Armitage Trail

Maurice R. Coons (July 18, 1902 – October 10, 1930), known by the pen name Armitage Trail, was an American pulp fiction author, known best for his 1929 novel Scarface. This novel was based on the life of gangster Al Capone, and was adapted as the 1932 film Scarface directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes. The story was later modernized and remade in the 1983 film Scarface directed by Brian De Palma starring Al Pacino. Coons's only other significant work is the detective novel The Thirteenth Guest, though he is speculated to have used a variety of pseudonyms.

Biography

Early life Armitage Trail was born Maurice R. Coons on July 18, 1902, in Madison, Nebraska. He was the oldest child of Oscar A. Coons and Alice L. Coons, living also with Alice's mother, Mary J. McIntyre. He had two brothers, Hannibal (born Stanley J. Coons) and Eugene, as well as a sister named Evelyn. Oscar's job as a road tour manager for the New Orleans Opera Company required the family to relocate multiple times before Trail became an adult, with one definite location being New Orleans. Trail would leave school to devote his time to writing, later accepting the position of managing editor of the Patterson Tribune. Likewise, his interest in gangsters such as Al Capone began at a young age, and it was stated by Hannibal Coons that his brother Maurice "was interested in gangsters as other men are interested in postage stamps, old coins, or spread-eagled butterflies".

Chicago and Scarface Not much is known about Trail's time in Illinois. He lived in Oak Park, Illinois, a town adjacent to the west side of Chicago, where he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Examiner where he lived at 3811 Delmas Terrace St. After selling the rights to Scarface, W.R. Burnett, who worked on the screenplay, stated that Trail began to struggle with alcoholism. Trail lived flamboyantly in Hollywood, rapidly gaining weight, wearing wide-brimmed Borsalino hats, and hiring a black chauffeur and a servant named Elijah Ford. He is buried in building C, crypt 237, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The novel was later adapted as the film The Thirteenth Guest in 1932 by Albert Ray, and then was remade as Mystery of the 13th Guest in 1943 by William Beaudine.

Scarface Trail's most famous novel, published in 1930, details the life of Tony "Scarface" Camonte, a character based on gangster Al Capone. The protagonist has the same first name for all three of the Scarface works. After the release of the 1932 movie, at which time Trail was already dead, Capone reportedly sent some of his men to question screenwriter Ben Hecht after Capone was offended at the movie's portrayal of him by actor Paul Muni. Threads of Guilt - Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories, February 1925 The Skeleton of Warwick Manor - Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories, August–November 1925 The Royal Street Riddle - Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories, November 1926 Dead Game - Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories, August 1927 Might - Best Novels, September 1927 The Morgan Mysteries - The Dragnet Magazine, November 1928-March 1929 Machine Gun Annie - The Underworld Magazine, February 1929 Night Hawks - The Underworld Magazine, February 1929 The Gun-Girl - The Underworld Magazine, March–July 1929 Broadway Wolves - Complete Underworld Novelettes, Winter 1932 Flatfoot, Flatfoot - Detective Book Magazine, Fall 1937