OUR HISTORY

A handful of Hermosa Beach residents came up with the idea for a South Bay writers club in the fall of 1949. They were inspired by an earlier, larger group, the Los Angeles Manuscripters Club, which had begun to founder in the late 1940s.

Ramoncita O’Connor, Zella Allison, Kay Snow and Walt Darby founded the new group, calling themselves Southwest Manuscripters Club, whose function they envisioned as what we would today describe as a support group for writers.

Mona O’Connor was elected the group’s first president. Its members  began holding monthly meetings at Clark Stadium, in Hermosa Beach, where the Clark Building had been erected in 1937 for community groups to use.

The Manuscripters never paid speakers to appear, and the first one they picked to address members was a memorable one.

Ray Bradbury had been writing stories for magazines and science fiction pulps in the 1940s. His first book, “Dark Carnival,” a collection of short stories, had been published in 1947.

His second collection of stories, “The Martian Chronicles,” had yet to be published when he first spoke to the Manuscripters in the fall of 1949; Doubleday published its first edition on May 4, 1950.

As a self-made writer, Bradbury already had plenty of experience with magazine editors rejecting his work by this time, though. He would go on to appear before the Southwest Manuscripters annually, for no fee, a total of  58 times, missing only a couple of times due to illness or scheduling conflicts.

He always felt a special kinship with the group, as it was the first to ask him to speak publicly about his life as a writer.

His last appearance came in 2009. By this time, the group would hold gatherings featuring more well-known writers in larger venues, and Bradbury spoke for a final time at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. Ill health prevented any further appearances, and he died in 2012.

He was by no means the only well-known writer to appear. Western novelist Louis L’Amour addressed the Southwest Manuscripters in March 1953. According to the Torrance Herald, he advised them, “Everyone, even ‘phonies,’ makes good character material, so listen and learn from those about you.”

Screenwriter Rod Serling made his first appearance on Nov. 19, 1959, speaking on the topic, “Writing for Television.” His landmark speculative television anthology series, “The Twilight Zone,” had premiered just two months previously. He would also return for several more times over the next few years. Frequent “Twilight Zone” contributor Charles Beaumont also made several appearances.

Science fiction writer Mark Clifton served as president of the club during the 1950s; he also spoke to the club several times before his death in 1963. Science fiction writer, editor and magazine publisher Forrest J. Ackerman addressed the Manuscripters in October 1954, four years before his influential Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine began publication.

“Dragnet” star Jack Webb was at the height of his first blush of television fame when he spoke to the group in May 1953. The prolific actor, screenwriter and producer would return several times to speak in the years that followed.

Other speakers of note included Adela Rogers St. Johns, hard-boiled detective writer Dorothy B. Hughes and, in recent years, television writer and producer Linda Bloodworth Thomason, of “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade” fame. The group’s website has a more complete list of speakers who appeared during its first 15 years.

Former Daily Breeze columnists Sam Stewart (“The Bay Window”) and Leonard Wibberley (author of “The Mouse That Roared”) also were active with the Manuscripters.

Southwest Manuscripters eventually outgrew its Clark Building meeting room, switching in recent years to a larger room at the Palos Verdes Library District’s Peninsula Center Library. Meetings are held there at 2 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month. Special meetings are held occasionally at larger South Bay venues, as are parties in August and December.

Still going strong, it is considered to be the oldest, longest-active writers group west of the Rockies.