Two Into One: The Lives of Russ and Winnie Kingman (The World of Jack London)

Herb and Gladys now work in the bookstore several days each week and help Winnie in every way they can.

Russ and Winnie traveled to Spokane, Washington, in 1974 for the International Exposition. They also first met Carl Bernatovich, book collector, and Jim Banks. Both remained friends with the Kingmans for many years. Carl spoke at the 1976 Centennial Birthday Banquet on first appearances and assembled an impressive collection of Jack London's books signed by the author as well as extensive holdings of other memorabilia. Unfortunately, Carl passed away August 12, 1997, at the age of 54. Jim spent a week with the Kingmans in May, 1982, while he was researching his book on Jack London and boxing, Jack London: Stories of Boxing (1992). In this year, March 22 and 23, Russ, Irving Shepard, and Earle Labor traveled to the University of the Pacific in Stockton to deliver a lecture on Jack London. The Jack London Renaissance had arrived.

In 1975 Russ and Winnie traveled across country in their camper, "Rocinante," headed to Vermont so that Russ could see his family and attend the Vergennes High School reunion. Scamper, the cat, went along, his love, to be on the move. Winnie relates, however, that part of the trip turned into a "Bonnie and Clyde" episode. Their habit was to pull into small towns along the way to search for Londoniana. When they pulled into Warren County, Ohio, Russ got out of the camper to do something like check the tires. Across the street was a bank where a man had just passed off rolls of slugs for quarters. A woman working in the bank saw Russ get back into the camper and immediately suspected Russ to be the robber. As a result, Russ and Winnie endured three hours of detention and interrogation until the police determined that the real criminal didn't have a picture of Don Quixote's horse, Rocinante, drawn on the side.

They returned to California in time to organize the 1976 Centennial Jack London Birthday Banquet; and because this was the centennial year, Russ was kept quite busy on the lecture circuit. On January 12, Dr. Franklin Walker, Earle Labor, and Robin Lampson gave keynote speeches; Russ met Dennis Hensley who was completing a doctoral dissertation on the role of women in Jack London's fiction, and Dick Weiderman's Wolf House Books named Russ "Jack London Man of the Decade." In April, Russ spoke on "Jack London and California History," at the University of the Pacific, Stockton. In attendance were Milo Shepard, Earle Labor, Harold Spink, and Becky London. Later that year, Russ and Winnie visited Disneyland where Winnie suffered a mild stroke as she was leaving Bear Territory on her way to Tom Sawyer's Island. The attending doctor said the stroke was an anomaly, and it fortunately affected Winnie's left arm only for a short time. When they returned, Russ lectured on Jack London in the Burbank Auditorium at Santa Rosa Junior College for the Centennial celebrations.

Also in 1976 Russ was making final his plans to publish a biography of Jack London. This was a logical outgrowth of the fact that he had become the foremost expert on the life and times of Jack London throughout the world. From the time Russ first started reading and studying London in Oakland, he developed an extensive file system by year and date of every documentable move that London made in life. The file had thousands of cards⁄entries. After the death of Irving Shepard, his son Milo became Executor of the Estate of Irving Shepard. The Estate controlled access to materials at the Huntington Library, the collection at Utah State University, and materials still in the family's possession. After extensive discussions with Milo in which Russ established the need for an authoritative biography, Milo gave his blessing in a letter dated July 15, 1976:

Dear Mr. Kingman:

This letter will serve to give you permission to use such Jack London material that you may have or material that is in control of The Estate of Irving Shepard for use in a pictorial biography.

This permission does not give you the exclusive right to the material, but a limited right to use it in your pictorial biographical book.

Sincerely,
I. Milo Shepard
Executor for the Estate of Irving Shepard

On March 27, 1977, Russ responded to Milo:

Dear Sir--

This letter is to acknowledge that no material which I am copying from the photograph albums or other material copied from Estate papers will be used unless approved by you or your representative.

Sincerely,
Russ Kingman

Russ began his work in earnest, working 12 to 14 hours a day sometimes, checking and double-checking for accuracy.

Also in 1977, Russ and Winnie first met Jim Kuehn who was working at a Boy's Center near the bookstore in Glen Ellen. Jim told Russ about a Mr. Bob Wells, then in his 80's, who was ". . . a resident ranger on Mt. St. Helena, who said he had many contacts with Jack London while living in Oakland." (See Jim Kuehn's account in A Jack London Echo, 1983, pp. 70-71.) Russ had to see the man in person. After a short time, Russ had determined that much of what Wells said was fantasy. Kuehn remembers the episode this way:

Russ was superb in his oral interviewing and tape recording. Winnie took notes as the man rambled on and on about Jack London. Russ first of all established an immediate rapport with the elderly gentleman. The man had many dogs around the place and Russ established an immediate rapport with them too! He took an interest in the animals and they too seemed to respond to Russ's instinctual understanding of them. I thought that Jack London's love [for] and insight into animals had definitely rubbed off on, or activated a similar insight and love in, Russ. After recording what seemed to be a legitimate incident and contact with Jack London, Russ tactfully listened to what was clearly pure fantasy on the man's part as he related tales of London's life and contact with him which were wishful adventurous longings at best. Russ did explain to me later that Jack London has such a profound effect on everyone who knows of him, or certainly has met him, that when someone is recording or interviewing people, they have to be able to sort out fact from fantasy. There is the myth of Jack London, the image, which Russ has very artfully and tactfully portrayed, along with the real human being, in his biography. I learned a great deal from Russ and Winnie that day, and I came to appreciate their dedication to, and fascination with, Jack London.

The highlights of 1978 included a working vacation to Oregon and the surprise arrival of a strange guest just after they returned to Glen Ellen. Winnie also underwent successful surgery to remove a cancerous growth. On June 12, 1911, Jack London and his wife Charmian hooked four horses to a light trap and took off with a Japanese servant up the rugged coast of Northern California into Oregon. They returned to Glen Ellen on September 5. In all they counted 46 stops. At the time, London was completing work on Turtles of Tasman and Night Born. Subsequently, London published a full account of his trip in the magazine Sunset, September, 1911. Ostensibly, Jack's trip was to get data for the North of the Bay Countie' Association and to get information for a future novel The Valley of the Moon, which he wrote on a trip with Charmian on the Dirigo, en route from Baltimore to Seattle in 1912. Russ and Winnie, sticklers for minute detail, followed as exactly as they could, Jack and Charmian's exact itinerary, setting out, however, in a modern vehicle with many more horses at 9:30 on October 2, 1978. They returned home at 7:40 on October 14. Russ kept an extensive set of notes on the trip, describing the scenes, noting landmarks that had disappeared, collecting newspaper articles, and interviewing anyone who had information on the London journey. Some of this information later made its way into the Pictorial Biography. If Jack did it, Russ wanted to relive it.

Russ and Winnie had always had a soft spot for any animals, especially strays. Shortly after their return from their "four-horse trip," and just before Winnie's surgery, Brewster the Rooster arrived on the scene with no Jack London credentials. Brewster quickly became a celebrity of the store, wandering in and out at will, crowing for the many customers and guests who visited the bookstore. Russ even built a special coop just outside the main entrance after Brewster started taking over the premises. In 1987, Connie Kale Johnson immortalized Brewster in a part fact, part fiction color pamphlet entitled Brewster and the Bookworm (Stockton, California: Heritage Publishing Company). The concluding page reads thus:

That night, the Kingmans served Brewster his supper. What strange-looking food, thought Brewster. There's no bugs or worms. This must be what people eat. Afterwards, he found a high perch in the dimly lit bookstore. Brewster sat and softly sang: "Who wants to eat worms anyway. I've found something better. A warm place for me to roost right here in the middle of the World of Jack London. And food fit for a king!"

Brewster was one of many animals the Kingmans cared for throughout the years.

The climax to years of research and devotion to Jack London studies came in 1979, November 12, when Russ published A Pictorial Life of Jack London (New York: Crown Publishers). Winnie recalls the experience with a deep sigh. She remembers saying, "Hallelujah!" when the last words of the manuscript were typed. After writing two or three chapters, Russ would make copies and send Earle Labor a set, who would read them for content, and Dick Weiderman, who proofed them for grammar and usage. Russ completed two handwritten copies, and Winnie typed the whole thing twice after Russ made necessary corrections in the first draft. On February 21 the blue penciled manuscript arrived from Crown, and Russ sent back the first 100 pages on February 23. He finished all corrections by March 29, with the exception of the bibliography. Crown sent the printed first copies to Russ and Winnie on November 12, in time to serve as their Christmas present. All critics and reviewers but a few hailed A Pictorial Life as a major achievement in Jack London studies. Russ had made every effort to correct misconceptions and factual errors which marred such early biographies as Irving Stone's Sailor on Horseback. Stone's biography, though it did much to rescue London from oblivion, perpetuated many erroneous stories about both Jack and Charmian. A few reviews are indicative of the almost universal, positive reception Russ's book received. In The Roundup (Western Writers of America), Vol. 28, No. 5 (May 1980), p. 20, appears this appraisal:

Jack London fans will be pleased with Russ Kingman's new work titled A Pictorial Life of Jack London (Crown Publishers, New York, 288 pages, $14.95 hardcover). There is no question that there is new interest in the writings of London, the lusty turn-of-the-century writer who caught the spirit of the closing Western frontier. Now Kingman has captured the spirit of London in this pictorial biography. Beginning with London's birth in 1876 and his early years, Kingman tells of London's adventures in words and pictures including London's search for his real father. The author also details London's fascination with the mystery of death.

This volume undoubtedly will become a standard reference work on the life of Jack London. A fine bibliography and index are included.

Becky London Fleming also showed her appreciation and approval of Russ's discussion of her father. Becky received a letter from Merle Madden discussing the book. Becky wrote to Russ on December 2, 1980, in which she quotes Merle Madden's opinion:

Dear Russ--

Had a letter from Merle. Here is what she wrote about your book.

"It is a truly magnificent job that he has done on Jack. He shows all sides of him--the highly spiritual interest in the human race, the dogged routine and discipline of his work, his sweetness and magnetism for people, and his ruthless, almost savage temper. One really sees the entire man."

And Merle knew him for 14 or 15 years, from a child of ten to a woman of 25.

See you on the 11th in San Francisco. Will Winnie come too?

--Becky

Howard Lachtman, a highly respected London scholar in his own right, reviewed Russ's biography for the Stockton (Calif.) Record, Sun., April 26, 1981.

Though A Pictorial Life is colored by Kingman's affectionate respect for his subject, its lack of guile and special pleading allow the reader to see past the accretions of myth and get back in contact with the man as he was.

This is elementary biography, biography without any of the exhaustive critical explications and psychoanalytical pretensions which have been known to drive even stouthearted readers to fiction or television. A good starting point for the beginning student of London, it may even be of value to the erstwhile biographer. And the casual browser will enjoy the detailed views of times gone by, the glances into London's private and public lives, the close-ups of a legend at work.

Since London was an avid amateur photographer who wrote "photographic prose" and was himself wonderfully photogenic, he makes an ideal subject for a pictorial biography. Although Kingman's brisk, episodic, non-introspective text does not take us very far into the soul of his subject, London seems less a stranger here than he does in more artful or ambitious biographies. The latter frequently lose the man by glamorizing or denigrating him. Kingman has better strategy: he does the writing, but his pictures do the talking.

The best part of the pictures is that they send many of Kingman's readers back to the books. London's strongest claim to immortality lies there. . . .

On December 11, 1979, Becky London Fleming wrote perhaps the most sincere and appreciative reflection of Russ's biography. It is quoted here in its entirety for both its truth and beauty.

Dear Russ--

I finished your book about Daddy just a few minutes ago, and I want to say--thank you for a wonderful experience.

To the few, pitifully few, memories of my beloved father, you have added so much. With great understanding and sympathy you have made the portrayal of him as I have long imagined and dreamed that my father really was. Not perfect; no, who is? But a lovable, warm human being, a man strong in his beliefs and who fought for these beliefs. Strong in his philosophy of life; in his realization that "there is a little good in the worst of us and a little bad in the best of us." He believed and hoped that someday "the brotherhood of man" would truly be the way of life. But he realized that this could not and would not occur tomorrow--the next year--the next century. Mankind would have to bring about this Utopia through hard work, sincerity and trust in his fellow man. Meanwhile, he would work hard and trust in people.

You emphasized over and over again that Jack London was a very honest and sincere person, that he was generous, sympathetic and loved his fellow man. Else why was he loved by all who knew him?

The many others whom he knew and were part of his life you made very real in an understanding and kindly manner. I am so pleased with the way you wrote about Charmian. I never knew her nor met her unless as a very young lady who could have no memories. Frequently, I have been asked if I liked or disliked Charmian and I always answered, "I never knew her."

I always thought that what my mother had to say about her was too biased to be anywhere near the truth, so I never considered mother's opinion, never even thought about it. You described mother perfectly when you said she "embellished" every bit of gossip. You failed to add that if she knew anything unkind, mean, or scandalous about a person she always emphasized that.

Daddy I always thought was a very lonely person for most of his life--until he met Charmian. Then he found the perfect companion in her. If he had not, he would not have stayed with her. He was strong enough to prefer loneliness to incompatibility. I am glad he had such companionship for the last years of his life. [Russ and Winnie furnished similar companionship to Becky in the last years of her life.] In any way with Daddy, it merely added a finishing touch to the picture of my mother. She did not attend the funeral service for Daddy in Oakland. Dr. Porter, as arranged, called for Joan and me and expected Mother to go with us. She refused and wouldn't listen to him and Joan as they tried to persuade her to change her mind. All she would say was, "To me, he died many years ago."

I know you spent many years, ten wasn't it, on research for this book. You have read, reread, and studied everything Jack London wrote, and all you could find which others had written about him. In my opinion you have accomplished what you set out to do. You have given an honest, unbiased history of a great man and his writing. A man you love and admire despite his imperfections.

With love--Becky
(Bess London)