when it came to personal matters” and one who
“fended off every attempt to probe into his inner
self and did this with such an unconscious and
naive air” (Rampersad, 119). During the early
1930s his unfortunate involvement with the in-
creasingly controversial work by ZORA NEALE
HURSTONand LANGSTONHUGHESentitled MULE
BONEled to a cooling in the friendship that he had
with Hughes. Yet, Hughes rallied again to support
Thurman’s publication efforts. Thurman, who pub-
lished a number of his own pieces in the monthly
periodical, eventually left the position to become
circulation manager at THEWORLDTOMORROW,
another New York City newspaper. In 1929 Thur-
man became the first African-American editor to
work at the MACAULAYPUBLISHINGCOMPANY.
Thurman published THEBLACKER THEBERRY,
the first of his three novels, in 1929. He dedicated
the work, which was well received by many of his
peers and by reviewers, to his grandmother, Emma
Jackson. That same year, he also explored his inter-
est in drama. He completed HARLEM: A MELO-
DRAMA OFNEGROLIFE,his first play and a work
coauthored with WILLIAMJOURDANRAPP, a white
journalist and the future editor of True Story,with
whom he would have a lasting friendship. In the
wake of a successful theater run and a national tour,
Thurman anticipated a trilogy of plays that would
be known as Color Parade.He proceeded to com-
plete the next installment, JEREMIAH, THEMAGNIF-
ICENT (1930), a work inspired by the political
agenda and back-to-Africa movement spearheaded
by MARCUSGARVEY. The third play, Harlem Cin-
derella,was never completed. Thurman wrote Sav-
age Rhythm(1931) and Singing the Blues(1932),
two additional plays. The works remained unpub-
lished and were never produced, however. The
year 1932 was especially productive for Thurman.
In addition to completing Singing the Blues,he pub-
lished two novels, INFANTS OF THESPRINGand
THEINTERNE. The Interne,published by Macaulay,
was a coauthored novel about the sobering aspects
of New York City hospital life. Thurman collabo-
rated with ABRAHAMFURMAN, legal counsel for
and a relative of the Macaulay Publishing Com-
pany founders.
Thurman was one of the most energetic, opti-
mistic, and unrelenting figures of the Harlem Re-
naissance period. He lived at the DARKTOWER,
the legendary Harlem residence owned by A’LELIA
WALKER. He was well known as the host of regu-
lar and lively parties, and he was part of the most
dynamic circles of writers and intellectuals. His
closest friends and colleagues included AARON
DOUGLAS, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston,
and RICHARDBRUCENUGENT. With them, he de-
cided to establish FIRE!!,an avant-garde literary
publication that would reflect more accurately the
unconventional and daring imagination of emerg-
ing African-American writers. Thurman, who was
the editor and publisher, provided most of the
$1,000 required to produce the magazine. Despite
its high goals and the determination of its
founders, Fire!!failed after only one issue. The toll
of organizing the venture prompted Thurman to
sacrifice regular meals, fall behind in his rent, and
grow quite desperate for any means of sustaining
the venture. He overcame the staggering odds and
limitations brought on by inadequate funding,
however. The memorable table of contents for the
first and only issue included the first installment
of a two-part story entitled SMOKE,LILLIES, AND
JADEby Nugent, the first openly gay story of the
period; striking images by Aaron Douglas, who
also provided the cover art; Hurston’s short story
“Sweat”; and additional contributions by writers
such as GWENDOLYNBENNETT, Arna Bontemps,
HELENE JOHNSON,COUNTEECULLEN, and ED-
WARDSILVERA. The deans of the movement, W.
E. B. DUBOISand others, were not impressed by
what they regarded as reckless and salacious mate-
rial that threatened to undermine African-Ameri-
can cultural and literary progress. In 1928
Thurman, who had spent the past four years cov-
ering the debts incurred by Fire!!,attempted to es-
tablish another literary magazine. HARLEM: A
FORUM OFNEGROLIFEappeared in 1928. Unfor-
tunately, it lasted for only two issues. That year,
Thurman joined McFadden Publications as a
member of the editorial staff.
Thurman’s last professional venture was into
the world of film and screenwriting. He returned
to the West Coast in 1934. That same year he
signed a contract to write for Foy Productions and
relocated to Hollywood to “be sold down the
river,” as he described it to Langston Hughes (van
Notten, 297). Thurman, who was making about
$1,000 a month, took advantage of his time in the520 Thurman, Wallace Henry