As a student at LSU, Novalyne's passion for teaching grew as her passion for writing subsided. She found she didn't derive the same pleasure from spinning yarns as her friend Bob Howard had, and, as a young woman coming of age in the '30s, teaching was one of the few professions open to her.
Having finished her masters degree, Novalyne pursued her studies further, working towards a doctorate. Before
she finished her dissertation, her grandmother fell ill and Novalyne chose to return to Cross Plains, Texas, to help her mother,
remaining there until her grandmothers death.
During that time, she was employed as a teacher at Daniel Baker College, her alma mater. It was in the classroom that she met William Ellis, an older student attending school on a G.I. fellowship. Ellis, an acquaintance
of Novalyne's for years, had just returned from six years of service throughout Africa and Germany
during World War II. The two fell in love and, in 1947, were married. That union lasted 47 years until Ellis' death in 1994.
Throughout her marriage, Novalyne never told her extraordinary story to anyone. A happy couple, parents to a son born in 1949, Novalyne and William enjoyed a peaceful and even-keeled existence.
By the mid-1970's, the U.S. was experiencing a sudden resurgence in science fiction and fantasy literature. Pulp fiction, once the realm of popular fanzines sold in dime stores, was now becoming the inspiration for serious academic study. Naturally, the scholars turned to the works of one of the country's most accomplished science fiction and fantasy writers -- Bob Howard. The more the literary experts wrote about Howards work and his strange behavior and furious temper, the more angry Novalyne Price Ellis became. In her own words, "people were writing about Bob Howard ideas that I thought were wrong. To me, he was not the same man that they were describing. I wanted people to know the Bob Howard I knew, the real Bob Howard."
And so, many years after shelving her dream of becoming a writer and her memories of the man she had once called the greatest pulp fiction writer in the whole wide world, she took pen to paper and spun a new yarn - the truth about Bob Howard as seen through her eyes. Benjamin Mouton, a former
student of Ellis still living in Lafayette, heard Novalyne's idea and was intrigued; so intrigued that he agreed to accompany her on a visit
to Cross Plains to do research for the book.
Mouton and his high school friend Michael Scott Myers, who had also been an Ellis devotee, were among the first to receive copies of
One Who Walked Alone in 1985 when it was published. Several years later, while visiting Ellis, the two had occasion to read through some of the correspondence that had passed between Novalyne and Bob, and were convinced that this story could be a film.
In 1990, Benjamin Mouton invited Dan Ireland, a colleague from the film Whore, in which Benjamin had starred and Ireland had produced, to lunch, with a copy of Myers' script in hand. Ireland recalls his experience after reading the story of the first time, "the love between the two characters was so incredible. I thought it was the most beautiful tale of unrequited love."
Moved by Novalyne and Roberts story, Ireland set about doing research for the film, including meeting and taping several interviews with Novalyne Price Ellis throughout 1992. "I tried to go back 60 years to figure out the mental state of these two people and those around them. What amazed me was that they were both misses for their times. Novalyne was so outspoken and intelligent --
she came from spitfire stock, mixed with the softness of her mother. She was so unusual, as was he. And I was just struck by the fact that, no matter how strong the love, everything in the world -- conventions, stubbornness -- held them back from really having the relationship they both wanted."
Because One Who Walked Alone was not simply a chronicle of the love story but also of the people who surrounded Ellis at the time, Ireland, Mouton and Myers felt they had to pair down the screenplay. "Every time I went back to the story, it was really them. Nothing in the whole of the book could ever be quite so compelling as Bob and Novalyne," remembers Ireland.
With Michael Scott Myers' screenplay, and Dan Ireland ready to make his directorial debut, The Whole Wide World was set into motion. Novalyne Price Ellis, who retired from teaching in 1989, remained involved throughout the films pre-production, inviting Mouton, Myers, Ireland and Vincent D'Onofrio to her home in early 1995 and even visiting the set under the hot, Texas sun
later that August. Ireland pictures that day vividly: "It was like being visited by the Queen Mother; she was so modest and elegant. She
was overwhelmed by the respect the crew showed."
Ultimately, Ireland feels that there are two basic sentiments that were his inspiration for The Whole Wide World and that he hopes will move audiences. "I think we all go through periods were we feel unbridled passion. That's universal. And most of all, when I think about this film, I think about all the people that have left me over the years. Every one of them has left me with a story. As long as I keep their stories alive, not
only are they still alive but we're all alive."
Novalyne Price Ellis, now 88 years old, continues to live alone in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Last Modified 12-December-1996
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