The scribbler writes columns, or stories, or fiction, or all three simultaneously, for a Fleet Street newspaper, magazine, tabloid, or tip sheet. He (sometimes she) dresses badly or flamboyantly or both; even tailored suits look off-the-rack or worse hung on a scribbler. He wants news, scoops, gossip, and tips; he’ll offer up his own on a tit-for-tat basis (Oral History) Bookhounds Main Text p 43
This unkind verdict springs from tales of Grub Street.
Grub Street doesn't really exist anymore. Once upon a time it was a cheap place to run a printshop. Newspapers sprang up there like mushrooms and with them came writers, fleas on the dog's backside. This is the kind of scribbler Bookhounds is talking about: write anything for pay, and the pay's better if you make it entertaining. Grub Street became a byword for hack journalism, and the name continues to this day even if the street does not.
However, among the Gods of Grub Street are the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Kipling, H.G. Welles and John Buchan. They don't really fit the scribbler mold. Yet they dabble. Welles dabbled in science and technical journals. Buchan was an editor of the Telegraph and went on to write propaganda during the War. Kipling was a prolific writer on all things Colonial and Conan Doyle ... well, he has a reputation for psychic investigation.
You could hardly call any of them scribblers in the classic mold.
No, for that you're looking at someone like Edmund Curll, who I've mentioned before. Writers of yellow journalism. Clickbait artists. Someone with more than a hint of Sax Rohmer. They know what they're talking about, for the most part. Truth has no meaning for them. What sells, that's what matters. They might be subject experts in [whatever it may be] but their expertise is just a screen. They'll use their talent to dress up a fiction rather than publish fact, because the audience doesn't want facts. It wants titillation, gore, and a bit of violence. Good must triumph over evil, of course. Everything needs its resolution. But before you get there, you first must have Villainy with a capital V.
Oddly, one of the best examples of the type in cinema is James Cagney, Picture Snatcher.
This one's famous for, among other things, damn near killing Cagney. There's a moment about halfway through, more or less, when Cagney's disreputable former gangster turned newsman Danny Kean is caught in a gunfight. He sticks his head out of a window and almost has it taken off in a burst of machine gun fire. According to legend the director just told the guy with the tommy gun, make it look real but don't hit him. So he did.
According to Cagney the director, Lloyd Thompson, finished the film in fifteen days. The usual turnaround for quickies in those days was twenty-one days. Cagney used to kid Thompson that he was getting a bonus for bringing it in ahead of schedule.
Cagney's Kean is the epitome of the scribbler. Almost as much crook as creative, the scribbler lives on scraps and dreams of the big time. Their bosses are just as crooked as they are, but the scribblers are the ones on the sharp end, getting things done. They take risks. They might get a reward, but they'll blow the loot soon enough on some thing or other. Then it's back to the streets for more stories.
The Scribbler
Disguise 4, Filch 5, Fleeing 8
Miko was a supercargo aboard a ship impounded on smuggling charges, and the ship's owners cast the crew adrift. Lost in an unfamiliar city, Miko vanished into dockland looking for whatever work he could get. He has two great talents. He can draw like a draughtsman, and he has a gift for languages. He used both to parlay his way into contract work for the papers. At first it was a few gigs here and there, then a steady stream. These days he's on exclusive for the Illustrated News. Editor Bruce Ingram calls Miko the Conscience of the East End; there's nobody knows what's what better than Miko.
As Ally
Miko can help spike an unfavorable story, if he's promised something better. Miko knows every disreputable bar and nightclub in the East End and is no slouch when it comes to Soho either. If you want to know what's going on at the Police Courts, or want to get into the Court when it's in session, Miko can get you in by pretending you're a reporter.
As Clue
If you want to know what the police really think and don't have Cop Talk, Miko knows the score. Miko has his sketchbook with him all the time and got a pretty good look at [whatever it may be]. If you don't have the Languages pool for a conversation with [whoever] Miko's a good interpreter. Miko collects books from his home country and if you're looking for something from that part of the world Miko knows where it can be found.
In Play
Miko can play clueless foreigner for the whites, but he's sharp as a tack. His love life is a tangled mess and he's always trying to get out of one entanglement while pursuing some other girl. Thanks to a lifetime diet of gangster films, he sounds more like an American than an Englishman.
That's it for this week. Enjoy!
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