Denis Plimmer (1914-1981)-Part Two

Denis Harcus Plimmer was from a well-known family in New Zealand. His uncle, William Harcus Plimmer (1875-1959), was a theatre critic. William's grandfather and Denis' great-grandfather was John Plimmer (1812-1905), an early settler in New Zealand and a prominent businessman and booster. Denis Plimmer's father was the actor Harry John Plimmer (1867-1947), subject of the first part of this series. Harry Plimmer was married at least twice, first to (Mary) Josephine Thynne (?-1910), on June 13, 1894, in Sydney, Australia. Harry's second wife and Denis Plimmer's mother was Josephine "Ena" Shanahan Plimmer (1892-1940). Harry and Ena were married on October 27, 1913, in Victoria, Australia. They may have renewed their vows in New York City.

Denis Plimmer was born on September 27, 1914, in Melbourne, Australia, and arrived in America with his parents in January 1918. The family settled in New York City. Harry Plimmer traveled throughout the United States with Ethel Barrymore's acting company beginning in 1918. After that ten-year stint was up, Plimmer acted with the Broadhurst Theater in New York. He retired from acting in 1946.

Denis Plimmer attended college, possibly Columbia University, for four years. His army career, June-September 1943, was cut short by his crosseyed condition. For his part, he became a journalist, writing for the Overseas News Agency during the mid to late 1940s. He was also on the radio with a regular program, Europe This Week/The World This Week, also during the World War II years. He spent more than half of his life in England, from the late 1940s until his death in September 1981 in Westminster. Plimmer had been a pacifist in the 1930s. In 1964, he served as a campaign worker for Americans Abroad for Johnson.

Here is a partial list of Denis Plimmer's works, some of which were with his second wife, Charlotte Plimmer:

• In Heaven and Earth (play, 1938)
• "The Meeting" in American newspapers (short short story; syndicated by McClure's Syndicate, 1939) 
• Land's End (play, 1940) with John Garfield in the cast
• "Eleven Years" in The American Magazine (vignette, Jan. 1941)
• "I Love You Ermintrude" in Writer's Digest (article, Nov. 1941)
• "Death Over Galleon Hall" in Daredevil Detective Stories (novel, Feb. 1942)
• "Trail’s End" in Dynamic Western Stories (short story, June 1942)
• "Mr. Potter Finds a Clue" in Daredevil Detective Stories (short story, Aug. 1942)
• "Mr. Potter and the Prophet Isaiah" in Daredevil Detective Stories (short story, Oct. 1942)
• "It's Safer in Murmansk," with Stanley Postek, in Free World (article, Aug. 1942)
• An article in The New Republic (Oct. 29, 1945)
• "The Harp of David ap Gwylam" in Bluebook (short story, Apr. 1953)
• "The Man in the Black Coat" in This Week (short story, July 12, 1953)
• "The Expatriate" in Cosmopolitan (short story, Oct. 1953)
• "See London for 11 Cents," with Charlotte Plimmer, in The American Magazine (article, Apr. 1954)
• "We Rediscovered the Rhine," with Charlotte Plimmer, in The American Magazine (article, June 1954)
• "Separate Rooms" in Cosmopolitan (short story, July 1954)
• "I Pronounce You" in Esquire (short story, Feb. 1955)
• "We Discovered Paris Through Its Markets," with Charlotte Plimmer, in The American Magazine (article, Aug. 1955)
• "Soliloquy on an Autumn Day," with Charlotte Plimmer, in Esquire (short story, Nov. 1955)
• "Strangers from a Barren Paradise," with Charlotte Plimmer (article)
• "London's Casbah: Soho," with Charlotte Plimmer, in Esquire (Feb. 1, 1957)
• "The Royal Home Afloat," with Charlotte Plimmer, in John Bull Illustrated (article, Jan. 24, 1959)
• "Marching as to War," with Charlotte Plimmer, in Reader's Digest (Nov. 1961)
• "Tempest in a Riviera Teapot," with Charlotte Plimmer, in The Saturday Evening Post (article, July 14/July 21, 1962)
• "Storm Over a Royal Love Affair," with Charlotte Plimmer), in Redbook (article, Oct. 1963)
• "The Man Who Understands Hobbits," with Charlotte Plimmer, in London Daily Telegraph Magazine (Mar. 22 1968, pp. 31-32, 35; published previously in The Telegraph; reprinted in Weekend Magazine, Aug. 31, 1968, for distribution with Canadian newspapers)-An article based on an interview with J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Damn'd Master: An Authentic Account of an Eighteenth Century Slaver, with Charlotte Plimmer, (history, 1971)
• Slavery: The Anglo-American Involvement, with Charlotte Plimmer, (1973)
• London: A Visitor's Companion, with Charlotte Plimmer, (travel, 1977)
• A Matter of Expediency: The Jettison of Admiral Sir Dudley North, with Charlotte Plimmer, (history, 1978)

I'll have more on Charlotte Plimmer in the next part of this series, including radio and television scripts she co-authored with her husband.

Denis Plimmer's career as an author of genre stories was short, running from November 1940 to September-October 1943. In those three years, Plimmer had nine stories and a poem in Weird Tales, Uncanny Stories, and Uncanny Tales (Canada)--enough to make a book if someone had the mind to put it together. See his Western and detective stories from the same period in the list above. I don't think it's any coincidence that Plimmer's genre fiction career came to an end at around the time he was in and out again from the army. With war on, other things--more important things--were calling.

To be continued . . . 

Denis Plimmer's Stories & Poem in Weird Tales and Other Weird Fiction Magazines

• "The Green Invasion" in Weird Tales (Nov. 1940; reprinted in Uncanny Tales, Apr. 1942)
• "Man from the Wrong Time-Track" in Uncanny Stories (Apr. 1941)
• "The Devil's Tree" in Weird Tales (poem, July 1941)
• "The Coming of Darakk" in Uncanny Tales (Dec. 1941)
• "The Stolen God" in Uncanny Tales (Jan. 1942)
• "The Channelers" in Uncanny Tales (Feb. 1942)
• "The Strange Case of Julian Rayne" in Uncanny Tales (Mar. 1942)
• "The Unborn" in Uncanny Tales (Sept. 1942)
• "Portrait of the Artist's Mother" in Uncanny Tales (Dec. 1942)
• "Louisiana Night" in Uncanny Tales (Sept.-Oct. 1943)

I should point out that there was a letter written by an H. Plimmer in Nebula Science Fiction #41 (June 1959). Can we assume that that was by (Denis) H. Plimmer?

Denis Plimmer lived long enough to see one of his weird fiction stories reprinted. His only story for Weird Tales, "The Green Invasion," from November 1940, was reprinted in Satanic Omnibus in 1973 and in this volume, Eiskalt ist die Totenhand, edited by Kurt Singer and published in 1974 by Pabel (Vampir Taschenbuch #16). The cover artist was Francisco Javier González Vilanova (1930-1995).

Thanks to The FictionMags Index and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database for lists of Denis Plimmer's stories.

Original text copyright 2022 Terence E. Hanley