Murray Fletcher Pratt was arrested for burglary in February 1916, a crime that nearly landed him in a state hospital for the insane. The Associated Press reported that the twenty-year-old Hobart College student had been stealing cash from newspaper drawers, netting less than twenty-five dollars in total. He told police that his father did not supply him with enough funds to survive at college, a claim that led his father to bring him to the State Hospital for the Insane at Willard for investigation. This early scandal marked the beginning of a life that would oscillate between chaos and order, from a troubled youth to a respected military historian and fantasy writer. Pratt's early years were marked by instability, yet they also laid the groundwork for his future career. He attended public schools in Buffalo and graduated from high school in 1915 at the Griffith Institute in Springville, New York, where his father operated a trucking delivery service between Springville and Buffalo. After high school, he attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York, for one year before the burglary incident. Following the incident, Pratt's life took a different turn. He joined the Army and worked at the camp library at the Army's Camp Meade in Maryland, where he was reported to have strengthened the staff. This experience likely sparked his interest in history and writing, which would later become his life's work. In 1920, Pratt settled in New York City and worked for a Staten Island newspaper before turning to freelance writing in 1923. In 1926, he married Inga Stephens, an artist, who would become his second wife. In the late 1920s, he began selling stories to pulp magazines, primarily the science fiction magazines published by Hugo Gernsback. Many of these stories were either written with a collaborator or were translations from French and German sources. When a fire gutted his apartment in the early 1930s, according to de Camp's memoir, he used the insurance money to study at the Sorbonne for a year. After his return from France, he was a staff writer for American Detective, a true crime magazine, and began writing histories. His short history of the Civil War, Ordeal by Fire, was published to critical acclaim in 1935 and became a bestseller. This marked the beginning of his successful career as a historian and writer.
The Ipsy-Wipsy Institute
Following World War II, the Pratts came into possession of a rambling 31-room Victorian mansion on a high bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Purchased by Inga Stephens Pratt's wealthy mother for use as a summer place, the house was whimsically dubbed The Ipsy-Wipsy Institute. It became a watering hole for Fletcher's literary friends at an unending succession of marathon weekend house parties. A number of writers moved into the mansion's many bedrooms and spent entire summers there. Frequent guests and residents at Ipsy-Wipsy included William Lindsay Gresham, John Ciardi, William Sloane, Basil Davenport, Lester del Rey, Ted Sturgeon, Esther Carlson, Fred Pohl, John D. Clark, Willy Ley, Judith Merrill, Eugenie Clark, L. Sprague de Camp, and many others. Laurence Manning, Pratt's old writing partner from the 1930s, purchased part of the property and moved in next door. The Pratts simultaneously maintained a large apartment in Midtown Manhattan near Central Park, where they hosted meetings of the Hydra Club. This house was not just a home; it was a creative hub where ideas were exchanged, stories were written, and friendships were forged. Pratt's ability to create a welcoming and inspiring environment for his friends and collaborators was a testament to his personality and his commitment to the arts. The Ipsy-Wipsy Institute became a legendary place in the literary world, a place where the boundaries between reality and fantasy were often blurred. It was here that Pratt's influence on the science fiction and fantasy genres was most felt, as he brought together some of the most talented writers of the time. The house was a symbol of Pratt's generosity and his belief in the power of community and collaboration. It was a place where the past and the future met, where history and imagination intertwined, and where the seeds of future masterpieces were sown.