https://donald-mackenzie.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-03-15 https://donald-mackenzie.com/blog/2qh9uqie2f4antbdkx7df6dva91qsr monthly 0.5 2026-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/113f0555-09d0-4867-8436-8d04392b14ba/insideCall3.png Blog - From Con to Collier’s: An Early MacKenzie Short Story - Make it stand out With his first published story – “Inside Call” – in Collier’s in 1952, Donald MacKenzie was inspired by one of the cons he regularly pulled in 1930. The original artwork is by Lionel Gilbert, who was a favorite illustrator for Collier’s in the 1950s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/c726cc2d-c1c0-4119-b9eb-5f403061c80b/Harrods.jpg Blog - From Con to Collier’s: An Early MacKenzie Short Story - Make it stand out Harrods in 1930 (center building, with dome) was not merely a shop but a credit institution wrapped in marble and terracotta. Families of means held established accounts; purchases were routinely “put to account,” and goods dispatched by uniformed messenger. It was an environment built on reputation and procedure — precisely the sort in which the young MacKenzie’s scheme could flourish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/20ccdcb7-38d1-4c43-9d98-380bfcfa897a/Barker.jpg Blog - From Con to Collier’s: An Early MacKenzie Short Story - Make it stand out John Barker & Co. Ltd. proved equally fertile ground for MacKenzie’s ruse. He understood the retailer’s social credit structure and the conventions of West End trade. Whether he or his female companion placed the telephone call, the tone was assured, the impersonation convincing, and the confidence complete within these elite commercial spaces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/dedc8d02-bceb-46dd-8151-c0db7cb64084/fineJewelry_bw.jpg Blog - From Con to Collier’s: An Early MacKenzie Short Story - Make it stand out Louise Parrish, one of the two confidence artists in the 1952 short story “Inside Call”, is intent on scamming a matched necklace and bracelet being offered by the New York jeweler Paul Benurian Fine Gems. When asked the price, he says, “Twenty-two thousand the set, madam.” That’s approximately $250,000 today! What might the set have looked like? We don’t know, of course, but ChatGPT created an image at my direction that would be worth a quarter-million dollars in 2026. https://donald-mackenzie.com/blog/2019/3/11/on-letting-go-25m8e-nas9d monthly 0.5 2025-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/1765474919018-MX8X74HU9IRYK0DHLQ78/RussellVolkening2.jpg Blog - Henry Volkening: The Literary Agent Behind Donald MacKenzie’s Success - Make it stand out Diarmuid Russell and Henry Volkening (standing, sitting at far right) at a Doubleday publication party for Eudora Welty’s A Curtain of Green and Other Stories, November 1941. Russell was Welty’s longtime agent. Others (from left to right): John Woodburn, Welty’s editor; Welty; Ken McCormick, editor at Doubleday; Eugene Armfield, Publisher’s Weekly (where this photo first appeared) and Robert Simon, president of Carnegie Hall. PHOTO CREDIT: Author and Agent by Michael Kreyling, 1991. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/f9893c88-ba44-4a44-b434-64202ab2acd8/RussellVolkening3.jpg Blog - Henry Volkening: The Literary Agent Behind Donald MacKenzie’s Success - Make it stand out Diarmuid and Henry at Diarmuid’s home. Despite the smiles here for Eudora’s camera, the two partners didn’t get along and rarely spoke directly to one another. PHOTO CREDIT: From Eudora Welty’s collection, reprinted in Author and Agent by Michael Kreyling, 1991. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/ce6d8f42-a201-4006-ae65-0fb886cd14e2/maxPerkinsDesk.jpg Blog - Henry Volkening: The Literary Agent Behind Donald MacKenzie’s Success - Make it stand out Max Perkins (1884-1947) was an editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons, best known for his work in bringing Thomas Wolfe’s novels to publication. He is also remembered for discovering authors F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Alan Paton and Erskine Caldwell. Perkins was the connector who brought Diarmuid Russell and Henry Volkening together. PHOTO CREDIT: Public Domain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/d99af4cd-8e9b-49a9-b7f4-f8a8b722690a/ConnieCunningham.jpg Blog - Henry Volkening: The Literary Agent Behind Donald MacKenzie’s Success - Make it stand out Constance (Fleming) Cunningham was born in 1910 and went to business college after high school. This photo is probably around the time when she started working for the pulp magazine, Adventure. She joined Russell & Volkening shortly after the agency was opened in 1940. PHOTO CREDIT: Alexandra Sellon from her website, aksellon.com https://donald-mackenzie.com/blog/2019/3/11/on-letting-go-25m8e monthly 0.5 2026-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/d693d99e-483a-47f5-b048-f0081971ce33/DM_mugshot_top.jpg Blog - A Life of Deception - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/8afae1b3-5914-46ac-9ca9-11234500e37b/guardTower.jpg Blog - A Life of Deception - Make it stand out After his arrest on December 11, 1948 and conviction of second degree grand larceny and infringement of the Sullivan Act (gun possession), MacKenzie spent 185 days in "The Tombs" in New York City. He was admitted to Sing Sing Prison on June 20, 1949 and then transferred to Auburn State Prison August 31, 1949. He had stolen jewelry from a woman living near Washington Square. Photo: Ossining Historical Society Museum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/c87ced08-2578-4a22-9462-878c25b63904/occupationThief.jpg Blog - A Life of Deception - Make it stand out Mackenzie’s first book—an account of his jumping bail in England in February 1947 until his final release from Winchester Prison in November 1954—was published in 1955 by Bobbs-Merrill Co. in the U.S. and Elek Books, Ltd. in the U.K. Photo: owner’s copy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/691f7b0c4573b9276096ad8f/7b4cfd31-c3d6-4b48-94c9-33ed4a88c4a0/helpingHand2.jpg Blog - A Life of Deception - Make it stand out The Salvation Army’s emigration program was responsible for some 200,000 British teenagers—both boys and girls—coming to Canada between 1903 and 1930. Donald MacKenzie, destined to work on a farm in Denfield, Ontario in 1925, never acknowledged his short-lived participation in the program nor his deportation back to England for a theft in Walkerton, Ontario. More on this story in later posts. 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