Helismaa was very productive: during his career he wrote hundreds of
song lyrics, over 30 radio plays, a dozen stage plays and revues, some
novels and scripts for comic books.
He began as a writer in the thirties, when he wrote dozens of short
thriller stories for magazine "Seikkailujen maailma" (The World of
Adventures).
Helismaa was called "Shakespeare of the SF" in the fifties when he
wrote most of his screenplays.
Finnish feature "Kulkuri ja joutsen" (The Vagabond and the Swan) is
partly based on his life.
A documentary about Helismaa, "Repe", was directed by Peter von Bagh in
1979.