape of Laughter, New York Graphic Society, 1974.
Cary Grant: A Celebration, Little-Brown, 1983
D.W. Griffith: An American Life, Simon & Schuster, 1984
Matinee Idylls: Reflections on the Movies, Ivan R. Dee, 1999.
Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip: Movies, Memory and World War II, Ivan R. Dee, 2003.
Elia Kazan: A Biography, HarperCollins, 2005

Robert W(Wayne) Wells was born in Greene, Ohio, 1918. His first job in journalism in his early 20’s was as a copy reader for The Repository in Canton,Ohio, followed by the Tribune-Chronicle, and the Columbus Dispatch. In his mid 20’s, he moved to Wisconsin, marrying Edith Jersin in 1945. They had four children.

In his lifetime career as a reporter he worked exclusively for the Milwaukee Journal from 1946 until retirement. His writing reflects his work there in his competent, lively style. Wells was active in the Council for Wisconsin Writers and the Milwaukee Press Club.

Though he wrote a few children’s books, he is best known for his books about Milwaukee and Wisconsin history. He writes humorously, often with tongue in cheek, about a host of colorful, eccentric characters and well-known events.

Fire at Peshtigo, which earned the Wisconsin Historical Society’s award, is probably his best know work. He also received awards from the Council of Wisconsin Writers for Vince Lombardi and Daylight in the Swamp.
Robert Wells died in 1995.

Selected Bibliography
Fire at Peshtigo, Prentice-Hall,1968
This Is Milwaukee, Doubleday, 1970
Vince Lombardi: His Life and Times, Wisconsin House, 1971
Mean on Sunday: Autobiography of Ray Nitschke, Doubleday, 1973
Daylight in the Swamp: a Boisterous Account of Lumberjacks, Lynchings, Barroom Brawls, Madams and Timber

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