Editing Harold Robbins (section)

==Work==
His first book was ''[[Never Love a Stranger]]'' (1948). ''[[The Dream Merchants (novel)|The Dream Merchants]]'' (1949) was a novel about the [[American film industry]], from its beginning to the [[sound film|sound era]] in which Robbins blended his own life experiences with history, melodrama, sex, and glossy high society into a fast-moving story. His 1952 novel, ''[[A Stone for Danny Fisher]],'' was adapted into a 1958 motion picture ''[[King Creole]]'', which starred [[Elvis Presley]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150605075450/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/books/review/Carson-t.html Harold Robbins: The Man Who Invented Sex] ''[[The New York Times]]'' via [[Internet Archive]]. Retrieved October 3, 2023.</ref>

Among his best-known books is ''[[The Carpetbaggers]]'' (1961) – featuring a protagonist who was a loose composite of [[Howard Hughes]], [[Bill Lear]], [[Harry Cohn]], and [[Louis B. Mayer]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A Tour through the Harold Robbins Industry |first=Thomas |last=Thompson |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |date=December 8, 1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> ''The Carpetbaggers'' takes the reader from New York to [[California]], from the prosperity of the [[aeronautics|aeronautical industry]] to the glamor of Hollywood. Its sequel, ''The Raiders'', was released in 1995.

Film producer [[Joseph E. Levine]] acquired the rights to ''The Carpetbaggers'' in September 1962 and produced the [[The Carpetbaggers (film)|1964 film]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Levine Makes Sound Deal With Paramount|url=https://archive.org/details/boxofficejanmar182boxo/page/n161/mode/1up?view=theater|page=6|magazine=Boxoffice |date=January 28, 1963 |access-date=February 21, 2024 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> He also acquired the rights to Robbins's next book ''Where Love Has Gone'' (1962) with the [[Where Love Has Gone (film)|film version]] also released in 1964.<ref name=Levine>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=September 18, 1963|page=3|title=That Money Writer, Harold Robbins, Sells Third (Unwritten) To Levine|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1963-09-18_232_4/page/3/mode/1up?view=theater|access-date=February 20, 2024|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In 1963, Levine paid Robbins $1 million for pre-publication and film rights for Robbins's upcoming book ''The Adventurers''.<ref name=Levine/> The book was released in 1966 and was based on Robbins's experiences living in [[South America]], including three months spent in the mountains of [[Colombia]] with a group of bandits. The [[The Adventurers (1970 film)|film version]] was released in 1970. Robbins also created the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television series ''[[Harold Robbins' The Survivors|The Survivors]]'' (1969–1970), starring [[Ralph Bellamy]] and [[Lana Turner]].{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Robbins's editors included Cynthia White and [[Michael Korda]] and his literary agent was Paul Gitlin.<ref name=Another>{{cite book| last1=Korda| first1=Michael| title=Another life: a memoir of other people| url=https://archive.org/details/anotherlifememoi00kord|url-access=registration| date=1999| publisher=Random House| location=New York| isbn=978-0679456599| edition=1st}}</ref>

In July 1989, Robbins was involved in a literary controversy when the trade periodical ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' revealed that around four pages from Robbins's novel ''The Pirate'' (1974) had been lifted without permission and integrated into [[Kathy Acker]]'s novel ''The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec'' (1975), which had recently been re-published in the UK in a selection of early works by Acker titled ''Young Lust'' (1989).<ref name=guardian>{{cite news| last=Kraus| first=Chris| date=August 19, 2017| title=Sex, tattle and soul: how Kathy Acker shocked and seduced the literary world| newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| location=London| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/19/sex-tattle-and-soul-how-kathy-acker-shocked-and-seduced-the-literary-world| access-date=September 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name=Kraus>{{cite book| last=Kraus| first=Chris| date=August 18, 2017| title=After Kathy Acker: A Literary Biography| publisher=[[Semiotext(e)]] | isbn=978-0241318065}}</ref>{{rp|page=232}} After Paul Gitlin saw the exposé in ''Publishers Weekly'', he informed Robbins's UK publisher, [[Hodder & Stoughton]], who requested that Acker's publisher [[Allen_%26_Unwin|Unwin Hyman]] withdraw and pulp ''Young Lust''. Representatives for the novelist explained that Acker was well known for her deliberate use of literary [[Appropriation (art)|appropriation]]<ref name=guardian/><ref name=Kraus/>{{rp|page=234}}—or [[bricolage]], a [[postmodern]] technique akin to [[plagiarism]] in which fragments of pre-existing works are combined along with original writings to create new literary works. After an intervention by [[William S. Burroughs]]—a novelist who used appropriation in his own works of the 1960s—Robbins issued a statement to give Acker retroactive permission to appropriate from his work, avoiding legal action on his publisher's part.<ref name=guardian/><ref name=Kraus/>{{rp|pages=234–5}}

Since his death, several new books have been published, written by [[ghostwriter]]s and based on Robbins's own notes and unfinished stories. In several of these books, [[Junius Podrug]] has been credited as co-writer.

From the Hodder & Stoughton 2008 edition of ''The Carpetbaggers'' "about the author" section:
{{Quote | Robbins was the playboy of his day and a master of publicity. He was a renowned novelist but tales of his own life contain even more fiction than his books. What is known is that with reported worldwide sales of 750 million, Harold Robbins sold more books than [[J.K. Rowling]], earned and spent $50m during his lifetime, and was as much a part of the sexual and social revolution as the [[birth control pill|pill]], [[Playboy]] and [[cannabis (drug)|pot]]. In March 1965, he had three novels on the British paperback bestseller list – ''Where Love Has Gone'' at No.1, ''The Carpetbaggers'' at No.3 and ''The Dream Merchants'' in the sixth spot.}}