The Comics Detective

Michael T. Unleashes Rich E.!

2011-09-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

Not only am I getting older; I'm getting luckier.

Once again Michael T. Gilbert has dug into his personal files, reached across the ether and made me an offer I can't refuse:

Hi Ken!

I just remembered another unpublished DC short story. It was originally supposed to be a three-page section of Keith Giffen's 1992's very funny AMBUSH BUG: NOTHING SPECIAL. However it turned out to be too hot to print!

At the time I wrote this, the 1989 ARKHAM ASYLUM graphic novel was still making waves. Old-school Luddite that I am, I pretty much hated the whole package. When Keith Giffen invited me to contribute to his comic, (which included a roast of editor Julie Schwartz), I jumped on it and decided to do a send-off of Vertigo. In the decades since, I've found a number of their titles that I really admire, but my initial reaction was that the line was depressing, negative and pretentious. I also felt that fully-painted comics like Dave McKean's ARKHAM ASYLUM and Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz's ELEKTRA:: ASSASSIN, beautiful as they were, were just hard to read.

Interestingly, ARKHAM ASYLUM illustrator Dave McKean later came to a similar conclusion, saying "overpainted, lavish illustrations in every panel just didn’t work. It hampers the storytelling."

Anyway, my idea was to do a Vertigo version of Harvey's classic kiddie comic, Richie Rich. Unfortunately after I handed it in, despite protests by my editor and Keith, some higher-ups at DC nixed my three-pager. They claimed there were worried about a possible Harvey lawsuit. Personally, I've long suspected that my Vertigo parody hit a little too close to home, but I'll let you decide.

On a technical level, I drew hand-separated color for the Rich E. Rich section, followed by full color art for the Ambush Bug part. It would have been very striking, and I always felt bad that the strip never saw print.

I guess the joke was on me!
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Text and art scans by Michael T. Gilbert
© 2011 by DC Comics
[all text and artwork is presented for not-for-profit historical purposes only and no further use is allowed or implied]

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The Unexpected Michael T. Gilbert

2011-09-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

      It's not always a matter of hard-nosed sleuthing. Sometimes a gumshoe just gets lucky. This is one of those times.

      Michael T. Gilbert--famous comic artist, writer, historian, creator of Mr. Monster, and all-around swell guy--has gifted me with an unseen story pulled from his own personal files. Being the good buddy that he is, Michael T. is allowing me to share that story with you!

      "Ken: I was recently going through my files and found color roughs for an unpublished Superman story I wrote and drew. The full story behind the story is below, along with scans. I think you'll find it amusing!"
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Text and art scans by Michael T. Gilbert
© 2011 by DC Comics
[all text and artwork is presented for not-for-profit historical purposes only and no further use is allowed or implied]

Subject: Tales of Kryptonite!

In 1997 DC wanted to revive Tales of the Unexpected. Their idea was to do EC style stories featuring the DC superheroes. Naturally it was right up my alley, and I got the OK to write and draw (and color) "Second Story Man!"

I used a hunk of Kryptonite named Mort to tell my story. I figured it would work as a play on the French word for Death, as well as a tip of the hat to good ol' Mort Weisinger---the editor who popularized so many forms of Kryptonite.

There were some kind of convoluted legal problems with the book (don't ask!), and the whole project was scrapped. My story never appeared, and probably never will. But here's scans of my color roughs so you can enjoy it.

I tried to imitate the old EC Leroy lettering here, and I made the story the standard 7 page length of an EC story too.

I did this just before my "Mann & Superman!" Superman graphic novel which came out in 2000, so it's my first Superman story.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Mr. Gleason, are you now or have you ever been...?

2011-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

      ( Was he or wasn't he?
      Like many of his peers in comic book publishing, Lev Gleason was a staunch supporter of liberal, even leftist, causes. Unlike most of them, though, he was suspected of having been a full-fledged Communist Party member. Those same peers mostly came from hard-scrabble, immigrant Jewish beginnings. Gleason’s upbringing was the polar opposite.
      Unless otherwise footnoted, all italicized quotations used come from the Federal Bureau of Investigation files on Leverett Stone Gleason I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
      Information taken from the documents provided by the FBI is presented exactly as it is appears in the originals, misspellings and typos included. The only exceptions occur whenever illegible wording is completed by my best guess at the intended word. In those cases, my wording appears in parenthesis. -- Ken Quattro )
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      Though he downplayed it later on, Edgar made his mark by rounding up the Bolsheviks. He wasn’t long out of law school, working for the Justice Department, when he was tapped to head the new General Intelligence Division. Starting in November, 1919, his agents began their raids on the bomb-throwers, the anarchists who made a jittery post-War America fearful it would go the way of Russia. They started with the Communists, a loosely defined target that included anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity of a meeting hall. Thousands were arrested, a couple hundred were eventually deported.
      Edgar moved on, moved up. Prohibition created a new class of organized criminal activity. The media created Robin Hoods out of common criminals. He had to get that under control, re-instill order and respect for the law. Then came the damned Nazis and another war.
      But he still had his eye on those Communists.

John Edgar Hoover at his desk. (Dec. 22, 1924)
[image obtained from the Library of Congress]
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      The teachings of Communism are directed toward one final result—world revolution and the triumph of international Communism. The achievement of this aim would mean the violent and complete destruction of the American Government. -- J. Edgar Hoover ¹
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“Date: December 16, 1943

To: SAC, NEW YORK

From: J. Edgar Hoover -- Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Subject: LEVERETT S. GLEASON
INTERNAL SECURITY -- C”

      The Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the New York office knew that any correspondence from the Director was serious. That Hoover himself took a personal interest gave the subject the highest priority.
      “The Bureau has noted that the above-captioned individual and his wife have recently attended the Convention of the Federation of Organizations for the Aid of Spanish Republicans held in Mexico City from August 21 to 23, 1943. Gleason was designated as a delegate from New York representing the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.”

First page of Leverett S. Gleason's FBI file
      There was a familiar name. That organization had been on the Bureau’s radar for a while. Particularly after that messy business when Helen Keller quit as honorary national chairman of their American Rescue Ship Mission back in early ‘41. As it said in the NEW YORK TIMES article, “Miss Keller has been investigating the evidence that she had been used as a front for controlling figures more interested in communism than in the avowed purpose of the ship mission to rescue Spanish republican refugees from France.” ² They should have suspected something was up when Mrs. Roosevelt quietly resigned from the mission back in December 1940, stating, “there are other groups serving the same purpose with which I would be happier to be affiliated.” ³
      Gleason was named in that same article. No surprise that he eventually came to the Director’s attention.
      “Other information in the possession of the Bureau indicates that Gleason formerly served as the Circulation Manager of “Friday“ in 1940 and that he was listed as the Editor and Publisher of “Inside of Russia,“ the sale of which latter publication was sponsored by the Worker’s Book Store in New York City.”

FRIDAY vol. 1, #1 (March 15, 1940)
[image courtesy of Michael Feldman]
      Of course, the SAC knew about FRIDAY as well. Dan Gillmor’s left-wing version of LIFE MAGAZINE. The Bureau had Gillmor broomed from the Office of the Coordinator of Information for being a suspected Red. If guilt by association counted for anything, Gleason was immediately suspicious.

Dan Gillmor
      “For your further information there is attached a photostatic copy of a report dated November 9, 1942, which the Bureau received from the War Department. In view of this subject’s presence in Mexico it would appear that he has since been discharged from the Army.
      Your office should immediately open a case on Gleason and conduct a thorough investigation to develop fully all information concerning his Communist activities and connections and any possible connections he might have with the international organization of the Party.”
      Despite the urgency stressed in this line, it took a while to get the requested information about Gleason; a little too long for Hoover’s satisfaction. One reminder letter was sent in February, 1944, followed by another, more direct missive from the Director on May 6th.
      “The Bureau’s files fail to disclose the submission by your office of a report on the above-captioned subject as requested by Bureau letters dated December 16, 1943 and February 21, 1944. This matter should be given prompt attention and a report submitted in the near future.”
      This time it took the SAC only four days to comply.
      The report contained Gleason’s basic biographical data. Born in Winchendon, Massachusetts on February 25, 1898 (though the file incorrectly had it as 1897) attended Harvard 1916-17, served in the U.S. Army 1917-1919.
      Nothing radical in any of that. Nothing to explain how he may have come to be a Communist.
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      To an outsider, Leverett Stone Gleason was confounding.
      He was the son of wealthy physician, Dr. Mardis E. Gleason, whose deep New England roots can be traced back to the early 1600s. Eldest son Leverett graduated from Newton (Mass.) High School in 1915, before moving on to the exclusive Phillips Academy boarding school in Andover--hardly the breeding ground for potential revolutionaries. Briefly, from 1916 until early 1917, Gleason attended Harvard University. Then, on April 26, 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

THE PHILLIPS BULLETIN (Oct. 1916)
      From February of 1918 until the war’s end on November 11th of that year, Gleason saw action numerous times at the front as a driver with the 110th Field Artillery. While still in the military, and although he was only a Private First Class, he was detailed to Paris for a four-month course “in letters” at the Sorbonne, before being discharged on September 4, 1919.
      Lev (as he was familiarly known) eventually found employment as a salesman for the Charles P. Dow & Company investment bank in Boston. But, like the song of the period asked: "How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?". Gleason returned to France for a vacation in August, 1921 and didn’t return until April of 1922.
      Emerging from the ruinous War to End All Wars, Paris of the 1920s was the epicenter of radical thought. Home to the Lost Generation and the Dadaists; artists and writers crowding the smoky Left Bank cafes, rubbing elbows with like-minded émigrés from the world over. Lenin himself spent four years in the French capital a decade earlier.
      Did this environment help shape young Gleason’s life philosophy?
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      “From 1922 until 1942, GLEASON was employed as magazine editor and publisher at Comic House, Incorporated, 114 East 32nd Street, New York City, at a weekly salary of $150.”
      The FBI’s case file on Gleason may have had the beginning date wrong, but they were right about his connection to Comic House. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that; nothing in comic book publishing was ever that clear cut. No mention of Arthur Bernhard, his partner in publishing, or the several name changes the company had undergone. And consider Lev’s reported salary--about the same amount that could be earned by an industrious artist working for him. Being true to his egalitarian beliefs, Gleason believed in profit sharing with his employees, likely keeping his own income low.
      As their unnamed informant detailed, Gleason had been knocking around the publishing industry for a while.
      “Subject further admitted to [name redacted] that he had spent most of his adult life in Eastern United States, or in the vicinity of New York City, and had been engaged in the publishing business. He stated that he had served on the staff of the “National Sportsman”, a sporting magazine, and for nine years had been employed by the “Open Road for Boys”.
      Lev had been advertising manager there. By the mid-Thirties, as his file noted, “…(Gleason) had been employed by the Eastern Color Printing Company and the United Features Syndicate…”. It was while working at Eastern under sales manager Harry Wildenberg that Gleason became exposed to the comic book industry. In fact, Wildenberg and Lev’s fellow salesman, Max Gaines, jousted in print for years over claims to having invented the modern comic book.
      It’s likely that the Bureau didn‘t have many comic book fans, as the file duly noted such Gleason publications as, “…“Boy Comics”, “Silver Streak Comics”, “Dare Devil”, [sic] “Crime Doesn’t Pay,” [sic] and “Scoop Detective Cases”. (The last title was a crime magazine and not a comic.) It’s apparent, though, that the agent putting the file together had made a very recent trip to the newsstand. The very first issue of CRIME DOES NOT PAY (#22, replacing the canceled SILVER STREAK) had just come out, but still made it into his report.
      Their informant wasn‘t much of a comic fan either.
      “According to [name redacted], the publishing of the cheap pulp paper type comic booklets is a common practice and is considered a racket in the publishing fraternity in New York as little capital is needed to engage in this type of business, which is not highly regarded by reputable publishers.”

Bob Wood, Lev Gleason and Charles Biro publicity photo
      A brief listing of Gleason’s publishing efforts follows.
      “…he has produced a cheap publication, known as “Picture Digest” and has also published a magazine known as “Burlesque” [sic] emphasizing “leg art”. GLEASON is also known to have published a magazine “Friday” and to have published a booklet entitled “The Truth About the Red Army” which dealt with the Soviet Military Machine.”

BURLESK #1 (Aug. 1942)
[courtesy of Frank Motler]

      Nothing new there. The Director had noted some of these in his initial letter. The file then gets more personal.
      “Regarding subject’s habits and activities, [name redacted] was unable to furnish any derogatory information but stated that in his conversations he appeared to be above average in intelligence, liberal in his views an sincere in his feeling against Totalitarian forms of Government. GLEASON, by his conversation, indicated to [name redacted] that he is pro-Labor and is impartial to capitalism and that he advocates the (advance)ment of the under-privileged. [name redacted] further states (that) the subject speaks, reads and writes French fairly well.”
      Then it starts in on Gleason’s involvement with the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC).
      “[name redacted] indicated that a chapter letter, addressed to the Communist Party, Baltimore, Maryland, on May 5, 1943, signed by FELIX KUSMAN, of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, indicated that after the above-mentioned letter had referred to the work done by the Committee to bring about release of prisoners in Spain and France, it stated that LEVERETT S. GLEASON, a member of the Board of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, together with Miss Bryan, Executive Secretary, visited the State Department, “last week”.
      A heavily redacted paragraph follows and contains these damning lines.
      “ [name redacted] further advised that the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee is almost entirely Communist controlled, Communist managed and Communist backed. It‘s purpose is to bring about the release of Spanish political prisoners in Europe and to provide transportation to this country to carefully selected and capable organizers for use in the United States by the Communist Party.”
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      The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee had been controversial since its inception. It had grown out of the original Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign (SRRC), a broad-based, liberal-leaning organization founded in 1936 to aid the beleaguered Loyalists in their struggle against the Fascist-backed insurgents of general Francisco Franco.

Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign poster (1939)
      While the original organization enjoyed popular, high-level support (President Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, was its honorary chairman) and numbered many well-known artists and intellectuals among its members, it eventually came under the scrutiny of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, chaired by Martin Dies.
      Internal squabbling and pressure from governmental inquiries into suspected Communist infiltration of the SRRC led to a split in March, 1940, and the formation of the United American Spanish Aid Committee, which evolved into the JAFRC.
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      In September, 1941, Gleason and his new wife Margaret, moved from their apartment at 15 W. 106th Street in Harlem, to the bucolic lifestyle offered by Chappaqua. This Westchester County hamlet within the larger town of New Castle, had at one time been the home of another publisher, Horace “Go West, young man!” Greeley.
      Chappaqua was a curious choice of residence for Lev. Not only was the upscale enclave far removed from the common men he championed, it was also the home base of READER’S DIGEST and a bastion of the Republican party.
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      Despite being what yet another unnamed source called, “…a person who is very important in Communist circles,” Gleason kept a low profile. Usually.
      On July 21, 1943, Gleason addressed a letter to the editor of the local Chappaqua, New York newspaper, the NEW CASTLE TRIBUNE. In it, Lev responded to a statement made by Justice Hamilton Hicks, chairman of the town’s American Legion Post’s Committee on Americanism. Justice Hicks had commented on the ignorance of American children exhibited in a Legion sponsored essay contest, noting that some, “…had so slight a conception of the meaning of free government that they thought Russia is a republic.”
      “Regardless of how one may feel toward our Russian ally,” wrote Gleason, “I think that the truth will stand on its own feet and that little is to be gained by distortion. I dread to think of the future of education if the children are to be told that the Soviet Union is not a republic.”
      Gleason goes on to cite specific articles of the Soviet Constitution that reaffirm his contention. Further, he avers that, “The Constitution also guarantees by law freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of street processions and demonstrations, as well, of course, as freedom of religious worship.”
      “If the Soviet Union,” he writes in closing, “regardless of what virtues or faults one wishes to credit it with, is not a republic, what in heaven’s name is it?”
      Lev’s impassioned defense of what he saw as an attack on the Soviet Union, drew public attention; likely more than he had bargained for.
      Hicks responded with his own letter to the editor. After first castigating Gleason for being either, “…a victim of such ignorance or one of its promoters,” Hicks writes, “The report criticized by Mr. Gleason states that none of the students who entered the essay contest knew that the United States is a republic and that none understood that our freedom depends largely on our republican form of government, Mr. Gleason makes no comment on this shocking condition. It does not interest him. He is only interested in defending Russia from the implication that Russia is not a republic…”.
      Gleason responds with one more volley in the August 20th TRIBUNE.
      “…frankly I do not believe that, by and large, American school children are unaware that the U.S.A. is a republic. I think they know our country is a republic, love it deeply and fully appreciate its significance when they repeat: ‘I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands.’ Ours is an excellent school system, the teachers are of a high character, very capable instructors, and I believe personally the present crop of youngsters is about the best informed n all our history. Sorry, Mr. Hicks, I am interested, but I am not disturbed about the students.”
      “I am, however, disturbed about you, for you apparently wish to instruct the children that our Russian ally is not a republic. You answer me with quotations intended to prove that Russia is not democratic. This, of course is a different point altogether. Great Britain, for example, is a democracy--yet it is not a republic. The terms are not synonymous. For the sake of the young students, let us not confuse terms. Though, be assured, I am perfectly willing to uphold the argument that the Soviet Union is not republic--but democratic as well.”
      Lev goes on for a bit before finally asking that, “We might well refrain from criticisms of our allies at this time, if only for selfish reasons, and I for one believe that closer understanding of, and friendship for, our allies, together with ever stronger unity at home, are the first patriotic requirements of the hour.”
      In spite of his closing appeal to patriotism, Gleason’s public debate mainly drew suspicion to him. The FBI interviewed several residents of Chappaqua, beginning with Lev’s aforementioned sparring partner, Justice Hicks.
      Hicks, however, could provide little. While he didn’t know Gleason personally, Hicks mentioned that, “he believes that GLEASON is enrolled as a member of the American Labor Party,” and nothing more.
      The New Castle Chief of Police concurred. Chief Lester Romaine, “…stated that GLEASON had never been reported to him as a Communist nor had he received any indications that GLEASON was a member of any subversive organization.” Obligingly, he also checked to see if Lev had any local criminal record. He had none.
      An anonymous source at the Westchester Lighting Company provided that Gleason moved into his home on Park Drive on September 26, 1941. The name redacted source at the New York Telephone Company agreed with that date. Mundane stuff.
      A detailed accounting of his personal banking information was supplied by yet another unnamed person at Chappaqua National Bank. No suspicious transactions, but there were several checks from Comic House and Magazine House.
      Even his mail was checked, as the Bureau recorded the names and addresses of all mail he received for several months in early 1944.
      The paucity of incriminating information regarding Gleason is reflected the “Undeveloped Leads” assigned to both the Washington, DC and New York FBI field offices. While Washington confined their searches to State Department files, New York laid out an ambitious plan.
      “Will contact the officials of the “National Sportsman” and discreetly obtain information regarding the past activities of subject.”
      “Will similarly contact officials of the “Open Road for Boys”.
      “Will similarly contact the officials of “Eastern Color Printing Company”.
      And so on.
      The Bureau apparently intended to interview virtually everyone Gleason had ever worked for, associated with or passed on the street.
      “Will, if feasible, discreetly contact reliable individuals in the vicinity of 114 East 32nd Street, New York City, subject’s place of business, and obtain from them information relative to his activities and associates.”
      They also planned to photograph Lev, check his phone records, and go through his garbage.
      “Will, if feasible, obtain trash coverage of subject’s place of employment at 114 East 32nd Street.”
      Gleason’s home life would be scrutinized as well. A “confidential informant” would keep an eye on his activities, his mail would still be monitored and they would, “…through suitable pretext or other discreet methods, attempt to obtain a photograph of subject.”
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      The drought of information was broken in September, 1944, when Gleason formed a political action committee to reelect President Roosevelt and mass-mailed a letter to his fellow Chappaquans.
      “We plan an active campaign to roll up the largest possible Roosevelt vote in this Republican stronghold,“ he wrote, “We can, by hard work, pile up several hundred additional Roosevelt votes in our district.”
      The Bureau sent an informant to cover the first meeting.
      In the report of the meeting followed, the informant detailed every speaker’s words and noted that Gleason was elected President of the PAC.
      While noting that “about 35 persons were present at the meeting,” and that, “most of them there were well educated and well dressed. Many were dark and of swarthy appearance,” nothing subversive was discussed. Still, the informant provided a list of automobile license plates near the meeting hall.
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      Months of following undeveloped leads went by. Finally, on March 14, 1945, Director Hoover received a teletype headed, “URGENT”, from the New York field office.
      Gleason had mentioned to Helen Bryan (a possible informant?), executive secretary of JAFRC, that he had an appointment with Walter Winchell, the powerful newspaper columnist and radio commentator.
      Although Winchell was a close friend of Hoover’s and a avowed anti-Communist, he was also a fan of Gleason’s muckraking digest, READER’S SCOPE.
      The potentially explosive combination apparently set off alarms at the Bureau.

Walter Winchell, J. Edgar Hoover & Al Jolson
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      On May 5, 1945, a report was filed at the Bureau that collected a number of leads related to Gleason.
      While not directly attributing any Communist activity to Lev, the report does present information that appears to link him to the Party.
      The fact that Gleason was editor of READER’S SCOPE and that the magazine published articles by “known Communists”, was apparently of note.
      So, too, was the DAILY WORKER article of March 23, 1943, that told of Gleason and publishing partner Arthur Bernhard’s presentation of the Reader’s Scope Award, “to the American who had made the year’s most outstanding contribution to the fight against native Fascists and the threat of Fascism in America.”
      A clipping from the NEW CASTLE TRIBUNE dated April 6, 1945, covered the first meeting of Gleason’s newly formed Chappaqua Community Council, held in his home. Gleason moderated a panel discussion which concerned the sensitive topic, “The Obstacles to Permanent Peace”. This was a subject frequently featured in leftist magazines of the period, as it propounded the need for America and the USSR to continue as allies after the coming defeat of Hitler.
      Among the panelists invited to talk was Lement U. Harris, an unabashed Communist. If Gleason was hoping to avoid the FBI’s attention, he was picking the wrong friends.
      However, with leads leading nowhere and nothing substantially incriminating, the SAC of the New York field office sent this memo to Director Hoover on July 2, 1945.
      “A review of the file fails to disclose that the subject is of sufficient importance in the Communist Movement to warrant the continued designation of a key figure. Therefore, he is being deleted from the New York Key Figure List. A Security Index Card on the subject is being maintained.
“The undeveloped leads in this case are not being covered and the case is being marked closed, subject to being reopened if any information is received in the future to warrant such action.”
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      And within six months, the Bureau reopened Lev’s file.
      Lev’s Chappaqua Community Council was drawing bad publicity in the community. A number of speakers invited by him carried leftist credentials and unfavorable coverage of the council’s meetings in the NEW CASTLE TRIBUNE led Gleason to create his own competing paper, the NEW CASTLE NEWS.
      The newspaper, which premiered on November 1, 1945, reflected Gleason’s personal leanings. One of his columnists, Johannes Steele, was singled out for mention in the Bureau report for supporting among other things, “that the atomic bomb secret should be given to Russia.”
      The tension between Gleason’s paper and the community manifested in a Halloween night act of vandalism. Someone smeared the words, “Jews” and “Communist” on the window of the NEW CASTLE NEWS office. While police chief Romaine assured the Bureau that it was the action of “several young boys”, Gleason printed a photo of the offensive graffiti along with a photo from pre-War Germany with a similar window scrawled with the word, “Jude”.
      According to the report, Gleason, “made a comparison of the smearing of his newspaper office windows to the action of the Fascists in Germany smearing the store windows of Jews prior to the war. He also wrote an editorial on this matter, stating that the individuals who smeared his newspaper windows were undoubtedly Fascists.”
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      As the war ended, the Bureau’s attention became more overtly directed at the perceived threat of homegrown Communists.
      “An article appeared in the “New York Telegram” on December 11, 1945 by FREDERICK WOLTMAN, World Telegram Staff Writer, stating that LEVERETT S. GLEASON intends to act as promoter and publisher of a new monthly magazine entitled “Salute”, due to be published in February 1946.”
      Gleason’s involvement with SALUTE had been public knowledge, reported in numerous articles leading up to its publication. A NEW YORK TIMES article of March 3, 1946, was typical, citing the YANK and STARS AND STRIPES credits of its editors and writers.
      “Most of the contributors to the fifteen-cent monthly will be veterans whose names are familiar to soldier readers of the two Army publications.” ⁴
      Woltman, however, had a totally different take on Gleason and the staff.
      “WOLTMAN, in his article, sets out background information of GLEASON alleging that he has been known as a pro-Communist fellow traveller [sic] in the past.”
      Woltman notes Gleason’s connection to FRIDAY and READER’S SCOPE, “…a magazine which closely follows the Communist Party Line.”
      “It is pointed out here,” the report goes on, “that the foreign editor of “Reader’s Scope” is JOHANNES STEELE previously reported as a pro-Soviet radio commentator.”
      “Woltman’s article also sets out the fact that GLEASON became one of the five directors of the “Peoples Radio Foundation”…”.
      People’s Radio was a proposed network of FM radio stations with a leftist lean and an illustrious group of supporters.
      Along with Lev, charter members included Charlie Chaplin, Rockwell Kent, Langston Hughes and Howard Fast. In April, 1946, the FCC denied the People’s Radio application for a license to broadcast in New York City.
      “Information received from [name redacted] indicates that GLEASON is closely associated with ALEXANDER L. TRACHTENBERG, head of “International Publishers”, official Communist book publisher. GLEASON and TRACHTENBERG have on a number of occasions discussed publication projects of the Communist Party. Also information received from [names redacted] indicates that GLEASON and [name redacted] are rather closely associated and on occasion confer regarding political matters pertaining to Communist Party policies.”
__________________________________________________________

      The latest Bureau report coincided (but probably not coincidentally) with the most public scrutiny yet of Gleason. On April 4, 1946, the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) began its investigation into “Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States”. One of its targets was JAFRC and as a consequence of his membership on its executive board, Lev Gleason.
      Gleason and 17 other members of the JAFRC had been subpoenaed to testify before the HCUA concerning their refusal to produce records and papers previously requested by the investigating body. JAFRC’s chairman, Dr. Edward Barsky, have already appeared before the HCUA empty-handed, stating that the executive board had agreed unanimously to deny the House committee’s request.
      Ernie Adamson, HCUA’s counsel, questioned Gleason about his part in the meeting wherein the executive board members reported denied to produce the records.
      “MR. ADAMSON: I want to ask you if you participated in that meeting either by personal attendance or proxy or by telephone?
      MR. GLEASON: I was not present at the meeting. By telephone I voted with the majority.
      MR. ADAMSON: And you voted to withhold the record from the committee?
      MR. GLEASON: No, I did not. That was not the question that was asked.” ⁵
      Gleason contended that the only question asked was whether custodianship of JAFRC’s records should be changed from Helen Bryan, the executive secretary, to Dr. Barsky. Lev resolutely adhered to this position, denying that he ever voted to refuse the records to HCUA or that he personally had the capacity to produce those records. Representative Karl Mundt was suspicious.
      “MR. MUNDT: What are you trying to conceal?
      MR. GLEASON: We are not trying to conceal anything.
      MR. MUNDT: It seems to me that there is a strange, stubborn conflict between your testimony and that which Dr. Barsky gave, his sworn testimony before this committee when he was here.” ⁶

Dr. Edward Barsky (1937)
[image obtained from the Library of Congress
      Barsky had previously testified that, “…the board of directors, the executive board had the ultimate authority to produce the records,” ⁷ apparently contradicting Gleason’s own words.
      Mundt had inadvertently touched upon an internal dispute within the JAFRC that would soon manifest itself publicly.
__________________________________________________________

      The very next day, the JAFRC ran a full page ad in the NEW YORK TIMES.

NEW YORK TIMES (April 5, 1946)
      The public appeal failed to garner sufficient support within Congress. On April 17th, by a split of 292 to 56, the House voted to cite Gleason and 16* other members of the JAFRC for contempt. The accused fought in court to get the charges dismissed, to no avail. On March 31, 1947, they were finally indicted by a District grand jury and on July 16, 1947, they received their punishments.
      Dr. Barsky received the stiffest sentence: six months in prison and a $500 fine. Ten others, including writer Howard Fast, Gleason’s collaborator on the Tito booklet, received three months in jail and the same fine. Lev got off a bit easier.

THE INCREDIBLE TITO, MAN OF THE HOUR (1944)
by Howard Fast and published by Gleason
[despite the hyperbolic title, it's not a comic book]
      “Five of the original sixteen defendants were fined $500 each, and received also three-month suspended sentences. They had told the court that they had resigned from the committee and desired to purge themselves of the contempt.”
      “Among them were Herman Shumlin, Hollywood and Broadway theatrical producer, and Leverett Gleason, publisher of the magazine, “Reader’s Scope”.” ⁸

* While 17 seem to have been originally indicted for contempt, it appears only 16 made it to conviction.
__________________________________________________________

      The Bureau report of July 3, 1946 contained their latest revelation.
      “The title of this report is being changed to reflect the addition of the subject’s nickname LEV GLEASON.”
      Details of Gleason’s past were gradually being revealed, in large part due to a biographical piece that ran in the New York City “negro weekly” , PEOPLE’S VOICE, on August 5, 1944.
      “Gleason is a tall, New Englander,” wrote journalist, Ted Zitel, “a veteran of both World Wars, a fast thinker, who has been a stock broker, a Broadway restaurateur, a comic book publisher, as well as a publisher of other fast selling paper covered books…”.
The agent compiling the Bureau’s report summarized, “The article stated that many years ago GLEASON worked in a stock exchange firm editing its monthly paper to the clients but that he was very unhappy in this job; that a fellow employee of his shared his dislike and together they planned to leave, this fellow employee being WALTER PIDGEON, the screen actor.”
      The agent also gleaned a possible reason for Gleason’s social consciousness from the same article.
      “According to the article, GLEASON was a Bostonian whose maternal grandfather and the person for whom he was named, LEVERETT G. E. STONE, devoted much of his fortitude and energies to the abolitionist movement in the border states of Kentucky and Ohio. The article stated that his (grand)father Dr. AARON GLEASON, a sergeant in the United States Army during the Civil War, retired to New Hampshire where for many years after the war he devoted much of his practice to the free treatment of negro veterans.”
      Another article was cited, from the DAILY WORKER of December 17, 1944, that named Lev as one of the five directors of the People’s Radio Foundation, “…a community type FM station in which trade unions, peoples organizations and progressive leaders in religious, civic, fraternal and community life could participate and guide the policies of programs and services.”
      This surprisingly even-handed tone was suddenly reversed with the cold conclusion, “PEOPLE’S RADIO FOUNDATION INC. is known to the New York Field Office to be a Communist front project.”
      According to one of the Bureau’s unnamed informants, Gleason apparently showed some reluctance when it came to funding the JAFRC.
      Gleason, he stated, “…has been long a financial angel for numerous Communist front organizations and projects in New York City.”
“…GLEASON gave him a song and dance about how many thousands of dollars he had raised for the Spanish Appeal Committee during the previous period. According to [name redacted] GLEASON claimed he had for the time being exhausted his contacts.”
      The Bureau report went on to summarize the Frederick Woltman article that had referred to Gleason as, “a pro-Communist fellow traveller [sic]”. One of their informants had more to add.
      “ [name redacted] advised that on December 16, 1945 that GLEASON told ALBERT E. KAHN…that he was suing FREDERICK WOLTMAN of the NEW YORK WORLD-TELEGRAM for the article previously mentioned.”
      Gleason brought a libel suit against Woltman and the NEW YORK WORLD-TELEGRAM for $500,000.
__________________________________________________________

      Frederick Woltman had been at the WORLD-TELEGRAM since 1929, when he was fired from his career as a philosophy instructor at the University of Pittsburgh. He was accused of being a Communist for an article he had written condemning police brutality during a coal strike.
      Over time, Woltman’s world view swung rightwards and he began to specialize in reporting upon Communist infiltration of labor and political organizations.
      At about the same time Gleason was suing him, the WORLD-TELEGRAM was publishing a series of articles Woltman wrote under the umbrella title of, “Exposing Communist Infiltration”. In May, 1947, he won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting based upon that series.
__________________________________________________________

      The attacks on Gleason were coming from all sides. Congressman George Dondero derided Lev and his latest publication in the March 15, 1946, WORLD-TELEGRAM.
      Dondero, noted the FBI report,“…officially accused “SALUTE” magazine of being an insidious hoax and a means by the Communist Party of infiltrating into “veterans organizations and to incite veterans against our government.”. Representative DONDERO said the magazine in its first issue “followed the Communist line to the letter”.
      Apparently, Gleason refused to back down and hide. To make his case, he chose the editorial page of his NEW CASTLE NEWS to use as his bully pulpit. The March 28, 1946, edition of the paper contained his words under the title, “Playing With Our Children’s Lives”, and according the compiling agent, he condemned the, “…evil men in our country and other lands” who were conspiring to risk another world war in order that “they and their interests might become enriched”.
      An article in PRINTER’S INK dated May 2, 1946, castigated Congress for what they deemed the Un-American acts of the HCUA, an article which Gleason quoted in an editorial a week later.
      His editorial of May 16th, though, confronted the whispers head on.
      “GLEASON was the writer of another editorial which appeared in the NEW CASTLE NEWS for May 16, 1946 entitled “DON’T BELIEVE RUMORS”. In this editorial he talked about the “Communist threat in New Castle Township. He said that his community was the least likely in the whole country where Communism could take root. He said he seriously doubted whether the Communist Party had ever heard of Chappaqua and that he was certain it had no concern for the affairs of this township.”
      The Bureau report further noted, “He pointed out that under American laws any citizen may be a Communist if he chose but he doubted that in all New Castle Communists would number one tenth of one percent of the population. GLEASON declared that it was an easy though cowardly device to shout “Communist” at anyone and everyone with whom one disagreed…”.
      The report ended with the “Undeveloped Leads” to-do list in Chappaqua for the New York Field Office .
      “Will follow and report subject’s activities in Communist Party affairs.”
__________________________________________________________

      A redacted copy of Lev’s local draft board application from April, 1942, was contained in the next Bureau report of January 17, 1947. The additional personal data to be gleaned from it indicates that Gleason stated a yearly income of $7,500 from his various publishing ventures. Furthermore, in 1939, he was the proprietor of a “tavern“.
      The tavern in question was named Kent’s, an eatery lauded by columnist L. L. Stevenson in his May 16, 1939 column, “Lights of New York“.
      “A newspaper man going into the restaurant business being something of a bit out of the ordinary, stopped for dinner at Kent’s where Leverett Gleason, who used to edit comic pages, is one of the two impresarios. Found the food of such excellence and the company so congenial that we lingered late, the fact that prices are modest despite the Broadway location, also possessing appeal.” ⁹
      For a period of less than a year, Lev’s restaurant at 1677 Broadway hosted such typically bourgeois gatherings as theater afterglow parties and art showings before he apparently called it quits.
      He was also paying alimony to his ex-wife, Marie, totaling $1,550 per year.
__________________________________________________________

      The Bureau report dated February 19, 1947, divulged that Lev had married Margaret, reportedly his second wife, on September 20, 1941, before a Justice of the Peace in Stamford, Connecticut.
      Leaving no stone unturned, this information led to the next “Undeveloped Leads” request for the New York Field Division to “secure appropriate data concerning her parents”.
__________________________________________________________

      A March 18, 1947, report dug even deeper into Gleason’s affairs. And into his personal mail.
      “ [name redacted] advised on December 12, 1946, that a letter addressed to LEVERETT GLEASON, c/o the NEW CASTLE NEWS, Chappaqua, New York, was postmarked Islington, Mass., on December 9, 1946, bearing the return address of [name redacted] Islington, Mass.
      The letter stated:

            “Dear Lev,
            I’ve got the dope on Wally and will leave the stuff with Welen’s. Will see you in the store 9 A.M. Saturday, December 14; Be there.
                  /s/ Rog.”

      The informant advised that WELEN’S is a drug store and stationary store located in Chappaqua and the Informant offered the opinion that the subject probably was meeting someone there each Saturday morning. Regarding the individual termed as “Wally” in the letter, the Informant also offered the opinion that this might refer either HENRY WALLACE former Vice-President and Secretary of Commerce, or [name redacted].”
__________________________________________________________

      Unknown to Gleason and most other Americans, the FBI had been performing “mail covers” for a number of years. Post office employees were led to believe that this just entailed the copying of names, addresses and postmarks off envelopes, but in actuality, there was more to it.
      A select group of FBI agents were schooled in undetectable mail-opening techniques. This program, designated “Z-Coverage”, was initially begun in 1940 and targeted the Axis powers. It lived on, though, lasting until 1966.
__________________________________________________________

      The Bureau report continued.
      “The Informant pointed out that GLEASON in his local newspaper has been carrying on a crusade against the READER’S DIGEST, alleging that the DIGEST is anti-labor and pro-capitalist.”
      A revelation that surely startled nobody.
      “The Informant also advised that information had been received to the effect that the New York World Telegram in defending its suit by GLEASON against the World Telegram and FREDERICK WOLTMAN, in the Supreme Court, New York County, had filed a defense brief.”
      And their brief contained a bombshell.
      “They stated that under the name of ALEXANDER LEV, GLEASON became a member of the Communist Party in or about the year 1939."
      The brief goes on to note Gleason’s signing of a nominating petition for a Communist candidate under his own name.
      “The files of the New York Field Division were checked for information under the name ALEXANDER LEV. It was determined that an individual by the name ALEXANDER LEV was Business Manager for a publication known as SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY. He was employed by the SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC., located at 114 East 32nd Street, New York City. It is pointed out that this is the same address where GLEASON presently maintains his publishing business.”
__________________________________________________________

      To this point, Gleason’s comic publishing business had been apparently unaffected by the unfavorable publicity and scrutiny. The mere mention in the WORLD-TELEGRAM’s brief that his funny book company shared an address with a Communist publishing firm was a game changer. If the case made it to court, then everyone would know.
      What red-blooded American parent would let their kid buy a comic published by Commies?

"Trigger-Happy Durkin" page
from CRIME DOES NOT PAY #52 (June 1947)
[on newsstands around the time Gleason
was indicted for contempt]
      Gleason had been instrumental in presenting a positive face for the comic industry. (Among his efforts was the proposed dropping of comic books to children in the Soviet Union.) As of late, it had been under increasing criticism from concerned parents, politicians and professionals over the supposed adverse societal effects the comics had upon children. The offending comics most often cited were the brutal crime books, of which, Gleason’s CRIME DOES NOT PAY was the poster child.
      In an attempt to head off the witch hunters, Gleason ran a “self-imposed censorship” letter on the inside front cover of both CRIME DOES NOT PAY #63 and CRIME AND PUNISHMENT #2 (May 1948 issues).

inside cover of CRIME DOES NOT PAY #63 (May 1948)
[recognize the photo?]
      Though ostensibly penned by editor Charles Biro, the list of “don'ts” obviously had Gleason’s blessing. And while it was primarily geared toward assuaging concerns about inappropriate sexuality and violence, note that “don’t” number 12 mandated, “Any political propaganda is out--in other words--no between-the-lines political soap-boxing.”
__________________________________________________________

      “Special Agent [name redacted] ascertained from [name redacted] staff writer for the New York World Telegram, that LEVERETT GLEASON, when he was known as ALEXANDER LEV was manager of SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY from 1933 to 1939.”
      A time period roughly coinciding with his employment at Eastern Color and United Features Syndicate.
      In addition to signing a petition for a Communist political candidate, the informant claimed Lev also, “at one time was Campaign Manager for the Communist Party.”
      The hoped-for chilling effect of the defense brief was expressed in the informant’s, “…belief that no further action would be taken by GLEASON in furtherance of the suit.”
      He was right. Gleason dropped the lawsuit.
__________________________________________________________

      A heavily redacted portion of the Bureau report mentions the formation of Leverett Gleason Publications, Inc. on April 17, 1946. According to the file, this corporation was created from the merger of Comic House, Boy Comic, Inc., Reader’s Scope and Magazine House. For some unexplained reason, Gleason and his unnamed partner (Arthur Bernhard perhaps?) both withdrew their names as principals in the corporation. A likely guess would be that they wanted to distance themselves and their politics from the company.
      One intriguing tidbit that also emerges is the existence of yet another corporation owned by Gleason and friends. It appears that Teledrama, Inc. was formed on July 16, 1945, “to produce silent films with musical backgrounds of various comic characters appearing in LEV GLEASON publications.”
__________________________________________________________

      Lev was apparently busy during the fall months of 1946.
      In August, he co-sponsored a JAFRC event at Lake Mahopac, New York; an event that was noted to have, “caused considerable adverse publicity,” in the region.
      Then, in September, he met with an official from the National Council of American Soviet Friendship to discuss holding a rally for former Secretary of Commerce, Henry Wallace at Yankee Stadium. The two, “…indicated that they intended to build WALLACE into a new ROOSEVELT.”
      In October, Gleason joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). “The informant advised that GLEASON was attempting to use the VFW against the AMERICAN LEGION POST at Chappaqua.” As the American Legion was in the forefront of anti-Communist sentiment in general, and the local post anti-Gleason in particular, this droplet of information rings true.
      Finally, in November, Lev was involved in a conference with yet another official of an American-Soviet friendship organization. During this discussion, Gleason made reference to several individuals who fell under the purview of the “Foreign Agents Registration Act”. This act requires that anyone representing the interests of a foreign power register with the Department of Justice. At least one person mentioned by Gleason had failed to register in violation of the act.
      While this section of the Bureau report has been redacted to near-incomprehensibility, the implication is that Gleason was wading into dangerous waters.
__________________________________________________________

      A letter from M.A. Jones of the FBI addressed to a name redacted staff member of READER’S SCOPE MAGAZINE.
      “Reference is made to the telegram dated April 29, 1947, from the captioned individual requesting permission to have exclusive rights to reprint the Director’s article entitled, “How Good A Parent Are You?” which appeared in This Week Magazine on April 20, 1947.”
      The letter writer details Gleason’s involvements with JAFRC, the People’s Radio Foundation and his HCUA contempt conviction. After sternly noting that Gleason had been, “in contact with known Communist Party leaders and having aided in raising funds for various front groups,” he further describes READER'S SCOPE as, “Anti-Fascist and pro-Russian”.

READER'S SCOPE (Dec. 1946)
      The fact that the magazine had also run a recent article suggesting that the FBI was being made into a “political police organization”, didn’t help either.
      “RECOMMENDATION: That the request be denied.”
__________________________________________________________

      A brief report was filed on April 15, 1948, noting the concern of an unnamed citizen of Chappaqua to Gleason’s election as the local VFW Post Commander.
      Despite the approval of 90% of the post’s members, the election was the subject of a White Plains newspaper article that stated that a county VFW official had been dispatched to question them individually.
__________________________________________________________

      An office memorandum dated February 8, 1949, from “Mr. Nichols” of the New York field office to “Mr. Tolson” in Washington, D.C.

      “SUBJECT: LEV GLEASON PUBLICATIONS, INC.

[name redacted, but possibly Charles Biro?] for the above publications, called at the Bureau this morning for the purpose of obtaining information as a basis for a feature article on scientific methods of crime detection. He asked to go on a tour of the Bureau and was conducted by Supervisor [name redacted]. On his return he was informed that in view of the man commitments at the present time, it would not be possible to develop any material for him along the lines that he wished. This action is taken in view of the character of Gleason and the type of publications he has handled in the past of which “Reader’s Scope” magazine is typical.”
      The letter goes on, “ [name redacted] during his visit stated that the Gleason Publications are putting out a new magazine in June or July which will be called “Tops”.

TOPS #1 (July 1949)
      “When [name redacted] left the office he stated that he would forward a copy of the first issue of the magazine “Tops” to our attention as soon as it was released and he hoped that at some future time arrangements could be made for an article. He was given no commitment or encouragement along this line.”
      Clyde Tolson’s handwritten response was scrawled across the bottom of the copy:
      “We will have nothing to do with this crowd.”
__________________________________________________________

      An Inspection Report dated October 17, 1949, notes that there have been no updates to Gleason’s information file since May 5,1947.
      “Bureau instructions that reports be submitted every six months in key figure cases have obviously not been complied with in this case. Immediate arrangements should be made so that a current report shall be submitted to the Bureau without further delay.”
__________________________________________________________

      An updated report was filed on January 30, 1950. Apparently, the New York SAC took the Inspection Report to heart. Along with the previously recorded information, new details and a close reading of Gleason‘s writings were included.
      “On February 4, 1948 [name redacted] of known reliability advised that according to [name redacted] of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, the subject had severed all relations with Dr. EDWARD BARSKY, National Chairman of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee and had not spoken to him since the contempt sentences had been received.”
      A current battle being fought by Gleason was the allegation that he employed a man named Gerhardt Eisler as a writer at READER’S SCOPE. Eisler was a prominent member of the German Communist Party who came to the U.S. in the Thirties. He was indicted by HCUA in 1947 for contempt and for misrepresenting his Communist affiliation to the government. NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE described Eisler as the “number one Red agent”,¹⁰ and his supposed connection to Lev was proving to be yet another problem.
      To combat this and other allegations, Gleason once again took to the pages of his NEW CASTLE NEWS on March 13, 1947, to respond.
      This time, though, instead of writing an editorial, he submits to an interview, with carefully crafted questions that would allow him to make his points. As inclusion in the Bureau report occurs some 2 ½ years after publication of this interview, some of Gleason’s thoughts are painfully dated and at odds with what eventually transpired.

NEW CASTLE NEWS Gleason interview (March 13, 1947)
as it appeared in FBI report.
Page 1
Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

__________________________________________________________

      After the presentation of Gleason’s interview, the Bureau report notes his attendance at a dinner sponsored by the Civil Rights Congress which was essentially an inauguration of a campaign to oust Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi.
      Bilbo was a notorious, unabashed racist, who once proclaimed his membership in the Ku Klux Klan and by stating, “"No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux." ¹¹
      Gleason contributed $500 to the cause.
      He, too, was an attendee at a meeting of the Congress of American Women on March 28, 1947. At this meeting, Gleason commented on a speech made by President Truman that, “When Truman spoke he shot the works and he shot the American people.”
      The compiling agent follows this item with, “It is to be noted that the Congress of American Women is as organization that has been designated as a Communist front organization by the Attorney General…”.
__________________________________________________________

      Gleason editorialized once again within the pages of his NEW CASTLE NEWS on March 27, 1947, regarding the inquiries being made by officials into the loyalty of government workers.

NEW CASTLE NEWS Gleason editorial (March 27, 1947)
quoted in FBI report.
Page 1

Page 2

__________________________________________________________

      Lev had thoughts, too, about the current American foreign policy in the March 20, 1947, edition of the NEW CASTLE NEWS.

NEW CASTLE NEWS Gleason editorial (March 20, 1947)
quoted in FBI report.
Page 1

Page 2

_________________________________________________________

      From the Bureau report of July 27, 1950.

      “RE: LEVERETT STONE GLEASON

      LOUIS F. BUDENZ, formerly managing editor of the “Daily Worker” and a Communist Party functionary until he broke with the Party in October, 1945 has been interviewed during the past few months concerning the concealed Communists whom he knew. The person named above as the subject of this case, was one of those individuals whom BUDENZ described as a concealed Communist. BUDENZ describes a concealed Communist as one who does not hold himself out as a Communist and who would deny membership in the Party.”
__________________________________________________________

      From a letter to the Director.
      “Attached is a blind memorandum dictated by LOUIS F. BUDENZ and containing all the pertinent information concerning the subject which BUDENZ could presently recollect.”
__________________________________________________________

      From Louis Budenz’s memo regarding Leverett Gleason.
      “I have met him on several occasions as a Communist, notably, twice at the home of FREDERICK VANDERBILT FIELD on 12th Street. Mr. GLEASON was a very active Communist in 1944 and 1945, to my knowledge., advising the Daily Worker on its tabloid appearance and also participating in other advice to the Party on publication matters.”
“While I received official information of this at the Daily Worker through members of the Politburo, specifically my chief source of information, [name redacted] at the same time I met GLEASON and discussed these matters with him personally. Also, he advised me, as I knew from other sources, that he employed members of the Daily Worker staff as writers on the Reader’s Scope.”
“In the Politburo discussions, and confirmed by Mr. GLEASON to me, Reader’s Scope was also established in order to fight the Reader’s Digest and to be a Communist Party means of invading that field.”
__________________________________________________________

      The revelations of the Budenz memo apparently failed to impress the New York SAC. Soon after, on August 25, 1950, he filed this report.

      “SUBJECT: LEVERETT STONE GLEASON

      Review of the subject’s file indicates that he has been carried as a key figure in the New York Office because of his importance in the Communist movement. This activity appears to have been his associations with the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, “Reader’s Scope”, and individuals who are known Communists or are believed to be pro-Communists. The file review also reflects that he is no longer associated with the tow above mentioned organizations although he is still reported to maintain pro-Communist sympathies. There is nothing to indicate that he is important in the Communist movement at the present time.
In view of the above, this individual no longer will be carried as a key figure in the New York Office.”
__________________________________________________________

      The SAC’s report was filed along with an updated report that offered little new information other than a quotes from the competing NEW CASTLE TRIBUNE of June 16, 1950, which detailed Gleason’s JAFRC conviction and noted, “Mr. GLEASON was enrolled to vote on the Communist ticket in 1933 and 1935, according to the registry of voters of the Board of Elections of New York City…”.
      Currently, though, Gleason had gone mainstream and registered in 1949 as a Democrat.
__________________________________________________________

      After three years without any mention, the FBI had an interest once again in Lev Gleason. The Bureau was looking into suspected espionage activity by Walter Bernstein, a former writer for Gleason’s SALUTE magazine. On August 13, 1953, a new report--stamped ’SECRET’--was filed. And a new view of Gleason was being seen.
      “Gleason was reported to have been a CP member and pro-Communist; he was a director of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC), and was convicted of contempt of Congress. He resigned and recanted. As a result, he received a three months suspended sentence and $500 fine instead of a jail sentence. He was reported to have severed relations with Dr. Edward K. Barsky, National Chairman of the JAFRC. During 1944-1945, he was consulted by the CP for advice on the operation of its publications. He is self-employed at the present time, publishing a weekly newspaper at Chappaqua, New York, and comic and pulp magazines in NYC. He is reported to be anti-Communist and approachable at this time. Gleason is presently on the security index. Letter prepared for New York Office authorizing interview with Gleason.”
__________________________________________________________

      A report detailing Gleason’s history was once again attached. This time, though, there was an assurance that he was now, “definitely anti-Communist and could be approached.”
      “The New York Office is being authorized by the attached letter to interview Leverett Gleason. If cooperative, Gleason can furnish information about Bernstein’s activity around the pertinent period. If he is completely cooperative, Gleason can furnish information about his own Communist Party and front activities. [name redacted] can adequately be protected during the interview as our interest in Bernstein can stem from his mention in “Red Channels” or other public records and our real interest does not have to be disclosed. Gleason’s cooperativeness should be readily apparent early in the interview and if he is not cooperative, the interview can be terminated.”
      Hoover authorized Gleason’s interview in an attached letter.
__________________________________________________________

      A letter from the New York SAC to J. Edgar Hoover dated September 25, 1953.
“GLEASON was interviewed on 9/23/1953 by SAS [name redacted] and [name redacted] which interview was conducted in accordance with existing instructions relating to interviews of Security subjects.
      GLEASON was cooperative during the interview and stated that he recalled WALTER BERNSTEIN as a writer for “New Yorker” magazine from whose conversation he appeared pro-Communist but GLEASON had no information regarding BERNSTEIN’S CP membership.
      GLEASON could not recall any specific incidents to bear out GLEASON’S belief that BERNSTEIN was pro-Communist.
      He stated that several years ago, at a time that he cannot recall, BERNSTEIN and two or three other men, names not recalled, approached him and suggested he publish a magazine entitled, “Salute”, which would be written along the style of “Yank”, a US Army publication for GIs. GLEASON stated that BERNSTEIN appeared to be a spokesman for the group. He stated that, after the magazine was described to him, he thought it would be a good idea and might make some money so GLEASON consented to publish “Salute”. He put in $5,000.00. He stated that, when he saw the first issue, he was immediately of the opinion that the magazine was too “arty” and would not sell. He voiced his objections to BERNSTEIN but his objections were talked down. After about two of three issues, GLEASON saw that the magazine was a losing proposition and he stated that he wanted to get out of the venture. GLEASON stated that he was bought out by [name redacted] and that within a year “Salute” went out of business. GLEASON stated that he has not seen or heard from WALTER BERNSTEIN since that time.”

SALUTE MAGAZINE (Jan. 1947)
[after Gleason left SALUTE, it evolved into a "men's interest" magazine]
      “In view of GLEASON’S cooperativeness, he was questioned further about his own Communist activities.
      GLEASON stated that, in the early 1930s, he believed that the Soviet Union was the answer to the world’s problems and he was sympathetic to the Soviet Union. He stated that he joined the CP in 1936 or 1937 and remained a member for approximately two years. He stated that he became disillusioned with the Party with the Soviet-Nazi Pact in 1939 and thereafter had nothing to do with the Party.
      In connection with the magazine, “Salute”, he stated that FREDERICK WOLTMAN wrote an article stating that GLEASON had thought up a new magazine to be called “Salute” which he was going to use as a sounding board for Party doctrine among GIs. GLEASON stated that he was particularly incensed because the original idea for “Salute” was brought to him by WALTER BERNSTEIN and the two or three other men with BERNSTEIN and that the only reason GLEASON went into the venture was to make some money.
      GLEASON stated that, when he was in the CP, he as known as LEV.
      He stated that he is sympathetic to the work that the FBI is trying to perform but that he has no use for Senator JOSEPH MCCARTHY.
      He stated that, in his opinion, MCCARTHY is a “head-line hunter” and he contrasted this type of “sensationalism” with the attitude of Director J. EDGAR HOOVER toward his work. He stated that, in his opinion, the Director avoids “making headlines” and is performing much more constructive work along security lines than any other organization he has ever heard of.”
__________________________________________________________

      The SAC took time at this point to mention the contradicting statements made by Gleason and Louis Budenz concerning Lev’s status as a “very active Communist in 1944 and 1945.”
      “It may well be that GLEASON’S comment concerning BUDENZ could be classified as a self-serving declaration.”
__________________________________________________________

      The rest of Gleason’s interview concerned his connection to Gerhardt Eisler. Lev apparently sought to distance himself from him as well. According to Gleason, Eisler approached him with an offer to write articles for READER’S SCOPE on “the international scene.” Gleason (not quite matching his answer in his earlier interview published in the NEW CASTLE NEWS) agreed to publish two of them for a payment of $50 a piece.
      When Eisler apparently claimed in a newspaper article to have been an editor for READER’S SCOPE, Gleason contacted the paper for a retraction, which they refused to give. Gleason’s disavowal of Eisler contradicted the latter’s employment history claim and helped lead to his deportation.
      “GLEASON stated that to top it all off, when the hearing was over, as MRS. EISLER passed GLEASON she looked at him and spit in his face.”
__________________________________________________________

      The FBI figured that Lev had more to give and was given permission for yet another interview with him in a letter from Hoover dated October 16, 1953.
__________________________________________________________

      From FBI memorandum of January 5, 1954.
      “GLEASON was interviewed on 12/22/53 by SAS [name redacted] and [name redacted] concerning [name redacted] Communist activities.
      As previously reported in relet 9/25/53, GLEASON stated that he joined the CP in 1936 or 1937 and left in approximately 1939, after the Soviet-Nazi Pact came into existence. He stated that during his membership he went to meetings for a short while somewhere on the Lower East Side of NYC. Thereafter, he moved over to a study group which spent its time on theoretical discussions. GLEASON stated that he never held any office during this time but that he has no recollection of any details concerning these groups, such as identities of members, officers, meetings, etc.
      GLEASON stated that his break with Communism was not a thing which occurred overnight but was a gradual process being completed with the Soviet-Nazi Pact, mentioned above.”
__________________________________________________________

      The next portion of Lev’s interview was regarding his involvement with the DAILY WORKER as charged by Louis Budenz. Gleason’s version was that he was simply invited by someone at the paper to a meeting to discuss details about the tabloid size of the publication. Most of the comments offered were, “complimentary”, including his own that size didn’t matter as much in improving circulation as, “improvement of the quality of news coverage”.
      “Concerning the CP itself, GLEASON stated that he believed the party consisted of reformists who were motivated by a desire to improve social conditions of the common man. He characterized his description of the party as a group of “super new dealers”.
      He stated that he does not believe this today and refused to give his present opinion, stating that he has no opinion of the party’s purposes, since his complete divorcement with party philosophy from about 1940 to date, would prevent him from having an opinion. He stated that at no time as a member did he ever believe that the organization had revolutionary aims and purposes.”
__________________________________________________________

      “Concerning “Reader’s Scope” formerly edited by GLEASON, he stated that sometime in the early 1940’s another publisher then in the same building where GLEASON maintained his office (114 East 32nd St., NYC) whose name was [name redacted, but probably Arthur Bernhard] approached GLEASON with the idea of “Reader’s Scope”.

Inside back cover READER'S SCOPE (Dec. 1946)
Gleason editorial
      According to GLEASON, [name redacted, but likely Bernhard] had made a lot of money publishing “trashy” and “leg art” magazines and wanted to get on to a higher plane in the publishing field.
      GLEASON agreed to go in on the venture because he thought he could make some money out of it, and HOWARD FAST was engaged by [name redacted] (for) “Reader’s Scope”. FAST was chosen, according to GLEASON, because he name was becoming well known as the author of “Citizen Thomas Paine” and other works.
      GLEASON stated that trouble between him and FAST started since GLEASON saw the proofs of the first issue. The issue was almost completely filled with articles dealing with phases of the Jewish question such as persecution, advancement, history, destiny, etc.
      GLEASON told FAST that the articles should be more diversified for greater reader appeal, thereupon FAST accused GLEASON of being anti-Semitic and as a result of the ensuing argument, FAST quit and GLEASON became Editor. The magazine lasted about five years and “folded” about 1948. GLEASON denied any knowledge of Communist influence in the “Reader’s Scope” or that any of the writers employed on the staff were party members.
      GLEASON further stated that he really did not know if anyone was a party member to his knowledge, that he may have “guessed” a person’s political philosophy through things that person stated or his reaction to a set of circumstances, but that he did have no actual knowledge of anyone’s membership or other Communist activity.”
__________________________________________________________

      “Regarding the JAFRC, GLEASON stated that one time (GLEASON states he is very poor on remembering dates) his friend and personal physician, Dr. EDWARD BARSKY, told him about the JAFRC and said that it was set up to collect funds for the relief of Spanish refugees, which funds were to be administered by the Unitarians and Quakers. Dr. BARSKY asked GLEASON to become a member of the Executive Board. GLESON agreed, both out of his friendship for BARSKY and also out of sympathy for the plight of Spanish refugees.
      This state of mind existed, as far as GLEASON was concerned, until the trial of the JAFRC for contempt, which it will be recalled ended for GLEASON with his resignation from JAFRC on 7/16/47.
      GLEASON stated that this trial brought several things to his attention. First, it appeared to him that Dr. BARSKY and the majority of the committee welcomed the trial as a chance to become martyrs. Secondly, the desire to lost the case was shown by the introduction of minutes of the committee meetings by the defense of which GLEASON had no recollection, which minutes actually strengthened the government’s case rather than the defendant’s case, to the consternation of Mr. O. JOHN ROGGE, defense attorney.
      Next, people were listed as members of the Executive Board, whom GLEASON had never known to be members, such as HOWARD FAST, who according to GLEASON, had never attended a Board meeting.
      Finally, after the verdict GLEASON suggested that the committee’s books be turned over to the HCUA. This suggestion was met with vehement opposition by Dr. BARSKY, et al and since that time GLEASON and BARSKY have not been friends.
      GLEASON stated that he did not believe at first that the HCUA was entitled to know the names of contributors to the JAFRC, but with the verdict he reversed his position in proper compliance therewith, and it was this which prompted his suggestion to turn over JAFRC books to the HCUA.”
__________________________________________________________

      “GLEASON was asked if he knew any Communists and he replied that he did not know any of his own knowledge. He “guessed” that [names redacted].
      He also “guessed” that [name redacted] because of his actions in the JAFRC trial and afterwards, but he stated that he knew nothing “for certain”.
__________________________________________________________

      “In conclusion it may be stated that GLEASON is careful “to walk a tight rope” when he talks. He studiously avoids anything which would cast doubt on his premise that he was in the party originally for the uplift and betterment of mankind, and that since 1939 or 1940 he has been completely separated from any party activity.
      GLEASON’S fear of involvement is based, in part at least, on a possibly adverse effect which might result to his earning power.”
__________________________________________________________

      Following soon after, this FBI memo was placed in Lev’s file.

      “SUBJECT: LEVERETT STONE GLEASON

      Enclosed herewith are five copies of the report of SA [name redacted] dated 2/11/54, at New York, New York, in the above captioned matter, which places this investigation in a closed status.
      New York letter to the Bureau, 1/5/54 suggested that GLEASON’S name be deleted from the Security Index Program [redacted information] and stated break with the Communist Party. The Bureau notified New York that the Security Index card on GLEASON was cancelled, 2/1/54. Accordingly, GLEASON’S name has also been removed from the Security Index Program at New York.”
__________________________________________________________

      Except for a detailed reiteration of all information gathered about and from Gleason, that ended the FBI’s interest in him.
      By 1956, Gleason had moved on; out of the comic book business, out of publishing. Lev became a real estate broker, selling ranch homes, split-levels and suburban estates. Selling the American Dream. In his ads, he referred to himself as, "The Friendly Broker".

NEW YORK TIMES (March 16, 1958)
      Away from the scrutiny of comic book censors, away from the scrutiny of the FBI. Forgotten.
      ...until the Bureau began looking into the activities of Morris and Lona Cohen. American born, the two had left the States and re-emerged in England under assumed names. No one knew that the antiquarian book dealers were actually Soviet spies. Some time before their eventual arrest in 1961, they came to the attention of the FBI.
      On December 26, 1957, Director Hoover received a message from the New York SAC:
      “UACB [Unless Advised to the Contrary by the Bureau] by 1/2,58, NYO will interview GLEASON for information concerning [name redacted] and MORRIS and LONA COHEN.”

__________________________________________________________

      Postscript.
      Long after the close of Leverett S. Gleason’s extensive FBI file, long after his death in September, 1971, the Soviet Union collapsed. Along with the fragmentation of the old USSR, the rise of capitalism and the Russian mob, came unprecedented access to the forbidden files of the KGB.
      Former KGB agent and journalist, Alexander Vassiliev, was granted limited access to those files, specifically from the Thirties to the early Fifties. He made detailed notes which were in turn translated into English when he came to the U.S. to co-author a book.
      Among the notes was this entry by Soviet agent “P. M. Fitin” from September, 1945.
      “Regarding the entreaty debate, Browder (Earl Browder, former American Communist Party leader and Soviet agent) made derogatory comments about Foster (William Z. Foster, current U.S.Communist Party leader), calling him a “feeble-minded schemer”.
      Browder discussed the same issue with the publisher of Reader’s Scope, the Communist Gleason.
      He told Gleason that if he were given an opportunity to go to the Soviet Union for talks, those talks would result in his position in the party being restored.” ¹²
__________________________________________________________

ENDNOTES

¹ U.S. News Staff, “How Communists Operate: An Interview with J. Edgar Hoover”, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, (August 11, 1950).

² “Miss Keller Quits Rescue Ship Drive”, NEW YORK TIMES, 8 Feb., 1941.

³ Ibid.

⁴ “Magazine for Ex-GIs”, NEW YORK TIMES, 3 March, 1946.

⁵ INVESTIGATION OF UN-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, (April 4, 1946).

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ “Barsky, 10 Aides Sent to Prison, Fined for Contempt of Congress”, NEW YORK TIMES, 17 July, 1947.

⁹ L.L. Stevenson, “Lights of New York”, SAN JOSE EVENING NEWS, 16 May, 1939.

¹⁰ NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE, (Feb. 23, 1948).

¹¹ Fleegler, Robert L., “Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism”, THE JOURNAL OF MISSISSIPPI HISTORY, (Spring 2006).

¹² Vassiliev, Alexander, "Translation of Original Notes from KGB Archive Files", White Notebook #2, (1993-1996).

Additional general information obtained from J. EDGAR HOOVER: THE MAN AND THE SECRETS by Curt Gentry, the NEW YORK TIMES archives and Ancestry.com.

The Spectre and The Almost Man, Part 2

2011-06-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

      For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
      And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:
      And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
      And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
                 -- Lord Byron, from The Destruction of Sennacherib
__________________________________________________________

     "...Siegel came up with the feature, The Spectre," Bernie Baily told interviewer Ron Goulart, "The look of the character I created, the script he wrote." ¹
     Apparently nobody involved gave much thought to the incongruity of publishing The Spectre, Spirit of Vengeance, in a comic entitled MORE FUN COMICS.

     The Spectre, a supernatural being whose mission on Earth is to stamp out crime and to enforce justice with the aid of such weird powers as becoming invisible, walking through walls and delivering death with a glance. -- Introduction from the splash page of MORE FUN COMICS #52

     Although this oft-told tale of the reincarnated murdered police detective, Jim Corrigan, was likely rooted in Siegel's grief over his father's death, his words in the splash panel of The Spectre's debut appearance read as a simplistic reimagining of a far older Judaic entity, the Angel of Death. This entity was so important that on the first day of Creation, God granted, "Over all people have I surrendered thee the power," ² to take life.
     Like the Talmudic version of this angel, who was said to be "full of eyes",³ doomed evil-doers can't escape The Spectre's stare.
     While this antecedent may have provided inspiration, and while Siegel's words gave The Spectre purpose, it was Baily's drawings that gave him form.

MORE FUN COMICS #52 (Feb. 1940)
     Proving himself up to the challenge, Baily accomplished the remarkable task of modernizing the traditional depiction of Death. His was a brawny Grim Reaper, sans scythe.
     Along with the hooded cloak, life-stealing eyes and blanched complexion expected of his ghastly position, The Spectre also unnecessarily sported boots, gloves and tighty-whiteies (albeit, green*) in keeping with the already de rigueur superhero fashion of the era.
     *(In reality, The Spectre was initially depicted as being gray. My assumption--supported by two panels near the end of his origin story in MORE FUN #53--is that he was wearing a costume, which was later reinterpreted as his bloodless pallor. Furthermore, MORE FUN #52 had his cloak, gloves, boots and shorts colored blue. This coloring suggests that DC wanted potential comic book buyers to confuse this ghostly newcomer with their current star, The Batman.)

MORE FUN COMICS #53 (March 1940)
     (Addendum: to further complicate matters, the VERY first appearance of The Spectre, in the last panel of Baily's final Buccaneer story, bizarrely depicts him as having a purple cape, blue shirt and a green face!)

MORE FUN COMICS #51 (Jan. 1940)
Last page of Baily's final Buccaneer story
     Baily's drawing was equal to The Spectre's grim task. Terrified villains would visibly cower at his appearance, mouths agape, while his pupil-less eyes would send chills through the reader. As the Earthbound ghost was unapologetically remorseless, Bernie responded with appropriately graphic bluntness. In one memorable sequence from MORE FUN #56, The Spectre first crushes, then heaves, a car full of pleading criminals. Mercy be damned!

MORE FUN COMICS #56 (June 1940)
[as reprinted in THE GOLDEN AGE SPECTRE ARCHIVES]
     Baily also proved to be a masterful cover artist. His striking rendition of a towering Spectre striding through a battlefield, wreaking destruction, ranks as one of the most iconic images of the Golden Age.

MORE FUN COMICS #54 (April 1940)
     One might think that the portrayer of such Old Testament-minded retribution to be a misanthropic recluse, but nothing was further from the truth.
__________________________________________________________

     When Bernie married the former Regina Rachinsky on June 24, 1939, he had already taken to using the truncated version of his last name, Bailynson. "He always said," Stephen Baily told me,"the reason he did it was that there was a Mickey Mouse wristwatch he coveted when he was young in which you could substitute the letters of your name for the numbers--and Bernard Bailynson was four letters too long." Then, too, the Anglicization to Baily wouldn't hurt when looking for a job.

Bernie and Regina Baily
[photo courtesy of Eugene Baily]
     Regina, born Riva, emigrated to the U.S. from Russia with her family in 1923. While details of her grandparents courtship are lost, granddaughter Miriam Risko recalled, "...I heard they met in the Catskills."
     The young couple moved into a four room apartment in a 13-story high-rise at 22 Metropolitan Oval in The Bronx. The kitchen table in apartment 5H became Bernie's de facto art studio.

22 Metropolitan Oval
The Bronx, New York
     At about the same time the Bailys were beginning their life's journey, Bernie's comic career was beginning to take off.
     While The Spectre replaced his Buccaneer feature in MORE FUN, Baily continued work on Tex Thomson.
     "At the time," Baily told Ron Goulart, "I feel everything was being geared to Superman, who'd become their big property. At the height of his popularity, in the beginning, I had my Tex Thomson feature in ACTION. I created a cyclops character called The Gorrah."

"The Return of the Gorrah!!"
ACTION COMICS #27 (August 1940)
[image courtesy of Bruce Mason]
     "Now, they had a contest at that time. The kids sent in the names of the characters they liked the best and that character ran so close to Superman in popularity that they made me cut it out. Really." ⁴
     In the same issue as the above mentioned Gorrah story, Bernie got the rare opportunity to display his humorous side, with the filler page, Mr. Pots. Just the month before, in ADVENTURE COMICS #52 (July 1940) and then again in MORE FUN COMICS #58 (Aug. 1940), Baily contributed a Farmer Doode page to each issue.

Farmer Doode page
ADVENTURE COMICS #52 (July 1940)
     Meanwhile, Editor Vin Sullivan apparently had enough confidence in the Tex Thomson creative team to assign them another feature, a new super-powered hero to headline ADVENTURE COMICS.
__________________________________________________________

     While Jim Corrigan paid the ultimate price to transform into The Spectre, writer Ken Fitch ⁵didn't expect Rex Tyler to make a similarly gruesome sacrifice to become the Hour-Man. He simply took a pill.

     "Rex Tyler, a young chemist, discovers MIRALCO, a powerful chemical that transforms him from a meek, mild scientist to the underworld's most formidable foe...with MIRALCO, he has for one hour the power of chained-lightning--speed almost as swift as thought. But unless he performs his deeds of strength and daring within one hour the effects of MIRALCO wear off and the Hour Man becomes his former meek self..." -- Introduction from the splash page of ADVENTURE COMICS #48

"Presenting 'Tick Tock Tyler' The Hour-Man"
ADVENTURE COMICS #48 (March 1940)
     Ken Fitch was 13 years older than Baily and his upbringing couldn't have been more different. Born and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut, Fitch had deep familial roots in the Nutmeg State going back hundreds of years and an ancestry that boasted colonial governor Thomas Fitch. ⁶
     Before heading off to Pace College in New York and obtaining a degree in accounting, Fitch was a member of the Young Men's Community Club; an organization whose presidency he fiercely pursued. The battle between Fitch and his main opponent was dutifully chronicled in the Norwalk newspaper's local news column.
     Now, that in itself may not matter much. What is interesting, though, is the name THE NORWALK HOUR gave to the anonymous reporter who wrote of Fitch's campaign. This writer was known as "Hour Man".

Hour Man column
THE NORWALK HOUR (July 9, 1920)
     As a life-long Norwalk resident, Fitch was undoubtedly aware of this long-running column, but whether his appropriation of its writer's nom de plume was intentional or based upon latent memory will never be known.
     Baily's depiction of Hour-Man was straight forward. Clothed head-to-toe in a traditional circus strongman's outfit, the Man of the Hour's added accouterments were his cape, half-mask and a dangling hourglass to remind him of his time constraint. And if he forgot, small boxes counting down the waning minutes appeared at the bottom of every few panels.
     Although lacking The Spectre's moodiness and opportunity for expanding his artistic horizons, it was Baily's Hour-Man that received the editorial popularity boost. In ADVENTURE #54, at the end of a tale involving his new young partners, The Minute Men of America (a bit of jingoist provincialism from Fitch--the Connecticut Yankee in Rex Tyler's court), an announcement in the last panel informed readers of a contest that included a cash prize and an original piece of artwork from Baily.

ADVENTURE COMICS #54 (Sept. 1940)
[image courtesy of James Ludwig]
     The entries were read, the winners determined and finally, in ADVENTURE #57, their names were announced.

ADVENTURE COMICS #57 (Dec. 1940)
[image courtesy of James Ludwig]
     Along with the $1.00 cash prize, the ten winners each received their personalized artwork, including "William Carroll", the first person listed.

Hour-Man contest winner original art
inscribed to "William Carroll"
[image courtesy of Jon Berk]
     Soon after their debuts, both The Spectre and Hour-Man would find themselves appearing in other venues.
     When the New York World's Fair opened for its second season on May 11, 1940, the kids in the crowd who were able to coax their parents into spending the exorbitant sum of 15 cents for a comic book (!), were greeted by a cover featuring DC's big guns--Superman, Batman and his young sidekick, Robin--waving cheerily back at them. Not to be outdone, the newcomer, Hour-Man, had secured a place on the inside for his own fair-oriented adventure.

NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS #2 (1940)
     Virtually simultaneously (on May 24th, actually), ALL-STAR COMICS #1 (Summer 1940) appeared on newsstands, featuring both The Spectre and Hour-Man, both illustrated by Baily.

ALL-STAR COMICS #1 (Summer 1940)
     The concept of ALL-STAR was likely an outgrowth of the NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR comics' success. Instead of featuring its heavy hitters, though, DC and related publisher All-American,⁷ chose to showcase their second-tier heroes in this new title.
     Along with DC's Sandman and All-American's Ultra-Man and The Flash, Baily's Spectre captured one of the coveted quarters of the cover. Meanwhile, Hour-Man was relegated to "Also Featuring" status in a blurb along the bottom. The disparity continued on the interior as Hour-Man was given just six pages for his adventure, while The Spectre topped everyone with his ten-page tale.

The Spectre splash page from ALL-STAR #1
Debut of classic Spectre logo, which was essentially
a reworking of Baily's MORE FUN #54 cover.
[as reprinted in THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES]
     The Spectre's cover presence percentage increased with the second issue as Ultra-Man was gone and he now appeared alongside only The Flash and Green Lantern.
     While the first two issues of ALL-STAR were anthology comics made up of unrelated individual adventures, a radical new format was introduced in ALL-STAR #3.
__________________________________________________________

     "I worked from the beginning with the Justice Society stories," wrote famed writer, Gardner Fox, in a letter dated March 26, 1979, "though the idea of creating the Justice Society was Gaines' (I believe)."⁸ Additionally, Roy Thomas has speculated it was the aforementioned 1940 WORLD'S FAIR comic cover that inspired the concept of a super-team.⁹
     Whatever the inspiration, the format premiered in ALL-STAR #3 allowed the reader to see their favorite super-heroes (and DC/All-American had more than anyone else at the time) meeting to swap stories of their exploits.

ALL-STAR COMICS #3 (Winter 1940)
     Each hero related their individual adventure in turn. The Spectre told of his battle with an interplanetary beast named Oom. Baily's unique style was well-suited to depicting their cosmic rumble.

Baily Spectre page
from ALL-STAR COMICS #3

     Unlike the other JSA members, who ended their tale in one panel before the next hero appeared in the following one, The Spectre and Hour-Man (spelled Hourman here) occupied one panel in a seamless segue. Curiously, even though it appeared in the middle of a Baily drawn page, this panel was drawn by E.E. Hibbard, who also provided the bracketing JSA sequences and the linking interludes between the individual adventures.

The Spectre and Hour-Man panel
from ALL-STAR COMICS #3
drawn by E.E. Hibbard
     For his part, Hour-Man battled a gang of thieves dressed to look like him. In this case, Baily's artistic versatility prevailed over a fairly pedestrian story.

Baily Hour-Man page
from ALL-STAR COMICS #3

     By 1941, with two lead features, their additional ALL-STAR stories and his long-running Tex Thomson, Baily had established himself as DC's most reliable artist. He was also apparently given a greater say in the plotting of The Spectre.
     "The thing I created in The Spectre was his sidekick, Percival Popp, the Super Cop. An interesting thing is that in many cases the side characters became more popular than the main characters. For the obvious reason that you could do more with them."¹⁰
     While it's difficult to see how anyone could do more with a bumbling, self-deluding, wanna-be detective than the limitless wraith, Percival Popp not only became a part of The Spectre's supporting cast, he eventually took over his feature.

MORE FUN COMICS #81 (July 1942)
[image courtesy of Bruce Mason]
     But introduction of Popp in MORE FUN #74 (Dec. 1941) wasn't totally driven by creative possibilities. There were larger concerns.
     In an article dated May 8, 1940, author Sterling North decried the fact that, "Virtually every child in America is reading color "comic" magazines--a poisonous mushroom growth of the last two years."
     North seized the moral high ground, royally noting that, "...we found that the bulk of these lurid publications depend for their appeal upon mayhem, murder, torture and abduction...".
     What likely resonated particularly at DC, was North's scorn for, "Superman heroics, voluptuous females in scanty attire, blazing machine guns, "hooded" justice...".¹¹ The pointed mention of their franchise star made it apparent that they were a target.
     In reaction to North's essay and the growing murmur of condemnation heard expressed by other concerned citizens, DC developed an in-house editorial code that mandated squeaky clean behavior from its heroes, including the edict that none of them would ever knowingly kill. What was a minor inconvenience for Superman, was a game-changer for The Spectre.
     By the summer of 1941, the company had also created an Editorial Advisory Board, populated with child-rearing specialists and other upstanding citizens. Goodbye death-staring Spirit of Vengeance, hello clownish Super Cop.
     The Spectre, I can't avoid noting, became a ghost of himself .
     Meanwhile, even though the team concept in ALL-STAR was proving to be a success, Hour-Man's role in it was apparently not. He became the first original member of the JSA to leave, making his last appearance in issue #7 (Oct.-Nov. 1941). What prompted Hour-Man's departure is speculative (He was granted a leave of absence after the last JSA story in this issue.), but it resulted in Baily having one less story to draw each month. And the loss of income couldn't have come at a worse time. Bernie's son Stephen had just been born.
     As with most who worked in comics at the time, Baily's steady production hadn't been enough to warrant special compensation. "When I was working for DC, I wasn't on salary." said Bernie, "It was always page rates."¹²
     Baily's prospects at DC were limited. Added to that fact, a growing family and a diminished workload were realities that couldn't be ignored. Reasons enough for Baily to look elsewhere to pad his income.
__________________________________________________________

     Bertram D.(“Bert”) Whitman's transient career as a cartoonist had taken him from Chicago to Los Angeles, from Detroit to Cincinnati. But like many of the young (he was born in 1908) artists eking out a living, he ended up back in his native New York City and the boomtown environment of the late-1930s comic book industry.

Bert Whitman (1961 photo)
[photo courtesy of Allan Holtz]
     While he may have established himself a bit with individual efforts in several early Fox titles¹³, Whitman quickly followed the entrepreneurial lead of Harry "A" Chesler and Eisner & Iger by forming his own comic shop, circa 1939. And Whitman's primary, if not only, client was Frank Z. Temerson.
     Temerson was the former city attorney of Birmingham, Alabama, who had partnered with Irving W. Ullman in various business ventures going back to 1935, at least. One such was the early comic publisher, Ultem Publications.
     Ultem folded in 1938, selling their titles to Centaur Publications. However, Temerson soon re-emerged with a new company, Tem (AKA Nita) Publishing, at the same 381 4th Avenue address.¹⁴
     While Bert Whitman Associates packaged such comics as CRASH and WHIRLWIND for Tem and Nita respectively, they also supplied the contents of the licensed GREEN HORNET COMICS for yet another Temerson company, Helnit Publishing.
     Both CRASH and WHIRLWIND failed quickly, off the newsstands by the fall of 1940. With his shop pretty much reduced to packaging the GREEN HORNET, Whitman began considering other options. Although a proposed Green Hornet newspaper strip didn't sell, Whitman continued to produce the comic book a bit longer, until issue #6 (Aug. 1941). He ultimately sold the publishing rights to the character to the new Harvey company (Ron Goulart wrote, "He later maintained that he made more money by selling the rights to the Green Hornet than anyone ever made off publishing comic books about him."¹⁵) and closed up his comic studio.
     In the meantime, though, Whitman had already moved on to another strip that did sell.
     In March, 1940, the Chicago Tribune debuted their new Sunday supplement, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE COMIC BOOK, a format similar to the better known SPIRIT supplement which was to come along in June of that year.

Bert Whitman Mr. Ex page (circa 1941)
[image courtesy of George Hagenauer]
     Whitman sold the syndicate a strip about a secret agent, a master of disguise. And on January 19, 1941, Mr. Ex premiered in their supplement.
     Enter Bernie Baily.

__________________________________________________________

     It's hard not to note the irony in Bernard Baily, artist of The Spectre, being a "ghost".
     How he came to be an uncredited assistant on Bert Whitman's Mr. Ex isn't known, and neither is the exact time frame. But the loss of the Hour-Man solo story work in ALL-STAR closely corresponds to the ending of Whitman's comic shop, circa the summer of 1941.
     It is difficult to ascertain exactly what strips Baily had a hand in. As with many "ghosts", Baily's own style virtually disappears in an effort to maintain visual continuity with Whitman's. But Baily's moody, seriousness appears at times in contrast to Whitman's own lighter, cartoony style, as in the undated Mr. Ex strips that were reprinted in A-1 COMICS #2 (1944).

Mr. Ex page
from A-1 COMICS #2 (circa 1944)
     Even though Mr. Ex ran until late June of 1943, Whitman was still drawing comic books. As was Bernie.
     In Fawcett's MASTER COMICS #32 (Nov. 4, 1942), Whitman took up the art chores on the ongoing El Carim feature, introducing Balbo, Boy Magician in the process. By the next issue, Balbo had taken El Carim's spot in MASTER's line-up.
     Coincidentally (or not?), an inter-office memo dated "Sept. 21"--without a year designated, but likely 1942--notes that Baily was also working for Fawcett. Historian Roger Hill, who revealed the contents of this memo to me, reports that Baily is credited with having completed a Captain Marvel Jr. story entitled, "Once Upon a Time".
     Armed with this information, I conducted a search of CM Jr. stories and though that line didn't show up as a title, it did appear as an opening line in a CM Jr. backup tale in CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. #2 (Dec. 18, 1942).

"The Pied Piper of Himmler" splash page
CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. #2 (Dec. 18, 1942)
     Once again, it is hard to see Baily's style in this work (perhaps it is only his pencils under another artist's inking). The intent was to give the illusion that primary CM Jr. artist, Mac Raboy, was drawing this back-up as well.

Comparison of panel details
from MORE FUN #68 and CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. #2

     As with other CM Jr. artists, Baily employed liberal use of pasted-up stock Raboy poses and CM Jr. faces. Unlike his DC art, this story is unsigned--not only in deference to his role as a "ghost", but likely a job-saving consideration in light of DC's discouragement of their artists' freelancing, particularly with their main competitor.
     Bernie's moonlighting at Fawcett continued at least until early 1943. A March 29, 1943 artists rate list retrieved from the files of editorial director Ralph Daigh (and published in P.C. Hamerlinck's FAWCETT COMPANION), indicates that Baily was still producing work for the company at that time. Note, too, that his credits also included artwork for the Spy Smasher feature.

Fawcett artist rate list (March 29, 1943)
crediting "Bernard Bailey" (sic)
[image courtesy of P.C. Hamerlinck]
     Curiously, at about the same time, Bernie was getting a helping hand on The Spectre. The helping hand of Pierce Rice.
     The Spectre chapter in ALL-STAR COMICS #14 (Dec. 1942-Jan. 1943) has been identified as having been penciled by Rice, with Baily providing the inks. Furthermore, Rice also handled the art chores on the Ghostly Guardian's story in MORE FUN COMICS #90 (April 1943).

Pierce Rice Spectre splash page
MORE FUN COMICS #90 (April 1943)
     At first look, it doesn't add up. Why would an artist jeopardize his bread-and-butter job (and split his page rate) in order to pick up a few assignments elsewhere? It's not like Baily was overwhelmed with work at DC. During this same time period--fall of 1942--Hourman (who had lost his hyphen along the way), ended with ADVENTURE COMICS #83 (Feb. 1943).
     So what was going on?
     A clue can be found in a statement made by Bernie's son, Stephen.
     "From the time he was a kid he preferred working for himself."
     Fate had positioned Baily perfectly. The burgeoning comic book industry was full of guys just like him: would-be entrepreneurs with little money, but a lot of moxie.
     The marketplace demanded material; it was ravenous...and undiscriminating. At best, quality was an afterthought; publishers just needed something to fill their pages. This shallow need spawned the comic shops--low paying, no frills, grind-it-out art sweatshops.
     Bernie Baily had seen Jerry Iger, Will Eisner and Bert Whitman profit from this business model.
     Why not him?

__________________________________________________________

¹ Baily, Bernard. interview by Ron Goulart, "Golden Age Memories", THE HISTORY OF DC COMICS (1987), pgs. 50-51.

² Tan. to Ex. xxxi. 18; ed. Stettin, p. 315.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Baily, op. cit.

⁵ There has been some debate as to the writer of the first Hour-Man story. Even the influential Grand Comic Book Database [GCD] site credited Gardner Fox for some time. My inquiries into the subject led historians Craig Delich and Martin O'Hearn to re-evaluate the writing style of the origin story. In an April 15, 2009 email, Delich informed me, "Ken Fitch wrote the Hour-Man story in NY WORLD'S FAIR 1940, and also wrote the stories for the character in ALL-STAR #2, and ADVENTURE #48 well into issues in the 50's.The credits came from Jerry Bails, who got it from Fitch himself, who also said that he created the character." Delich, with verification from O'Hearn, made subsequent corrections to the GCD credits.

⁶ Another Fitch ancestor, the Governor's son, Colonel Thomas Fitch, Jr., was THE "Yankee Doodle". According to the story, during the French and Indian War, Fitch commanded a rag-tag troop of colonists attached to the British army. Elisabeth Fitch, the colonel's sister, thought to dress-up the uniform-less Norwalkers by giving them chicken feathers to wear as plumes in their hats. Upon seeing this, the British regulars ridiculed them unmercifully, prompting one of them to mockingly change the words to the then popular tune, Lucy Locket, to what we now know as Yankee Doodle.

⁷ All-American (AA) Publications was owned by Max C. Gaines and, ostensibly, Jack Liebowitz, DC's "secretary and treasurer". In reality, Liebowitz, while certainly a partner, was gifted that position by Harry Donenfeld, Detective Comics undeniably shady owner and the real money behind AA. The two companies enjoyed a special relationship, outwardly evidenced by reciprocal advertising and the publication of ALL-STAR COMICS.
     Eventually, Gaines would sell his share of AA to DC, as it became one part of the amalgamation of distribution and comic book companies under the umbrella corporation, National Periodical Publications.

⁸ Fox, Gardner. letter printed in ROBIN SNYDER'S HISTORY OF COMICS, vol. 2, #2, (Feb. 1991).

⁹ Thomas, Roy, "Seven Years Before the Masthead", THE ALL-STAR COMPANION, (2004), pgs. 13-14.

¹⁰ Baily, op. cit.

¹¹ North, Sterling, "A National Disgrace", THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS, May 8, 1940.

¹² Baily, op. cit.

¹³ Although several sources give Whitman credits as early as NEW FUN #1 (Feb. 1935), this is unlikely. Not only was Whitman living and working halfway across the country at the time, the feature credited to him--Judge Perkins--was probably drawn by Bert Salg, a veteran illustrator who died in 1938.

¹⁴ The Temerson saga is an involved one that necessarily dovetails into a discussion of the quagmire surrounding such publishers as Holyoke and a plethora of small publishers with a possible, but indeterminate, relationship. As Bernie Baily was himself related to this discussion, I will return to it in a later installment of his story.

¹⁵ Goulart, Ron. COMIC BOOK CULTURE: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, (2000), pg. 113.

The Spectre and the Almost Man, Part 1

2011-03-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

(This project has been long in development. I would like to thank the following kind individuals for their contributions, patience and help. I couldn't have done this without them:

Jim Amash, Ger Apeldoorn, Amy Baily, Eugene Baily, Stephen Baily, Shaun Clancy, Beau Collier, Craig Delich, Michael Feldman, Bob Fujitani, Ron Goulart, George Hagenauer, Dave Hartwell, Roger Hill, Allan Holtz, Carmine Infantino, Bruce Mason, Harry Mendryk, Frank Motler, Will Murray, Martin O'Hearn, Howard Post, Lynn Potter, Miriam Baily Risko, Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., Dr. Michael Vassallo, and Hames Ware. -- Ken Quattro)
__________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION
     His work appeared in some of the most important comic books in the history of the medium.
     His comic studio was the breeding ground of legends.
     He drew some of the most memorable covers of the 1950s.
     He was an artist, a writer, an editor and a publisher.
     And chances are you know little or nothing about Bernard Baily.
__________________________________________________________

      Dr. Harold G. Campbell stood at the podium surveying the audience. Before him sat 228 graduating seniors of New York City high schools who had been chosen as the June, 1933 recipients of the Cooperation-in-Government award. The award was given semi-annually to those that had performed an outstanding piece of public service and was considered to be the highest honor bestowed upon a student.
     “Of the nearly 4,000 who have received the awards,” Dr. Campbell proclaimed, “not one has failed to make good.” ¹
     Not one has failed to make good. Practically a guarantee of success.
     “I congratulate you as super-graduates on the fact that each of you in your school has stood out as a person upon whom that school can put its stamp of approval.” ²
     As the noble words of the Ephebic Oath were administered and recited by the eager young students seated about him, Bernard Bailynson had to be feeling good about his prospects. He was, after all, one of the “super-graduates”, one of only a handful representing James Monroe High School in The Bronx. Not bad for a child of immigrant parents. Not bad at all.
__________________________________________________________

      As family legend has it, Gershon Beilinsohn used to cut the hair of “Crazy Moyshe the Painter” back in their native Vitebsk, Russia. Moyshe eventually left Russia and changed his name to Marc Chagall when he reached Paris, while Gershon became Harry Bailynson when his name was Anglecized as he passed through Ellis Island in 1910. Rumors were that Gershon was a deserter on the run from the czar's army, but that tale, too, remains unsubstantiated.
      Harry had sailed to the U. S. aboard the T.S.S. Rotterdam--pride of the Holland America Line. Unlike the well-heeled First and Second cabin passengers that enjoyed their luxurious accommodations and the ocean breezes as they strolled the promenade deck, it's likely Harry spent his voyage crammed into steerage with some 2,000 other immigrants.

T.S.S. Rotterdam
      Harry settled in the teeming ethnic melting pot of The Bronx. In time, he resumed his vocation as a barber. If the story is true, Harry once again had a brush with history when he cut the hair of Leon Trotsky during the revolutionary leader's brief stay in The Bronx. Harry also met a girl from his hometown of Vitesbsk (a common occurrence in the tightly-knit Eastern European Jewish enclaves in New York City) and married her. While her given name was Zelda, she went by the more American sounding, Jenny.
     Back in Russia, Jenny was a dressmaker, a gifted one who had her own business while still a young woman. But now in America, the Old World paternalism of her husband wouldn't allow her to work outside the home, even when times were tough. She had four children to raise; Bernard was the oldest.
__________________________________________________________

     Bernard was born April 5,1916, and accounts of his early years have mostly faded from memory. What is known is that by the time he reached James Monroe High School, Bernie began making his mark.

James Monroe High School, The Bronx
     “I think he began drawing cartoons in high school, " wrote Bernard’s eldest son, Stephen Baily, "possibly for the student newspaper. I also have a vague memory of him telling me that he sold his first cartoon while he was still in high school. I don't know if he had any formal training”.
     Stephen's father never gave the full, biographical interview that comic fans and historians glean for details. Perhaps he considered that part of his life private, perhaps it recalled bad memories. In any case, it was his sons Stephen and Eugene that I turned to in hopes of filling in the blanks.
     Legendary comic creator Sheldon Moldoff, in an interview with Roy Thomas, remembered that Bernie, "...lived in the same apartment house I did in the Bronx. He was a few years older than me; he went to James Monroe High School, and he was also his school's newspaper cartoonist. He was a very good-looking guy, and I think he was class president." ³
     President of the school's General Organization (G.O.), Baily called for a student walk-out over the questionable use of student dues paid to the group’s fund. His actions led to a brief expulsion in his senior year, but he apparently stayed in the good graces of the school’s administration as they nominated him for the prestigious citizenship award.
     Moldoff continued, recounting his first meeting Bernie.
     "I was drawing in chalk on the sidewalk-Popeye and Betty Boop and other popular cartoons of the day-and he came by and looked at it and said, "Hey, do you want to learn how to draw cartoons?" I said, "Yes!" He said, "Come on, I'll show you how to draw." So we went across the street and sat on a bench in the park, and he showed me how to start with a circle, and how to make the body, and how to make a smile, and the proportions for cartoons. He said, "Keep practicing. I live on the fourth floor, and if you want to show me some of your work, I'll be glad to look at it." So we became friendly, and I'd periodically go up and show him my stuff, and he would help me and criticize me. ⁴
     Moldoff lost touch with Baily when the latter moved away. Bernie's son Stephen picks up here: “(my father) told me that he was offered a scholarship to the Philadelphia Art Institute (or possibly it was a Boston art school) after high school but that he turned it down because he was already selling his artwork.”
     Eugene remembers a bit more, “I think my father went to City College, but my memory also suggests it might have been Columbia; it never went beyond the first year.”
     City College of New York was a natural choice for Depression era high school grads. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, coincidentally speaking before the January, 1934 graduating class at James Monroe, urged the students to enroll at City College instead of entering the strained job market. More importantly, tuition was relatively cheap: $2.50 per credit hour.
__________________________________________________________

     While some questions remain about his education, there is little conjecture about the publication hosting Bernie’s first comic book work.
     For reasons unknown, John Henle Jr. wanted to be a publisher. He had inherited his family’s well-established shirt factory--a seemingly more secure venture than taking a flyer on the fledgling comic book industry. In any case, he set up shop in the front offices of his factory and hired a journeyman cartoonist, Samuel “Jerry” Iger, as his editor.
      Iger’s task was simple, but daunting. He had to put together a staff.
      In a perverse way, the economic realities of the time worked in his favor. This was the nadir of the Great Depression and virtually everyone was looking for a job, any job. Located firmly at the lowermost end of publishing, the emerging comic book industry became the train platform of career opportunity. Aging illustrators and cartoonists would pass through on their way down, as well as eager, young neophytes would on their way up.
      Moonlighting painter Louis Goodman Ferstadt and illustrator Serena (aka "Serene") Summerfield were a few of the veterans on staff other than Iger himself. Among the rest were Bob (actually, Kahn) Kane and Bill Eisner--two kids from DeWitt Clinton High--Dick Briefer, who had the honor of drawing the cover to the first issue, and Bernie Baily. Each of them was young, talented and ambitious; some with more ambition than talent.
     The first issue of the immodestly titled WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! was dated July, 1936.

Smoothie page by "Bernard"
WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! #1 (July, 1936)
     Baily’s contributions to this diverse mix of strips and text features were a Smoothie humor page (signed simply, “Bernard”) and the factoid-bearing Stars On Parade. This strip was drawn in the photo-realistic style of Bob Ripley or Stookie Allen, and featured movie-star trivia along with illustrations of Shirley Temple and Fred Astaire. It was also the prototype for other Baily features that would follow.

Stars on Parade page
WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! #1 (July, 1936)
     Henle’s publishing venture was short-lived as WOW ended with its fourth issue. Whatever personal gratification Bernie gained from being published, it is reasonable to assume that financially his experience was much like Eisner’s, who once told an interviewer: “I ended up being owed money I never collected.” ⁵
     Even Iger found himself on the street. “Iger was let go, of course. There's no need for an editor at a shirt-manufacturing business.” ⁶ Faced with a similar dilemma, Eisner approached Iger and proposed a business arrangement. Using Eisner’s modest investment (a very modest $15) to rent office space, they opened their own comic studio. Their intent was to supply original content for the growing comic market. And they didn’t have to go far to find artists to fill their shop. From out of the ashes of WOW! came much of the first incarnation of the Eisner & Iger Studio.
     At Eisner and Iger, Baily specialized in the Stars on Parade format he'd begun in WOW!. now titled Screen Snapshots, it debuted in "Busy" Arnold's FEATURE FUNNIES #2 (Nov. 1937).

Screen Snapshots page
FEATURE FUNNIES #16 (Jan. 1939)
     Under the shop-name of "Glenda Carol", Baily continued it as Movie Memos in Fox's WONDER COMICS #1 and #2 (May and June 1939, respectively) and early issues of its successor, WONDERWORLD COMICS.

Movie Memos page
WONDER COMICS #1 (May 1939)
signed "Glenda Carol"
     Breaking out of that mold, Bernie drew the Gilda Gay strip for Eisner and Iger's Phoenix Features Syndicate, circa 1938.

Gilda Gay strip
(circa 1938, as published July 21, 1943)
     Originally intended (and regionally distributed) as a newspaper daily strip, Gilda found it's way into JUMBO COMICS #1 (Sept. 1938). Following the life of a stylish career gal, Gilda Gay (based in name upon dancer Gilda Gray), the strip found new life in the mid-1940s when it was acquired along with other Phoenix Features material such as Eisner's Harry Karry and Stars on Parade, by strip re-marketer International Cartoon Company. It's unlikely none of the artists involved in these strips, including Bernie, saw any remuneration for this secondary publishing of their work.
     Another daily strip, Phyllis, was reportedly drawn by Baily for the same Keystone/Lincoln Features syndicate, circa 1938-39, that published some of Jack Kirby's early work. To this point, however, no example has been found.
     In any case, sometime in 1938 Bernie Baily left Eisner and Iger.
     It's tempting to draw comparisons between Eisner and Baily. To be begin with, they shared similar back-stories: a couple of Jewish kids from The Bronx using their artistic talent to better their circumstances. Moreover, neither was inclined to simply make ends meet.
     With a business savvy that at least equaled his drawing ability, Eisner was among the first of his generation to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the burgeoning comic book industry. Years later, he would tell interviewer Marilyn Mercer that, "I got very rich before I was 22." ⁷
     Bernie witnessed that success and perhaps he looked at Eisner's path as a template for his own career. He also had the drive, the intelligence and the talent--how could he fail?
     But he wouldn't go far working within the confines of a comic shop. With that likely in mind, Bernie found work at Detective Comics (DC).
__________________________________________________________

     Baily arrived at DC in early 1938, shortly after founder Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson went bankrupt and Nicholson Publishing Company's assets were bought by Harry Donenfeld. Under the editorship of Vin Sullivan, Bernie was assigned two regular features.
     Debuting in MORE FUN COMICS #32 (June 1938), The Buccaneer strip owed its existence to the popularity of such Errol Flynn film swashbucklers as "Captain Blood" and perhaps more directly, Eisner's Hawks of the Seas. Baily had the opportunity to see that strip in its earliest incarnation in WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! and then as it became the lead feature of the Eisner and Iger shop.

The Buccaneer page
MORE FUN COMICS #37 (Nov. 1938)
     In early issues, not surprisingly, lingering vestiges of the Eisner and Iger shop style show through in Baily's drawing.

The Buccaneer panel
MORE FUN COMICS #38 (Dec. 1938)
     But gradually, he sheds the shop look and his own style emerges; a simplistic, edgy form of Mannerism.

The Buccaneer page
MORE FUN COMICS #48 (Oct. 1939)
     The comic book industry of the time was a small world unto itself. There were still only a handful of publishers and invariably, career paths would intersect time and again.
     "I was at National bringing in some filler pages for Vin Sullivan," Shelly Moldoff recalled, "and in walks Bernard Baily! He looked at me, and he said, "Sheldon?" I said, "Yeah, Bernie, how are ya?" He said, "Well, you made it, huh?" I said, "Yeah, yeah, thanks to help from you and other people, I'm a cartoonist!" ⁸
     Bernie's other strip was Tex Thomson, which appeared in another comic cover-dated June, 1938: ACTION COMICS #1. The feature, which followed the exploits of a wealthy globetrotting Texan, was the creation of veteran comic writer, Ken Fitch.

Tex Thomson splash page
ACTION COMICS #1 (June 1938)
     The first adventure, full of thick, black shadows and close-ups, exhibited the probable influence of film (and perhaps Milton Caniff) upon Baily; the contemporary setting seemingly a more comfortable fit for the artist than a period adventure.

Ken Fitch portrait
from SYNDICATE FEATURES #3 (Nov. 15,1937),
promotional flyer for the Harry "A" Chesler Syndicate
     Fitch had a wide-ranging résumé--wandering from longshoreman, to insurance salesman, to printing press operator--but what mattered in this case, he had credits at DC (née National Allied Publications) going back to the company's first comic book, NEW FUN COMICS #1 (Feb. 1935). He was also a stalwart of the Harry "A" Chesler shop, authoring such features as Dan Hastings as well as editing four of Chesler's comics. ⁹

Tex Thomson splash page
ACTION COMICS #17 (Oct. 1939)
[image retrieved from the Who's Whose in the DC Universe site
     Bernie had one more contribution to the premiere issue of ACTION--a filler page titled, Stardust, that was yet another version of his Stars on Parade format.

Stardust page, signed by "The Star-Gazer"
ACTION COMICS #1 (June 1938)
     As apparent evidence that he was quickly learning the tricks of the comic book trade, Baily re-used the image of Fred Astaire from WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! #1. Why re-draw what you can cut-and-paste? Perhaps Baily felt some remorse at the double-dip, since he signed the page anonymously as "The Star-Gazer".
      Ironically, though, it wasn't Baily's work on Tex Thomson (or his other strips) that would have the most lasting effect on his career. It was the success of another feature from that first issue of ACTION.
     As the sales figures came in, it was apparent that the cover feature was a winner--a character and concept that had been knocking around for years. Although its creators were already fixtures in DC’s comics, it was only when a young assistant editor at the McClure Syndicate, Sheldon Mayer, suggested that his boss Max Gaines take another look at this frequently rejected strip that it finally saw publication. Unable to use the strip himself, Gaines took it to his clients at DC.
     Gaines had a discussion, "...with Mr. Liebowitz and Mr. Sullivan, the editor of the comic magazines for the Detective Comics group, and impressed upon him the fact that this would be a good idea and by all means to use it in Action Comics." ¹⁰
     However, even they had to be surprised at the immediate success of Superman.

Superman panel
ACTION COMICS #1 (June 1938), pg. 1
by Joe Shuster
     Jerry Siegel had distilled most of the attributes people wanted in their heroes and poured them into the alter ego of Clark Kent. He was strong as could be, kind-hearted and just. Aware of his awesome power, Superman always pulled his punches. The same couldn't be said of The Batman.
     Following less than a year on the red-booted heels of Superman, The Batman was the inspired creation of writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.
     (Kane was someone Bernie knew well from their days at Eisner and Iger. A marginal talent, his ego and hubris alienated many, including Baily. “…I know he didn’t like Bob Kane,” wrote Stephen Baily, “because he said so, often.”)
     Unlike the Kryptonian who came by his powers by landing on the right planet, The Batman had to earn his cape. Driven to avenge the death of his parents during a hold-up, Bruce Wayne resolutely forged himself into a crime-fighting machine. Whereas Superman adhered to the boundary of law, The Batman was a shadowy vigilante who meted out his own brutal interpretation of justice.
     Finger had created a hero who, like many of the pulp heroes before him, viscerally satisfied the popular desire for unforgiving punishment of evil. Siegel's immaculate creation was above common vindictiveness. A curious decision on the writer's part, as Jerry knew from personal experience that life doesn't always allow such nobility.
     On June 2, 1932, Michael Siegel, Jerry's father and the owner of a Cleveland clothing store, was robbed by three men. While it’s not clear if any of the men possessed a weapon, during the robbery, the elder Siegel collapsed and died. Although the coroner's report stated his death was due to heart failure, Jerry felt that the thieves had killed him. ¹¹
     Perhaps he was thinking of his father, or perhaps he just had The Batman on his mind, but in any case, when it came time for Jerry to create another hero, this one would be above all Earthly laws.
      And Bernie Baily would be the artist.

__________________________________________________________

ENDNOTES

¹ "228 City Students Are Honored By Civic Cooperation League" New York Times 25 June, 1933.

² Ibid.

³ Roy Thomas, "A Moon...A Bat...A Hawk", ALTER EGO vol. 3 #4 Spring 2000).

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Tom Heintjes, THE SPIRIT: THE ORIGIN YEARS #1-4 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1992).

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Marilyn Mercer, "The Only Real Middle-Class Crimefighter", NEW YORK, (Sunday supplement, New York Herald Tribune) pg. 8, (Jan. 9, 1966).

⁸ Thomas, op. cit.

⁹ SYNDICATE FEATURES #3, pg. 1, (Nov. 15,1937).

¹⁰ DETECTIVE COMICS, INC. v BRUNS PUBLICATIONS transcripts, pg. 133 (April 6, 1939)

¹¹ Noblemania website [The causes of Michael Siegel's death are listed on the coroner's report as "acute dilatation of heart" and "chronic myocarditis". In short, he had heart disease.]

Additional sources for general information included the archives of the NEW YORK TIMES and Ancestry.com.

The 1905 Comic Fan

2011-02-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

(Sometimes a mystery begins with a small clue. This is one.

I'd like to thank Rod Beck, Allan Holtz, Frank Motler, Dave Reeder and Jeff Howard-Lindsey for their kind contributions.--Ken Quattro)
__________________________________________________________

San Francisco, California
July 1, 1905

The letter likely arrived with the rest of the mail.

As Harry picked up the envelope, he probably smiled at the hand-drawn caricature of him that the sender had inked on the upper left corner. Tearing it open, he read past his pen-name to the salutation.

     My dear sir: I've been trying to collect a few originals & have written to you in the hope that you can spare me one of you many drawings to add to my little store. I've drawings from ZIM, Harrison Fisher, Gordon Grant, Albert Levering, Culver, Tad, Swinnerton, Frank Opper, Bronstrup, H. King, Everett Shinn, E.J. Cross, Maynard Dixon, R.L. Goldberg, J.H. Smith, Will Grefe, Ransom and letters and etc. from a few others--as I'm very much interested in art and I think you do very good newspaper work. I have a very nice drawing from Haig Patigian which he gave me at his old studio."

At this point of the letter, perhaps Harry paused. The breathless recitation of names was impressive, as was the list itself. The letter continued.

     I admire also the stand you and The Bulletin have taken against the "grafters". My father has done all he could to purify politics in his district and sent Wyman and Steffens to jail."

This last line may have caused Harry to glance at the name at the bottom of letter. You can picture him as he nodded at the familiar last name. Fremont Older, editor of the BULLETIN, had made cleaning up city hall his personal crusade and the letter writer's father was a prominent ally.

     "Please if you can spare me anything I shall be deeply grateful to you and I assure you it will be a most welcome addition to my collection.
     Hoping to hear from you soon and wishing you all success--
     Believe me
     Very Respectfully yours,
     Edgar S. Wheelan"

Immediately below the closing was an inked drawing of a small boy accompanied by a curiously apologetic note.

     "P.S. Enclosed is a very poor proof of a drawing I did for our school book Down South--the original is pretty good for me.
     This is absolutely "ROTTEN" if you'll excuse my language--I was in a great hurry but I shouldn't have done anything."

It was obvious that the artist of the sketch was young and quite insecure about his work. It's not known exactly how or if Harry responded to this missive, but it's hard to imagine he didn't respond with a drawing of his own. After all, courtesy demanded it, and furthermore, it wouldn't hurt to show kindness to the son of a prestigious family.
__________________________________________________________

Fairfax Henry Wheelan cast a long shadow. A native San Franciscan, he was Harvard educated, vice-president of Southern Pacific Milling Company, head of several charitable organizations and as his son alluded, a leader against the political corruption that was prevalent in the city. In the wake of the devastating earthquake of April 18, 1906, Fairfax was one of the Committee of Fifty that led the city's relief efforts. And oh, yes,--he was a former classmate and close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt.

The distaff side of the Wheelan family was no less impressive. Albertine Randall Wheelan, in fact, was even better known than her husband. Her fame as an illustrator of children's books, calendars and magazines had made her name recognizable far beyond the Bay area and put her son Edgar in an advantageous position to pursue his art collecting. In a display of evidential marital bliss, she even illustrated her husband's few literary efforts for ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE.

Pansies for Thoughts
by Fairfax and Albertine Wheelan
ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE, pg 353 (March 1888)
In this case, the apple didn't fall far from the maternal tree. In 1905, Edgar was 17-years old and an aspiring artist as well as art lover. Still a few years away from beginning his own career as a cartoonist.

Harry--actually his given name was Henry--was eight years older than Edgar and had a more common upbringing. He was the son of French immigrants, Louis and Louise, who settled in San Rafael, a picturesque Marin County community north of the Golden Gate narrows from San Francisco.

an 1884 drawing depicting San Rafael
Louis was a tailor and a respected town leader, but he didn't have the Wheelan's wealth or connections. Youngest son Harry attended the Mark Hopkins Art Institute while making a living as an illustrator for the SAN FRANCISCO BULLETIN.

The Bay area was a spawning ground of artistic talent that included Jimmy Swinnerton, "Tad" Dorgan, Rube Goldberg and Herb Roth, the latter two being friends of Harry's future wife, Donna.

Undated note from Herb Roth to Adonias "Donna" Fulton
Roth's note mentions "R.L.G."--his high school pal "Rube" Goldberg, one of their art teachers at Polytechnic High School, Rose Murdock, and noted sculptor, Haig Patigian.

Within a year of Edgar's letter to him, Harry had moved over to the competing SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE where, he would later claim, he worked with a young sports cartoonist named Bud Fisher, who had just begun work on his new daily strip featuring a "Mr. A. Mutt" ("Jeff" would come a bit later).

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (Oct. 7, 1906)
[image retrieved from Heritage Auction Galleries site]
The strip made its CHRONICLE debut on November 15, 1907, but by December, Fisher took a better offer from William Randolph Hearst's SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.

"A. Mutt Starts in to Play the Races" (1907)
While there is no proof that Harry assisted Fisher (though he most certainly had assistants), nor followed him to the EXAMINER, it is apparent that when Fisher made the move to New York and Hearst's NEW YORK AMERICAN in 1909, so did Harry.

Edgar, too, had moved on. After graduating in 1911 from Cornell University, he too took a job at the SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER as a sports cartoonist. While they may not have crossed paths while still in San Francisco, when Wheelan relocated to New York to work at Hearst's NEW YORK AMERICAN in 1915, he found Harry working there as well.

During his tenure at the AMERICAN, Harry also freelanced for various publications such as THE OUTING MAGAZINE and JUDGE. While he never quite broke into the ranks of the upper echelon illustrators, Harry had established a solid career and reputation.

THE OUTING MAGAZINE, pg. 674 (Sept. 1910)
illustration detail
In 1920, the commercial art firm of Louis C. Pedlar, Inc. announced Harry's hiring in PRINTER'S INK magazine. Touting "...his wide experience as a black and white artist, and a colorist of infinite imagination," their ad went on to proclaim that he was, "also a specialist in animal and Western subjects which gives his prowess an added value and wider scope."*

Still, Harry didn't equal the success of his younger admirer. In 1917, Edgar had come upon the novel idea of comic strip continuity. His "Midget Movies" strip was premised on the concept that it followed the episodic film offerings of an acting troupe. Wheelan even drew sprocket holes and used movie techniques such as scene fades to strengthen the film format.

"Midget Movies" (1917)
[image courtesy of Allan Holtz's Stripper's Guide blog]
The strip (eventually dubbed "Minute Movies" when he left Hearst's employ) was a hit. This success subsequently spurred a number of imitations (including its successor for Hearst, Elzie Segar's "Thimble Theater") and, not to mention, established a fundamental comic strip device.

Ed Wheelan newspaper photo (Nov. 21, 1931)
By late 1936, "Minute Movies" successful run had ended. Early in 1937, Wheelan collaborated with Bill Walsh on a new circus themed strip entitled "Big Top". Not long after, Wheelan found another venue for the strip. There was now a burgeoning market for strip reprints to fill the pages of newsstand comic books.

The first issue of Everett "Busy" Arnold's FEATURE FUNNIES (cover dated October, 1937) contained "Big Top" reprints among its other offerings.

"Big Top" page
FEATURE FUNNIES #16 (Jan. 1939)
While the strip suffered when five dailies were reduced to fit on one comic book page, the experience still led Wheelan (and the George Matthew Adams Service syndicate) to offer "Minute Movies" in the comic book format. Unlike most other reprints, however, "Minute Movies" was published in a sideways oblong booklet entitled LITTLE GIANT MOVIE FUNNIES (Aug. 1938) from Centaur Publications. When the strip was revived in the All-American Publications', MOVIE COMICS #1 (April 1939), it was the beginning of a decade-long publishing relationship.

LITTLE GIANT MOVIE FUNNIES (Aug. 1938)
Unlike other name cartoonists, Wheelan embraced the comic book medium. As a particular favorite of All-American's young editor Sheldon Mayer, he created several new backup features, including Fat and Slat. This Mutt and Jeff-like duo proved popular enough that they were featured in ED WHEELAN'S JOKE BOOK (Dec. 1944).

Ed Wheelan photo from inside front cover
ED WHEELAN'S JOKE BOOK (Dec. 1944)
[image courtesy of Jeff Howard-Lindsey]
When Max Gaines sold All-American to DC in 1944, the Flat and Slat strip was one of the few properties that carried over when he formed Educational Comics (EC) Publications. The duo became a reliable staple of Gaines new comic line, appearing in such titles as HAPPY HOULIHANS and MOON GIRL as well as their own short-lived, four issue series beginning in 1947.

"Fat and Slat" original art
from MOON GIRL #4 (Summer 1948)
[image retrieved from Heritage Auction Galleries site]
Meanwhile, by the late 1930s, Harry likely saw his prospects dwindling. The jobs available for an aging illustrator were limited, particularly during the throes of the Great Depression. So like others in his predicament, he looked to the lowest end of the publishing industry for employment. Comic books would at least provide a paycheck.

He first found work through Funnies, Inc., Lloyd Jacquet's comic shop, illustrating such pedestrian fare as the biography of General George Marshall in TRUE COMICS #4 (Sept. 1941).

"U.S. Army Chief General George C. Marshall" splash page from TRUE COMICS #4 (Sept. 1941)
It probably took some effort for him to adapt his illustrative style to this new medium. But he did, and as odd as his work appeared at times, it apparently had its fans. At least, one fan.

Over at All-American, Gaines was trying to get a new character in print. As the story goes, his editor Mayer and the writer were involved in a debate over who was to draw the feature. Harry, for some unknown reason, was the writer's choice.

"I found an artist," the writer would claim in a 1943 AMERICAN SCHOLAR article, "...an old-time cartoonist who worked with Bud Fisher on the San Francisco Chronicle and who knows what life is all about..."**. Mayer protested that his style was too archaic. "The selection," Mayer said,"...was not my idea. It was one of the compromises I made."***. In this instance, the writer prevailed over the editor.

Now, it would be presumptuous to claim it as a fact, but was Wheelan's presence at All-American and Mayer's affection for him, a factor in Harry getting the job?

     "Dear Dr. Marston," wrote Harry, "I slapped these two out in a hurry. The eagle is tough to handle - when in perspective or in profile, he doesn't show up clearly -- the shoes look like a stenographer's. I think the idea might be incorporated as a sort of Roman contraption.

Wonder Woman model sheet (1941)
Harry simply signed this sketch to his future collaborator as "Peter", eschewing his full name, Harry George Peter. The rest, as it's said, was history. Wonder Woman not only became a hit, she became an icon.

At 61-years old, H.G. Peter had become a success. In April, 1942, he opened his own studio at 130 W. 42nd Street (although Marston's widow claimed years later that Peter was just an employee of Marston Art Studios****), employed several other artists and continued drawing Wonder Woman up until his death in 1958.

[left to right] William Moulton Marston, Harry G. Peter,
Sheldon Mayer and Max Gaines (1942)
[photo attributed to Alice Marble, as printed in
75 YEARS OF DC COMICS]
For his part, Ed Wheelan continued producing a number of features, including the "Foney Fairy Tales" back-up strip that ran in WONDER WOMAN and her sister publications, COMICS CAVALCADE and SENSATION COMICS. With his marriage in June, 1947 and Max Gaines tragic death soon after, Wheelan left comics and spent the final years of his life painting pictures of clowns.

But there was one more comic creation of his worth mentioning, perhaps the most telling Wheelan creation of all. It was "Comics McCormick", which premiered in TERRIFIC COMICS #2 (March 1944), and carried the subtitle, "The World's #1 Comic Book Fan".

Comics McCormick
TERRIFIC COMICS #2 (March 1944)
Despite a sporadic publishing history as the feature bounced from Et-Es-Go, to All-American, to EC, "Comics McCormick" charmingly depicted a young boy's love of comics; an affection Wheelan understood well.

One of the character's last appearances was also one that contained a a nod and a wink to his youthful idol, Harry G. Peter. In FLAT AND SLAT #2 (1947), "McCormick" encountered Marvel Maid, who bore a resemblance to a certain Amazonian princess.

Comics McCormick
FAT AND SLAT #2 (Fall 1947)
__________________________________________________________

I was admittedly a bit coy in not showing up front the letter that sparked this post. The original resides in my personal collection and it's my pleasure to share it with you.

__________________________________________________________
ENDNOTES

* PRINTER'S INK, Feb. 26, 1920, pg. 161.
** THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR, vol. 13, pg. 43 (1943).
*** Les Daniels, WONDER WOMAN: THE COMPLETE HISTORY, pg. 24 (2004).
**** According to Roy Thomas in the article "Two Touches of Venus", When Jerry Bails mentioned Peter to Dr. Marston's widow in 1970," her response, wrote Thomas, was,"Re Harry Peter--think you must be referring to the Marston Art Studios located in the building on the southeast corner of Madison and 43rd in N.Y.C. Bill personally handled every aspect of production up to the point of sending to the printer. Harry Peter worked there, plus several young commercial artists who drifted in and out." [THE ALTER EGO COLLECTION, vol. 1, pg. 62]

However, an April 15, 1942, NEW YORK TIMES article notes an office rental at 130 W. 42nd by "Harry G. Peter, cartoonist," and no mention of Marston Art Studios. Furthermore, Peter's WWII draft registration card gives the same address with his notation that he was self-employed.

There is far more to the lives and careers of both H. G. Peter and Ed Wheelan than can be covered in this post. I highly recommend that readers scurry on over to the always informative, always excellent blog of Allan Holtz, the Stripper's Guide, for his recent post about Ed Wheelan and all things comic strip.

Serene Summerfield: The First Lady of Comic Books

2010-12-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

(Special thanks to Phil Barnhart, James Ludwig and Hames Ware for their contributions to this article. -- Ken Quattro)

Close your eyes and picture a serene summer field. Feel the warm sun on your face as your mind’s eye conjures a green expanse of lazily waving grasses, white butterflies wafting over sweet smelling wildflowers, the gentle symphony of harmoniously buzzing honeybees and the lilting chirp of birds on wing.

Then open your eyes and read how Jerry Iger portrayed Serene Summerfield to Hames Ware: "She certainly did not fit the description of her name." Lacking a photo of Ms. Summerfield, we are left to ponder his words.

Was Iger, a notorious ladies man, speaking solely of her physical appearance? Or did she possess an ill temper that belied her first name?

Right about now you are probably asking yourself why I am even discussing her. What makes Serene Summerfield significant? Simply this: in all likelihood, she was the first woman to produce original artwork for modern American comic books.

About that first name. In actuality her given name was Serena, and she was born August 9, 1885 in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Her father Morris was an immigrant, as were the parents of many of her comic peers. But when he came to America from Germany in 1877, he settled in North Carolina instead of New York City. A dry goods merchant, Morris traveled extensively. On one of his business trips, he met and eventually married Annie Davison of Norfolk, Virginia in 1884. The couple returned to Goldsboro, where their eldest child, Serena, was born. Within a few years, they had two more children, with the family moving frequently to keep up with Morris’ burgeoning women's clothing business. In 1900 they were living in Staunton, Virginia. In the early years of the Twentieth Century, the Summerfield’s had moved to The Bronx. Here we get our first glimpse into the life of Serena.

In 1908, Serena was a design student at the Cooper Union, the revolutionary “free school” that provided a college education to qualified students without need of tuition. That year, Serena won a design award--“for an inlaid table top in the style of the Renaissance in Italy“--that resulted in a $10.00 prize. Serena turned her education into an occupation, as she is listed as a wall paper designer in the census of 1910.

By 1920, the Summerfield’s had moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Serena, by now in her mid-thirties, moved along with them. In 1922, the Summerfield’s moved for the last time back to New York, to Brooklyn, with their unmarried daughter in tow.

The 1920 census describes both Serena and her brother Jerome as "reproductional" artists. By 1925, Serena had her own studio. The previous year, she had illustrated the memoirs of businessman Saunders Norvell. Norvell's book, FORTY YEARS OF HARDWARE, was just as the title implied: a remembrance of his long career in the hardware business and is considered something of a classic for its detailing of a bygone era of American business. More to the point, Summerfield's illustrations for the book are the first examples of her published work to be found.

illustrations from
FORTY YEARS OF HARDWARE (1924)

The drawings therein displayed the competency of an art student, but not much more. She was obviously most comfortable working from photos, for when she wasn't, her subject's anatomy broke down; she appeared lost. The fussiness of her pen-strokes seem to indicate the insecurity of an amateur rather than the sure line of an accomplished artist. She was no Nell Brinkley. Still, she had succeeded in getting published work.

And then, nothing.

Well, there was the short letter she wrote to the NEW YORK TIMES:

Queries and Answers page
NEW YORK TIMES (March 1,1931)

How proper. How reserved. How telling? Serena (under the somewhat more poetic nom de plume, "Serene"), comes across as erudite and as genteelly scolding as a schoolmarm.

Other than a vague reference in a 1935 copyright for a "King Cotton" piece of art (once again, as "Serene Summerfield"), her professional career as an illustrator seems to have been stillborn. Yet, not necessarily so. In the census of 1930, Summerfield is listed as a "poster" artist. Further (if anything can be derived from this information), her brother Jerome was also employed as an artist for the Nuart Poster Company.

But then came comic books. By the middle of the 1930s, this emerging market was hiring artists--a significant development in the midst of the Great Depression. Scuttling along at the lowest end of the publishing industry, comic publishers weren't particular about the quality of the work they bought, nor the credentials of their artists. Pure amateurs were having their worked published alongside that of longtime professional illustrators on the downside of their careers. This egalitarian situation was less the result of politics than of economics. While Serena's skill level wasn't a major consideration to editors, her willingness to work for the money paid for comic book work, was.

Summerfield's first venture into comics, entitled "Stratosphere Special", appeared in Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's NEW COMICS #4 (March-April, 1936). This brief, two-page effort is a curiosity for several reasons.

Stratosphere Special
NEW COMICS #4 (March-April, 1936)
[image courtesy of James Ludwig]
The artwork and story seem creakingly archaic. With a trip to the Moon accomplished by means of a balloon, Summerfield's knowledge of science fiction seemed to have stopped with the novels of Jules Verne. The feature was a relic compared to work regularly seen in concurrent comic strips and pulps. Still, her amateurish depiction of fin de siècle fashions and childlike Moon-men is quaintly humorous.

Stratosphere Special
NEW COMICS #5 (June, 1936)
[image courtesy of James Ludwig]
The second installment of "Stratosphere Special" in NEW COMICS #5 (June, 1936) would be its last, but undaunted, Summerfield sold the nearly identical "Space Limited (Above the Stratosphere)" to John Henle. Henle was the shirt manufacturer turned publisher who employed Samuel "Jerry" Iger to put together a new publication, "...containing comics, stories and articles on hobbies,"* the not-so-humbly titled, WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! #1 (July, 1936). *[NEW YORK TIMES, Aug. 5,1936]

At Henle Publications, Summerfield found herself working among such artists as Bob Kane, Barnard Baily, George Brenner and Iger's future business partner, Will Eisner.

“Eisner remembers Summerfield," wrote Trina Robbins and cat yronwode in their 1985 book, WOMEN AND THE COMICS, "(as) a big statuesque woman with a pleasant face, a sharp nose and hyperthyroid eyes who wore her hair in a bun.” A visually gentler, if not much kinder, description than that given by Iger.

Space Limited (Above the Stratosphere)
WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE #2, pg. 17 (August, 1936)
[images courtesy of Phil Barnhart]

pg. 18

pg. 19
As far as the strip itself was concerned, Summerfield seems to have been exposed to more current science fiction artwork in the intervening months since her "Stratosphere Special". The spacefaring balloon is gone, replaced by a more acceptable spaceship that would have been comfortable on the cover of AMAZING STORIES. The women and children that populated her first feature stayed home. Instead, space-suited Earth men encounter more sinister looking Moon men led, apparently, by Diane, "The Goddess of the Moon", fashionably dressed in Thirties chic. The storyline makes little sense and the strip dies with the magazine, ending with issue #4 dated November, 1936.

What then? Did Summerfield linger and become part of the Eisner & Iger shop that rose from the ashes of WOW? The online WHO'S WHO OF AMERICAN COMIC BOOKS suggests that she did, although no specific credits are named. Lacking a definitive attribution, it's quite possible these few efforts constituted her entire comic book career.

Outside comics, only fleeting glimpses of Serena's life are to be found, and then usually tangentially. An August 7, 1937 NEW YORK TIMES article, topped with a photo of an elderly man and woman dressed in 1880's garb, tells of the yearly trip made by the couple on the anniversary of their marriage.

Maurice and Annie Summerfield
NEW YORK TIMES (August 7, 1937)
The couple, "The Maurice Summerfields of Brooklyn" (note the newly adopted French spelling of Morris' first name--quel bourgeois!), were making their 53rd "sentimental journey" back to Norfolk, Virginia, accompanied by their son Jerome. Neither Serena nor her sister Priscilla get a mention.

Serena does make the papers, though, on the Letters to the Editor page of the Oct. 31, 1943 issue of the NYT:

TO THE EDITOR:

Answering the poem in THE NEW YORK TIMES Magazine by Berton Braley, entitled "We Keep 'Em in the Air"---

US, TOO!
...and we're the folks at home,
Bert,
The little everyday guy,
Who helps the "greasy ground-
hogs"
Keep 'em in the sky!
For without our STAMPS and
BONDS, Bert
That we little Main-Streeters
buy
They couldn't purchase the planes,
Bert,
To put 'em in the sky!
SERENA SUMMERFIELD.
Brooklyn.

This outburst of enthusiastic patriotism is the final "credit" found for the now middle-aged Serena. When her mother, Annie, passes away in 1949, it's noted that she leaves behind, "...two daughters, Miss Serena Summerfield and Mrs. Priscilla Manning". At age 64, Serena had apparently never married.

According to Social Security records, Serena Summerfield died in July 1966 in Brooklyn, New York. She was nearly 81 years old.

Having died before she could ever be interviewed, the fact is that many details about the life of Serene Summerfield remain unknown. Her career as an illustrator seems to have been relatively unsuccessful or at least undistinguished enough that few examples of her work survive.

As an unmarried woman in the early Twentieth Century, it's likely she didn’t have any children, nobody to tell her story. Much, if not all, of her life seems to have been spent within the comfortable confines of her family's embrace, with her poetry and her artwork. Despite the fact that she defied societal conventions of the time by going to college and pursuing a career, as the daughter of a successful businessman she probably never wanted for money, never ventured far. More's the pity, she never knew she was a pioneer.

But we do.

Mirth, Mockery & Mayhem

2010-08-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!

Just checking in to let you all know that I'm finishing up a long article for a well-known print publication, but I'll be posting back here soon with a new piece that I hope you will enjoy. Meanwhile, let me share with you the contents of an email I just received from my old friend, Professor Richard Rubenfeld. Rich is a professor of art history at Eastern Michigan University and a longtime comic fan and historian. He has hosted several outstanding exhibitions of comic art at EMU in the past decade and I am very pleased to hear about his latest presentation:

The Michigan Comics Show opens this Thursday, August 12th. The opening reception will take place between 6:00 and 8:30. There will be live music and food. There is an admission fee for members and non-members.

An update on some dates and events:

First the show will run an additional day (till October 31st) to accommodate visitors to the Detroit Fanfare being held that weekend. I don't have the particulars, but attendees of that convention will be able to see the exhibition at a reduced cost. Information on this will be in the convention program.

September 19th, 2:00 p.m. I will give a gallery talk at the museum.

September 24th: Student Symposium; will include a panel of professionals. So far, Mike Thompson and Aaron Warner have indicated interest in participating on the panel.

October 3: Fall Harvest: free admission that day and book signing of THE BURGH, a collection of comics about Jackson, Michigan, by Jackson natives, Joe and Jon Hart. Trust me. Their work is really edgy and very contemporary.

October 14th, evening : Local Comics Panel, moderated by Jon Hart.

October 16th, 2:00 p.m. I am lecturing about comic and cartoon in history at the Jackson District Library.

October 22: Book signing of STITCHES, a new graphic novel by Michigander David Small. This will take place at the Jackson District Library. We had hoped to get David to participate in the exhibition, but are looking forward to seeing his book.

There is some new work in the show by Dave Coverly and Katie Cook. Work by the Brothers Hart and Jackson artist, Jason Howard (best known for his work on Marvel's Astounding Wolfman) has also been added.

Visit the Ella Sharp Museum website for additional information.
http://www.ellasharp.org

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Harry Donenfeld

2010-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is the sixth and final installment of testimony from Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Bruns (Fox) Publications. As I've done previously, I’ll present the scanned transcript pages and leave my comments to the end.

Finally, it came down to the testimony of Harry Donenfeld. His presence loomed over the entire proceedings as every one of the case's participants knew him and most had reason to fear him. To even casual observers, Donenfeld's long, disreputable past was well-known:

"Last week the new owner and the future of the Police Gazette were revealed. The owner is Merwil Publishing Co. consisting of Irving & Harry Donenfeld and Mrs. Merle Williams Hersey. Merwil Publishing Co. issues five of the smuttiest magazines on the newsstands..." [TIME MAGAZINE, "Barber's Bible", July 31, 1933]

Victor Fox makes a brief reappearance on the stand after Donenfeld in rebuttal to conclude the testimony. I have included that here as well.

-- Harry Donenfeld, plaintiff witness herein referred to as The Witness
-- Victor S. Fox, defense witness herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum & Raphael Koenig, attorneys for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Samuel Fried, attorney for co-defendants Kable News Co. and Interborough News Co.
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court
__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF HARRY DONENFELD

pg. 1

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

pg. 7

__________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

Although brief, Donenfeld's testimony was--like the man himself--direct and uncompromising:

Manges: Mr. Donenfeld, you are president of the plaintiff corporation?

Donenfeld: I am, sir.

Manges: Did Mr. Fox ever submit to you a dummy for a magazine Kid Comics?

Donenfeld: No, sir.

Manges: Did Mr. Fox ever submit to you a any dummy with the "Wonderman" character on it?

Donenfeld: No, sir.

While much of his testimony is devoted to detailing--and apparently proving with canceled checks--that he was not in New York City at the time Fox claimed to have met with him to propose KID COMICS, it is during cross-examination on another matter that Donenfeld shows some anger:

Blim: Haven't you pleaded guilty in the Federal Court recently for sending obscene matter through the mails?

Donenfeld: No, sir, I was never involved in any Federal Court action.

Blum: I would like to have you search your memory because I want the correct answer, if you remember it. Haven't you pleaded guilty in the Federal Court recently?

Donenfeld: Do you think I'm going to perjure myself?

Blum: I don't know.

Donenfeld: I have made a definite statement that I was never indicted, never had any business with any Federal authorities or any Federal courts; never been indicted and never pleaded. Is that clear?

Blum: That is clear.

Donenfeld: O.K., sir.

The simmering animosity between Donenfeld and Fox is laid bare when the latter takes the stand briefly in an attempt to rebut Donenfeld's words:

Manges: Have you any proof at all besides your word that you saw Mr. Donenfeld in New York between January 10th and January 20th, that those dates are correct, in 1938?

Fox: I was unprepared for the question, but if I have the time--I keep memorandums of all my conversations with Donenfeld as I found that they were not always according to Hoyle.

With Fox's testimony, the trial ends. We have the advantage afforded by time to know the outcome of the case in Detective Comics favor. Despite several appeals, the decision stands.

The ironies surrounding this case abound. The chilling effect DC hoped the decision would have on any other potential imitators didn't materialize. Even while the case was being heard, new super-powered characters were hitting the newsstands. By the time all appeals had been exhausted, the floodgates had been irrevocably opened. Even Victor Fox never visibly hesitated, as his comics featured one super-hero after another.

Within a decade of this 1939 case, the alliances involved had drastically changed.

Although Victor Fox had stiffed Eisner and Iger the $3,000 he owed them at the time of this case, they continued doing business with him. In fact, Iger, long after Eisner had split from the partnership, would be producing material for Fox's comics virtually until he stopped publishing in the 1950s. The aforementioned Eisner-Iger split left the former partners at odds, particularly evident in Iger's bitter memories later in his life.

Jerry Siegel, already angry over DC's shady accounting practices denying him and Shuster any profits from their creation, would--with Shuster--eventually sue the corporation. The first suit, initiated in 1947, ended not only with DC prevailing, but the ostracizing of both creators from DC for years.

By 1944, M.C Gaines ended his relationship with DC with the sale of All-American to Donenfeld's emerging National Comics. This too was an acrimonious split that had been exacerbated by tensions between him and his partner, Jack Liebowitz. Even Gaines' editor and protégé, Sheldon Mayer, switched his allegiance by staying with DC when Gaines went on to form Educational Comics.
__________________________________________________________

FINAL THOUGHTS

Having the opportunity to present this extraordinary historical document has been a true privilege. I don't question whether it was luck or something I did that prompted the finder of this transcript to contact me and then to allow me to publish it online, I'm just thankful that he did.

And to answer all those who wondered where this document had been found...

it is available to us all, where it has always been, in the National Archives.

--Ken Quattro

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Gaines & Mayer

2010-07-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is the fifth installment of testimony from Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Bruns (Fox) Publications. As I've done previously, I’ll present the scanned transcript pages and leave my comments to the end.

M.C.Gaines and Sheldon Mayer. For nearly a decade the two were linked, from the early years when Gaines was packaging comics with Mayer as his assistant, to Mayer's ascension to editor over Gaines' All-American line.

"He [Mayer] worked better with the cantankerous Charlie Gaines, maybe because they both felt too smart for the world around them and they didn't mind the yelling." [Gerard Jones, MEN OF TOMORROW, pg. 122]

This linkage continues as Mayer's testimony is built to support that of Gaines, hence, I present them together.

-- M.C. Gaines & Sheldon Mayer, plaintiff witnesses herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum & Raphael Koenig, attorneys for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court
__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF MAX GAINES

Gaines, pg. 1

Gaines, pg. 2

Gaines, pg. 3

Gaines, pg. 4

Gaines, pg. 5

Gaines, pg. 6

Gaines, pg. 7

Mayer, pg. 1

Mayer, pg. 2

Mayer, pg. 3

__________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

Max Gaines description of his acquisition and subsequent presentation of Superman to DC is perhaps the earliest contemporaneous relating of those events.

Worth noting is Gaines' testimony about a meeting he had with Jerry Iger in late April, 1938:

Gaines: ...he [Iger] was interested at that time in coming out with another comic magazine. He had a lot of material available and could get other material and he wanted help from me to finance him in a comic publication.

If true, this poses the question: Did Iger contact Gaines without Fox's knowledge with the intention of publishing his own comic book?

Gaines goes on to make the potentially damning accusation that his assistant (Mayer) gave Iger copies of all five comics being packaged by him, including a copy of ACTION COMICS #1.

While he unequivocally backed his boss's words, Mayer's testimony is frustratingly short. The only new bit of information worthy of extraction was his memory of Iger's proposed comic book:

Blum: Do you remember the drawings Mr. Iger showed you in April?

Mayer: I do.

Blum: What were they?

Mayer: They were a series of--well, several series. As a matter of fact, they were photostatic copies of drawings and if I'm not mistaken most of them were used in Jumbo Comics.

Blum: What characters were in those drawings Mr. Iger showed you?

Mayer: Oh, there was an aviation strip and a spy strip. I don't recall the names of the characters because they didn't impress me very much at the time.

If Mayer's recollection was correct, Iger may have been showing him stats of Les Marshall's "Modern 'Planes" and Eisner's "ZX-5" spy features. Both were proven strips from the Eisner/Iger shop that had seen publication in the JUMBO, and could well have been part of any proposal Iger would have shown Mayer.

Gaines' description of Joe Shuster's use of Ben-Day (misspelled "Benda" in the transcript) on the first week of Superman strips is one of those little things that probably went unnoticed by most in court that day, but is intriguing to comic fans 70 years later. From his words, though, it seems that Gaines was describing Duo-Shade. This is the process in which a chemical developer is applied to Duo-Shade paper bringing out the desired pattern, as Gaines' describes. Ben-Day differs in that it is a dot pattern transferred from prepared overlay sheets of paper to a surface by use of a burnishing tool.

One aspect not generally (if ever) discussed was Gaines' original intention for the Superman feature:

Gaines: I had an idea of getting out a certain weekly tabloid containing a certain type of comic strip form for newspaper syndication and I wrote to Mr. Siegel and asked him if he still had available the material which he had sent me several years ago and which I had returned and to please forward it immediately as I might have some use for it.

Although Gaines' idea of a weekly comic tabloid didn't pan out for him, others in the courtroom may have been taking mental notes. Victor Fox published samples of his own weekly comic tabloid dated May 12, 1940 entitled FREE WEEKLY COMIC MAGAZINE, less than a month before "Busy" Arnold and the Register and Tribune Syndicate came out with Eisner's SPIRIT newspaper supplement.

Next: Harry Donenfeld...and a rebuttal from Victor Fox.

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Jerry Siegel

2010-07-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth installment of testimony from Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Bruns (Fox) Publications. As I've done previously, I’ll present the scanned transcript pages and leave my comments to the end.

Jerry Siegel needs no introduction--to us. But in 1939, he was just a young Midwestern writer-for-hire who had come up with the costumed character that was the bone of contention in this courtroom. Although he was likely intimidated by the proceedings, Siegel suspected what Liebowitz and Donenfeld already knew: Superman was a money-maker. Getting his fair share of that money would be another matter.

"Now in reply to your letter. Frankly, when I got through reading it, it took my breath away. I did not anticipate that when I asked you to come to New York to discuss this matter of newspaper syndication, that you would want to take advantage of this visit and try to boost up your price on "Superman". You must bear in mind, Jerry, that when we started Action Comics, we agreed to give you $10.00 a page, which is $4.00 a page more than anyone else is getting for any feature in any of our four books." [Jack Liebowitz in a letter to Siegel, Sept. 28, 1938]

-- Jerome Siegel, plaintiff witness herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum & Raphael Koenig, attorneys for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Samuel Fried, attorney for co-defendants Kable News Co. and Interborough News Co.
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court

[note: I've also included the brief testimony of Warren Angel, Vice President and General Manager of Kable News. While his testimony has little, if any affect on the case's outcome, I have included it for the completists out there.]
__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF JERRY SIEGEL

Siegel, pg. 1

Siegel, pg. 2

Siegel, pg. 3

Siegel, pg. 4

Siegel, pg. 5

Siegel, pg. 6

Siegel, pg. 7

Siegel, pg. 8

Siegel, pg. 9

Siegel, pg. 10

Angel, pg. 1

Angel, pg. 2

Angel, pg. 3

Angel, pg. 4
__________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

Siegel's role in testifying was, by design, very specific.

Manges: I only bring on this witness because they plead as a separate defense lack of originality.

Despite being the creator (along with Joe Shuster) of Superman, Siegel suffered the ignominy of knowing he was just the hired help. Instead of being the aggrieved parties, the ones suing for damages for copyright infringement, Siegel and Shuster had signed away all rights to the character. Siegel sat in the courtroom as Liebowitz and the attorneys detailed the copyright transfer, the phenomenal success of the comic and the potential licensing possibilities.

And he was here only to speak to the originality of his creation.

The defense attorney tries to imply that Siegel copied the currently popular comic strip, The Phantom, thereby making it the common source for both Superman and Wonder Man. After getting Siegel to acknowledge familiarity with The Phantom, the defense attorney tries to pin him down:

Blum: How was that character, "The Phantom", dressed; in what costume?

Siegel: Well, when I first saw the book [a "Phantom" Big Little Book] I was startled to see how similar it was to the "Superman" features.

What seems to be an admission of imitation, soon proves to be something else entirely:

Siegel: However, there is one other thing I would like to mention--I mean in connection with my having seen this book.

Blum: Go ahead.

Siegel: When I saw this book I went over to the artist's office, and I wondered whether our "Superman" had been lying around the King Features Syndicate.

Siegel's (obviously rehearsed) implication that The Phantom may have been copied from his submission of Superman to King Features, briefly rattles the plaintiff's attorney before they move on.

While Siegel never does produce a drawing of Superman that pre-existed its publication in ACTION COMICS--odd, since such drawings have turned up since--he does satisfy the Court with a letter submitting the strip to Frank Armer, editor of Super Magazines, Inc, dated June 20, 1934. Not stated, but known to at least some of those in court that day:

Super Magazines was a company owned by Harry Donenfeld.

Next up: Max Gaines and Sheldon Mayer

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Jack Liebowitz

2010-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is the third installment of testimony from Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Bruns (Fox) Publications. As in the two previous, I’ll present the scanned transcript pages and leave my comments to the end.

Fittingly, Jack Liebowitz leads off for the plaintiffs. The former accountant had worked his way up through Harry Donenfeld’s organization, from business manager, to secretary-treasurer, to Max Gaines partner in the Donenfeld-funded All-American Comics venture. He was also chief guardian of the Superman franchise:

“He (Liebowitz) was ferocious within the industry, though. As Superman imitations poured from cheap printing presses in 1939 and 1940, it became almost habitual for the company to toss around lawsuits and threatening letters.” [Gerard Jones, MEN OF TOMORROW, pg. 165]

-- Jacob S. Liebowitz, plaintiff witness herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum & Raphael Koenig, attorneys for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Samuel Fried, attorney for co-defendants Kable News Co. and Interborough News Co.
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court
__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF JACK LIEBOWITZ

pg. 1

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

pg. 7

pg. 8

pg. 9

pg. 10

pg. 11

pg. 12

pg. 13

pg. 14

pg. 15

__________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

Liebowitz's testimony is remarkable.

Not just because it establishes Fox's opportunity and means of acquiring the sales figures of--and consequently, the motivation to copy--ACTION COMICS, but it peels back the layers of incestuous relationships between the participants. From a historical perspective, Liebowitz's words may be more revealing, if not as shocking, as Eisner's.

To begin with, he puts to rest this apocryphal tale:

"…Harry Donenfeld's accountant, Victor Fox came in to work at 10:00 AM, saw the sales figures for Action Comics #1, he quit his job at 11:00 AM, spent the noon hour finding some office space to rent, and by 2 PM he was interviewing people to do superhero comics for him." [Jamie Coville, "Siegel, Shuster and Superman"]

The truth is more involved and more intriguing. After establishing the close proximity of Bruns to DC (both were in the same building, two floors apart), the plaintiff's attorney reveals a deeper relationship:

Manges: Is Mr. Donenfeld the president of your company?

Liebowitz: He is.

Manges: And did Mr. Donenfeld at one time have a 50 percent interest in the Bruns Publications?

Liebowitz: Yes.

Wheels within wheels. Not only was Donenfeld owner of Detective Comics and distributor, Independent News, but was also Fox's one-time partner in Bruns. Meanwhile Liebowitz, secretary-treasurer of DC, served in a similar capacity for Independent News, of which, Fox was a customer.

It was as a client of that distributor that Fox had access to the sales figures of ACTION COMICS. It seems that he would make a daily trip to the offices of Independent News to check the sales of his own WORLD ASTROLOGY MAGAZINE. While flipping through the unsorted "pick-up" cards, Fox had the opportunity to see the astounding sell-through rate of ACTION compared to the meager sales of WORLD ASTROLOGY.

Liebowitz also makes reference to a comic book proposed to him by Fox in February, 1939:

Manges: Will you tell his Honor what was said by Mr. Fox and what was said by you, to the best of your recollection?

Liebowitz: Well, he was up to see me at one time at the office, I think it was around five o'clock. A part of the conversation was to inform me he was going to publish a comic magazine and that the issue was being prepared in about two weeks.

Was this WONDER COMICS or the KID COMICS mentioned by Fox? If so, their stories, not surprisingly, vary wildly. Fox claimed he had this conversation with Donenfeld and a full year earlier, in January, 1938. As is frequently the case, timing is everything, and proof of it becomes central to this case.

Next up on the stand: Jerry Siegel.

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Iger & Fox

2010-07-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is the second installment of testimony from the transcript of the legendary lawsuit pitting plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc. against upstart publisher Victor Fox (Bruns Publications) and his distributors for copyright infringement of DC's franchise character, Superman.

I'm going to step back and let Jerry Iger and Victor Fox speak for themselves, but I quickly want to say "Thank you" to all the folks who have contacted me over the past few days regarding my publication of this historic document. Once again, the thanks should go to the actual finder of the transcript; I only provide the forum for its viewing.

-- Samuel M. Iger & Victor Fox, defense witnesses herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum & Raphael Koenig, attorneys for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Samuel Fried, attorney for co-defendants Kable News Co. and Interborough News Co.
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court

[note: the "Mr. Stolz" referred to in the first portion of this testimony was the vice-president of Interborough News. The court was trying to subpoena Stolz to testify to his sending of a letter to various people connected with distribution for his company.]

__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF JERRY IGER & VICTOR FOX

Iger, pg. 1

Iger, pg. 2

Iger, pg. 3

Iger, pg. 4

Iger, pg. 5

Iger, pg. 6

Fox, pg. 1

Fox, pg. 2

Fox, pg. 3

Fox, pg. 4

Fox, pg. 5

Fox, pg. 6

Fox, pg. 7
__________________________________________________________

COMMENTS

After wading through some preliminary side-talk, it doesn’t take long to realize that Jerry Iger’s testimony was crafted to bolster what Eisner had said earlier. As Wonder Man’s creator (à la Victor Fox), Eisner was tapped to carry the weight of the defense’s case.

The direct questioning of Iger hoped to establish the defense’s contention that Eisner had created “The Wonderman” in January 1938 and had presented his rough sketch to Fox at that time. This was crucial to their case. The implication that The Phantom was a common source for both Superman and Wonder Man was offered and just as quickly dismissed by Judge Woolsey, who seemed to be losing his patience.

The plaintiff’s attorney, trying to find an exploitable fracture between Eisner and Iger’s testimonies, elicited this humorously coy response:

Manges: When did you first read the script “Superman” in Action Comics?

Iger: After the question of whether we had copied the character in Action Comics called--what do you call him? I don’t recall. As a matter of fact, I very seldom read--I don't read all the comic books. We do read the comic books that we supply.

Iger got off relatively easy as opposed to the grilling that Eisner received. Things got a bit more interesting, though, when Victor Fox took the stand.

Almost overlooked in light of the shock of Eisner’s earlier testimony, were references to a proposed comic titled, KID COMICS. Under questioning, Fox goes into detail:

Blum: Did you take up this matter of this Kid Comics magazine with Mr. Donenfeld?

Fox: I suggested to him that I would manufacture a so-called tabloid sized comic magazine which would be twice the size of those ordinarily sold by other publishers of 28 or 32 pages, I don’t recall which, and I submitted this dummy to him and I said, “I want you to put this out for five cents, as a five-cent seller. There is no other one in the market for five cents. I would like you to distribute it for us.” He said, “Let me have the dummy. I will talk it over with my associate and we will let you know.”

This proposed publication (which was new to me) sounds quite a bit like Eisner/Iger’s JUMBO COMICS, which was itself a reworking of the material they had produced for J.B. Power’s overseas tabloid, WAGS. What makes this different is Fox’s suggestion to Donenfeld (if he is be believed) that it be priced at five cents.

Questions abound: was this proposal actually made to Donenfeld by Fox? If so, when? Was KID COMICS an earlier version of JUMBO with the same contents, or was it a later creation, containing new material?

In any case, KID COMICS was key to the defense’s position that DC was the real plagiarist:

Mr. Blum: Just a minute please, I am replying to the Court. He (Fox) verifies this affidavit in March, 1939, and he says, “I find that a number of ideas that were embodied in the dummy of Kid Comics which I left with Donenfeld are being used in a number of Donenfeld’s comic magazines; to wit, Action Comics,” and then he referred to two other magazines.

The Court: In other words, your position is switching around and claiming that in effect Mr. Donenfeld’s organization was plagiarizing something that they saw--I don’t know the names of the people that were on the stand yesterday--that were drawn and submitted to you; that is what you are claiming?

Mr. Blum: That is correct.

This startling accusation was apparently just a ploy to put the DC on the defensive. Nothing other than Fox’s words support the claim and to this point, no dummy copy of KID COMICS has yet been found.

Next installment, the plaintiffs speak.

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Will Eisner

2010-07-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Will Eisner is my hero.

That line will surely come as no shock to anyone who has spoken to me about comics for more than five minutes or read any of my many articles or posts related to the man. To me he was a Promethean figure: creative, farsighted and flat-out brilliant. The fact that he was one of the few comic book creators to come out of the Golden Age financially well off, says as much about his business savvy as his artistic instincts.

I’ve admired, too, his apparent honesty. In a time when the comic industry was dominated by publishers with shady--if not criminal--pasts, Eisner played it straight. Nothing spoke more to his integrity than the story of his testimony in the groundbreaking lawsuit officially known as Detective Comics, Inc. vs. Bruns Publications, Inc., Kable News Company, and Interborough News Co., but more to the point, it was DC vs. Victor Fox.

In short, Fox had taken note of the spectacular sales of ACTION COMICS and hoping to catch the coattails of the comic’s lead feature, quickly contracted the Eisner/Iger shop to produce an imitation Superman. As the story goes, Eisner had his misgivings:

"…Iger made a very convincing argument, which was…that we were very hungry. We needed the money badly, " Eisner told interviewer John Benson in his 1979 fanzine, PANELS, "…when the first sequence was finished Fox decided he wanted to put the title on and he called it, strangely enough, Wonder Man."

"I suppose when you're young," said Eisner continued, "it is easier to adhere to principles…At any rate, when I did get on the stand and testified under oath, I told the truth, exactly what happened." [PANELS, pgs. 10-11]

Years later, Eisner told a more detailed version to writer Bob Andelman, which was then recounted in his posthumous biography, A SPIRITED LIFE.

“It’s simple. Go into court and say you thought up the idea and that’s it,” Iger said, “They can’t sue you because you were paid for it.”

“I can’t do that,” Eisner said. “It’s not true. Victor described the character exactly the way he wanted him in a handwritten memo. Obviously, a complete imitation of Superman.”

“Eisner agonized about what he’d say at the trial. Finally, he decided that he couldn’t commit perjury and, when called to the witness stand, he testified that Fox literally instructed Eisner & Iger to copy Superman.” [A SPIRITED LIFE, pgs. 44-45]

A thinly disguised fictional version even made it into Eisner’s graphic novel roman à clef, THE DREAMER.

THE DREAMER pg. 42 (1986)
[Eyron=Eisner, Reynard=Fox and Heroman=Wonder Man]
According to every version, Eisner’s confessional testimony led to DC winning the suit and Fox subsequently punishing the Eisner/Iger shop by failing to pay them $3,000 for the work they had produced for him.

This inspirational story fascinated me and prompted me to search for the transcript of the case. For years I tried contacting sources in New York City, where the case was heard by District Judge John M. Woolsey on April 6 and 7, 1939. I even imposed upon a Manhattan lawyer to see if he had access that I couldn’t get. All to no avail. The transcript was apparently lost forever.

Then out of nowhere, I recently received an email from a person who had read my online article, "Rare Eisner: Making of a Genius", telling me he had obtained a copy of the transcript and asking if I’d like to see it.

I could hardly type my affirmative reply fast enough.

In short order, my benefactor (who has requested anonymity) sent me a PDF file of transcript. For the next couple of hours I pored over the contents--and was stunned. It was like sitting in the courtroom listening to history. In my opinion, this transcript is one of the most important documents related to comic book history to ever come to light.

Both preceding and following Eisner on the stand were Jerry Siegel, Max Gaines, Sheldon Mayer and Jerry Iger, as well as the main combatants, Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz from DC and the defendant, Victor Fox. There is much revealed and much to discuss, but rather than try to do it all in one post, I’ll spread it out over several. This post will be all about Eisner.

To maintain the historical accuracy of Eisner’s testimony, I’ve decided to show you images of the scanned pages. All 27 of them. Following the page scans, I’ll be back for a summary.

[note: As the scans were made from bound pages, there is a waviness to them that I attempted to correct with an image editing program, with limited success.]

The people appearing in this transcript are:

-- William Eisner, defense witness herein referred to as The Witness
-- Asher Blum, attorney for defendant Brun Publications (Fox)
-- Samuel Fried, attorney for co-defendants Kable News Co. and Interborough News Co.
-- Horace Manges, attorney for the plaintiff Detective Comics, Inc.
-- Judge John Woolsey, herein referred to as The Court

The exhibits referred to in this suit were submitted along with the affidavit of Jack Liebowitz:

Exhibit I, pg. 1

Exhibit I, pg. 2)

Exhibit I, pg. 3
__________________________________________________________

TESTIMONY OF WILL EISNER

pg. 1

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

pg. 7

pg. 8

pg. 9

pg. 10

pg. 11

pg. 12

pg. 13

pg. 14

pg. 15

pg. 16

pg. 17

pg. 18

pg. 19

pg. 20

pg. 21

pg. 22

pg. 23

pg. 24

pg. 25

pg. 26

pg. 27

__________________________________________________________

SUMMARY

If you’ve made it this far, I assume you’ve read Eisner’s testimony in total. And if you have, you too have noticed the obvious discrepancy between Eisner’s oft-repeated version and his words before the court.

[full disclosure: This posed a true dilemma for me. Part of me wanted to protect the image of my idol by keeping this information to myself. Part realized the importance of this document to comic history and my responsibility as a reporter. I can't deny history, so as much as this truly pains me, I set my personal emotions aside.]

There is no equivocation on his part. Eisner takes full credit for creating Wonder Man months before ACTION COMICS hit the newsstands, without any knowledge of Superman himself and without Fox‘s prompting. Eisner’s testimony was in lock-step with both Iger and Fox, which will become evident in a subsequent post. Contrary to the image of the idealistic young artist risking his financial well-being on principle, it appears he succumbed to the urgings of his partner and their client.

One point not mentioned in the transcript, but one which Eisner himself frequently mentioned: he was one of the editors that had rejected Siegel and Shuster’s Superman strip before DC bought it.

“One day Eisner received a letter and sample art from two Cleveland kids, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They were peddling two comic strips, one called “Spy”, the other “Superman”.

“The truth of the matter is that when I saw their stuff, I didn’t think that any of our customers would buy it, and I was right,” Eisner said.” [A SPIRITED LIFE, pg. 43]

If the plaintiffs’ lawyers had known about this prior knowledge, or if Siegel had recalled his submission to Eisner, it could have made his testimony even more uncomfortable.

As I stated previously, there is much more fascinating testimony in this transcript that I will be presenting in future posts. The parade of witnesses provide a plethora of revelatory detail about their shadowy world of publication and the creation of Superman in particular.

Will Eisner is still my hero; creative, farsighted and flat-out brilliant. But flawed, just like everyone else. Just a man and not a Superman.

A Letter From William Ekgren

2010-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

No letter came today. There wasn’t one yesterday and I don’t expect one tomorrow. But I do have the two that he sent me and perhaps that’s enough.

My small obsession with William Ekgren began years ago when I first saw his three comic book covers. Visual non-sequiturs unrelated to their comic’s contents, excruciatingly rendered, morose, swirling miasmas of ochre and muted reds. Fittingly they fronted comics entitled WEIRD HORRORS and STRANGE TERRORS.

Who was this artist? When it became apparent that not even a little was known about him, I set out to unearth what I could. That many year quest was detailed in my article, “Who Is William Ekgren?”, that I recently posted on this blog back in February. Briefly, it seems that the Norwegian born Ekgren was an itinerant Expressionist painter who had only a cursory intersection with comic book art in 1952.

Thanks to that and the trail my search left on the Internet, I received several emails from acquaintances of Ekgren. Most surprising of all, though, was the one I received from Niklas Ekgren, William’s grandson.

In fractured English, Niklas wrote of his grandfather’s life when he moved back to Sweden from the U. S. in 1959. William had married, fathered some children and he continued painting up until the mid-Nineties. Good information, but it was the email’s last lines that stopped me cold.

“He is still alife (sic), in fairly good shape at the age of 88. He lifs (sic) in Uddevalla in south Sweden.”

William Ekgren--ALIVE?

William Ekgren (2006)
An exchange of emails followed. I asked if an interview with the aged artist was possible. Niklas checked with his grandfather and he gladly consented. I quickly responded with a set of questions, simply put so as not to tax him, but hoping that some information would be gained.

Several weeks later a letter arrived postmarked Goteborg, Sweden. Not knowing what to expect, I opened the envelope with some trepidation.

The letter was five pages in length of handwritten cursive filling every line on each page. In the uppermost margin, scrawled across the page was the line, “Uddevalla, Sweden--December 22, 2007 (on the year’s darkest day)”

How gloomy. How perfectly Scandinavian.

After a paragraph thanking me for my interest and my article, Ekgren went on to answer my inquiries in detail. Not surprisingly since he was writing in his second language, at times his sentence structure was skewed and his choice of words was confusing. This required some effort on my part to interpret his intent. In the text that follows I sometimes had to reword his text. Whenever possible though I deferred to his words and transcribed them faithfully. For added clarity, his words are in italics, mine in plain font.

“At the age of 17...I did begin at the Valand School and the Nils Nilsson School, both in Gotemburg, but after 5 days in each of them, I was forbidden to come back. This due to the fact that I had far too many ideas of my own about Art, teaching, religion, politics, nationalism, racism, etc…. So, until 1939--I did various art studies of my own in museums and libraries, while supporting myself chiefly by drawing portraits and caricatures.” (note: he was born July 6, 1918)

“The art of Edvard Munch did have some influence on my painting, but even more so: the Pointelists Seurat and Signac, the Cubists, Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci…but also traces of Art and Craft productions by Australian and African peoples…”.

Ekgren then began relating his experiences in World War II.

“About my participation in the Winter War on the side of Finland against the Soviets…".

The Winter War was the name given to the 1939-40 conflict between the invading Russian army (then an Axis power) and the vastly outnumbered Finns. Even though the Soviets eventually prevailed, they lost five solders for every Finn fatality.

“In the middle of January, 1940, I came to a training camp about 40 km south of the Swedish-Finn border…there I was trained to become a sledge-driver and groom…thus for carrying food, ammunition, wounded, etc., at the eventual front. I was trained with much shouting…but never became clever at anything, not even the very assiduous skiing.”

“Then one early morning in late February, we started to the front. We went by railroad--I with two sick horses--to Kemijarvi in the northern Lappland…from there we (the 2nd Group Tinoss) by personal means (moved) on…I dragging two horses until one of them collapsed and got left in the snow. Finally we rested. I and 4 other horse-draggers began walking in light and powdery but deep snow about 50 km northeastwards from Kemijarvi to a so called second frontline. The temperature that morning showed -18 degrees Celcius." (0° Fahrenheit)

“My hands and feet were in extremely bad condition, so when the peace was a “factum” some weeks later, I was in the hospital in Rovaniemi…I was invalided until the end of the year…but with enough able hand to draw portraits and caricatures to support myself…(I got) to Norway two days before Corporal Hitler’s group occupied it. Then I was in Oslo about 3 weeks, very near Formebu Airport, which was bombed by British planes almost every night.”

“In the springtime of 1941 I worked as a messman on a ship going to South America. We visited Brazil two weeks, Uruguay one week and then Buenos Aires, there I was taken into a hospital due to a fever (which proved) to be malaria.”

“From there--in the beginning of January, 1942--I was again taking off as a messman on an American, Panama flagged Standard Oil tanker. On April 7, around 7 o’clock, we were torpedoed by a German U-boat about 40 nautical miles northeast of Natal, Brazil. After nearly 3 months in Brazil we, the crewmembers--alas! minus one man--came to New York. The torpedoed tanker’s name was Ben Brush…”.

Ekgren’s recollection here is slightly flawed. The Ben Brush was indeed sunk, but it was by the Italian submarine, Calvi, on April 12, 1942. He was correct, though, in asserting that one crewman was lost in the sinking.

Björkar (circa mid-1940s)
[image courtesy of Curth Ekgren]

“My first coming to the U.S. was in the winter of 1942 and the second was in the summer of the same year. The third was in April 1946 and I then tried to make myself at home by drawing portraits, caricatures as well as painting some outdoor motifs. Also 2-3 days a week I had a few hours instructing at the Norheim Studio (in Brooklyn) and even instructing housewives in their homes.”

portrait (1945)
Reportedly painted only months before Ekgren left for the U.S.
[image courtesy of Curth Ekgren]
“I kept my things of importance in a rented room during the winters while roaming about the world on a Panama flagged ship 3-4 months each year until 1950.”

portrait (1946)

“During the 1950s I lived a little here and there in New York City--on St. George on Staten Island, 200 Mott Street in Manhattan, the section called Little Italy and in Harlem one year…”

“In the early 1950s I was a member of the Manhattan Gallery East…also I was one of the first 20 or so members of the Bedford Village Art Guild in Brooklyn--the only non-African American…”.

The next portion of Ekgren’s letter dealt with his comic book covers and took me completely by surprise.

“One day in the Spring of 1952--at the Greenwich Village Outdoor Art Show--three men and a woman were murmuring between themselves looking at one of my paintings…after less than 5 minutes they had bought the publication right to it--for 100 dollars. After a week they gave me the painting back so that I could sell it again…the same procedure came about at the next Outdoor Show (and then the next after that)…the same persons coming back, acting in an almost impolite way and paying 100 dollars for each picture. The editor’s name was Archer St. John (one of the four).”

Ekgren at Greenwich Village Outdoor Art Show (circa early 1950s)
[image courtesy of Heritage Auctions website]

Ekgren at Greenwich Village Outdoor Art Show (circa early 1950s)
Could Archer St. John and company been in the crowd that day?
[image courtesy of Heritage Auctions website]
That explained a lot. Ekgren’s comic book career never really existed. His comic book covers were unlike any others because they never were intended to be comic book covers. Chance selections by St. John, editor Marion McDermott and two unidentified colleagues. Was Matt Baker, St. John’s art director, also part of the group? Alas, we may never know.

“I did never draw or paint any special artworks for comic books or other publications. The works I at all times created were meant as free pictures--to be exhibited as such…”

“And concerning the three pictures you’re familiar with--they never meant more to me stylistically or subjectively, then most of (the) works produced by me…”.

Girl at Piano (circa early 1950s)
[image courtesy of Heritage Auctions website]

portraits of children (1961)
[image courtesy of Roger Jonasson]

The final portion of Ekgren’s letter is the most personal, dealing with his beliefs and a startling revelation.

“…as both an artist and a poet, I’m self-educated and the same must be said about my knowledge of the English language, plus my citizen-of-the-world and vegetarian philosophy.”

“Although I am still going strong very well for my 89 years of age, I naturally enough cannot be sure about having hours, or even less, of a future. But I am not a pessimist, having as yet not found any sane or crazy reason to be so.”

“About that and that: yes, of course, I’m schizophrenic, thus being more nutty than a fine fruitcake. But thus far I’ve been able to handle this “mental thing” rather nicely, by using ingredients, as well as wholeness, as basic measures giving informative vividness and strength to all my creative activities.”

“And please, let us skip the Mr. title between us. My name is William, Ekgren, Bill, or anything that suits you, Ken, to call me.”

“Sincerely, William Ekgren”

There has been only one more letter between us since, but at last report, Mr. Ekgren--I mean, Bill--is alive and creating in Sweden.

unnamed painting (mid-1990s)
[image courtesy of Curth Ekgren]

Rick Kane: Week 3

2010-05-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

Once again it's time for our weekly presentation of the Tom Grimaldi provided, E.C.Stoner drawn, Walter Gibson written masterpiece: "Rick Kane, Space Marshal".

This time around I'm posting eight "Rick Kane" dailies instead of the five I have been posting. It finally dawned on me that daily strips run six days a week, not five.

And that's why I'm sleuthing rather than teaching math.

Sept. 7, 1951

Sept. 8, 1951

Sept. 10, 1951

Sept. 11, 1951

Sept. 12, 1951

Sept. 13, 1951

Sept. 14, 1951

Sept. 15, 1951

BILBOQUET--Found in Translation

2010-05-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

(The beauty of the Internet is that somewhere, somebody has the answer to any question.

In this case, my request for further information about the seminal French comic tabloid BILBOQUET has been been fulfilled by the kindly assistance of Michaël Dewally. Michaël, a dedicated French-born comic historian currently ensconced in America's Midwest heartland, has generously translated the text of L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD - les journaux illustrés 1934-1944 (THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS-The Illustrated Papers 1934-1944), a 2004 overview of French comics by Jean-Jacques Gabut.

L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD - les journaux illustrés 1934-1944
by Jean-Jacques Gabut
Michaël paraphrases Gabut's text (drawing his information from pages 28, 32, 105 – 106, 180 – 183 of the book) and brilliantly puts BILBOQUET into an understandable historical context. So let me step aside and turn this over to Michaël, our very own Auguste Dupin.)
________________________________________________________

"BILBOQUET was published by les Editions Montsouris. The first issue is dated February 6, 1938 and ran weekly for 48 issues before being absorbed into PIERROT. During its run, BILBOQUET published mostly US material. In all, les Editions Montsouris were an unlikely candidate to reprint Eisner’s work on "Les Boucaniers", a.k.a., "Hawks of the Seas".

Founded in 1880 when it first published LE PETIT ECHO DE LA MODE, a magazine targeted at female readers, Les Editions Montsouris was an old publication house that was dedicated to publishing few US materials in its three illustrated weeklies: PIERROT, LISETTE and GUIGNOL.

LISETTE #49 (Dec. 6, 1931)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD
by Jean-Jacques Gabut

LISETTE (started in 1921) published mostly text but notably carried "Little Anny Rooney" and GUIGNOL (1919) never ran any strips. PIERROT (1925), on the other hand, was more illustrated but focused on French and other European material, including work by Pellos, Liquois, Gervy, Stonkus, Le Rallic and Rob-Vel (creator of "Spirou").

PIERROT #10 (March 10, 1929)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD

In this context, the publication by Montsouris of BILBOQUET was an odd experiment and proved short-lived. One can conceive that the old house bowed to the pressure and the success of the other illustrated weeklies that published American material. Yet, by 1938, it seemed too little, too late which conceivably explains it short-lived tenure.

LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY #10 (Oct. 21, 1934)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD

Paul Winkler, creator of LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY (# 1 published on October 21st 1934), is responsible for the appearance of American material in France’s illustrated weeklies. Winkler not only got the rights to publish the Disney strips through Opera Mundi, the publication house he co-financed with Hachette, but he also struck a contract with William Randolph Hearst to distribute the King Features Syndicate’s material.

L’AVENTUREAUX #18 (Feb. 1936)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD

Thus began the revolution that spawned many imitators, starting with Winkler’s own ROBINSON (1936) and HOP-LA! (1937). Others were Libraire Moderne’s JUMBO (1935) and AVENTURES (1936) [Note: AVENTURES was the first to publish "Superman" in France as "Yordi"], Les Editions Mondiales ran HURRAH! (1935) and L’AVENTUREAUX (1936), La Société Parisienne d’Edition (S.P.E.) created both JUNIOR (1936) and L’AS (1937), and other lesser known titles also appeared.

"Futuropolis"
JUNIOR #86 (1937)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD

In light of this explosion of reprints, when Les Editions Montsouris thought to enter the fray, it seems that most US material was already under contract with one of its competitors. During its short run, BILBOQUET is known to have published "Hawks of the Seas" ("Les Boucaniers"), "Tailspin Tommy" (Jean Reid), a strip distributed by the smaller Bell Syndicate, "Captain Bilboquet" by Gene Ahern (presumably Ahern’s "Room and Board"*, a strip started in 1936 when King lured Ahern away from NEA), and "Polo L’Eclaireur Marin" by Léon A. Beroth (could it be "Don Winslow"?). [*excuse the interruption, but it looks more like an older reprint of Ahern's "Our Boarding House" to my eyes--Ken Q]

"Les Boucaniers" ["Hawks of the Seas"]
HURRAH! #199 (1939)
as reprinted in L'AGE D'OR DE LA BD

Success-wise, Montsouris’ lone American material magazine lagged its more illustrious competitors. While it is difficult to ascertain actual publication numbers, estimates are that, pre-War, the weekly numbers were: LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY (500,000), ROBINSON (400,000), HOP-LA! (300,000), HURRAH! (250,000), JUMBO (250,000), AVENTURES (250,000), JUNIOR (200,000), L’AVENTUREAUX (130,000), L’AS (100,000). BILBOQUET ran about 150,000 copies a week.

Upon the demise of BILBOQUET, "Hawks of the Seas" found a new home in HURRAH! from issue # 189 through 250 while "Sheena" ran (appropriately enough) in JUMBO for another publisher. Eisner’s "Hawks" was in good company since at the time HURRAH! was also reprinting: "Bob l’Aviateur" ("Scorchy Smith") by Frank Robbins, "Luc Bradefer" ("Brick Bradford") by Clarence Grey, "Gordon Fife" ("Gordon, Soldier of Fortune") by Carl Pfeufer, "King, Le Roi de la Police Montée" ("King of the Royal Mounted") by Allen Dean, "Myra North" by Ray Thompson, "L’imbattable Pinky" ("Radio Patrol") by Charlie Schmidt and "Tarzan" (dailies) by William Juhre.

One thing I find surprising is:

1)The book does a terrible job at listing the strips that ran in BILBOQUET. While it lists "Hawks of the Seas", it does not list "Tailspin Tommy", even though you have it documented in your issue. The book really emphasizes the larger print run weeklies. Interestingly, the author lists "Jean Bolide" by Forrest as having run in ROBINSON from issue 1 through 194. This can only be again "Tailspin Tommy" which then must have run in more than one weekly at a time.

2)"Tailspin Tommy" makes sense in BILBOQUET, being a strip from the smaller Bell Syndicate … but "Don Winslow", another Bell Syndicate strip, is all reprinted all over during the same period, i.e., "Don Winslow" appeared in L’AVENTUREAUX from # 1 through 245 and also appeared in LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY from # 171 through 257 (re-titled: "Bernard Tempête").

All in all, the appearance of this material in BILBOQUET is not surprising but the mix in the mag is odd (isn’t it always)."
________________________________________________________

Très bon, Michaël! And thank you once again, mon ami.

Rick Kane: Week 2

2010-05-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

Once again, thanks to the generosity of reader Tom Grimaldi, here is the second week of the Walter Gibson/Elmer C. Stoner daily, "Rick Kane, Space Marshal".

Sept. 1, 1951

Sept. 3, 1951

Sept. 4, 1951

Sept. 5, 1951

Sept. 6, 1951

Eisner/Iger au Francais

2010-05-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

I hadn't intended to revisit the Eisner/Iger shop anytime soon. After several posts about their WAGS work I figured to move on to other subjects. But a very recent addition to my very eclectic collection cried out to be shared.

The publication is entitled BILBOQUET, a curious choice since it refers to an ancient game of catching a tethered ball on a peg. Reinforcing the relationship, the tabloid's logo helpfully depicts the game's required equipment. The 8-page tabloid itself reprints various American comic strips, not unlike the British/Australian WAGS that has been the subject of several posts in these parts.

BILBOQUET #28
(Sunday, August 14, 1938)

This issue is apparently #28 and is dated (in French, of course) August 14, 1938. According to the smaller wording beneath the logo, BILBOQUET was published weekly and promised, "aventures" and "gaiete", which I assume you can figure out for yourself.

While BILBOQUET prominently featured the popular American strip "Jean Reid, l'audacieux"--literally, "Jean Reid, the Daring"--on its opening page (what's that, you never heard of "Jean Reid"? How about "Tailspin Tommy"?) it's the appearance of two lesser known strips that prompted my purchase of this in the first place.

(by the way, "Our Boarding House" becomes "Cap'tain Bilboquet", "Freckles and His Friends" mysteriously translates into "Grindeson Et Cie", in English, "Grindeson and Company", and best of all, William Ferguson's "Our Curious World" is bestowed with the refreshingly honest title, "Je Ne Sais Pas Tout" or "I Do Not Know Everything".)

The presence of the cowlicked haired youngster with large button eyes in the logo is the tip-off. That's "Scrappy", the Charles Mintz cartoon character that was the star of his own Eisner/Iger strip in issues of WAGS.

In full disclosure, I first found out about the "Scrappy" strip's BILBOQUET publication from Harry McCracken, former editor-in-chief of PC WORLD magazine, noted blogger and most significantly, the world's foremost authority on "Scrappy". McCracken's own acquisition of an album of collected BILBOQUET issues prompted his email to me a few years back asking if I had any details about the Mintz character's ties to the Eisner/Iger shop. Unfortunately at the time I had nothing for him, for it was several years before I bought my first WAGS and saw "Scrappy" among the other Eisner/Iger content.

Scrappy va au Guatemala
[Scrappy Goes To Guatemala]
If you look to the small notice in the bottom left panel, it grants the strip's copyright to "ag. francaise de presse" and not to Eisner/Iger's Universal Phoenix Feature's Syndicate, nor Editor's Press Service who handled its distribution, nor Charles Mintz, whose name is emblazoned on the strip in its WAGS incarnation.

Scrappy
WAGS vol. 2, #36
The same goes for "Les Boucaniers", the French name for Eisner's "Hawks of the Seas".

Les Boucaniers
[The Buccaneers]

The appearance of Eisner/Iger shop material in foreign language magazines has been known for a while. Most famously, Al Williamson wrote about the Spanish version of "Hawks" he read as a child in Columbia circa 1939, in his introduction to the Kitchen Sink book reprinting of the strip.

What is intriguing is that this French version appeared in 1938, not long after its WAGS publication. Since BILBOQUET was a weekly, it likely started in early February 1938, months before JUMBO COMICS hit the newsstands. Ironically, this means Americans were among the last to see the Eisner/Iger shop's output.

According to various Internet sources (caveat lector!), BILBOQUET only lasted into January 1939, at which time it was absorbed into PIERROT.

As always, dear reader, I welcome any further information on this subject.

Rick Kane: Week 1

2010-04-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Like Blanche DuBois, I've always depended upon the kindness of strangers.

One kind reader of my E.C. Stoner post named Tom Grimaldi has sent me scans of a run of "Rick Kane" comic strips. The rareness of this strip makes this an especially nice treat and I love sharing treats with my readers!

I will be running this run of dailies one week at a time. Without further ado, here is the first week of "Rick Kane, Space Marshal". And thanks once again to Tom Grimaldi!

Aug. 27, 1951

Aug. 28, 1951

Aug. 29, 1951

Aug. 30, 1951

Aug. 31, 1951

Return to the Wonderful WAGS of Oz

2010-04-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

One thing I've learned in life is that you never stop learning.

No sooner had I put up my earlier post about the WAGS tabloid of Australia, when I received an email from Peter Hansen. Peter, a British comic historian transplanted to Canada, related to me his similar interest in WAGS and better yet, he had an extensive collection of that title. Even better, he had researched the background of WAGS publication. Rather than keep his insights for myself, with Peter's kind agreement, I'd like to share his research with you all.

"Wags really started in Buenos Aires in 1933 when Joshua B. Powers worked with Thomas Volney Boardman for the wire service United Press International, a kind of an American version of Reuters.

Powers quit and went back to the US to start up Editors Press Service selling US comic strips to South American papers and Boardman headed to Britain to work for Editors Press Service trying to sell US strips to British newspapers. American newspaper strips hadn't really made it to the UK at the time with the exception of "Mickey Mouse", but in 1936 a familiar sounding comic called OKAY COMICS went on sale in Woolworths stores and on market stalls around the UK.

The comic was made up of recycled US Sunday newspaper supplements with a new wraparound cover. Boardman & Powers? Don't know that we will ever know but it does sound like a hell of a coincidence. Maybe the comic didn't sell as the US comic supplements were full newspaper size and British comics of the day were half the size. Perhaps Powers decided to change the format and try again with a comic that matched the English comic size and a uniquely English sounding name WAGS which is the English vernacular for a bunch of Jokers.

However WAGS came about the British WAGS appeared on January 1, 1937 with 32 pages and ran every week until November 4, 1938 shrinking to 16 pages along the way for a total of 88 issues. Originally printed in the US with the J.B. Powers United Press imprint for export to the UK until issue #31 when it began carrying the imprint of TV Boardman. Eisner strips appeared in the British version from #16 (April 16, 1937).

Eventually the following strips made their debut over the time of the series:

Peter Pupp - Bob Kane (Issue #16)

Peter Pupp cover
WAGS vol. 2, #16
[image courtesy of Peter Hansen]
Tom Sherrill - Don De Conn
Hunchback of Notre Dame - Dick Briefer (issue #17)
The Clock Strikes - George Brenner (Issue #38) also Ed Cronin

The Clock Strikes
WAGS vol. 2, #36

Spencer Steel - "Dennis Colebrook" scripts and art, sometimes art by Bob Powell (Issue #24?)
Scrappy - Eisner (issue #39)
Sheena - Eisner/Powell (issue #46 November 1937) non de plume "Morgan Thomas". Mort Meskin soon takes over with later issues by Bob Powell from February 1939 (Volume 2 #38 in Australia).

The first appearance of Sheena
WAGS vol. 2, #38
[image courtesy of Peter Hansen]

Note the resemblance between the character in the above panel and a young Will Eisner!
Hawks of the Seas - Will Eisner as "Willis Rensie" (issue #16)
Count of Monte Cristo - Early issues Jack Kirby (from issue #64) as "Jack Curtiss", but most by Lou Fine as "Jack Cortez" from September 1938.

The Count of Monte Cristo
as reprinted in JUMBO #4 (Dec. 1938)
by Lou Fine
Yarko the Great - Eisner
Gallant Knight - Vernon Henkel

Gallant Knight
WAGS vol. 4, #16

(Modern) 'Planes - Les Marshall

A number of people have hinted that there was a falling out between Powers and Boardman but this isn't the case. T.V. Boardman's imprint came into force in WAGS on July 9th 1937 and OKAY COMICS WEEKLY (there's that name again) his own imprint hit the newsstands on October 16, 1937 and ran every Wednesday until February 26, 1938 for approximately 20 issues.

OKAY COMICS WEEKLY vol. 1 #1 (Oct. 16, 1937)
as reprinted in THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF COMICS
by Denis Gifford

OKAY COMICS WEEKLY was the first British reprint of original American comics including "Terry and the Pirates" whose publishing rights were owned by Powers.

Both used the Eisner/Iger shop and the WAGS pages ran as continuing weekly strips the same as the British comics. Finally J.B. Powers was a senior Director of T.V. Boardman Ltd. until his death in the early 1950's, and Boardman and his family spent the whole of the war in Buenos Aires where he first worked with Powers, leaving a Tasmanian woman who had been with him since before the war called Dorothy Weir in charge while he was away. Boardman continued publishing until 1967.

When Eisner began printing his WAGS material in the US comics such as JUMBO COMICS whose first issue was completely WAGS material and to do this he bought the original WAGS plates back from Powers and printed the artwork for JUMBO the same size as WAGS to reduce costs, but it didn't catch on with US comic buyers and he gave up after 7 or 8 issues. Australians began printing American strips before the Brits with "Brick Bradford", "Mandrake the Magician" and "Buck Rogers" all making their debuts in 1935/36. So it made sense that the Herald & Weekly Times Group would approach Powers to print a weekly comic for the Australian market. Or perhaps they knew the Tasmanian woman working for Boardman?"

I would like to add a few comments and art attributions that didn't make Peter's list.

Both "The Diary of Dr. Hayward" and "Wilton of the West" likely first appeared in WAGS and briefly had Jack Kirby as their artist. And both features were doubly blessed as they were taken over from Kirby by the great Lou Fine.

The Diary of Dr. Hayward
by Jack Kirby
as reprinted in KIRBY: KING OF COMICS
by Mark Evanier

Another worthy strip premiering in WAGS was "Tex Maxon" drawn by longtime cartoonist/illustrator Munson Paddock.

Tex Maxon
WAGS vol. 4, #16

My sources generally agree that the "Dennis Colebrook" who drew "Spencer Steel" was an Eisner/Iger house name and not an actual artist. One artist thought to have worked under the pseudonym was Edwin Laughlin, who, in his short comic book career, is known to have worked on "Gilda Gay", a feature also drawn by Bernard Baily. "Gilda Gay" was a daily strip produced by Eisner/Iger for newspaper distribution and reprinted in JUMBO.

I'm not convinced that "Scrappy" was the work of Will Eisner. Both Jerry Iger and Bob Kane had already worked in a style similar to "Scrappy" and I'm inclined to believe one or the other drew it.

Bobby
as reprinted in JUMBO #4 (Dec. 1938)
by S. M. "Jerry" Iger
In a subsequent email, Peter explained the discrepancies between the British and Australian versions:

"Boardman and Powers start up WAGS on September 8, 1936 in Australia with 16 pages per issue. After 16 issues in Australia they start up WAGS in the UK with 32 pages per issue. After 15 issues of WAGS they replace some of the strips with Eisner/Iger material in issue #16 (8 pages B&W). So lets assume one of the syndicates dump Powers forcing him to go to Eisner/Iger. I know that the Eisner material in the Australian WAGS Vol 2 # 15 is the same as the UK WAGS Vol 1 #28. Chronologically the Australian issue would have hit the news stands approximately January 8, 1938 and the UK version of the same Eisner/Iger material would have hit the news stands in the UK on about July 16, 1937. So I now know there is about a five and a half month (24 weeks) lag in the Eisner/Iger material from the UK versus the Australian Eisner/Iger material.

Suddenly this all works!!!!

The UK WAGS initially printed 32 pages while the Australian issue initially printed only 16 pages. Looking at the copies I have here both of the identical issues of the Australian & UK comics have 24 pages, not 16, not 32. So it would seem that Powers lost 16 pages of syndicated material and was only able to supplement his comics with 8 pages of B&W material to make WAGS up to 24 pages. So if the WAGS in Australia carried on printing 16 pages of American reprints it would always be 12 weeks ahead for every UK issue printed. The Australian issue ended on June 7, 1940 after 197 issues.

If I look strictly at the page difference between what the UK WAGS would have pumped out in 1937 and what the Australian WAGS would have pumped out in 1937 the UK WAGS would have pumped out 1376 pages while the Australian WAGS would have pumped out 832 pages. Deduct one from the other and you end up at 22 weeks of 24 page issues which is five and a half months. The British version finished on November 4, 1938 only weeks after JUMBO #1 hit the stands in the US, and the Australian WAGS finished on June 7, 1940, so even if they went back to 16 pages in Australia after the UK WAGS folded they would only have about 45 weeks of reprint material available for the Australian issue which would have carried it to maybe October 1939 with their Eisner material in it. So the dates suggest to me that sometime in June or July 1938 Eisner/Iger bought the printing plates back from Powers and stopped supplying him and Powers used up his back stock up until November 4, 1938 then folded. I assume that Powers carried on with US reprints in Australia which had always been well established in Australia as opposed to the UK until the war act stopped the importation of paper into Australia in 1940.

I also suspect that the 16 issues of OKAY COMICS WEEKLY used up the back stock of the original US strips that appeared in the first 16 Australian WAGS issues, supplemented by Eisner covers and a British strip by Harry Parlet called "Larry the Lamb". I say this because OKAY COMICS WEEKLY came out on October 16, 1938, whereas Eisner/Iger came on board on April 23, 1938.

It doesn't make sense that Boardman would steal 16 pages of strips from Powers and then wait six months to run his comic. It seems more likely that they were partners all along and OKAY COMICS just reprinted the previously printed initial versions of the Australian WAGS issues.

If these things were not as rare as hens teeth and we had all of these issues we could prove this so it is just a theory right now. Oh well, maybe some day.”

Me again. This is GREAT information! Not only has Peter provided a detailed backstory of WAGS publishing history, he has also confirmed my guesses about the lag time between the British and Aussie versions and narrowed it down even more. The only fly in the ointment is that not every issue of the Aussie WAGS contained 8 pages of Eisner/Iger content. Of the three issues in my possession, two contain 7 pages and one issue has only 6 pages of their shop's material. This could alter Peter's timeline somewhat, but nonetheless, his thought process works in every other instance.

There is still more to be known about the features and creators that appeared in WAGS. Peter Hansen has provided a fantastic framework for that research and I welcome any other additions or corrections.

Uncovering and documenting the contents of this seminal comic is critical to comic book history. Not only was WAGS a wellspring of legendary talent and the original source of equally legendary features, but it expands the narrow focus of American comic book fandom to include a publication that bridged continents. The development of modern comic books were not exclusive to the U.S. and WAGS is key to understanding that concept.

Thank you Peter Hansen! Not only do you get a tip of the Comics Detective's deerstalker cap, but I do dub thee Peter the Great!

Comic Scans Needed!

2010-04-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't gone away, just deeply involved with research for a new article.

I do, however, need your help.

I'm in somewhat desperate need of page scans from these comics:

NEW COMICS #4 and 5
WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE! #1-4

If anyone has these and is willing to either scan or take digital photos of needed pages, PLEASE contact me!

Thanks! Now back to writing...

--Ken Quattro
kquattro@comcast.net

E. C. Stoner: The Forgotten Trailblazer

2010-04-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

(This is a piece long in development and long overdue. I couldn't have completed it without the help of many fine people. I'd like to express my thanks to: Dr. Michael Vassallo, Will Murray, Allan Holtz, Samuel Joyner, Hames Ware and the late Jerry Bails. -- Ken Quattro)
_______________________________________________

'I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." -- Ralph Ellison, prologue from INVISIBLE MAN
_______________________________________________

If you think Matt Baker was the first African-American to work in comic books, you are wrong.

Elmer Cecil Stoner had him beat by the better part of a decade.

He was the son of a church sexton from the Pennsylvania coal mining town of Wilkes-Barre. Born October 20, 1897, Elmer was the eldest of three children and part of the small portion of the town’s mainly immigrant population that was black. Or as the census takers would describe them, mulatto--the vague term used for light-skinned Blacks.

Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, circa 1906
Beyond those scraps of information there is little known about Elmer’s early years except for a story long associated with him that bears some scrutiny.

According to several respected sources, Stoner was the creator of the “Mr. Peanut” character for the Planter Peanuts Company.

(Hames Ware has confirmed that Stoner’s widow, Henriette, had that among his accomplishments when she filled out the questionnaire for the WHO’S WHO OF AMERICAN COMIC BOOKS database.)

Founded in 1906, the Planters company was indeed from Wilkes-Barre, where Stoner was living at the time. In 1916, it sponsored a contest to find a company logo. As the story is recounted in the official history on the company's website:

"Introduced in 1916, the debonair marketing image of Mr. Peanut derived from a crude drawing by a Virginia schoolboy. Prompted by a nation-wide logo contest sponsored by the Planters Company, (14-year-old*) schoolboy Antonio Gentile won $5 for his design submission of Mr. Peanut. Then, a professional illustrator enhanced the youngster’s drawing adding the top hat, monocle and cane”

Planters Peanut ad, July 24, 1917
THE DAY (New London, CT)
While it’s entirely possible that Stoner was employed as a professional illustrator in 1916 (he would have been 18 or 19 years old), there are facts that cast some doubt.

I’ve located his draft registration card dated September 12, 1918. In the section of the card that notes his occupation, Stoner has written “porter” and his employer as “F. W. Woolworth Co.”. Although this is some two years after the creation of the Planters logo, it seems unlikely that Stoner would have gone from being an illustrator to a porter. Perhaps he was employed by the Planters company as an in-house artist at the time, maybe as a temporary worker. However, since it is still a possibility--and a great story--let it stand with a question mark in parentheses.

Elmer Cecil Stoner draft registration (Sept. 12, 1918)
[note incorrect birth date, but correct age]
A significant clue that can also be derived from Stoner’s draft registration is his employment by the F.W. Woolworth Company. At one time, the seemingly ubiquitous five-and-dime store was in nearly every town.

One of the partners in Woolworth’s was a man named Fred Morgan Kirby. Kirby was originally a competitor of Woolworth who, in 1911, combined their two companies into one. Kirby’s original store in Wilkes-Barre location became a regional headquarters.

Fred Morgan Kirby
Stoner's benefactor
Stoner’s entry in the online WHO’S WHO notes that he was a “protégé” of Kirby; an interesting choice of words that connotes a personal relationship. Yet, on his draft registration, Stoner is employed as a porter at Woolworth’s, hardly a position one would expect for a protégé.

Reading between the lines, it is a fair assumption that Kirby was aware of Stoner and his talent. Fred Kirby was a philanthropist, particularly dedicated to the early Twentieth Century version of civil rights. Among his charitable gifts was the establishment of the Chair of Civil Rights at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. As Stoner was known to have attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, it is possible he did so with the help of Kirby, through a gift or a scholarship. When he did attend exactly, is harder to determine.

The 1920 census reveals that Elmer was still living at home with his parents in that year. He would have been 22 at the time when the census was taken. By 1922, though, Stoner was living in New York. It appears then, that Elmer attended college sometime between the January 1920 census taking and his showing at an art exhibit in August 1922.

This exhibition of “Negro” artists was held at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. Among the high points hailed by head librarian Ernestine Rose, were, “…the charcoal illustrations of Elmer C. Stoner,” which she noted, “were splendidly planned and executed.”**

It is significant that Stoner’s immersion into the New York art world corresponds with the advent of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance was the period of African-American intellectual and artistic flowering straddling the 1920s that centered around that New York community. This re-discovery and awakening of Black culture nurtured such talents as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Duke Ellington. It’s no wonder that Stoner was drawn there.

“…it was a pretty nifty place to live. Crime, dope and poverty were scarcely visible, protest and militancy were polite, the streets were clean and, above all, bourgeois aspiration prevailed."***

"Couple Wearing Raccoon Coats" (1932)
Photo by James Van Der Zee
Elmer Stoner was newly married when his wife Vivienne and he befriended another couple, Nella Larsen and her husband, Dr. Elmer Imes. Larsen was a writer--with time, one of the most important to emerge from the era--and she was taken with the young couple. It’s probable that Larsen met Stoner when she was an assistant librarian in the same 135th Street branch where Elmer had exhibited his artwork.

According to Larsen’s biography**, IN SEARCH OF NELLA LARSEN, the Stoners had moved from their home in Harlem in 1924 to Greenwich Village where “Vi” opened a gift shop on Christopher Street. The two couples often played bridge and were part of a tight-knit circle of African-Americans who lived in The Village. The Stoners hosted parties and hobnobbed with the intellectual elite of the community.

While it’s not entirely clear how Stoner was earning a living, he was successful enough (in 1925) to be part owner of an apartment building at 203 W. 122nd Street in Harlem. The Stoners’ marriage, however, proved to be not as successful. The Larsen biography mentions that a few days after the Jack Dempsey-Jack Sharkey heavyweight championship bout (July 22, 1927), Vi Stoner showed up at Larsen’s home with a new boyfriend.

From that point, I’ve found no trace of Elmer until the publication in 1930 of the children’s book, MIC MAC ON THE TRACK, written by Zillah K. Macdonald and illustrated by Stoner.

His trail picks up again in the early Thirties when, according to his WHO‘S WHO entry, he was employed as the art director at Tower Magazines.

The 1929 debut of the Tower Magazines introduced a (then) unique concept in marketing. The line of magazines, mainly oriented toward women and children, was to have exclusive distribution through the F.W.Woolworth’s store chain.

SERENADE (Feb. 1935)
a Tower magazine
Initially, the sales of such titles as ILLUSTRATED LOVE, HOME, TINY TOWER and SERENADE were brisk. But by 1935, printing costs drove the company to bankruptcy. A series of nasty court battles ensued with several Tower executives indicted for mail fraud and a lawsuit by the disgraced company president, Catherine McNellis, against its secret financial backer, Fred M. Kirby.

The connection of Kirby to Tower Magazines lends credence to the possibility that Stoner was indeed employed at that publisher. If he was, however, it is likely he wasn’t the art director.

The names of several different Tower Publishing art directors have been verified, such as Vern Noll and Hugh Ryan, but no reference other than the WHO’S WHO entry has mentioned Stoner. Once again, the fading memories of his widow likely exaggerated his position.

With the collapse of Tower, Stoner likely freelanced as an illustrator. The cover to THE WITCH’S TALES #1 (Nov. 1936) and #2 (Dec. 1936) from Carwood Publishing were both by Stoner, signed “ECS”.

THE WITCH'S TALES #1 (Nov. 1936)
Soon after, Elmer Stoner did his first comic book work.

The first story to appear in DETECTIVE COMICS #1 (March 1937) was Speed Saunders, with the pencils credited to Stoner and the inks to Creig Flessel.

"Speed Saunders and the River Patrol"
DETECTIVE COMICS #1 (March 1937)
This seems to be just a one-time effort by Stoner, though, as by Saunders next appearance in issue #3, Flessel is the sole artist. During the interim, according to WHO’S WHO, Elmer worked on the railroads exhibit “panorama” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Some clarification of that statement is in order.

Under the direction of designer Paul Perhune, Stoner was probably one of the artists involved with the creation of the huge (160' x 40') diorama in the “Railroads at Work” exhibit. During this time, he also illustrated a children’s book for young fair-goers entitled, SEEING THE WORLD’S FAIR. The time required of these projects likely accounts for the gap between Stoner’s first comic work and starting his comic career in earnest when he emerges as a member of the Chesler shop circa 1939.

The burgeoning comic book industry was a welcome situation for any artist looking for work during The Depression and particularly to an African-American one. There was little discrimination when it came to acquiring art to fill the pages of a comic as comic shop owners took whoever would work for the fees that they were paying. Working through a shop offered a secondary bonus for Stoner, as it provided a buffer between him and the publisher should they be reluctant to employ a black man.

Stoner’s Chesler output has been found at Timely, in particular, as Jack Binder’s inker on Breeze Barton in early issues of DARING MYSTERY.

"Breeze Barton in the Miracle City"
DARING MYSTERY COMICS #3 (March 1940)
[image from GOLDEN AGE DARING MYSTERY,
courtesy of Dr. Michael Vassallo]
Shortly thereafter, Binder, Chesler’s art director, broke off to form his own studio in 1940, one of the artist’s to come along was Stoner.

"By March of 1941, the shop's output had grown to 95 pages a month,a total of $1,150.00 worth of work. Newcomers included Dave Beens, Arnold Hicks, Ben Nee and Elmer Stoner, one of the few black artists to work in the comics.” *****

While at Binder’s, Stoner has been credited with work for Fawcett (Spy Smasher) and Street and Smith. Along with the titular feature in early issues of DOC SAVAGE COMICS, Stoner also drew Ajax the Sun Man.

Ajax the Sun Man
DOC SAVAGE COMICS #3 (Feb. 1941)
[attributed to Stoner]
It was the comics published by Dell, though, that featured Stoner most prominently.

Beginning in 1940, Elmer drew a variety of covers for POPULAR and THE FUNNIES. The covers, depicting the interior strips Gang Busters, Martan the Marvel Man and especially Phantasmo, clearly reveal Stoner’s clean-lined, if somewhat awkward, style. Frequently, he drew the interior art as well.

Martan the Marvel Man
POPULAR COMICS #66 (Aug. 1941)
His Phantasmo covers often showed the awesomely powered hero as a giant, likely owing much to Bernard Baily’s contemporary Spectre covers for DC.

THE FUNNIES #46 (Aug. 1940)
One of Stoner’s lesser known efforts for Dell was the Night Devils feature that ran in WAR STORIES.

Night Devils
WAR STORIES #5, pg. 4 (1942)
As is readily apparent, Stoner’s work was not in the league of Eisner or Kirby or Fine. He was, after all, a middle-aged fine artist, who had only worked in advertising and magazine illustration, trying to make the jarring transition to comic books. The techniques and requirements of sequential storytelling were new to him and it was apparent. But he was competent and perhaps more importantly, available. With the U.S. entry into WWII, most of the able-bodied young artists were service bound and those who remained found steady work, including Elmer Stoner.

By 1944, Stoner appears to have left Binder’s employ. His presence in PRIZE COMICS #39-41 seems to indicate he did some work through Bernard Baily’s studio.

Ted O'Neil
PRIZE COMICS #39, pg. 8 (Feb. 1944)
He main source of income during this period, though, was the Iger shop. Victor Fox’s re-entry into the comic book industry meant the re-introduction of some old superheroes and the creation of new ones. The BLUE BEETLE and GREEN MASK both picked up in their own titles and both were initially depicted by Stoner.

BLUE BEETLE #31 (June 1944)

GREEN MASK #10 (Aug. 1944)
In a series of emails over the last months of his life, Jerry Bails confirmed for me that the Stoner run of BLUE BEETLE comics ran from #31 (June 1944) to #45 (June 1947), a run in which he supplied either a cover, interior artwork or both.

BLUE BEETLE #33, PG. 6
[Since when is the Blue Beetle a giant? Since Stoner drew him!]
(an odd recurring theme of Stoner’s work of this period were his “ Pin-up” covers. BLUE BEETLE #38, THE BOUNCER #10 and GREEN MASK vol. 2 #2 all had the lead character singularly posed with a script “Pin-up” notation nearby. Were these intended to be removed from the comic and treated as a poster? Who knows?)

THE BOUNCER #10 BLUE BEETLE #38 GREEN MASK v. 2 #2

Interestingly, Elmer had at least one fan on staff at the Communist Party USA's newspaper, the DAILY WORKER.

“Stoner is working right now on a 30-page volume of the Blue Beetle continuity,” wrote Eugene Gordon in a 1944 DAILY WORKER profile of Stoner, “This renowned counter-spy is known to our troops on all battlefronts, and, being the practical anti-fascist that he is, Stoner sees to it that the Blue Beetle carries a practical lesson.”******

Even though Gordon evidently never read a BLUE BEETLE comic book, he still provides some interesting background: “Right now, in between doing his Blue Beetle continuities and painting portraits, he shows up regularly at USO centers to draw for servicemen and servicewomen. One of the USO centers is Harlem's, where, also, he teaches the soldiers to sketch. He occasionally gives art lectures as a means of improving Negro-white relations.”

Proving his commitment to this end, Stoner provided artwork for Interfaith Publications 1945 comic series, THE CHALLENGER. The comic’s high-minded purpose was to be, “a magazine pledged to fight race prejudice, discrimination and all other forms of fascism in North America."

THE CHALLENGER #nn, (1945)
In an interview I once conducted with Al Feldstein, he made the following comments in relation to working with Matt Baker, but they are a commentary on the contemporary comic industry as a whole:

"...when I returned from Service in 1945 and took my old job back at the S. M. Iger Studio, Matt Baker was there...and I was assigned a drawing board right next to his."

"As I recall, he was treated as an equal by all of us, which his unique, special and outstanding talent demanded. He was well respected for that talent. But this was 1945-6...and the Racial Divide in America was still pretty much with us. Matt, I am sure, was acutely aware of this unwritten abomination... as were the rest of us...so it kept all of us apart."

Despite the steady income, Stoner had aspirations beyond drawing comics. “With all this commercial stuff I am doing," Gordon quotes him, "I still like to paint. I still hope, some day, to work in fine arts."

Elmer obviously wanted to be a publisher as well. In 1946, he and a partner with the last name of Gould (the first name yet to be determined) established Gould-Stoner Company and on October 8th of that year, they copyrighted their one and only publication, CHRISTMAS PLAY BOOK.

CHRISTMAS PLAY BOOK (1946)
centerfold
The concept was straightforward--a child’s activity pamphlet, 16 pages in length, containing puzzles, games and Stoner drawings throughout. It was distributed through department stores and apparently, also by 20th Century Fox. It seemed innocent enough: Fox bought the pamphlet from Gould-Stoner and was selling it to exhibitors, who would in turn distribute it to movie-goers. Except that in 1945, Fox had bought another publication with the name of CHRISTMAS PLAY BOOK and the publishers of that were now suing both Fox and Gould-Stoner for copyright infringement and damages of $100, 000. The outcome of the suit isn’t known, but the fact that no other publication was forthcoming from Gould-Stoner seems to indicate that it effectively killed the company.

But Stoner wasn’t without work. The first issue of BLACKSTONE, MASTER MAGICIAN (March-April 1946) featured both a Stoner cover and interior artwork illustrating Walter Gibson’s text.

BLACKSTONE, MASTER MAGICIAN #1 (July-August 1946)
“That was done by William C. Popper,” Gibson told historian Will Murray, “who also published under the name of Vital Publications.”*******

Walter Gibson
Walter Gibson is mostly remembered as the writer of Street and Smith's pulp and comic book versions of The Shadow. Gibson was also a good friend of the real Harry Blackstone and scripted his manifestation as a comic character at each of his various publishers.

BLACKSTONE, MASTER MAGICIAN #3 (July-August 1946)
Vital’s version of BLACKSTONE ran only three issues (all with Stoner art) when it was then briefly published by Max Gaines’ Educational Comics. The one issue, again containing Stoner art, was cover dated Fall 1947 and was titled, BLACKSTONE, THE MAGICIAN FIGHTS CRIME. With Gaines’ death that year, the title was picked up once again, this time by Timely, but without Stoner as its artist.

BLACKSTONE, THE MAGICIAN FIGHTS CRIME #1 (Fall 1947)
Stoner interior artwork
Elmer wasn’t quite done with the master magician, though. He also provided the cover art to several programs that were distributed at the real Harry Blackstone’s magic shows in the late 1940s. Note that Stoner's artwork is noticeably more polished and he even uses a different signature than in his comic book work.

Harry Blackstone show program (1948)
As his work in newsstand comics diminished, Stoner’s work on giveaways increased. The 1949 giveaway comic, THE STORY OF SALT, was a 16-page Stoner creation depicting the history of that all-important mineral for the Leslie Salt Company of San Francisco.

THE STORY OF SALT (1949)

page 1
By this time, Alvin Hollingsworth, Ezra Jackson and Matt Baker had all followed a similar path through the comic shop system. In fact, Stoner's employ at Binder, Iger and Baily coincided at times with each of them. Was he a conduit for the younger Black artists into the comic industry? At this point it is only speculation, but Elmer's success in comics was certainly noticed by some. In the late Forties, two aspiring African-American cartoonists from Philiadelphia--Samuel Joyner and Cal Massey--made their way to New York and to Stoner’s studio.

“Elmer Stoner and Ted Shearer were the highest paid cartoonists I met starting out in the business around 1949 and the early 1950’s,” Joyner wrote to me,” I understand Stoner owned the apartment building where his studio was located. He had a baby grand piano in his living room (as a beginner, I was really impressed). He was painting full color calendars for Pennsylvania Railroad Company.”

Elmer C. Stoner, circa mid-1940s
In his interview with Murray, Gibson recalled a similar experience from his perspective:

"He lived in an apartment house. He had the top apartment. He was the only colored man in the apartment, and very friendly with the tenants. Well, one day they came in and there was a big hullaballoo. The guy that owned the apartment said he was going to sell the place. They were afraid rents were going to change. They were protesting. And Stoner comes in. He stopped at the apartments coming up. 'I want to talk to you about the house. Don't worry about it. There's not going to be any raise in the rent,' he says, 'because I bought the place!'"

He also drew at least one other comic for Vital Publications, JOHNNY STARBOARD AND THE UNDERSEA PIRATES. This small (3 ½ x 6 ¾”) 1948 giveaway was part of the series distributed through Wisco “99” service stations.

JOHNNY STARBOARD AND THE UNDERSEA PIRATES (1948)
Another title in the Wisco series was JIM SOLAR, SPACE SHERIFF, the creation of Stoner’s old Blackstone collaborator, Walter Gibson. Jim Solar was part of a space lawman lineage that included Spurs Jackson in Charlton's SPACE WESTERN comics and “Rick Kane, Space Marshal”, the short-lived comic strip authored by Gibson and drawn by Stoner.

Rick Kane, Space Marshal ad
[image courtesy of Allan Holtz]
“There was a guy named Higgins who was in the syndicate business," Gibson recounted to Will Murray, "I met him through the Ledger Syndicate. We decided to do a comic called Rick Kane, Space Marshal. Stoner did the first for me, and it was like Star Wars, taking off from the world on a trip to Mars. I treated Mars just as you would treat an airplane flight across the ocean. We had it in the New York Post. It ran as a daily. Then there were some problems. Stoner quit. Higgins was handling it. He was one of these promoters, and he wanted to get more money out of it. So he was bleeding him and trying to grab money from the people. And he wasn't paying Stoner. And we were having trouble meeting our deadlines."

Rick Kane, Space Marshal (Aug. 27, 1951)
[image courtesy of Will Murray]
The strip, distributed by the Enterprising Feature Syndicate, only ran from the summer of 1951 until early in 1952, with Stoner's work on it ending sometime sooner. Stoner sued the syndicate to restrain it from continuation of "Rick Kane” with another artist (Walter Johnson) as it violated the terms of his contract. A judge disagreed and on December 17, 1951, he denied Stoner’s request.

Elmer Stoner apparently left comics around this time. Except for an educational comic entitled, DEADLINE, THE STORY BEHIND THE HEADLINE, produced in 1957, I’ve found no other publication in that medium carrying his name. His reputation outside the comic industry, however, apparently continued to grow. According to his WHO’S WHO entry, Stoner finally received recognition of his fine art and was accorded many honors during the waning years of his life.

One unique and likely lucrative honor was his role as a spokesman for Gordon’s Gin in a series of print ads that ran in various African-American publications of the mid-to-late 1960s.

Gordon's Gin ad
EBONY MAGAZINE (June 1966)
On December 16, 1969, Elmer Stoner passed away. Since then he has been largely forgotten by the comic book industry and overlooked as a trailblazer. He was no Jackie Robinson, his presence in the comic industry didn't alter its course. He did, however, pave the path for Al Hollingsworth, Matt Baker, Ezra Jackson, Cal Massey and for every African-American artist who followed. Stoner’s life is worthy of further exploration and his story deserving of wider recognition. He should not remain invisible.
_______________________________________________

"I hadn't worried too much about whites as people. Some were friendly and some were not, and you tried not to offend either. But here they all seemed impersonal; and yet when most impersonal they startled me by being polite, by begging my pardon after brushing against me in a crowd. Still I felt that even when they were polite they hardly saw me..." -- Ralph Ellison, op. cit.
_______________________________________________

* sometimes said to be 13-years old.

** THE SOUTHERN WORKMAN, pgs. 542-543.

*** NY Times article, “Harlem's History Through a Camera“, Oct 16, 1971.

**** IN SEARCH OF NELLA LARSEN by George Hutchinson.

***** Jim Steranko’s HISTORY OF COMICS 2, pg. 32-37.

****** DAILY WORKER, May 21, 1944.

******* Will Murray article, “Gibson's Secret Comics Career”.

Author! Author!

2010-03-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

You can just imagine The Author shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
He was a tall man and the seats in this small theater weren’t meant for a man of his height.

Still, he had to be there. This was opening night, even if it was a bit off-Broadway and a good review in tomorrow’s TIMES could mean a good run. After that, who knows?

It had to be a bit of a helpless feeling. He had written a book, the book the play was based upon. But the play itself was the work of someone else.

Mrs. Fraenkel had first dramatized the book a decade before. She originally called it “Taboo”. She continued working on the play, refining it, tweaking. It was a difficult subject, you know. It won some awards and bounced around for a while. There had even been some interest of turning it into a movie. Nothing ever came of that, so it finally came down to this, this play.

Not that he had anything against The Theater. Some of his best friends were playwrights. Well, one of his friends.

Oh, they had their disagreements, him and Arty. Specifically about Arty’s play.

“What the play does,” Arty explained, “is make the individual ask himself whether his rationalizations about himself are not leading him to an ultimate rendezvous with a dreadful reckoning.”

“That is just what bothers me,” The Author interrupted, “The hero of your play has a false dream. He succeeds with it; he fails with it; he dies with it. But why did he have this dream? Isn’t it true that he had to have a false dream in our society?”

“To my mind,” he continued, “there are two kinds of suffering. The inescapable like death and aging and the unnecessary which grows out of social conditions.”

The Author was disappointed. Arty seemed to be missing the point of his own play.

“Social content is most often little more than the author’s disguised opinion,” Arty stated flatly.

“The play makes the individual realize that his apprehensions about himself are shared by nearly everyone.”

“Don’t you think,” The Author countered, “that the audience, instead of having apprehensions about themselves should have fears about the social conditions in which these apprehensions grow?”

“I think that when the audience weeps,” Arty said dramatically, “they are weeping for themselves.”

The Author had to sum it up for Arty.

“The question is, do they realize that it is up to them not only to sympathize and to deplore the evil that oppresses such families in our society, but to fight it?”

That was the point. That was the point The Author was always trying to make.

The Author probably scanned the audience to see if he recognized anyone. It was a packed as a theater with 300 seats could be. It’s likely the producers were there. The Author didn’t know them well, although he did kind of recognize one of them. He was an actor himself, a television actor it was said. He played “Casey, Crime Photographer”. A silly name, probably a silly show.

The house lights darkened and the play began.

The Author squinted to see the faces of the actors through his glasses. The woman seemed capable of playing mother Rosa. And the boy, Gino--he glanced at his program--”James Lipton”--was properly overwrought.

The Author wondered if the audience would catch the subtleties of the story. Sure, it was about an immigrant Italian family led by a licentious widow and her overprotective son, but would they see the parallels to “Hamlet” or “Oerestes”? He had worked hard to craft a true incident into a bestseller. The book’s subtitle likely sold a few copies in itself: “A Study in Murder”. Murder always sells well; crime does pay.

The audience watched the play unfold quietly, almost too quietly. Despite the sordid premise of a mother obsessed teen who stabs her to death with a carving knife rather than have her remarry, the play was remarkably reserved.

The review in the NEW YORK TIMES the next day would suggest that, “Perhaps she has underwritten it too severely for the good of the play as a whole.”

“Although it is always interesting and credible,” wrote reviewer Brooks Atkinson, “it does not have much life of its own as a piece of writing.”

While crediting the cast for generally winning performances, Atkinson adds, “no one ever speaks a complete sentence without pausing portentously.” And after a final dismissal that the play was, “closer in style to psychiatry than to art,” he allows, “it is worth an experimental showing.”

The review sealed the play’s fate. It closed after eight performances on March 29, 1952.

The Author had to be disappointed. Gone was the hope of a Broadway run. Gone was the chance it would be made into a movie. But there was always the next book. Research still to be done. And The Author, Dr. Fredric Wertham, could only hope that SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT would be as successful as DARK LEGEND.
_______________________________________________________

“Dark Legend“, a play in three acts by Helene Fraenkel, opened March 24, 1952 at the President Theatre in New York City. Among the cast were Olive Deering as the mother, Rosa, James (“Inside the Actors Studio") Lipton as son Gino and James Daly as one of her lovers, Rocco. One of the play’s producers was actor Darren McGavin, best known for his cult classic television show, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”.

The discussion between Dr. Wertham and playwright Arthur Miller about his play, “Death of a Salesman”, took place in the Sunday edition of the NEW YORK TIMES, May 15, 1949 and was entitled, “A Dialogue: Let the Salesman Beware”.

Additional information came from various magazine and newspaper articles regarding both the play and Dr. Wertham’s 1941 bestseller, DARK LEGEND: A STUDY IN MURDER.

Hank Chapman Update

2010-03-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

(Here is Ger Apeldoorn's update to his Hank Chapman post. Ger and I would both like to give thanks to Steven Rowe and Leonardo De Sá for their help with valuable information about Chapman.)
__________________________________________________________

After Ken put my short piece on Timely/Atlas writer Hank Chapman,things went pretty fast. I wish I could say it was all due to the posting, but frankly most of the work was done by Ken himself. He truly is The Comics Detective.

Through the indispensable Hames Ware/Jerry Bails Who's Who In American Comic Books site, I had already found that Hank Chapman's real name probably was Henry P. Chapman. Confirmation for that came from a source I provided myself; Ken noticed it was the name Chapman used to sign the "The Nightmare" story we used to illustrate the article.

Working from that, Ken found a series of articles by Henry P. Chapman in DESERT MAGAZINE, a magazine about the nature and architecture of the American Southwest, which is almost completely available for viewing online at www.scribd.com.

One of these articles was followed by an editorial piece which gave some more information about Henry P. Chapman. Apparently he had visited New Mexico on holiday in 1952 and had moved there sometime later with his second wife, Toni. There he went on to become a freelance journalist and photographer.

The pieces he did for DESERT MAGAZINE were all about taking pictures of the area and showing them to your friends or turning them into a show-and-tell slideshow. This fit in with information found on Wikipedia, that Stan Goldberg had spoken about Chapman in his ALTER EGO interview and mentioned that Chapman had moved to New Mexico. From the same source came the information that Chapman had been married to a "Bonnie", who was a production staffer at Atlas and later married to Goodman magazine editor named Hano (no first name given).

In the meantime, fellow Timely/Atlas enthusiast Steven Rowe found an autobiographical war story by Henry P. Chapman in a book, MILITARY INTELLIGENCE: ITS HEROES AND LEGENDS. It was entitled "The Day I Died" and told the supposedly true story of Chapman's miraculous survival of a fall from a WWII airplane, where he was working as a photo-gunner.

Ken found the book and sent the story to me. Even though it reads as one of Bob Kanigher's first-person war yarns, all the contributions to the book are described as true stories. Could this mean that Chapman did serve in the war?

Apparently so, because using the name as a basis, Ken found the war records for a Henry P. Chapman and that tells us a lot of what I was looking for.

Henry P. Chapman was born on May 5, 1915 and died on October 18, 1973. In WWII he served in the U.S. Army Air Force as TSGT, which translates out as a Technical Staff Sergeant. He is buried in Santa Fe National Cemetery (in plot X 202), which is a reserved for military veterans only. Santa Fe is also where he lived,according to one of his DESERT MAGAZINE articles. Finding the war records is one of the things I couldn't do from Holland, so I am very grateful to Ken for that.

In a response to my post, Portuguese-French comic historian Leonardo De Sá, revealed that, "The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post all have pieces on travel subjects by Hank Chapman in that 1962-1973 period. In later years he sometimes appeared alongside his wife, Toni Chapman, who *may* be the editor of some Fodor’s Travel Guides,".

So where does that leave us? Well, I would still like to know if something happened during the war that made hi so conflicted about it in later years. He was pretty old when he enlisted (35+), so that is probably too old for a brother to have died or something as traumatic as that. If the story that he was a photographer in WWII is true, that fits in nicely with the fact that he went on to sell articles based on his photographs later on. It also makes you wonder if he ever brought the camera to his work and if he ever photographed any of his co-workers.

Further research will hopefully show if he has any living relatives. Maybe one of those still has some of his pictures.I know I still have some of my granddad's slides he left to my father. And now that I have both a name and a city of residence I will use NewspaperArchive to try and find more evidence of Chapman's freelance writing and photographing. A quick search yielded several pieces in the late Sixties about Chapman selling articles to various publications as a "syndicated" travel writer. It also revealed that he "spends his summers in Tesuque and his winters in California".

As for DESERT MAGAZINE, I am still looking through those to find more articles. A search of scribd.com gives four entries, the first of which is no more than a photo on an interior page, probably his first entry in the magazine. The last seems to have been published several years later in the August 1960 issue. I have downloaded and copied it for you to see. But there may have been more articles after that, that are not turning up in a name search. I will have to go though them one by one to be sure.

But mostly, I'd still like some personal remembrance of the guy. I will write Jim Amash and ask him to ask about it whenever he interviews someone connected with Timely/Atlas.

We still don't know when Chapman gave up being an editor for the war titles. Was that at the same time as he stopped writing for Stan Lee or after? One person who could know, is fellow editor Al Jaffee. Since I am in contact with him through my blog, I will try and ask him as well. And maybe one of the artists who worked for him as an editor has something to tell. People like Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott and John Romita Sr. only mention Stan Lee when they talk about getting work from Atlas, but if Chapman was the editor did he not have the right to choose who should draw what story?

So this is what we know now:

Date of Birth: May 5 1915

Army Record: Army Air Force, TSGT

Apparently worked at Fox as a writer (more information needed)

Worked at early Marvel in 1941 on the classic 60-page "The Human Torch Battles The Submariner As The World Faces Destruction" from THE HUMAN TORCH #5 (Fall 1941).

Worked at Marvel/Timely/Atlas as a writer and later writer/editor from 1951 to somewhere early in 1953 (with single stories appearing into 1954) (confirmed by a note on a Bert Frohman script sold on e-Bay to Doc Vassallo).

Married Bonnie (maiden name unknown), who later remarried and became Bonnie Hano (a Goodman production staffer).

Resigned as an editor and moved to New Mexico somewhere in the mid-Fifties.

Divorced and remarried someone called Toni (maiden name unknown), possibly somewhere in the mid-Fifties.

Worked as a writer for Bob Kanigher at DC for the various war titles from at least 1959 to 1967/8 (which is when Kanigher left and Joe Kubert took his place).

Started taking up photography as a hobby.

Started doing lectures with slides (from an article in DESERT MAGAZINE).

Won second prize with one of his photo's for DESERT MAGAZINE photo contest in December 1956, probably his first contact with the magazine.

Wrote several articles for DESERT MAGAZINE (3 confirmed as of now) in 1959/1960 and possibly more.

Wrote a story "The Day I Died!" about his experience being listed as KIA (Killed In Action), in a 1960 issue of AMERICAN LEGION MAGAZINE, reprinted in MILITARY INTELLIGENCE: ITS HEROES AND LEGENDS, by Diane L. Hamm and James L. Gilbert.

Sold articles on Indian and Western subjects to BOY'S LIFE magazine (two confirmed in 1960 and 1965).

Worked as a syndicated travel journalist in the mid-Sixties (from a 1966 newspaper article).

Worked as a travel journalist for various media in the Sixties, including FAMILY WEEKLY (in 1962), CHICAGO TRIBUNE (from 1969 newspaper article), ROUNDUP MAGAZINE (from 1967 newspaper article), THE TRAVEL MAGAZINE (from an newspaper article in 1966), the AMARILLO DAILY NEWS (from a newspaper article in 1967).

May have worked for the Copley News Service (from a newspaper article in 1967, which might explain his being referred to as a Santa Fe syndicated travel journalist). The Copley News Service sold it's assets to The Creator's Syndicate in 2008. Before that it was a famous news, political cartoon and opinion syndicate which had several newspapers, including its 'flagship title', THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

A story in AMERICAN WEST magazine, January 1971, by "Hank and Toni Chapman" entitled, "Midas of New Mexico", which was a biography of Lucien B. Maxwell.

Died in 1973 and was buried in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I also checked the Grand Comic Database and that left me with a few questions as well. For the DC war books, the GCD works wirh Julius Schwartz's records, so we are fortunate to have most if not all of Hank Chapman's credits from 1959 to 1968. But these records don't seem to start until 1959 for most books. The first Chapman stories appear in the summer of 1959 and he quickly jumps to a couple of stories each months for the various war books. That does seem to imply that Chapman didn't start working for DC until early 1959 (for the stories to be able to appear in the summer). There are no records of 1958 to check for earlier appearances of Chapman, but chances are his records for 1954 to 1958 are still unknown. He may have been freelancing for Stan Lee or working for Bob Kanigher or he even may have been concentrating on his move to New Mexico and his new marriage. His first articles as a travel journalist don't seem to appear until the same year and the pieces for BOY'S LIFE are all from a later date as well. So what did he do for a living in those years? Without the personal information from a surviving relative, we may never know.

One last thing. Jim Amash tells me Chapman may have had red hair, but he can't be sure.

Here are samplings of Chapman's post Timely/Atlas work:

The August 1960 DESERT MAGAZINE article:

"Mud Mansions" pg. 1
DESERT MAGAZINE Aug. 1960

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

And an article Chapman wrote for the January 7, 1962 FAMILY WEEKLY:

"The Bible is His Beat"
FAMILY WEEKLY Jan. 7, 1962
Finally, a Mort Drucker drawn story written by Chapman for OUR FIGHTING FORCES #49 (Sept. 1959):

"Ace--Minus One!" pg. 1
OUR FIGHTING FORCES (Sept. 1959)

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

The Wonderful WAGS of Oz

2010-03-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

(A special thanks to Frank Motler for help with the Denis Gifford portion of this post.)
_________________________________________________________

I chased this unicorn for over 30 years.

I’d heard it was out there. I’d seen fuzzy pictures of one. And once, I saw one in person--on a backboard at a comic book convention.

My unicorn was WAGS.

WAGS was the comic tabloid that achieved legendary status for its hosting the earliest efforts of the equally legendary Eisner-Iger comic shop.

The publication itself had a unique history. It was a transcontinental production: conceived, put together and printed in the U.S., but sold and distributed in Great Britain and Australasia.

The tabloid was the brainchild of publisher’s representative Joshua Bryant Powers. Powers, who had carved out a unique niche for himself as a man who represented American syndicates overseas, had a colorful past. A University of Texas graduate and WWI era flying cadet, he had once run the United Press bureau in Buenos Aires in the 1920s. He maintained his close ties to South America much of his life and reportedly acted as an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency on that continent.

Powers had founded Editors Press Service in the Thirties to do the above mentioned work of syndicating American newspapers, columnists and comic strips to foreign countries. (Editors Press may have also provided another service. It has long been suspected of being a CIA front.)

As a way of lowering the costs involved with four-color printing, Powers came up with the idea of the export only publication. Entitled WAGS--a name he came up with because he thought it sounded “typically English”--the paper was 16 pages of American strip reprints.

According to British historian Denis Gifford, the first issue went on sale in Australasia on September 8, 1936 and was an immediate hit. The British edition debuted shortly thereafter on January 1, 1937. The success of both publications prompted Powers London agent, T. V. Boardman, to split off and start his own reprint tabloid--OKAY COMICS WEEKLY.

Boardman had the British rights to some of the American strips and took them to start OKAY. This left Powers with a hole to fill in his publication, so he contacted a small outfit just starting out to produce material for him. Eisner and Iger had the first major client of their Universal Phoenix Features.

Gifford states that the first issue to carry the new UPF features was #17, dated April 23, 1937. What is not clear, though, is whether these strips appeared in both editions of WAGS simultaneously. From the date and issue number Gifford cites, he was looking at a British issue. Confounding the situation even more is the fact that the Aussie version didn’t carry a date, only a volume and issue number.

Aside from the facts above, there has been little information uncovered about the WAGS of Oz. Until now.

Thanks to the goldmine that is eBay, I have been able to purchase several issues of the Australasian WAGS over the past few years.

The earliest issue in my possession is volume 2, #13 (the issue number appears on the back cover). It takes a bit of work to determine the approximate date.

If the Aussie WAGS indeed began on September 8, 1936, then that should place this issue sometime in 1937. A few of the reprinted strips have a date of “4-11-37”, while Little Orphan Annie is dated “8-1-37”. Obviously, this issue appeared after that. If WAGS was a weekly, then one year plus 13 weeks after its September 8th start would place it in mid-December,1937.

WAGS vol. 2, #13
The cover features Moon Mullins, but is unsigned and certainly not by its creator, Frank Willard. My guess it is drawn by Eisner. The stock characters in the image resemble some of the earliest Eisner art I’ve seen and it’s unlikely he would trust a cover drawing to anyone else in his shop at this point of its existence.

Inside the front cover is a small indicia:

WAGS indicia
As already noted, the bulk of the tabloid is made up of four color reprints of various American strips. The Eisner-Iger shop provided 7 pages of content, all printed in black and white.

(Gifford reported that the shop supplied 8 pages per week, but the only other black and white printed strip in this issue was a page of John Hix’s Strange as it Seems and John Hix’s Scrap Book, neither of which was a UPF strip.)

Eisner’s own Hawks of the Seas leads off the new material. This episode is numbered with a “10” in the final panel. Each of the other UPF strips that carry a number are also designated with a “10”. This brings up the possibility that the UPF contributions are only ten weeks in--which would mean they began in about June of 1937. If so, that could mean that the Aussie version of WAGS ran the Eisner-Iger material two months later than its British counterpart.

Hawks of the Seas
Bob Kane’s Peter Pupp is a revelation to those who only know him as the early artist of Batman. Kane supposedly spent some time at the Fleischer Studio circa 1934 and that animation experience shows in this strip. Like Hawks and most of the other UPF features in WAGS, Peter Pupp was reprinted in JUMBO COMICS. Eisner and Iger had bought the printing plates from Powers and re-sold them to Fiction House.

Peter Pupp
Next up is the first of Don DeConn’s offerings in this issue. It is The Adventures of Tom Sherrill. The graphic technique DeConn used seems to be derivative of advertisements from that era. His geometric forms were rendered so similarly from panel to panel, that it’s possible he employed woodblocks or something akin to them.

The Adventures of Tom Sherrill
DeConn’s Puzzle Phun was illustrated with the same static graphic style. DeConn’s features were also reprinted in early issues of JUMBO COMICS and then he seems to have left the industry. The only other credit I can find for him was as the illustrator of a 1940 children’s book entitled, THE HUMPTY-DOTS, by Susan Holton.

Puzzle Phun
Like all of the contributors to this issue of WAGS, Les Marshall had worked on WOW, WHAT A MAGAZINE!, the seminal Henle publication that provided the original staff of the Eisner-Iger shop. Marshall’s contribution here was Modern ‘Planes, a one large panel strip devoted to that subject. Apparently that was also Marshall’s only interest, as every feature he is known to have drawn is a variation on this panel.

Modern 'Planes
Spencer Steel was credited to “Dennis Colebrook”, which was a shop pseudonym. In this case the likely artist was Eisner himself.

Spencer Steele
The final UPF strip is also one of the most interesting. It was The Hunchback of Notre Dame by the great Dick Briefer. Briefer‘s Hunchback appeared initially in WOW! in 1936, years before he brought Frankenstein to life.

Hunchback of Notre Dame

Subsequent issues of WAGS would feature other strips by other artists, but that’s a subject for a future post.

Hank Chapman

2010-03-07T05:11:00.000-08:00

(I am very pleased today to present a special guest blogger. He is Ger Apeldoorn, who in addition to be the top television writer in the Netherlands, is also a comic fan and historian. Ger most recently wrote a two-part article for ALTER EGO magazine about the 1950s MAD imitators and he has his own terrific blog, The Fabulous Fifties, which showcases his amazing knowledge of the sequential art. Apeldoorn's current quest is for information about the wonderfully talented and underrated comic writer, Hank Chapman.

If you can help Ger with his Chapman quest, you can either post here or contact him through his own blog.)
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I wish I knew more about Hank Chapman. One of the most fascinating writers in comics from the early Fifties to the mid-Sixties, I would like to write an article about him. But I just don't know enough about the man to make it more than an appreciation piece.

And since I am not from the U.S., but from the Netherlands, Europe, I am cut off from all sorts of actual research facilities. I have to make do with what I can find on the Internet and the wonderful interviews with oldtimers such as by Jim Amash, Doc Vassallo and others. So I am glad Ken has offered up his blog for comic book researchers who have reached the end of their possibilities, where they can write down what they know and possibly get some help from others to fill in the gaps.

Hank Chapman started out at Stan Lee and Martin Goodman's Marvel comics. Okay, it was not called Marvel comics at the time, or maybe it was and Stan Lee was only the editor and not even the only one at that, but this is not about that mess. Some records show that Chapman did some writing in the earliest superhero books from the Goodman family company. I don't have those particular books, so I couldn't comment on that. One day, even these books will be reprinted or be available in scans, so I can read them and see if Chapman's peculiarities as a writer were even visible then. But more importantly, it means that Chapman was writing comics before he was in the army. If he was even in the army, because that is one of the more frustrating gaps in my knowledge.

After the war, Hank Chapman's name turns up again in the first horror comics brought out by Marvel/Timely/Atlas. There are tons of suggestions that he may also have written some western books before that, but unfortunately I have never been able to find one. Chapman was one of a few writers at Stan Lee's outfit who got to sign his name (or at least at some point and on some books). Others include editor Don Rico, writer/artist Norman Steinberg and of course head honcho, Stan Lee, himself.

Chapman's horror stories are nothing special, but they do all have a sort of weird, dreamy quality. When I finally do the article, I will have to go into that a bit deeper, with some samples. But for here that statement will have to do. It is important to note, because the only story we have about Hank Chapman privately is about those horror stories. It is by Stan Lee and as such, we can't be entirely sure of it's truth. Stan Lee is one of a few living people from the industry who knew Chapman and I would love to ask him about his old colleague. His memory is a bit poor about most events, but he seems to remember people better than anything else. Especially when his memory is jogged by a photograph. I think it is Doc V. who tells the story of showing Stan a photo of an office gathering in the forties or fifties and he could pick out most people from that. Anyway, what he would tell about Chapman, would probably be the same story he has told a couple of times. It seems that Chapman didn't like writing the horror stories. As Lee tells it, at some point he came to him and asked to be given other work. He said he was using his dreams as a basis of his horror stories and since he had started doing that, his dreams had started to haunt him. And he hoped that by stopping writing those stories, the dreams would go away.

"The Nightmare"
ASTONISHING #4 (June 1951)
(image courtesy of Atlas Tales website)
There are two things wrong with that story. Chapman did indeed suddenly stop writing horror stories in the early Fifties. He was shifted to the war books, where he did the best work of his career all through the Korean war and beyond. But the war books didn't start until the Korean war was in it's first year. It seems more likely that Chapman was shifted from the horror books to the war books simply because from late 1951 onward there was much more work there. And secondly, the story Stan Lee tells is almost exactly the same as one of the later horror stories Chapman wrote (and Wayne Boring drew),"The Nightmare" from ASTONISHING #4 (June 1951). Did Chapman use his own situation as the basis for this story or did Stan Lee use the story as the basis of his memory?

This is an important question (within the scheme of things) because if Stan Lee story is true, it is more than likely that Chapman did not serve in the army during the war or at least did not see battle. If he had asked to be removed from the horror books, because his stories were giving him nightmares, his far more horrifying war stories would certainly have given him a hard time had he actually seen some hardship during the war. And so we come to the most important unanswered question of my research. Did Hank Chapman serve in the army of navy or anywhere during WW II?

Starting from late 1951, Chapman wrote nothing but war stories. First he wrote some of the most horrifying stories of the period. Harvey Kurtzman is known for writing some great war stories for EC, illustrating the futility of war. Chapman's early war stories are from the opposite side of the spectrum. They illustrate the cruelty of war, but take the necessity of it as a given. So in Chapman's stories we have a lot of soldiers dying for their country heroically or just as often needlessly, parents getting letters about their sons dying, soldiers killing each other of small pieces of rock and ships going down due to mis-communication of stupidity. Chapman seems to have known the reality of war, but he also hated the sacrifices it took and in many of his stories he questions out loud if those sacrifices are worth it. Nowhere more than in one of his masterpieces, “Atrocity Story“, beautifully illustrated by Paul Reinman. “Atrocity Story” is written in a documentary style, a trick Chapman used more often. In those stories the writer often is a presence himself and the story is less about the events than what they mean. In “Atrocity Story” Chapman uses reports of cruelties by the communists to wonder if it wouldn't be better to drop another atom bomb on the enemy this time. But he can't really bring himself to advocate that, because he is aware of the huge human cost that would have.

"Atrocity Story"
BATTLEFIELD #2, pg.1 (June 1952)

pg. 2

pg. 3

pg. 4

pg. 5

pg. 6

pg. 7
Another particularly horrific war tale (also drawn by Reinman) was the story of a young soldier who gets trapped on his own bayonet.

"Guard Duty"
MEN'S ADVENTURES #11, pg.1 (Dec. 1951)
Rather than being taken prisoner by the Communists and running the risk of folding under torture and revealing something that may harm his comrades, he shoots the rifle with the bayonet into his own stomach.

pg. 6
All in all, I don't think Chapman served in the war, or at least not in any significant way. He may have had a brother or a relative die, though. His personal connection to these tragic stories suggest at least something that would give him the need to examine the nature and need of sacrifice in a wartime situation. It is that palpable anguish that makes his stories from 1952 to 1954 so unique. It would be great to know what his personal connection to that material was.

Not all his stories from that period were like that. He also wrote a lot of gung-ho stories, about brave soldiers fighting the Communists and winning in the most remarkable way. Two of the heroes he created in that vein were Combat Kelly and Combat Casey.

COMBAT KELLY #5, pg.1 (July 1952)
art by Joe Maneely
(image courtesy of Atlas Tales website)
Both titles were continued beyond the actual boundaries of the Korean war and their deed got more heroic and fantastical as the years went on. Chapman also seems to have written more of these heroic adventure stories in a WW II setting for the other war titles of Timely/Atlas, when the war in Korea ended and a new arena for the still popular war books had to be found. He kept on writing these kind of stories when he jumped ship to Timely/Atlas main rival DC. There he didn't sign his work, but the Grand Comic Book Database has the records of many of the DC editors and that why we have quite an extensive list of his work for DC's war editor Bob Kanigher. I don't find his work for DC as interesting as that which he did I those first years with Stan Lee, but I will have to delve into it a bit more if I want to do a further appreciation of his career.

And that's it. That's his whole career. Chapman stayed with DC from the mid-fifties until somewhere in the sixties and all he did was write war stories for and probably with Bob Kanigher. After that he dropped of the radar ad nothing was ever heard from him again. He doesn't seem to have looked for other work, although I have found two written stores by him in two 1961 and 1965 issues of the Boy Scouts monthly magazine BOY’S LIFE (one of which was illustrated by artist Jerry Robinson).

BOY'S LIFE (July 1962)
Both of those stories were about Indian tribes, which gives some credence to the idea he may have written western stories at some point of his career. Since we do not know Chapman's year of birth, we don't know if he stopped writing war stories for DC because he tired of it and looked for another job, retired or maybe if Kanigher just got tired of him and let him go. All I have is a note from another fan, who told me Chapman had written a travel book later in his career, but I have never been able to find it.

And that's it for me. I wish I had more. And I hope there is someone out there who can help me. I know there are some fans who are good at finding birth records. I'd love to know when Chapman was born, when he died, where he lived, anything. I'd love to get in touch with his offspring, if he had any. The travel book he was supposed to have written, was apparently done with his wife, so maybe there were children. I'd love to write to the US government and ask for his service records, but apparently you have to be from the US to be able to do that. I would like to talk to anyone who still remembers him. Maybe John Romita Sr. ran across him in his early years. Maybe Joe Kubert knows how and why he left DC. Maybe Jerry Robinson knows how he came to write something for BOY‘S LIFE. Maybe Stan Lee remembers where he lived. Anything would be a clue at this point. So at the very least I am asking anyone who interviews one of the older artists to ad a note to their list of questions to ask about Chapman as well. He may not have been the greatest or the most influential writer in comics, but he did make a living from it for more than 15 years and for some of those he certainly was one of the most interesting ones.

Watch the Skies!

2010-03-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Remember how paranoid everyone seemed to be in the Fifties?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, blacklists, Kefauver hearings...ah, the Good Old Days!

Anyway, one of the many lingering doubts that lurked in the back of American minds was that the government was keeping information about flying saucers away from them. Silly,right?

Well, it turns out that apparently the government was getting their information about UFOs from comic books:

National Archives photocopies
"Saucers Over Washington, D.C."
Reed Crandall art/Al Feldstein story
The U.S. Air Force apparently paid particular attention to this one story that was part of the EC comic's "Flying Saucer Report Issue". Photocopies of this story reside in the National Archives as:
Saucers Over Washington, DC, 07/19/1952 - 07/19/1952
ARC Identifier 595553 / MLR Number A1 294D
Item from Record Group 341: Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff), 1934 - 2004

WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY #26 (Dec. 1954)
Right up front, on the inside front cover, Feldstein made the purpose of the comic known:

WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY #26 inside front cover
This was obviously Feldstein and Gaines' way of tweaking the nose of their governmental tormentors. On April 21st of 1954, Gaines had made his disastrous appearance before the Kefauver committee. Angry and frustrated, both men were feeling the heat as this comic was conceived in the wake of the bad publicity.

Feldstein couldn't confront Kefauver, et al. directly in the pages of a comic, but he could go after a part of the government that a portion of the public already suspected of hiding something.

WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY #26 last page
The Air Force obviously took note. The two-page story about the appearance of UFOs above Washington, D.C. must have been especially intriguing to them.

You can only imagine a low-ranking Air Force officer setting a copy of the comic on a long table lined on both sides with grim-faced higher ups.

"We have to do something about this!," a general thundered as he slammed his hand on the table.

And in an office at 225 Lafayette Street, New York City, Al Feldstein was smiling.