Armitage Trail

Armitage Trail was born Maurice R. Coons on July 18, 1902, in Madison, Nebraska. He was the oldest child of Oscar A. Coons and Alice L. Coons, living also with Alice's mother, Mary J. McIntyre. He had two brothers, Hannibal (born Stanley J. Coons) and Eugene, as well as a sister named Evelyn.[3][4] Due to Oscar's job as a road tour manager for the New Orleans Opera Company, the family relocated multiple times before Trail became an adult, with one definite location being New Orleans.[4] Trail developed a passion for writing, quitting school at the age of 16 to devote his time to it. Likewise, his interest in gangsters such as Al Capone began at a young age, and it was stated by Hannibal Coons that his brother Maurice "was interested in gangsters as other men are interested in postage stamps, old coins, or spread-eagled butterflies.” Throughout the rest of his teens and early twenties, Maurice Coons used a variety of pseudonyms, writing various crime and detective stories for pulp magazines. During this time, he visited New York City, eventually quitting home to live in the vicinity of Chicago, where he wrote Scarface.[2]

Not much is known about Trail's time in Illinois. He lived in Oak Park, Illinois, a town adjacent to the west side of Chicago, where he worked on composing Scarface daily in his sun-room. He did not live there long enough to be recorded by an official U.S. Census. Trail spent much of the rest of his time in Chicago, supposedly being associated with local Sicilian gangs by an Italian-American lawyer with whom he was acquainted. From then on, Trail spent his nights socializing with gang members in order to gain ideas for his novel.[2] Trail published Scarface during 1930. Though Trail never formally met Al Capone, with whom his novel was mainly concerned, Capone may have known of the work.

Producer Howard Hughes eventually approached Trail about his novel with the interest of adapting it as a movie. Trail sold the rights to Scarface to Hughes for $25,000, relocating to Los Angeles in the process, where he lived at 3811 Delman Torrace St.[5] After selling the rights to Scarface, W.R. Burnett, who worked on the screenplay, stated that Trail began to struggle with alcoholism. Trail lived flamboyantly in Hollywood, rapidly gaining weight, wearing wide-brimmed Borsalino hats, and hiring a servant named Elijah Ford.[5]

Trail never lived to see the movie Scarface finished, as during October 1930 he died of heart failure at the Paramount Theatre.[6] He is buried in corridor/building C, crypt 237, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[6]