Stanley S. Schnetzler (1893-1955)

U.S. Navy Man, Author, Civic Worker, City Councilman
Born September 14, 1893, Toledo, Ohio
Died August 3, 1955, Corona Naval Hospital, Norco, California

Stanley Stolz Schnetzler was born on September 14, 1893, in Toledo, Ohio. He attended Stanford University and was a member of Phi Delta Theta. Schnetzler was to have graduated with the class of 1915. Instead he graduated in 1917 with a degree in pre-law. His address at the time of graduation was Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Schnetzler joined the U.S. Navy at around the time of World War I and served on active duty and in the naval reserve, eventually to attain the rank of lieutenant commander. An item from the Stanford Illustrated Review (Oct. 1921, p. 56) states that Schnetzler was "connected with the 'Quality Group' Corporation, which manages six of the leading magazines, Atlantic, Century, Scribner's, Harper's, World's Work, Review of Reviews." The item doesn't say what the connection was, but by the time it was printed, Schnetzler was already a published author. His stories include:

• "Out of the Depths" in The Stanford Illustrated Review, Nov. 1918
• "Tackline’s Adventure" in Adventure, Mid-Aug 1921
• "The Turtle and the Jack-Rabbit" in Adventure, Mid-Sept. 1921
• "The Deep-Sea Grin" in Boys' Life
• "Seignior Vanna's Jest" in Weird Tales, May 1925
• "Willie Barclay Goes on the Air" in The American Legion Weekly, June 11, 1926 
• "Drowned—Almost!" in The Danger Trail, July 1926
• "Pippa Passes Out" in McClure’s, July 1927
• "Torpedoed" in Battle Stories, Sept. 1927
• "The Parrot Who Talked in Its Sleep" in Sea Stories, Jan. 1929
• "The Suicide Fleet" in Under Fire Magazine, June 1929
• "Merry Christmas, Ha! Ha!" in Sea Stories, Jan. 1930
• "Absent, W.O.C." in Sea Stories, Feb. 1930
• "Modernized Quotations" in The Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 4, 1930
• "A Warm Spot in Paris" in La Paree Stories, Apr. 1934
• "Then You Were Married" in The Household Magazine, June 1935
• "Drowning Death Clutched My Throat" in Personal Adventure Stories, Sept. 1937
• "Devil Save the Hindmost" in Breezy Stories, Oct. 1937
• "We Had to Let 100 Men Drown" in Personal Adventure, Feb. 1938
• "The Wages of Sin" in 10 Story Book, Sept. 1938
• "Oh, Love Shall Find Me!" in All-Story Love, June 15, 1941

Schnetzler served as president of the Palos Verdes Community Arts Association and was a city councilman in Redondo Beach, California, prior to World War II. From 1944 to 1954, he and his wife resided at what was once and would became La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates, California. The inn was designated as a historic landmark by the Rancho de los Palos Verdes Historical Society in 1978. Stanley S. Schnetzler died on August 3, 1955, at Corona Naval Hospital in Norco, California. He was sixty-one years old. His grave is located at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

Stanley S. Schnetzler's Story in Weird Tales

"Seignior Vanna's Jest" (May 1925)

Further Reading

"Out of the Depths" in The Stanford Illustrated Review, Nov. 1918, is available online.

Stanley S. Schnetzler in 1918.

La Venta Inn, Palos Verdes Estates, California. From 1944 to 1954, it was the home of Stanley S. Schnetzler and his family.

Text copyright 2015, 2023 Terence E. Hanley