Shane,+Ted

Biographical Information:
Dates: 1900-1967 Dates in Ridgefield: 1930s  nonfiction, humor, biography, screen plays, book reviews humorist, screenwriter, editor, book reviewer  How can a humorist be a “lady” from hell? Ted Shane wrote books and magazine articles, and created the “Cockeyed Crosswords” that were popular from the 1930s to the 1960s and appeared in various magazines. But before he became a humorist and writer, he went to Canada to enlist in the Black Watch, the famous kilted Scotts division called “The Ladies from Hell.” Only 16 when he joined, he fought in World War II with the division. Born in New York City in 1900, Mr. Shane graduated from Columbia University in 1923 and began writing book and movie reviews and humor pieces for magazines that included the old //Liberty//, where his humorous crosswords also appeared. He came to Ridgefield in 1930 where he married Margaret Woodward Smith Boyd, also a writer, and lived on and off until his death. He spent three years in Hollywood writing for MGM and 12 years in Europe. He wrote profiles, particularly of sports figures, for //Colliers, Saturday Evening Post, Readers Digest,// and other magazines, and worked as an editor of //1,000 Jokes Magazine//. He published several crossword collections as well as //Heroes of the Pacific//, and, though he did not drink, the light-hearted and popular //Bar Guide//, illustrated by VIP (Virgil Partch). In 1940 he and Lowell Thomas wrote //Softball, So What?// about their experiences on Thomas’s famous softball team. The Nine Old Men, who appeared here and elsewhere for benefit games in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In 1946, he tested the local political waters, running unsuccessfully for state senator from this district; he was a Democrat in a very Republican district. **Titles (partial): ** //Cockeyed Crosswords //, 1937 //Softball, So What? A Celebrity Collector’s Book if Ever There Was One //(with Lowell Thomas)//,// 1940 //Heroes of the Pacific, //1944  //Bar Guide, //1950  //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Funny Bar Book and Guide to Mixed Drinks, //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">1955 <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px; text-align: justify;">--Sources: Notable Ridgefielders–Jack Sanders; Amazon