Southern Pulp Part Two

Southerners played a pivotal role in the Golden Age of the Pulps. H. L. Mencken co-founded Black Mask, the classic magazine where hard boiled detectives were introduced. Lester Dent realised Doc Savage, one of the most important pulp heroes who would have an impact on both Superman and Batman. Norvell Page created The Spider, one of the most beloved pulp heroes of all time. Robert E. Howard popularised the genre of sword and sorcery and created some of the most memorable heroes from the pulps--Solomon Kane, King Kull, and Conan the Barbarian. The influence of Southerners would not only be felt on the Heroic Pulps, however, as they would also have an impact on the detective genre as well.

In fact, one of the most popular detectives of the era emerged from the pen of a man who could possibly be considered a Southerner. Seabury Quinn was born and raised in Washington D.C. He graduated with a degree in law from National University and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar. Arguably, being the capital of the United States, Washington D.C. could be said to be as much a Northern city as a Southern city. That having been said, it is bordered by Maryland on the north and Virginia on the south. It should not be surprising, then, that Washington has long been Southern in both its culture and its atmosphere. Even the architecture of its older buildings owe more to the South than the North. Perhaps Seabury Quinn was not a Southerner in quite the same way that Norvell Page and Robert E. Howard were, but he would seem to be a Southerner nonetheless.

Seabury Quinn was first published in The Motion Picture Magazine, December 1917, with the article"The Law of the Movies." Over the next few years he would be published in pulp magazines ranging from Detective Story Magazine to The Thrill Book. It was in 1923 that he would first be published in the magazine that would become his literary home. It was with Weird Tales, October 1923 that he first saw print in that classic pulp with the story "The Phantom Farmhouse." Not only was Quinn perhaps the most prolific contributor to Weird Tales, but he was also arguably its most popular writer at the time--more than even H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

His lasting fame was guaranteed when he introduced the occult detective Jules de Grandin in the story "Terror on the Links," published in Weird Tales, October 1925. To a degree de Grandin was a stereotypical Frenchman, complete with pencil thin moustache and verbal outbursts (often in French). That having been said, de Grandin was far more than a stereotype. He was brilliant, very well educated, and a skilled combatant. Not only was de Grandin skilled with guns, but also knives, stakes, swords, and several other weapons. His knowledge extended from hypnosis even to rudimentary magic. In his struggles against the forces of evil de Grandin was assisted by Dr. Trowbridge (who, like Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories, narrated their adventures) and Detective Sergeant Costello. Located in Harrisonville, New Jersey, de Grandin battled everything from vampires to mad scientists to devil worshippers. Jules de Grandin proved to be very popular, ultimately appearing in 93 stories from 1925 to 1951. While largely forgotten by the public at large, de Grandin would have a lasting influence on the horror genre, pre-dating both The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer by decades.

Jules de Grandin was largely modelled after Sherlock Holmes, but in the pages of Black Mask a new sort of detective was emerging. Contrary to popular belief, Dashiell Hammett did not invent the hard boiled detective. That honour instead goes to a New Yorker, Carroll John Daly. Daly's "The False Burton Combs" would be the first hard boiled detective story, published in Black Mask, December 1922. Daly's most popular character would be Race Williams, who first appeared in the story "Knights of the Open Palm" from Black Mask, June 1923. Williams was a tough private eye with a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. It can be argued that Williams had to be the way he was, as he existed in a world where danger and betrayal lurked around every corner. Mickey Spillaine freely admitted that Race Williams was an influence in the creation of Mike Hammer.

While the hard boiled detective genre was invented by a Yankee, it would be up to a Southerner to refine it. Dashiell Hammett was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland. His mother's family, the Dashiells, were one of the oldest in Maryland. Among his relatives were Revolutionary War soldier Colonel George Dashiell and Congressman Isaac Dashiell Jones. Hammett's family moved from their tobacco farm in Maryland to Philadelphia where they spent a short time before moving to Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of 14, working a number of odd jobs before being employed by the Pinkerton Agency. After serving in World War I, Hammett turned to writing. His first story, "The Parthian Shot," was published in The Smart Set, October 1922. He would make his debut in Black Mask with the story "The Road Home" in that magazine's December 1922 issue.

It was in Black Mask, October 1923 that the first of Hammett's major characters was introduced, the Continental Op, in the story "Arson Plus." The Continental Op was a nameless detective for the Continental Detective Agency in San Francisco. While Caroll John Daly's detective stories always had an element of exaggeration to them (particularly those featuring Race Williams), Hammett's stories were more grounded in reality, largely drawing upon his experiences with the Pinkertons. The Continental Op was short, gruff, stubborn, and largely unsympathetic to the plight of his fellow man. Like Race Williams, the Continental Op is the consummate tough guy. And like Race Williams, the Continental Op exists in a world where murder and mayhem are par for the course. But Hammett brought a sophistication to his stories that Carroll John Daly never did to his. Quite simply, Daly wrote good pulp stories. Hammett wrote great literature.

Of course, the Continental Op was not the only contribution Hammett made to detective fiction. He would write what may be the greatest hard boiled detective novel of all time, The Maltese Falcon, first serialised in Black Mask starting with its September 1929 issue. Indeed, the novel introduced Hammett's most famous character, detective Sam Spade. In many respects Spade had much in common with the other hard boiled detectives. He observed the world with cold detachment, acted with his own code of honour, and avoided emotional ties for the most part. He departed from other hard boiled detectives in not being quite so blood thirsty. In fact, Spade generally did not carry a gun! While he is undoubtedly Hammett's most famous creation, Spade only appeared in the novel The Maltese Falcon and three short stories.

While Sam Spade may be Hammett's most famous creation, arguably his most lasting creations were Nick and Nora Charles. Nick was a retired private eye who had worked for the Trans-American Detective Agency. Nora was his wealthy, brilliant, and somewhat independent wife. Urbane and sophisticated, Nick and Nora often engage each other in exchanges of verbal wit. Their only appearance in print would be in the novel The Thin Man, but they would go on to appear in a successful series of movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, a radio show, a television series, and even a Broadway musical. Their influence would be felt on couples ranging from John Steed and Emma Peel of The Avengers to Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Dashiell Hammett was by no means the only Southerner writing mysteries. "Carl Buchanan" was the pen name of James Robert Peery, who was born in Mississippi in 1900. Using the name "Carl Buchanan," Peery sold mystery stories to Five-Novels Monthly, Super Detective, and Clues and science fiction stories to Astounding. Buchanan would go onto write three novels (The Black Cloak Murders, Night of Horror, and The Red Scorpion. Sadly, today Carl Buchanan is largely forgotten.

This is not the case with author Talmage Powell. Powell was born in Hendersonville, North Carolina in 1920. He was actually a latecomer to pulp magazines--his first story was published in 1942. Powell would make up for this by being amazingly prolific. Ultimately, he would write over 200 stories for the pulps. In fact, while he is now best known as a mystery writer, he wrote in nearly every genre for the pulps, writing everything from Westerns to horror stories. Powell would be published in a diverse number of pulp magazines, including The Shadow, Dime Mystery, Black Mask, Romances, and Fifteen Western Tales. He would later become one of the many men to write under the pen name "Ellery Queen." His series of novels featuring Ed Rivers published in the Fifties and Sixties are often considered among the best of the private eye genre. Powell would also write episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Over the years he wrote hard boiled detective stories, crime fiction, and traditional whodunits.

Of course, there were other pulp writers from the South. From the Twenties to the Forties pulp magazines were a dominant force in American pop culture. It was not unusual for the most successful pulps to sell anywhere from a million to twenty million copies.of any given issue. With the demand for pulp magazines so great there also came the demand for stories to fill those pulp magazines. Quite naturally, for there to be stories there has to be someone to write them. Pulp writers then came from literally everywhere. H. P. Lovecraft was from Rhode Island. Raymond Chandler was from Chicago. Other pulp writers came from further afield. D. L. Champion, who wrote most of The Phantom Detective, was born in Australia. Prolific pulp writer Hugh B. Cave was born in England, but grew up in Massachusetts. That many pulp writers came from the South is then hardly surprising.

What is surprising is the impact that writers from the South had on the pulps, an industry largely based out of New York City. Out of the four greatest pulp heroes (The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Spider from the Heroic Pulps, Conan the Barbarian from Weird Tales), three of them were created by Southerners. And it was a Southerner, Dashiell Hammett, who refined the hard boiled detective genre. Of course, it must be kept in mind that Southerners were not the only ones to play important roles in the history of the pulp magazine. Robert J. Hogan, who wrote most of the novels G-8 and His Battle Aces, was from New York. Walter Gibson, the creator of The Shadow, hailed from Germantown, Pennsylvania. E. E. "Doc" Smith, creator of Skylark and the Lensmen, was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Clearly, Southerners did not have a monopoly on pulp heroes.

That having been said, it does seem that Southerners had an undue influence on the Heroic Pulps. Are there any pulp heroes greater than The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Spider, and Conan? Three of those four were created by Southerners. The reasons that Southerners had such a great impact on the Heroic Pulps could simply rest with the character of the South itself. Settled by aristocrats in its earliest years, the South evolved its own code of honour, largely derived from the English, Scots, and Welsh who settled the region. Naturally, where there exists a code of honour, there is also bound to be a profound emphasis on heroes and heroism. From Light Horse Harry Lee to Davy Crockett to Jesse James, the South has always relished its heroes. When it came to writing for pulp magazines, then, it would be quite natural for Southerners to be drawn to tales of heroes. Indeed, it is worth noting that while neither Doc Savage nor The Spider speak of honour very often, they each have their own personal codes they live by. The same can be said of Dashiell Hammett's characters, even the Continental Op (whose foremost loyalty seems to be to the Continental Detective Agency). If Southerners were responsible for some of the greatest pulp heroes in the history of the medium, it is perhaps because heroes have been so much a part of Southern culture. While many, perhaps most of the heroes of the pulps were not created by Southerners, it is perhaps significant that the greatest among them were. While the pulp magazine industry was based in New York City, it owed a great deal to writers from the South.

Southern Pulp Part One

Anyone who knows anything about the history of American pulp magazines knows that New York City was the centre of the pulp magazine industry. After all, it was in New York that Francis Scott Street and Francis Shubael Smith founded Street and Smith, the publisher of dime novels and newspapers who would become the largest publisher of pulp magazines. It was also in New York City that Frank Munsey founded Golden Argosy (swiftly renamed Argosy) in 1882, widely regarded as the first pulp magazine. New York City was the centre of the American pulp magazine industry in much the same way that southern California was the centre of the American film industry. The vast majority of pulp magazine publishers had their home there, and certainly the biggest pulp magazine companies were all based in New York City.

It might then seem a bit surprising for many to realise that some of the most important figures in the history of pulp magazines came not from New York City or even the American Northeast, but instead from the American South (including the Border States of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee). For whatever reason this was particularly true of the Heroic Pulps, many of whose creators and writers came from somewhat warmer climes than New York. Over the years Southerners would create some of the most important characters in the history of pulp magazines and in the end have a lasting impact not only on pulp magazines, but on American pop culture in general.

Indeed, while Southerners' strongest influence on the history of pulp magazines came by way of various writers, there were two important publishers who were from the South. Bernard McFadden (who later renamed himself "Bernarr" because he thought it sounded stronger) entered publishing with the magazine Physical Culture, devoted to precisely that subject (physical culture being the promotion of strength and health through body building, nutrition, et. al.). Eventually McFadden would expand into other areas, including the movie magazine Photoplay, the tabloid newspaper The New York Graphic, and Sport magazine. Quite naturally, McFadden expanded into the pulp magazine market as well, publishing the confessional magazine True Story, the true crime magazine True Detective, Ghost Stories, and so on. McFadden was born and raised in Mill Springs, Missouri, a tiny town in the southeastern part of the state.

The other important publisher to emerge from the South is a familiar name to many Americans--H. L. Mencken, American newspaperman, satirist, essayist, and professional curmudgeon. Of German extraction, Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 12, 1880 and spent nearly all his life there. Although best known for his many writings, Mencken has a singular part in pulp history. Quite simply, it was in 1920 that Mencken founded Black Mask with theatre critic George Jean Nathan. For those unfamiliar with Black Mask, it was the magazine which gave rise to the genre of hard boiled detectives and published many of the early works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carroll John Daly, and Erle Stanley Gardner. Mencken and Nathan only stayed with Black Mask for eight issues before selling the magazine to its publishers (Eltinge Warner and Eugene Crow). Eventually Black Mask would be acquired by Popular Publications, the company which also published The Spider, G-8 and His Battle Aces, and Battle Aces.

It would not be in the realm of publishing, however, that Southerners would leave their deepest imprint on pulp magazines, but in the field of writing. This was particularly true of the Heroic Pulps, those pulp magazines centred around a specific character. In 1931 Street and Smith met with incredible success with their magazine The Shadow, featuring the dark clad crimefighter who had originated simply as the mysterious narrator of the radio show The Detective Story Hour. In the wake of the success of The Shadow, other publishers introduced their own Heroic Pulps featuring their own characters. Significantly, the two most important pulp heroes to emerge besides the Shadow were mostly developed by Southerners.

Indeed, perhaps the most famous pulp hero of all time outside of The Shadow could well be Doc Savage. Contrary to popular belief, Doc Savage was not created by Lester Dent, although he expanded upon the character so much that he might as well have created him. The basic concept behind Doc Savage originated in Street and Smith's desire to follow up on the success of The Shadow. To this end, Street and Smith's business manager Henry Ralston and editor John Nanovic wrote a broad outline for a new character to be called "Doc Savage." Doc may have partially been based on an actual person. John Nanovic told pulp magazine historian Will Murray about a man named Richard Henry Savage, a modern day renaissance man who was at various times a diplomat, engineer, lawyer, military officer, and writer. As a writer some of Savage's books were published by Street and Smith, just when a young Henry Ralston had started working for the firm at the tender age of 17.

While Ralston and Nanovic provided the initial impetus for Doc Savage, the character would be fully realised by writer Lester Dent. The extent to which Lester Dent expanded upon the character can be seen in that Doc Savage actually shared a good deal in common with the man who chronicled his adventures. Like Doc, Lester Dent was a gadgeteer, not only having been a telegraph operator, but also having passed both electrician and plumber exams. And like Doc he was a bit of an adventurer himself. Among other things, Dent explored Native American cliff dwellings and hunted for treasure in the Caribbean. He even owned his own schooner, the Albatross, and had a pilot's licence. If ever there was a writer born to write Doc Savage, it was Dent.

As many probably already know, Lester Dent was born in La Plata, Missouri on October 12, 1904. La Plata is situated in Macon County, one of the border counties of the area known as Little Dixie because it was thoroughly settled by individuals from Virginia and the Carolinas. Macon County itself was largely settled by people from the Carolinas and even named for Nathaniel Macon, a United States Senator from North Carolina. During the War Between the States, Macon County was very sympathetic to the South, so much so that the county seat was moved from Bloomington to Union occupied Macon City (now simply called "Macon"--sadly, now there is only a marker to even show where Bloomington once stood). To this day the culture of Macon County, including La Plata, is thoroughly Southern (although not quite as much as the counties of Little Dixie). Lester Dent was then for all practical purposes born in the South. Now it is true that his parents moved to Wyoming when Dent was only two, but here we must consider two things. First, while one can take a Southerner out of the South, it is much harder to take the South out of a Southerner. Growing up in a family from Missouri, then, Dent was probably exposed to Southern culture even in Wyoming. Second, the family returned to La Plata when Dent was 15 years old. He completed grade school and high school there. He attended the Chillicothe Business College in Chillicothe, Missouri and even taught there for a time. For a while he was telegraph operator for Western Union in Carrollton. And while Dent's writing career would keep him in New York for quite some time, he and his wife Norma would return to La Plata in 1940, where they spent the rest of their lives. There can be little doubt as to Lester Dent's credentials as a Missourian and a Southerner.

While some might debate whether Lester Dent was a Southerner or not, there can be no such debate regarding the man who most fully realised The Spider, Norvell Page. Although not as well known as either The Shadow and Doc Savage, The Spider is arguably their equal in importance with regards to the history of pulp magazines. Just as Lester Dent was not involved in the basic ideas which would lead to Doc Savage, so too was Norvell Page absent when the idea for The Spider was first developed. In fact, he would not being writing the character until the third issue of The Spider. Like Lester Dent and Doc Savage, however, Page expanded and even changed The Spider so much from the initial concept that he might as well be considered the character's creator.

The initial version of The Spider was created by Henry "Harry" Steeger, publisher of Popular Publications, as competition for rival Street and Smith's The Shadow. To develop the character he brought in writer R. T. M. Scott. Scott was most famous for having created "Secret Service Smith," the hero of five novels and several stories. Smith was an American detective with a Hindu assistant who was deadly with a knife. Curiously, Scott's version of The Spider somewhat resembles Secret Service Smith. For Scott "The Spider" was little more than a nom de guerre adopted by Richard Wentworth as he fought crime as an amateur criminologist. Like Smith, Wentworth was assisted by Ram Singh, a Hindu deadly with a knife. One major difference between Smith and Wentworth was that Wentworth was a bit more bloodthirsty. While Smith always shot to wound, Wentworth would shoot to kill. Wentworth would also brand his victims with the seal of The Spider using a specially made cigarette lighter.

Scott left The Spider after only two issues, whereupon Norvell Page took over as the magazine's writer. Page took the basic concept of The Spider as created by Steeger and Scott and turned it into something entirely different. In fact, in some respects it is hard to say that Page didn't simply create a whole new character. While "The Spider" began simply as a nom de guerre for Richard Wentworth under R. T. M. Scott, Norvell Page would soon make The Spider a distinct identity from Richard Wentworth. Eventually Wentworth as The Spider would dress in a sallow fright mask complete with fangs, a black felt hat, and a black cape, giving him what was perhaps the most frightening appearance of any pulp hero. And while Wentworth was a bit bloodthirsty under Scott's tenure as writer, he became even more so when Norvell Page wrote him. As The Spider, Richard Wentworth was wholly obsessed with fighting crime--one might say he was even compelled to do so. And in his war against evil he showed absolutely no mercy.

Norvell Page made other changes to The Spider as well. While Ram Singh was originally portrayed as Wentworth's Hindu assistant under Scott, Page made him a Sikh who was not Wentworth's assistant, but his friend and equal. Richard Wentworth's girlfriend Nita Van Sloan played a more prominent role, becoming his partner in fighting crime. In fact, Nita Van Sloan would even sometimes become The Spider herself! The final change Norvell Page made to The Spider was in the nature of the enemies he faced. In the two novels by R. T. M. Scott ("The Spider Strikes" and "Wheel of Death"), Richard Wentworth faced rather ordinary criminal masterminds. Page drew upon his own Ken Carter series from the magazine Ten Detective Aces to provide The Spider with a whole new sort of opponent. Carter was a former professional juggler turned detective who fought menaces of an outre nature, such as criminals who use music to kill ("Hell's Music") or who transform human beings into statues ("Statues of Horror"). In the hands of Norvell Page, then, The Spider faced such bizarre menaces ranging from giant robots (Satan's Murder Machines) to a mad genius who could spread insanity (Legions of Madness).

Ultimately, Norvell Page made The Spider entirely his own character. While Steeger and Scott may have created the initial concept and other writers would pen novels for the magazine (including Emile C. Tepperman and Prentice Winchell), there really can't be much argument that The Spider as we know him is largely the creation of Norvell Page. Of course, Page created other pulp heroes besides The Spider. As mentioned earlier, he wrote the Ken Carter stories for Ten Detective Aces. He also wrote two sword and sorcery novels featuring Prester John, also known as "Hurricane John" or Wan-Tengri.

As I said earlier, there can be no debate that Norvell Page is a Southerner. He was born in 1906 in the heart of the South--Richmond, Virginia. In fact, the Pages number among the First Families of Virginia, having settled there in 1650. Those familiar with Virginia's history might recall that there was a John Page who was governor of the state and a U.S. Congressman. Novelist, lawyer, and one time United States Ambassador to Italy, Thomas Nelson Page was also a member of Norvell Page's family. Norvell Page himself attended the University of Richmond and then the College of William and Mary. Of the classic pulp writers, it can be argued that Norvell Page was the most thoroughly Southern.

Of the three major pulp heroes (The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Spider), it would seem that Southerners created two out of three of them. But the influence of Southerners on the pulps did not end there. Two lesser known pulp heroes would also be created by a Southerner, in this case another Missourian. Frederick C. Davis was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, the city where the Pony Express began and where Jesse James died. Becoming a professional writer at the age of 22, Davis would create two of the more memorable pulp heroes. The first was the Moon Man, whose stories appeared in the pages of Ten Detective Aces (the first appearing in May 1933). As should be fairly obvious from the following description, the Moon Man could well have had some influence on the later superheroes in comic books. The Moon Man was police sergeant Stephen Thatcher, whose father had been a police chief. While he upheld the law in his every day life as Sgt. Thatcher, he had another life in which upholding the law was not so important. As the Moon Man, Thatcher would don a fish bowl shaped helmet made of one way glass and a black cape. So dressed he would then rob the rich and corrupt to give to the poor. The Moon Man would become one of the most popular characters to emerge from Ten Detective Aces.

Frederick C. Davis would also write the first twenty issues of Operator #5. Operator #5 centred on Jimmy Christopher, a secret agent for the United States. His codename was "Operator #5." What set Operator #5 apart from other pulps featuring spies is that Davis often based his novels on fact, even going so far as to include footnotes! While the Operator #5 novels were always fast paced and featured strong plots, there were always enough facts to make the stories believable, no matter how fantastic the plots may have been.

Of course, Southerners wrote for more than the Hero Pulps. Both Lester Dent and Norvell Page wrote for a wide variety of titles. In fact, perhaps the most famous pulp writer to emerge from the South (well, besides Dashiell Hammett, anyway) did not write for the Hero Pulps, but created some of the greatest heroes in the history of pulp magazines nonetheless. Not only was Robert E. Howard born in Texas, but he spent his entire life there. He was born in Peaster, Texas to Dr. Isaac Howard and his wife Hester Jane. Both sides of his family had long been in the South, with veterans of the Confederate Army numbering among his ancestors. The family moved frequently while Howard was young, to such towns as Seminole and Wichita Falls, among others. When Howard was thirteen, they settled in Cross Plains, where Howard would spend the rest of his short life.

Given the genre in which he worked (he has been called the "Father of Sword and Sorcery"), it should not be surprising that much, perhaps most, of Robert E. Howard's work was published in the fantasy and horror pulps. In fact, his first sale would be to the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales. First published in Weird Tales, August 1928, "Red Shadows" marked both the first appearance of Howard in print and the first appearance of his hero Solomon Kane. Solomon Kane was an adventurer living in the time of the Tudors who finds himself travelling the world battling ghosts, demons, and sorcerers. Ultimately seven different Solomon Kane stories would be published while Howard was alive.

Howard's next significant hero was also published in the pages of Weird Tales. Kull was a barbarian from Atlantis living around 20,000 BCE. Eventually becoming the king of Valusia, he would battle such menaces as the Serpent Men and the necromancer Thulsa Doom. Only two Kull stories were published before Howard's death, although others would be published in the anthology King Kull in 1967. In many respects Kull was simply a prototype for Howard's most famous creation, what may be the most famous pulp character besides The Shadow and Doc Savage.

Conan the Barbarian made his first appearance in the story "The Phoenix on the Sword," first published in Weird Tales, December 1932. Conan's adventures were set during a fictional Hyborian Age (about 10,000 BCE). He was from the land of Cimmeria, a rugged place of mountains and dark forests. Tall and dark haired, Conan was nearly superhuman in strength. He travelled the world, working as everything from a mercenary to a thief. Throughout the various stories he faced such opponents as demons, sorcerers, pirates, and other menaces. Even during Howard's lifetime, Conan the Barbarian would prove to be extremely popular. Howard even wrote his own set of guidelines for writing the character. During his lifetime 17 stories featuring Conan were published, all in the pages of Weird Tales. Conan the Barbarian has since appeared in comic books, movies, a TV show, and scores of books written by others.

While the pulp magazine industry was based in New York City, ultimately it would owe a good deal to individuals from the South. Three of the most famous heroes of the pulps (Doc Savage, The Spider, and Conan the Barbarian) were all created by Southerners. Black Mask, the influential detective pulp, was co-founded by a Southerner. The influence of Southerners on the history of pulp magazines would not end there. Not only would writers from the South have a lasting impact on the Heroic pulps, but on the detective genre as well.

Actor David Groh Passes On

David Groh, perhaps best known for playing Joe Gerard on the sitcom Rhoda, passed on Tuesday at the age of 68 from kidney cancer.

David Groh was born in Brooklyn on May 21, 1939. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated Brown University with a degree in English literature. He served in the United States Army for a time. Groh acted with the American Shakespeare Theatre and studied acting in London under a Fullbright scholarship.

Groh made his screen debut in the Italian thriller Colpo rovente in 1969. He made his television debut on the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, appearing as a ghost in two episodes. Groh would appear in the movies Irish Whisky Rebellion and The Ringer in 1972, but the majority of his career would be spent on television. He was a regular on the soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing from 1972 to 1973. In 1974 he was cast in the role for which he was perhaps most famous, Joe Gerard on Rhoda. Rhoda was a spinoff from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Mary's best friend Mary moved back to New York City. In the seventh episode of the series, Rhoda married Joe. The episode received immense publicity and drew incredible ratings. Groh would remain with the show until 1977, when Joe was written out as having divorced Rhoda.

For the next many years Groh would guest star on such TV shows as Police Story, Love Boat, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He also appeared in the telefilms Victory at Entebbe, Murder at the Mardi Gras, and The Dream Merchants. In the Eighties Groh was a regular on General Hospital as D. L. Brock from 1983 to 1985. He would later make guest appearances on L. A. Law, Sisters, The X-Files, and Walker Texas Ranger. He was a regular on the series Black Scorpion. He had a small, recurring role on Law and Order as Dr. Jacob Lowenstein.

Although much of his career was spent in television, Groh also appeared in feature films. He appeared in the films Two-Minute Warning (1976), A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1978), The Return of Superfly (1990), Get Shorty (1995), and Blowback (2000).

Groh also had a career on stage. He appeared off Broadway in the play Be Happy for Me in 1985 and Road Show in 1987. He appeared on Broadway in the plays Chapter Two in 1978 and Twilight of the Golds in 1993.

David Groh was not simply a talented actor, but he was a dedicated one as well. A perfect example of this is the fact that he left the popular role of Brock on General Hospital to act in the off Broadway play Be Happy for Me, even though his cost of living in New York City was actually more than what he was being paid for the play. Not many actors would have probably done so, but for David Groh, his craft was more important than the bottom line.

Steve Gerber Passes On

A fellow Missourian and one of the giants of the comic book industry died recently. Steve Gerber, best known as the creator of Howard the Duck, died on Sunday at the age of 60 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis.

Steve Gerber was born in St. Louis on September 20, 1947. As a youngster Gerber corresponded with legendary comic book fans (and also fellow Missourians) Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas. While he was in his teens Gerber founded one of the earliest comic book fanzines, Headline. Gerber attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis, finishing his degree in Broadcasting at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He later attended St. Louis University where he earned a degree in Speech-Communications. After graduation he worked as a copywriter for a St. Louis ad agency.

Gerber entered the world of comic books through is friendship with Roy Thomas. In 1972 Thomas was editor in chief at Marvel Comics. He brought Gerber on board as an associate editor. This being a time when most editors wrote as well as edited, Gerber started fill in work on second string titles, such as Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, and The Defenders. He eventually moved onto Marvel's more popular titles, such The Fantastic Four, as well as writing for Marvel's various horror titles such as Creatures on the Loose and Adventure into Fear. It was during this period that he would either create or expand upon such characters as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Morbius the Living Vampire, and Shanna the She-Devil.

It was while writing for the series Man-Thing in the pages of Adventure into Fear that Gerber created his most legendary character. Howard the Duck first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19, December 1973. He was soon given his own series as a back up feature in Giant-Size Man-Thing. By 1976, Howard had graduated to his own title. Howard the Duck was primarily a work of satire, with the anthropomorphic, surly duck facing a variety of bizarre opponents from Bessie the Hellcow (a vampiric cow) to Relf the Elf with a Gun. Howard the Duck developed a large cult following that survives to this day. Just as things did not always go smoothly for Howard the Duck in the pages of his own comic book, so too did things not always go smoothly for Howard in the real world. Disney, believing Howard the Duck resembled their own Donald Duck a bit too much, sued Marvel Comics for what they felt was copyright infringement. While Disney's suit failed, it did result in Howard starting to wear trousers. When Howard the Duck finally made it to the big screen 1986 (produced by George Lucas), the movie failed at the box office and failed with critics as well.

Although best known for Howard the Duck, Gerber made other notable contributions to comic books as well. He was the creator and writer on the cult series Omega the Unknown. He was also the creator of one of Marvel Comic's better supervillains from the Seventies, The Foolkiller. a psychopathic murderer bent on killing fools. He also wrote what may have been the best run of The Defenders.

Gerber left Marvel around 1979. It was at that point that Gerber began a long struggle with Marvel over ownership of Howard the Duck. Sadly, Gerber never won ownership of Howard, although Marvel did eventually reach a settlement with him. In the years after he left Marvel, Gerber wrote Destroyer Duck (meant to raise money for his legal battle with Marvel) and Stewart the Rat for Eclipse Comics and various bits of work for DC Comics. Eventually he would return to Marvel, once more writing Howard the Duck as well as Void Indigo for the company's Epic Comics imprint. He would write Nevada for DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint, as well as the Hard Time (a mix of the superhero and prison genres...).

Although best known as the creator of Howard the Duck, Gerber's influence on the comic book industry goes much further than that. Gerber endowed so much of his work with his own creativity and his own personality that it is inconcievable that anyone else could write his characters. Quite simply, he took the medium of comic books and turned it into a tool for his own self expression. In this respect, he paved the way for such writers as Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Grant Morrison, Gerber also took comic books to places where they had rarely been before. At a time when the medium was still dominated by superheroes, Gerber not only turned Howard the Duck against many of the comic book cliches, but pop culture and current events. Of Howard's many opponents, Reverend Jun Moon Yuc was clearly a poke at Reverend Sun Myung Moon, while the leader of the group called S.O.O.F.I. (Save Our Offspring from Indecency) was clearly Anita Bryant. If writers in the comic book industry are now freer to express themselves than they once were, we largely have Steve Gerber to thank.

Beyond the impact he would have on writers in the comic book industry, Gerber would have an impact on the comic book industry in another way as well. Gerber was one of the first writers to express the idea that a creator should retain the rights to his characters. From the very beginnings of the comic book industry, it had always been understood that characters created for a comic book company belonged to that company. Gerber challenged this view. While he may not have been the first to do so, and while he ultimately lost in his fight to gain ownership of Howard the Duck, in the end he did succeed in legitimatising the rights of creators to control their creations. Today it is very common for creators to retain the ownership of their characters. This was certainly not the case in the Seventies when Gerber began his fight with Marvel. Steve Gerber was outspoken, bluntly honest, and even courageous. He once said, "I wouldn't describe myself as fearless, but I think you have to accept the possibility of failure if you want to achieve anything, in any field." It seems no one conquered his fear better than Steve Gerber.

Special Thanks: I must thank fellow mid-Missourian Winter of the Mid-Missouri Comics Collective for alerting me to Steve Gerber's death. You can read his eulogy of Gerber here.

Valentine's Day 2008

Today is Valentine's Day. On this day lovers will exchange gifts and Valentine cards. Husbands will bring their wives chocolates and roses. Not a few couples will have romantic outings. And there will be many, many marriage proposals today. Sadly, not everyone out there has someone with whom to share this day. These people will spend today observing all the happiness around them without sharing in it. Not a few of them will long for some of that happiness for their very own. I would then like to take this time to remember those lonely people with a suitable video for today.....



Happy Valentine's Day!

Roy Scheider R.I.P.

Roy Scheider, the Oscar nominated actor best known for his role in Jaws, passed this Sunday at the age of 75. He had fought multiple myeloma for many years. The immediate cause was a staph infection.

Roy Scheider was born November 10, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School in Mayfield, New Jersey. As a teenager he participated in boxing and baseball. He attended the both Rutgers University in New Jersey and Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. Scheider majored in history with the intention of going of into law. He served three years in the United States Air Force. Upon his release from the Air Force, he came back to Franklin and Marshall to perform in Richard III.

Scheider made his profession acting debut in 1961 in Romeo and Juliet at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He made his television debut on the daytime serial The Edge of Night in 1962. He made his film debut in 1964 in William Friedkin's B movie The Curse of the Living Corpse. In 1965 he was a regular on the soap opera Love of Life. He guest starred on the TV shows N.Y.P.D. and Coronet Blue. After appearing in small parts in such films as Loving and Puzzle of a Downfall Child, Scheider received his big break in 1971. It was that year he had significant roles in two extremely popular films--Klute and The French Connection. For his role in The French Connection he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

It was in 1975 that Scheider would appear in what may have been his best known role, that of Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws. It was Brody who utter what may be the movie's absolute best line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Over the next several years Scheider would appear in the films Marathon Man, Sorcerer, All That Jazz (for which he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor), Blue Thunder, 2010, The Russia House, The Rainmaker, Naked Lunch (as Dr. Benway), and the upcoming film Iron Cross

Scheider also continued to appear, albeit infrequently, on television. He starred in the 1983 telefilm Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number and the 1990 telefilm Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture. He was the star of SeaQuest DSV for two seasons. He appeared in the HBO movie RKO 281 in the role as George Schaefer. He made a notable guest appearance on Law and Order: Criminal Intent in the episode "Endgame" as one of the few criminals who could successfully match wits with Detective Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio).

Scheider also continued to appear on stage. In 1965 he made his Broadway debut in the play Tartuffe. In 1982 he appeared opposite Blythe Danner on Broadway in Betrayal.

There can be little doubt that Roy Scheider was one of the great actors of our time. If Jaws is one of the great films of recent memory, it is largely because of the performances of its leads--Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss. Not only did he deserve to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor for Bob Fosse's autobiographical All That Jazz, there are those of us who believe he should have won (Dustin Hoffman won for Kramer vs. Kramer). Later in his life Scheider stopped playing the lead and started playing character roles. He was great as Dr. Benway in Naked Lunch and Mafioso Don Falcone in Romeo is Bleeding. While most people remember Scheider from Jaws, he deserves to be remembered for so much more.

The Writers Strike May Be Over

For those of you who have not heard yet, it appears the Writers Strike may almost be over. Yesterday leaders of the Writers Guild of America recommended a deal to the guild's membership. They also stressed that if holding out for something better could be catastrophic. Today the WGA board met and unanimously passed a resolution which asks the Guild's members to vote on the new contract and end the current strike. If the WGA approves the new contract, they could be back at work as soon as Wednesday.

The current Writers Strike began November 5 of last year (which, perhaps fittingly, is Guy Fawkes Day in Britain...). Its immediate effect was to disrupt the current television season, as the broadcast networks soon found themselves running out of episodes of their TV series. Because of the strike, 24 will not even air this season. Originally pushed back to January of this year, Fox decided to wait until next season so all 24 episodes of the series could be broadcast without interruption. Other shows will air with only a few episodes this season. After all of their episodes aired this season, shows such as Chuck, Heroes, and Pushing Daisies won't be back until next season. Other shows were not so lucky. NBC cancelled both Bionic Woman and Journeyman. The rumour is that CBS has cancelled Cane.

Eventually, the Writers Strike's impact would go further than the broadcast networks. Because of the strike, there was no Golden Globes Awards ceremony this year. Similarly, the People's Choice Awards also had to take a different route as to their awards show as well. There was some fear that if the strike continues there might not be an Oscars ceremony this year. Perhaps the greatest measure of the effect of the strike is not in the TV shows or awards shows it sidelined, but in the sheer bottom line of it all. It is estimated that the strike has cost the the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers around one billion dollars.

Of course, the whole reason for the strike was a more fair distribution of money for the writers from DVDs, VHS tapes, and residuals from the Internet. That brings us to the deal currently on the table before the WGA members. Basically, this deal will guarantee that residuals for films and TV series sold online and gives the Guild jurisdiction over content specifically for the Internet, provided it exceeds certain budgets. It also gave writers a 3.5% raise in the minimum pay rates for work on TV and movie scripts.

Basically, the deal on the table will guarantee that residuals for films and TV series sold online and gives the Guild power over content created specifically for the Internet, provided it exceeds certain budget limits. The writers will also receive a 3.5% raise in the minimum pay rates for work on television and movie scripts. I must admit that so far the deal sounds good to me, although I do have one caveat with it. amely, the studios will be able to stream content for 17 to 24 days without paying the writers one red cent. Quite frankly, I think the studios should pay the writers the moment that they start streaming content.

That having been said, over all I think the writers have gotten a fairly good deal. And admittedly, had the strike continued longer, it could have had more far reaching, more severe effects than simply stopping the Academy Awards ceremony. Quite simply, it could have not only put a total stop to this TV season, but could have postponed the next one as well. And while this would seriously hurt the producers, it would also hurt the writers as well. After all, if no product is being produced, it means that there is also no money to made, not simply for the producers, but for everyone else invovled as well. While I do have that one misgiving about the deal currently on the table before WGA members, I can fully understand why they may well bring the strike to an end.