S.S. Van Dine, Philo Vance

Focus Of Swart-Wilcox Panel

Libby Cudmore, mystery author and managing editor, Hometown Oneonta/The Freeman’s Journal/AllOTSEGO.com, speaks about the creation of Philo Vance, one of the premier sleuths of the “Golden Age” of detective fiction, by Willard Huntington Wright, who adopted the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine to write the mystery series, during a talk at the Swart-Wilcox House this afternoon. With her are Bob Brzozowski, executive director, Greater Oneonta Historical Society, who discovered that Wright likely created Vance at 31 River St. when the future writer was staying with his maiden aunts, and Rev. Kenneth Hunter, St. James Episcopal Church, who runs the weekly “Tea and Murder” mystery appreciation series at the church. At right,  Hunter references “Alias S.S. Van Dine: The Man Who Created” as he talks about the Philo Vance films, which starred actors like Basil Rathbone and William Powell. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)