Talk:John Hay Beith

I am currently reading an old original volume titled 'All In It! "K(1)" Carries On' by Ian Hay, published November 1917. In the preface, it mentions that it is a continuation of sorts (my words) of "The First Hundred Thousand". I expect the list of books on the main page may need some correction or clarification.

23.243.62.41 (talk) 22:02, 8 September 2014 (UTC)eml2425@yahoo.com

Old comment
It's very odd that no biography has been written about Ian Hay (as far as I'm aware). This is a man who was born as the late Victorians flourished, saw two world wars (actively surviving the first, despite being on the front line), witnessed the rise of the movie industry and was for at least part of the 1930's a part of the Hollywood machine (his credit for "The 39 Steps" is -- I believe -- for the dialog), was a friend of P.G. Wodehouse, worked for the British Government in the second war ... the list goes on.

It's unfortunate that he is remembered now mainly for the "funny ha-ha or funny peculiar" quote and little else. Those who are interested in Ian Hay's works will probably find the following works the most satisfying:

"The Right Stuff" -- the story of the son of a poor Scottish family who becomes secretary to an English MP. Has a ridiculous romantic sub-plot, but Hay did not handle romance well (see remarks below). Now available at Project Gutenberg;

"The Willing Horse" -- this treatment of the decision of the daughter of a Puritanical middle-class family to "do her piece" in World War I would make an excellent historical series for British TV;

"The Lucky Number" -- thirteen short stories from the start of Hay's career to about the early 1920's. Has two motoring stories: "Bill Bailey" (this can be found on the Internet) and the amusing "Fowl Play" (story number 12A, as Hay calls it). The writer Julius Mablethorp, from "A Knight on Wheels," makes a reappearance as well.

Hay's style is light, and he rarely treats of serious subjects ("The Willing Horse" is something of an exception, and most people would add "A Safety Match"); when he does, they too tend to be treated in an off-hand manner. There is something of the "gentleman" about Hay -- it doesn't do to *appear* to take things seriously. Unfortunately this extends to his treatment of romantic themes, which are handled poorly (indeed, they suggest that Hay himself might have had problems in this department). Invariably, his over-capable heroes come to grief in the presence of their "ladies" (the term comes from "A Knight on Wheels," a book which collapses after a very promising opening); they are invariably struck dumb, and spend countless hours playing golf and thinking about their inamorata when any reasonably articulate man would long ago have popped the question and got married.

Some of Hay's novels are clearly written with an eye to dramatization (actively so in at least one case: "Happy-Go-Lucky" became the play "Tilly of Bloomsbury"), which accounts for their being structured as a series of dramatic vignettes rather than a well-paced and compelling read.

In some ways, therefore, Hay's novels look backwards to the Edwardian era with a certain degree of longing. But those works are in such contrast to the life he enjoyed in the movie industry that more information about the later part of his career would be invaluable. Can anyone oblige?

Mentioned in Heinlein?
Is this the Ian Hay mentioned in Robert A. Heinlein's Glory Road? The narrator of GR cites a Major Ian Hay as saying that all military bureaucracies consist of a Surprise Party Department, a Practical Joke Department, and a Fairy Godmother Department. Cactus Wren 17:39, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

(five years later) Approximately. It's altered from Hay's The First Hundred Thousand where he describes Olympus – "the whole heavenly host which at present orders our goings and shapes our ends" – So far as our researches have gone, we have been able to classify Olympus, roughly, into three departments—

(1) Round Game Department (including Dockets, Indents, and all official correspondence).

(2) Fairy Godmother Department.

(3) Practical Joke Department.

Stanning 16:49, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Edinburgh
I came to this page after starting to read The First Hundred Thousand. Based on what I've read so far Hay clearly felt himself to be Scottish and probably - I don't know, which is kind of the point - was. However, looking at the article alone, the statement he is "from Edinburgh" seems odd. He was born and died in England and the only mention in the article of Edinburgh is his time at Fettes College, admittedly both as student and teacher (though no time frames are mentioned; for all I know he could have taught at Fettes for a year). I could just edit the page and remove "from Edinburgh" but I'm sure it's pretty much true, it's just that the article doesn't really back it up and that phrase sticks out, to me, as odd. I don't know much about his life - that's why I looked at this page - but I think it needs some more background. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.20.13.45 (talk) 00:25, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Names
We list the birth name, John Hay Beith, and pen name, Ian Hay, but don't mention or explain the depicted signature, "Ian Hay Beith". Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:41, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

The New America on Wikisource
The six parts of The New America are now transcribed on Wikisource. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:14, 2 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Now also The America At War, again in six parts. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:07, 4 January 2023 (UTC)