Apart from music, Antheil had many other pursuits. In 1930, as Stacey Bishop, he wrote a murder mystery called "Death in the Dark" with a character based on Ezra Pound. He was the film music reporter and critic for the magazine "Modern Music" from 1936 to 1940, writing columns considered lively and thoughtful, noting the comings and goings of musicians and composers during an era when the industry was flirting with more "modern" scores for films. He was disappointed, however, and wrote that "Hollywood, after a grand splurge with new composers and new ideas, has settled back into its old grind of producing easy and sure-fire scores."