Sincerely Yours, Busy

     Before email, before texting, when only birds tweeted, people wrote letters. Letter writing was a craft, an art form in deft hands, wherein thoughts could be expressed with nuance not limited to 140 character bursts. For some, though, letters were a cudgel to prod the recipient down a certain path. Business letters were often of this type and when it came to writing them, Busy Arnold was all business. -- Ken Quattro
__________________________________________________________

Dear Bill,

As I told you over the telephone today, Lou has been changing his costumes form month to month especially on The Ray. In the first installment of this feature, he had The Ray wearing a peaked headpiece but in the second installment he left off the peak on this, later it was restored. In some installments The Ray wore slippers and in others he did not have any. Also the stars around the neck of The Ray were omitted in some instances, although Ed Cronin usually added these.

I am enclosing a memorandum with some tear sheets and would appreciate having you tell Lou to make the costumes of both The Ray and The Black Condor the same each month.

  Everett M. "Busy" Arnold (smiling) Will Eisner (at drawing board) circa 1941 [as reprinted in THE ART OF WILL EISNER by cat yronwode]        Arnold was both Will Eisner's business partner (in The Spirit comic section) and client of his comic shop. It was in that role as owner of Comic Favorites, Inc. that Arnold wrote (more accurately, dictated) this October 1, 1940 missive. They would always come typed and on company letterhead. This was a business, after all, and Arnold's concern was for the product he was selling. The elegance of the artwork and the future status of Lou Fine as a Comic Book Legend wasn't even a consideration.

  The Ray by Lou Fine SMASH COMICS #15 (Oct. 1940), pg. 4

Try and build up the characters in both of these features so that they are more human and likeable. The Ray is in reality Happy Terrill, a reporter who works on The Morning Telegraph. His boss, the city editor, should have a definite name and other characters might be introduced from time to time.

While Happy Terrill leads a normal life at most times, he has the power to change to The Ray when he goes in a beam of light an then can perform his wonderful deeds. As The Ray he can also bring people to him by means of the ray forces which he has in his hands.

The same sort of build up should be given to The Black Condor and he should be a definite personality who operates as The Black Condor only in times of necessity. Originally you had The Black Condor brought up by birds when his parents (British) were killed by outlaws. I don't believe that he should be British and in any "build up", you should naturally assume that he is an American.

I assume that you will finish the next HIT and NATIONAL covers within the next few days so that Lou can start working on The Ray for the February issue of SMASH COMICS.

Sincerely yours, 

Busy

     Eisner once told interviewer Jim Amash, "Busy Arnold and I had a very interesting relationship. I regarded him as a partner and he thought of me as an employee."  ¹ When it came to the content of the comic books, it appears there was little doubt as to who was the calling the shots. By the next issue of SMASH, Happy Terrill was in more panels than The Ray and not long after, his boss finally had a first name.

  The Ray by Lou Fine   SMASH COMICS #17 (Dec. 1940), pg. 2
  Panel from page 9 of The Ray   SMASH COMICS #19 (Feb. 1941)
     For his part, The Black Condor had soon forgotten his rarely mentioned British origins and apparently his name (Dick Grey), becoming instead an American named Tom Wright. A U.S. senator no less.

  The Black Condor by Lou Fine   CRACK COMICS #13 (Dec. 1940) splash page
     Within in a few months, the business arrangement of Arnold and Eisner had evolved even further. On January 20, 1941, the pair agreed to a joint publishing venture. On that day they signed contracts specifying their co-ownership of two new properties: UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY and ARMY AND NAVY COMICS, soon to be retitled MILITARY COMICS. While Arnold agreed to pay the artists for their work, Eisner was to receive no money for his editing. Both shared any profits equally.
     Despite the parity suggested by this new arrangement, however, the hierarchy seemingly didn't change.

 Dear Bill,

The issue of MILITARY COMICS which Julian delivered here yesterday was handled in a very sloppy manner. So for the fifteenth time will you please ask your gang to go over things more closely so that we don't have so much work on this end of the line.

The ears which your boys put on page one and page 33 are very sloppy and you should have new ears made for these pages. Also, you should have whoever puts them on do a better job than they have done in the past. Not only are they ears always dirty and partly torn, but whoever drew the originals looks like they had the palsy. They have to be retouched here by Tony and this work could be eliminated if your office didn't do such a careless job.

Sincerely yours, 

Busy

     But he wasn't done yet. As he would many times, Arnold added a postscript in his own handwriting.

P.S.

Please don't supply any more art work for Military by the artists who did Miss America and The Sniper. They are awful so put Jerry Robinson on these two features--he [is] to do everything except the lettering. Sniper is a good idea but this artist is impossible--also [the] Miss America artist.

  The Sniper by Jerry Robinson   MILITARY COMICS #7 (Feb. 1942) splash page
     The "ears" referenced by Arnold that needed retouching by in-house artist Tony DiPreta were likely paste-over corrections to the artwork. It's just as likely that poor Julian, Eisner's younger brother, received an earful from Arnold. Arnold got his wish as Robinson briefly filled in on The Sniper. Eisner must have agreed with the assessment of Maurice Kashuba's artwork on Miss America, as she disappeared from the pages of MILITARY soon after Arnold's September 17, 1941 letter.
     Arnold's comments weren't restricted to just the comic books. Just a couple of weeks later, on October 3rd, he had something to say about The Spirit, too.

Dear Bill,

I was able to correct the text on page three of The Spirit in the October 19 issue. It certainly was a good thing this happened on a number 1 issue of the weekly comic book since if it had happened on a number 2 issue, it would have been too late to change it.

I think that the October 19 issue of The Spirit was absolutely the worst you have done to date and I don't think you should run any stories in this groove. This particular episode was altogether too heavy and profound. It is on the philosophical side and will not interest most readers. I think you should make The Spirit more along the usual lines with a good interesting story and plenty of sustained rapid fire action. And the art work could certainly be much better than the October 19 issue which was pretty sad.

I think that you might try and get more close-ups of The Spirit, Ebony, Ellen Commissioner Dolan, etc. and eliminate some of these far shots you have been running.

Sincerely yours, 

Busy

  "The Oldest Man in the World" The Spirit by Will Eisner (Oct. 19, 1941)
     This one probably hurt. It can be supposed that Eisner was used to Arnold's criticisms by now, but they usually were directed at the work of the artists he employed. This hit closer to home. Eisner was the principal artist on The Spirit at this point and probably plotted this story ("The Oldest Man in the World") as well.
     No detail was too small to escape Arnold's notice. On October 31st, he sent a letter to Eisner critiquing the work of a letterer.

Dear Bill,

Will you please get after Sam, your lettering man, and instruct him to make his commas properly in both the weekly comic book and the daily Spirit strips? He uses a straight line with no loop for a comma and this is very bad. Have him use regular commas in the future.

     Not content with this admonition, Arnold demonstrated in his own hand this punctuation that was causing him so much grief.

  Busy's punctuation lesson for Sam Rosen
     Usually, though, Arnold's concerns were not so trivial. Money was the main subject of his November 6 letter. Along with a few suggestions, of course.

Dear Bill,

I am enclosing [a] check for $730.45 covering the material for issue No. 7 of MILITARY COMICS as per your statement dated October 17. However, there was no Diary of A Draftee in this issue so I deducted the $15 charge for this.

You had four pages of Inferior Man listed whereas this was cut to three pages. However, I imagine the cost of $40 was still the same. You also listed Death Patrol as being six pages whereas it was only five pages but the price of $75 was correct. The Sniper which was done by Jerry Robinson was only five pages in length and I believe you were a bit off on the figure of $104 for this feature. 

I hope you have the material pretty well in hand for the next issue of MILITARY COMICS. If Jerry Robinson isn't going to handle X Of The Underground, you had better get Borth or some other artist started on this right away so we can get out a complete book in another week or 10 days. 

Please have Chuck Cuidera do the next MILITARY cover and also make up a full page of promotion for MILITARY COMICS. In other words, you can make up the page of promotion on everything except the reproduction of the cover and I will have this stripped in by the engraver. I expect to have some covers available next month and will run a promotion on MILITARY COMICS in everything except FEATURE COMICS. 

Sincerely yours,

Busy

And he couldn't help adding a postscript.

P.S.

Is Cuidera getting ahead on Blackhawk? If he only takes about 12 days for each 11 pages of Blackhawk in Military Comics, he should be able to turn out some work for the Quarterly now.

     The first inkling that events in the outside world were affecting their product were mentioned in Arnold's letter of December 12, 1941. After reprimanding Eisner for a continuity mistake in The Spirit daily, Arnold has some thoughts about the direction of the comic books.

In view of present war conditions, don't you think it wold be best to have the Blackhawks get a new base and operate from the Pacific? Also, have the Hero Stamps about Americans rather than Britishers. A good subject for the first American Hero Stamp is Captain Kelly who was killed sinking the Japanese battleship yesterday. 

I think this same applies to the material for UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY No. 3. I don't believer you should let Ed Cronin go through with the original plans on this magazine but should have new up to the minute stories written for the third issue. In UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY No. 3, I think that you should eliminate the four pages of illustrated poetry since this doesn't "ring the bell" with kids.

Sincerely yours,

Busy

     Arnold once again got what he wanted. UNCLE SAM #3 quickly took on a more sobering tone. No longer was the titular character circumspect in his choice of foes. The George Tuska drawn cover depicted a resolute Uncle Sam swatting down readily identifiable Japanese Zeroes. Over in MILITARY, soon gone was the Anglocentric Hero Stamp, replaced by a new United States Hero Stamp, with the first being the Arnold nominated Captain Kelly.

  United States Hero Stamp #1   MILITARY COMICS #9 (April 1942)
     It took the Blackhawks a bit longer to follow his orders, as they had to finish up an ongoing continuity in Europe. But eventually they too relocated to the Pacific Theater per Arnold's request.

  Blackhawk by Chuck Cuidera   MILITARY COMICS #11 (Aug. 1942), pg. 10
     Not all of Arnold's correspondence was directed at Eisner. One particularly blunt and detailed letter was sent to Eisner's former partner, Jerry Iger on December 26, 1941. And Arnold had plenty to say to him.

Dear Jerry,

The total combined loss on HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS for the June 1941 to the November 1941 issues (six issues of each magazine) was $10,704.87. During this period we were operating under our agreement dated January 13, 1941.

Starting with the December issues of HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS, we worked under the terms of a second agreement dated July 21, 1941, The loss on the December issue of HIT COMICS was $1,261.99 and the loss on the December issue of NATIONAL COMICS was $1,506.51 -- a total of $2,768.50. While I haven't as yet any exact figures on the January and February issues of HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS, they will be even worse than the results on the December issues. So for the period from June 1941 to February 1942 we will lose a total of nearly $20,000.00 on HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS. You must realize that we cannot operate any longer under the terms of our agreement dated July 21, 1941 and this letter is to officially cancel all past deals on HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS effective with the April issues  of each magazine. By then we will probably be in the red for a total of almost $25,000.00  and, if we are going to buy any material from you in the future for these magazines, it must be on an entirely new setup. Incidentally, HIT COMICS is now on a permanent bi-monthly basis and I plan to drop the May and July issues of NATIONAL COMICS so that temporarily this book will also be on a bi-monthly basis.

In the first place, the 20 per cent profit arrangement up to a total of $5,000.00 covered in our agreement of January 13. 1941 and the 30 per cent profit arrangement on HIT COMICS covered in our agreement dated July 21, 1941 are both cancelled by this letter. If we ever recover our losses on these two magazines we will be very lucky. The present features obviously will not sell HIT COMICS or NATIONAL COMICS well enough to enable us to make a profit on either magazine, so in order to try to get "out of the red" in the near future on HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS, I must add the best available material which I can buy independently to each book and kill several of your features which apparently do no sell comic magazines.

     Busy Arnold's methodically precise recounting of his profit and loss statements are a painful reminder that the content of comic books were driven by more than editorial whim. It's likely Iger read the above dense paragraphs with growing anger over the cancellation of his ongoing contracts with Arnold and trepidation at what was to come.

Strictly on a month by month basis, I will buy the following material from you for these two magazines in the future:

NATIONAL COMICS

6 pages  Sally O'Neil  (by Bryant) --------------------------  $90.00

5    "       Prop Powers  (By Williams) ----------------------   75.00

5    "       Wonder Boy  (by Bryant) -------------------------   75.00

5    "       Kid Patrol  (by artist who did April job) -------   75.00

5    "       Kid Dixon  (by Nordling) -------------------------   60.00

HIT COMICS

6 pages  Betty Bates  (by Bryant) --------------------------  $90.00

6     "     The Red Bee  (by Williams) -----------------------  90.00

5     "     The Strange Twins  (by Blum) --------------------  75.00

7     "     Don Glory  (by Peddy) ----------------------------  105.00

5     "     Bob and Swab  (by Nordling)  --------------------   60.00

All of the above features (except those done by Nordling) are at the arte of $15 per page which is a fair price with conditions in the comic magazine field as they are at the present time. You are only paying Nordling $10 per page for his work and since he completes everything and writes his own stories, $12 per page is a fair price for Kid Dixon, and Bob and Swab. If you prefer, I will buy these two features direct from Nordling and pay him per page.

     This last line was surely included to tweak Iger. In no way did he want to lose his $3 per page cut by letting Arnold deal directly with an artist.

I may have Lou Fine or Chuck Cuidera handle Stormy Foster starting with the June issue of HIT COMICS. However, this feature is very second rate and it hasn't any character. So unless Lou or another top notch artist can do a first class job on it right away, I will get another lead feature for HIT COMICS. 

     Once again, Arnold casually tossed in a possibility meant to get Iger's goat. Iger knew very well that both Fine and Cuidera were in the employ of his former partner Eisner and losing work to his shop would be particularly galling.

So much for the material for HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS. I am also losing money at present on SMASH COMICS and POLICE COMICS and I can only afford to pay you the following rates for your material in these two magazines in the future:

SMASH COMICS

6 pages  Rookie Rankin  (by Peddy) ----------------------  $90.00

5     "     The Purple Trio  (by Blum) -----------------------  75.00

POLICE COMICS 

6 pages  Phantom Lady  (by Peddy) ----------------------  $90.00

5     "       Eagle Evans  (by Williams) ---------------------  75.00

5     "       Steele Kerrigan  (by Bryant) -------------------  75.00

Although FEATURE COMICS is still operating at a profit, it has dropped considerably in recent months and we can only afford to pay the following prices for your material in this book in the future:

5 pages  Zoro, Ghost Detective  (by Bryant) -------------  $75.00

5    "      Samar  (by artist who did April Kid Patrol) ---    75.00

5    "     Spin Shaw  (by Williams) --------------------------  75.00

I will continue to pay you $20 per page for Crandall's features on a month by month basis. However, I am not sure whether I will keep The Firebrand in POLICE COMICS much longer as a six page feature after I jump Plastic Man into the lead position in this magazine. Like Stormy Foster, The Firebrand is very second rate even with Reed handling the art work in it.

It is understood that you will supply better and more timely stories for all of the above features in the future and will give first class art work on all of this material.

     Arnold's reconsideration of The Firebrand become a reality as it soon dwindled to a 5-page feature before exiting POLICE within the next year. With the bulk of the financial business completed, Arnold's letter takes a different tone and gets personal.

In closing may I take a crack at the statement in your letter of December 4th where you say "Maybe I'm a fool, but I've turned down considerable business so that I may better serve you in your books. What do I get in return?"  Are you trying to be funny or do you think I am a bit simple? You never turned down any business because of me and grabbed off all of the accounts you could get from such magazines as Pocket Comics, Champ Comics an Speed Comics. And aren't you the same Jerry Iger who started Great Comics and Choice Comics with Fred Fiore even though you were supposed to be concentrating on producing extra good work for E. M. Arnold and Thurman Scott? Don't make me laugh, Jerry.

     Arnold was just getting warmed up. As much as this paragraph probably irked Iger, it was the next one that was pointedly crafted to infuriate.

And please don't tell me again that you personally developed every top-notcher in this business including Bill Eisner. He was largely responsible for the success of Eisner & Iger as you well know. Bill always was a swell artist with a flair for writing interesting plots and nobody helped develop him except Wm. E. Eisner, a lot of natural ability and plenty of good hard work.

     Arnold knew this was the sorest of Iger's sore spots. The split between Iger and Eisner left the older partner with a lingering grudge toward his departing junior. A grudge that lasted his lifetime. Even in his later years, Iger would downplay Eisner's role in the creation of characters and contend that he was no more than a freelancer in his shop who worked on an "as-needed" basis. That Arnold took special glee in writing this paragraph is evident in his handwritten notation at the top of the copy he forwarded to Eisner.

Bill/  Maybe you better send Jerry some smelling salts and flowers. Is paragraph #5 on page 3 okay or did Jerry really develop W. Eisner?

     But he didn't stop there. He made sure to get in a few more jabs as long as he had Iger on the ropes.

As regards the $10,000 you paid Bill for his share of the business, may I remind you that I had nothing to do with this and it was a matter entirely between Wm. E. Eisner and S. M. Iger. We paid you several thousand dollars as a split on the first ten issues of HIT COMICS and NATIONAL COMICS after Bill sold out to you and you got plenty more from Scottie about the same time. So I guess the deal you made with Bill was pretty fair to you both.

     And then back to business.

Don't think there is anything personal in anything I had done, Jerry. It is strictly a matter of good business and you can readily see why I cannot afford to pay $18 and $20 per page for material any longer. And please don't get me together with Sid Klinghofer as I don't care to waste a lot of time talking about something that will have to stand as outlined above.

Incidentally, in addition to dropping the May and July issues of NATIONAL COMICS, I am also dropping the April and June issues of SMASH COMICS and POLICE COMICS. So during the weak selling spring months (March, April, May and June issues), FEATURE COMICS will be our only magazine published on a monthly basis. If business improves by next summer, I will put NATIONAL COMICS, SMASH COMICS and POLICE COMICS back on a monthly basis, otherwise I will leave them all bi-monthly magazines. 

     Business must have improved, as all three titles were back to a monthly schedule by the following summer.

I hate to take so much work away from Nordling and, if you wish me to do so, I will drop a five-page feature from CRACK COMICS and put Pen Miller in this magazine (five pages instead of four pages). But I can't afford to give you an agent's fee of more than $2 per page for Nordling's features so the price for five pages of Pen Miller will be Sixty Dollars ($60).

In closing may I ask you to deliver the balance of the material for issue No. 2 of THE DOLL MAN QUARTERLY just as soon as possible. You are nearly three months late in delivering this book with the result that we have to call issue No. 2 Spring instead of Winter. Follow up with 11 pages of Doll Man for April FEATURE COMICS (we need this just as soon as possible), then have Crandall do six pages of The Firebrand.

Sincerely yours,

Busy

     His business (and evisceration) of Iger completed, Arnold recommenced his correspondence with Eisner on January 5, 1942.

Dear Bill, 

Will you please send me the script for the next eight pages of Secret War News and one page of The Atlantic Patrol. Alden McWilliams is about ready to start working on these pages and I would like to turn over the script to him just as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours, 

Busy

P.S.

For very apparent reasons I would like to get Alden ahead on his comic magazine pages.

   Arnold's handwritten postscript reveals a concern then facing all publishers. The United States entry into the ongoing World War posed the real possibility of losing many of their artists and writers to the mandatory conscription. It made good business sense to stockpile some inventory as a buffer against the lack of artists to provide material for their comics.
   While that eventuality loomed, Arnold still had more to say about the work coming out of Eisner's shop, as in this short letter from January 13, 1942.

Dear Bill, 

Will you please have Nick spend more time on his backgrounds and eliminate the free-hand sloppy type of stuff. On the last set of Lady Luck which we sent to the engraver today, many of the backgrounds had doorways, windows, etc. done in free-hand which were pretty awful.

Sincerely yours,

Busy

P. S. 

Lady Luck for the past couple of months has been awful -- not even comic book quality.

     A similar letter dated January 26th critiqued Eisner's handling of a story-line before launching into yet another scolding about the work of Alex Kotzky.

The six pages of Espionage for SMASH COMICS which I picked up last week weren't completed. We have to do the lettering, heading and general clean up here. This was an awful set of Espionage so try to have Kotzky do a better job next month.

   By February, there was a sense of urgency to Arnold's correspondence. His letter dated February 10th covered a lot of ground. After reminding Eisner to keep Tuska working on UNCLE SAM and to get a script to McWilliams as soon as possible, Arnold once again confronts the inevitable loss of talent.

You now have Cuidera about two episodes ahead on Blackhawk as well as an extra cover for MILITARY COMICS. Better have Cuidera do a couple more covers right away, then start him on another 11 pages of Blackhawk. Try to get him as far ahead on everything as possible.

     Again on February 27, Arnold requests that Nordling get ahead on all of his features. Then, in a paragraph midway through his letter, Arnold indirectly refers to a coming editorial change.

What do you plan to do for issue No. 4 of UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY? Will you figure out the make-up of this book and have Nitkin and Bob Powell write the stories? Or should I plan to handle this? At any rate, you might have George work on the cover for the No. 4 issue (Autumn) now so it is done under your capable supervision.

     In those few lines, Arnold seems to be contemplating taking over the editorial reins from Eisner on UNCLE SAM. But why? His closing comments make the picture a bit clearer.

See you on Thursday. Hope Lou is working them so we can get quite a distance ahead on everything before you leave.

     What both Arnold and Eisner knew, why Lou Fine was apparently overseeing Eisner's comic shop, was that Eisner wasn't going to be around to run it himself.
     Eisner and Arnold had fought vigorously in the summer of 1941 to keep Eisner from being conscripted. Eisner wrote a lengthy affidavit detailing how he was solely responsible for the employment of "sixteen artists, some of whom are married".²  But even the inclusion of supporting affidavits from several of these artists as well as Arnold and the top executive of The Spirit's newspaper syndicate failed to convince his local draft board. He entered the Army in May, 1942.
     The relationship of Busy Arnold and Will Eisner wasn't easy to explain. They were business partners, though never quite equals. The publisher was the artist's biggest fan, though not really his friend. Arnold was a demanding client who would critically scrutinize the minutest details and a generous patron who funded their joint publishing ventures and shared ownership of various properties. The complexity of their relationship seemingly mystified even Eisner, who simply told Jim Amash, "We had a different view of each other." ³ 
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¹ Amash, Jim, "I Always Felt Storytelling Was As Important As The Artwork", ALTER EGO, (May 2005), pg. 9.

²  Affidavit of William E. Eisner to Local Board No. 121, Bronx, New York.

³  Amash, op. cit., pg. 9.

The Spectre and the Almost Man, Part 1

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, Marc Tyler Nobleman, Martin O'Hearn, Howard Post, Lynn Potter, Miriam Baily Risko, Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., Dr. Michael Vassallo, and Hames Ware. -- Ken Quattro)
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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.

Serene Summerfield: The First Lady of Comic Books

(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. [note: NO SHE WASN'T! It turns out, Emma C. McKean has that distinction. See comment at the end of this post for more details.]

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.

DC VS VICTOR FOX: The Testimony of Iger & Fox

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

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.