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Post a reply || Back to Message Board John Stang "Jack" - Class of 1963
Jack was close to his father and wrote a book about him. His father was also John Stang. He was a Police Officer in the City of Newburgh. Mickey Spilane wrote books based on John Stang a tuff cop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Stang
During World War II Stang was a U.S. Marine who served in the Pacific Theater on Samoa, Guadacanal and Bougainville. He was wounded in action, and was one of four men in his platoon to survive. Following the war, Stang was a Newburgh, New York policeman where Spillane, then residing at Orange Lake in suburban Newburgh, met him in 1946. After leaving the Newburgh Police, Stang operated a popular riverfront bar and grill at 4th and Front Street in Newburgh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Stang Replies to this post
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John Stang "Jack" - Class of 1963 passed away May,17, 2020 - Additional information to follow
The
readers should know that Jack Stang was my father and I have chosen to tell this
story in his voice. He was an extraordinary man and I have tried to tell his
story in an unbiased manner. He was not perfect as no one is, but he was truly a
man of his time.
Stang, John "Jack" A. (29
October 1923-7 January 1996) was a former U.S. Marine who served in the pacific
theater-Samoa, Guadacanal and Bougainville campaign (1943–45) during World War
Two, wounded in action, one of four men in his platoon to make it out and was
later a Newburgh, New York policeman. In 1946, Mickey Spillane, then residing at
Orange Lake in suburban Newburgh, admitted Stang was the inspiration for his
character Mike Hammer. After leaving the Newburgh Police, Stang operated a
popular riverfront bar and grill at 4th and Front Street in Newburgh. After it
was devastated by a fire, it reopened as a children's clothing store run by Fran
Stang, Jack's mother. The old Newburgh riverfront neighborhood, 4 blocks wide
and about a mile long, was demolished in the late 1960s as part of an 'Urban
Renewal' program, and the bar property exists as of 2008 as part of a grassy
slope and parking lot complex. Jack Stang appeared with Spillane in the 1954
film Ring of Fear and had an unbilled appearance in I, the Jury (1953 film).
Spillane wrote, directed, and filmed a 1955 Mike Hammer screen test with Stang
to enable Stang to play Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly. Jack never got to play Mike
Hammer , even though he was the Real Mike Hammer ,and every time Mickey was
asked who would be the right person to play Mike Hammer , the answer was always
the same- Jack Stang. The Hollywood machine at that time would only use known
actors so they could get financing. Biff Elliot was cast as Hammer in "I, the
Jury" as was Ralph Meeker in the second Hammer film Kiss Me Deadly. Jack Stang
was signed to Wayne-Fellows Productions at Warner Bros. He also did a Highway
Patrol (TV series) episode and Broderick Crawford wanted him as a regular. He
was offered a role from Otto Preminger to be in The Man with the Golden Arm
starring Frank Sinatra. Just as Jack Stang's star was about to shine, he left
Hollywood to be with his family instead of the fast paced Hollywood lifestyle.
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