Paul Gallico, journalist and writer of novels, short stories, children's books, biographies, and screenplays, is remembered as a storyteller in the romantic manner who eschewed realism to create striking and improbable characters (some human, some animal) who rise above the ordinary through their persistence, ingenuity, and extraordinary resourcefulness. In the course of a long and prolific career (he wrote more than forty books and hundreds of stories), he developed and retained a large popular following.

Paul William Gallico's early years follow a familiar pattern. The son of immigrant, but not uncultured parents (his father, Paolo Gallico, a native of Trieste, was a concert pianist and later taught piano and musical composition), the young Gallico was educated in the New York City schools and worked at various jobs, including gym instructor, translator, and longshoreman, to earn his way through Columbia College of Columbia University, from which--after time out for...