JOHN WAYNE gives it a big thumbs up!

Even if you've never read the book, you're probably familiar with the title Hondo, even if you've never seen the movie.

What's interesting about this cover is how long this illustration by James Dwyer  (1898-1973) was used. From what I can find, the image was first used on a paperback in 1953. The copy I have I think came from the late '60s or early '70s. That's pretty rare for an image to last through that many editions. Click on the links to see other Hondo covers and to read the brief information about Dwyer.

The film adaptation came out in 1953, the same year this illustration was first used. 

Hondo is a Warnercolor 3D Western film made in 1953, starring John Wayne, directed by John Farrow. The screenplay is based on the July 5, 1952 Colliers short story "The Gift of Cochise" by Louis L'Amour. The book Hondo was a novelization of the film also written by L'Amour, and published by Bantam Books in 1953. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Interesting that the book wouldn't have happened had there not been a movie attached. So this book, with Wayne's praise, could loosely be considered a movie tie-in book.

Here's the poster from the movie from Wikipedia.

I'm sure it's just me, but whenever I hear the name John Wayne I first think of him standing silhouetted in the doorway at the end of The Searchers. My next thought is, well...perhaps not one you come up with. One of my very favorite movies, Smoke Signals.

Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, and the UNKNOWN COWBOY

A movie tie-in book. Love collecting these. Pointless, but always fun to find one.

So how would you feel to have gotten a part in the movie, your image on the cover of the book, but then no information given as to who you are? People in the movie who aren't on the cover got credit, but the lone fellow on the right is left out. I'm a guessin' he's thikin' somethin' along the lines of, "I think I'd better talk to my agent."




Click on images to see them larger.

HOWARD THE DUCK is even embarrassing in paperback

 I don't know why I feel I must say right up front that I did NOT buy this book. It was free, an item someone was tossing. I have never seen more than a few minutes of this movie, but do remember the reviews. Thus I worry that when I die and someone is sorting through my stuff they'll find this book and say, "Really? She read this?"





No, I have not read it. I grabbed it only because it was a movie tie-in book. I also have one for Rambo that also makes me cringe. I gave Stallone my time for Rocky I and II then never looked back. Even the cover of the Rambo book creeps me out. With this very creepy duck I simply said, "Nope. Not goin' there." I would prefer to watch the Aflac duck for two hours.

Howard the Duck is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and produced by George Lucas. It is loosely based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo, the film focuses on Howard, an alien from a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks, who is transported to Earth, where he meets Beverly, a struggling singer. As Howard attempts to find a way to return to his planet, he helps Beverly with her career, develops a romance with her, and finds himself having to save humanity from an evil alien monster. The film stars Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, the voice of Chip Zien as Howard and multiple actors in the physical role.

Lucas proposed adapting the comic book following the production of American Graffiti, and began production on the film after stepping down as the president of Lucasfilm to focus on producing. Huyck and producer Gloria Katz's adaptation altered the personality of the character, and placed less emphasis on satirical storytelling in order to highlight the special effects work of Industrial Light & Magic. Following multiple production difficulties and mixed response to test screenings, Howard the Duck was released on August 1, 1986. The film received extremely negative reviews and was a box office failure. Observers criticized the decision to shoot the film in live action rather than as an animated film and the unconvincing appearance of Howard. The film frequently ranks among the worst films of all time. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

You can read reviews here at Rotten Tomatoes.

Yes, it's true that I will stoop very low to grab a movie tie-in book. I'm not proud of it. It is part of my dark side.

To see other vintage movie tie-in books simply click on the label "movie tie-in book" below.

JAMES AT 15. Lance at 49.

In 1977 NBC premiered a made for tv movie called James at 15. Until I went searching through a stack of my movie tie-in books I’d completely forgotten about the series and the young actor Lance Kerwin.






Click on image to see it larger.

I found this book on a book exchange table years ago at my post office. It contains the old style library check-out pocket on the inside cover along with the stamped check-out card. I’m far more excited to see that than the book.

As I recall I liked the movie and the one season series that followed. James was a high school student with a vivid Walter Mitty imagination who loved photography, which is also how I would probably define myself in high school in the mid-1960s.

James at 15 (subsequently changed to James at 16) is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977-1978 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 made-for-TV movie James at 15, which aired on Monday September 5, 1977 and was intended as a pilot for the series. Both were written by Dan Wakefield, a journalist and fiction writer whose novel Going All the Way, a tale of coming of age in the 1950s….

Protagonist James Hunter (Lance Kerwin) was the son of a college professor (Linden Chiles) who moved his family across the country to take a teaching job, transplanting James from Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. James, who had Walter Mitty-like dreams and dabbled in photography, had a hard time fitting into his new surroundings. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Basically a forgotten show with a forgotten actor. That pretty much describes an awful lot of people in Hollywood. That town will eat its young alive if there’s a buck to be made. I could tell you such stories about the people at the Hollywood Post Office there to collect their checks that would make you cringe.

I found the pilot movie online and as soon as I heard the theme song bits and pieces of the show started to fall into place. Check the bottom of this post to watch the episode.

So what became of the young actor, Lance Kerwin, who starred in the show? Go ahead and guess. Put the pieces together yourself: Hollywood, child star, drugs. It’s too predictable.

In July of 2010 he was convicted of theft and placed on five years probation in Hawaii. Turns out Lance, now age 49 and a pastor at the Calvary Chapel Kapaa and a U-Turn for Christ program leader, attempted to obtain state medical assistance and food stamps by falsifying documents. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t all that destitute because he owned three properties on the mainland. He also has a past history of drug use, including crack.

It’s all pretty sad because along with his starring role in the tv series, his fall from grace will always be part of his online bio. Thanks to the internet your past and present are virtually the same. Think twice before wanting to be famous whether in showbiz or on Facebook.

KOTHAR OF THE MAGIC SWORD

I've often mentioned the books that used to reside at the family cabin in the Sierra's. I don't know if I've ever said that 95% of the books came from someone else's cabin. Friends sold their cabin in 1970 and we inherited all sorts of stuff, including the odd book below.

No, I would never buy a book about barbarians hacking people with swords. I wouldn't even pick up a book with this cover, even if there was a 4 for a buck offer. I'm just not into wizards, barbarians, swords, magic, etc. I know there's a whole market for this sort of stuff, but to me it's mind-numbing.

And the cover illustration just looks like a cheap rip-off of Frank Frazetta.

But what of the man who wrote this, Gardner Francis Cooper Fox? Now there's an interesting story. The following copy is from Wikipedia.

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911, Brooklyn, New York – December 24, 1986) was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories.

(Image to left: by Gil Kane)

Gardner F. Fox was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 20, 1911. Fox recalled being inspired at an early age by the great fantasy fiction writers. On or about his eleventh birthday, he "had gotten The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, books which "opened up a complete new world for me." In a time before comics existed, he "read all of Burroughs, Harold Lamb, Talbot Mundy," maintaining copies "at home in my library" some 50 years later.

Fox received a law degree from St. John's College and was admitted to the New York bar in 1935. He practiced for about two years, but as the Great Depression dragged on he began writing for DC Comics editor Vin Sullivan. Debuting as a writer in the pages of Detective Comics, Fox "intermittently contributed tales to nearly every book in the DC lineup during the Golden Age." He was also a frequent contributor of prose stories to the pulp science fiction magazines of the 1930s and 1940s.

A polymath, Fox sprinkled his strips with numerous real-world historical, scientific, and mythological references, once saying, "Knowledge is kind of a hobby with me." For instance, in the span of a year's worth of Atom stories, Fox tackled the 1956 Hungarian revolution, the space race, 18th-century England, miniature card painting, Norse mythology, and numismatics. He revealed in letters to fan Jerry Bails that he kept large troves of reference material, mentioning in 1971 that:

"I maintain two file cabinets chock full of stuff. And the attic is crammed with books and magazines....Everything about science, nature, or unusual facts, I can go to my files or the at least 2,000 books that I have."

For years Fox worked for DC Comics writing Sandman, Batman, The Flash, Hawkman, and The Justice Society of America.

Fox stopped receiving work from DC in 1968, when the comics company refused to give health insurance and other benefits to its older creators. Fox, who had written a number of historical adventure, mystery and science fiction novels in the 1940s and the 1950s, began to produce novels full time, both under his own name and several pseudonyms. He produced a small number of comics during this period, but predominantly focused on novels, writing over 100 in genres such as science fiction, sword and sorcery, espionage, crime, fantasy, romance, western, and historical fiction.

According to this Wikipedia article Fox can be credited with creating around 1500 stories for DC comics "making him the second most prolific DC creator by a considerable margin over his nearest rival."

He died on December 24, 1989.

Among his output was the modern novelisation of the Irwin Allen production of Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon, two books in the "Llarn" series; five books about the barbarian swordsman Kothar (starting in 1969 with the anthology Kothar—Barbarian Swordsman) and four books about the adventures of "Kyrik," starting with Warlock Warrior (1975).

Strangely, there is no copyright page in this paperback. It doesn't even look like it was torn out. Standard placement of copyright information is on the verso of the title page. According to Amazon this edition came out in 1969. That would fit in with when it ended up at the cabin.

I can guarantee that I won't be reading this book.

UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter who took umbrage to my statement about the illustrator of this cover, I now know the name of the illustrator, Jeff Jones. The commenter is correct to say that the illustrator was good as you'll see here in a piece written about his work. I still maintain that what the publisher was hunting for was a knock-off of Frank Frazetta. Having worked in publishing for decades I know what it's like when an editor gets an idea in their head which doesn't correspond to their budget. They say "get me..." the latest and greatest when what they really mean is get me someone who can do what they do for half the price. 

LITTLE ME by Bell Poitrine

Little Me sat on the bookshelf at the family cabin for years. I don't know if anyone ever read it. When the cabin was sold I brought home all of the old books. It turns out there's been a real lu-lu sitting on the shelf all those years.

Little Me says it's "the intimate memoirs of that great star of stage, screen and television" as told to Patrick Dennis.

Don't believe any of it, even the name Patrick Dennis.

Little Me was the parody "confessional" self-indulgent autobiography of "Belle Poitrine" (French for "Pretty Bosom"), subtitled The Intimate Memoirs of the Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, by Patrick Dennis, who had achieved a great success with Auntie Mame. A bestseller when introduced in book form, the work was also later staged on Broadway as a musical.

The heavily illustrated work featured numerous photographs by Cris Alexander, who combined retouched stock photographs with original photographs taken to create Belle Poitrine's life. Published in 1961, it was considered pretty risqué at the time. (Several of Alexander's photographs were rejected by censors.) The book also featured family and friends of Dennis and Alexander, including Dennis' wife, Louise, as "Pixie Portnoy", and ballet dancer Shaun O'Brien (Alexander's life partner) as Mr. Musgrove. Actress Dodie Goodman and comedienne Alice Pearce were prominently featured. Actress Jeri Archer portrayed the often overexposed, self-centered and clueless Poitrine, and Kurt Bieber was her beefcake co-star and paramour, "Letch Feely". Little Me was reissued in 2002 with a new preface by Charles Busch and foreword by Alexander.

The plot of Little Me tells the rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches, etc. story of Maybelle Schlumfert, an overdeveloped and self-deluded girl who rises to become Belle Poitrine. (An example of her delusion: Belle is born in 1900 and the book proceeds with a chapter for each decade- but chapter six is titled "Frankly Forty") Throughout the book, Poitrine's character trumpets her successes (which are few) while glossing over her failures (which are many). The book was a stinging parody of the cult of celebrity and self-importance stemming from the numerous "personality overcoming obstacles" biographies of the late 1940s and early 1950s. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

So who was Patrick Dennis? Oh my, even the author isn't what he seems and doesn't that make this even more fun?

Patrick Dennis (May 18, 1921 – November 6, 1976) was an American author. His novel Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade (1955) was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century. In chronological vignettes "Patrick" recalls his adventures growing up under the wing of his madcap aunt, Mame Dennis. Dennis wrote a sequel, Around the World with Auntie Mame, in 1958.

"I write in the first person, but it is all fictional. The public assumes that what seems fictional is fact; so the way for me to be inventive is to seem factual but be fictional." All of Dennis's novels employ to some degree the traditional comic devices of masks, subterfuge and deception.

Patrick Dennis was born Edward Everett Tanner III in Evanston, Illinois. His father nicknamed him "Pat" before he was born, after the Irish heavyweight boxer Pat Sweeney, "a dirty fighter known for kicking his opponents." When he was old enough to say so, he let it be known that he liked "Pat" better than "Edward," and so Pat he became. Pat attended Evanston Township High School where he was popular and excelled in writing and theater.

In 1942, he joined the American Field Service, working as an ambulance driver in North Africa and the Middle East.

On December 30, 1948, Dennis married Louise Stickney, with whom he had two children.

Auntie Mame's first edition spent 112 weeks on the bestseller list, selling more than 2,000,000 copies in five different languages. The manuscript was turned down by fifteen publishers before being accepted by the Vanguard Press. Dennis and a friend marketed the book to the booksellers. At the height of its popularity, it was selling more than 1,000 copies a day; throughout 1955 and 1956, it sold between 1,000 and 5,000 a week. In 1956, with Auntie Mame, The Loving Couple: His (and Her) Story, and Guestward, Ho!, Dennis became the only writer ever to have three books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time.

Working with longtime friend, actor and photographer Cris Alexander, Dennis created two parody memoirs, complete with elaborate photographs. The first, Little Me, recounts the escapades through life and love of glamour girl Belle Poitrine "as told to Patrick Dennis." His wife, Louise, appeared as "Pixie Portnoy" in the book's photographic illustrations, which included their children and an employee as well. The second "bio," First Lady (1964), is the life story of Martha Dinwiddie Butterfield, oblivious wife of a robber baron who "stole" the presidency for thirty days at the turn of the century.

Throughout his life, he struggled with his bisexuality, at one point becoming a well-known participant in Greenwich Village's gay scene.

Dennis' work fell out of fashion in the 1970s, and all of his books went out of print. In his later years, he left writing to become a butler, a job that his friends reported he enjoyed. At one time, he worked for Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's. Although he was at long last using his real name, he was in essence working yet again under a pseudonym; his employers had no inkling that their butler, Tanner, was the world-famous author Patrick Dennis.

He died from pancreatic cancer in Manhattan at the age of 55.

At the turn of the 21st century there was a resurgence of interest in his work, and subsequently many of his novels are once again available. His son, Dr. Michael Tanner, wrote introductions to several reissues of his father's books. Some of Dennis' original manuscripts are held at Yale University, others at Boston University. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To see an article from the December 7, 1962 LIFE magazine about Patrick Dennis click here.

So what about the photographer, Cris Alexander, who created the altered photos?

Cris Alexander (born Alan Smith; January 14, 1920) is an American actor, singer, dancer, designer, and photographer.

As an actor he co-starred as Chip in the original Broadway cast of On the Town. Subsequent Broadway appearances included Present Laughter opposite Clifton Webb, Wonderful Town, and Auntie Mame. Mr. Alexander also appeared in the film version of Auntie Mame as the department store supervisor of actress Rosalind Russell.

Prior to retiring, Alexander was a successful photographer, noted for his celebrity portraits. For many years he was the official photographer for the New York City Ballet.

Alexander contributed hundreds of original and altered photographs to two of Patrick Dennis's best selling books. Little Me, a mock biography documenting the life of the world's worst actress Belle Poitrine, features more than 150 of Alexander's photographs. Alexander also wrote the novel's preface. Dennis' First Lady: My Thirty Days at the White House told of Martha Dinwiddie Butterfield (Peggy Cass), wife of a robber baron who literally stole the presidency at the turn of the century. Using friends and professional models and actors, Alexander's zany photographs were essential to the novels' success. For several years he served as Chief Photographer at Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. He is a long time resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, and he is also the life-partner of former New York City Ballet dancer Shaun O'Brien. In the 1940s, Alexander was romantically involved with the dancer and choreographer John Butler. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

I bet you were thinking I was going to post something from Montez Lawton's scrapbook? Believe me, there's nothing like this in her collection.

This edition of Little Me was published in November 1962.

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and Perry Mason Through the Years, PART 3

Finally, the end of the Earl Stanley Gardner/Perry Mason cover posts. These date from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s. These are the cover styles I grab when I see them.

On the left 1953, the right 1956.

This one dates from 1952. I love the back cover.

The one on the left is from 1944, the one on the right from 1949.

I find the use of lowercase letters on the 1949 cover interesting.

Interesting to see how often red and yellow were used over the years until we hit the 60s.

I find it fascinating to see how one author has been marketed through the years. What the publisher in each decade thought would sell. Do they reflect each decade or did the publisher sometimes miss the boat completely? I have no idea, but I know I'll keep collecting them when I find them in used bookstores and thrift stores. I like to be surprised by them when I find one and won't be buying them on eBay. eBay isn't fun anymore. It's cold and corporate.

And finally, all past Earl Stanley Gardner posts so you can compare the covers:

She'd only read PERRY MASON

What do you do with A STUTTERING BISHOP?

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and PERRY MASON Through the Years

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and PERRY MASON Through the Years, Part 2

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and Perry Mason Through the Years, PART 2

Now, where was I before I was so rudely interrupted by bandwidth issues?

Continuing where I left off, I now give you some Perry Mason covers dating from 1959 to 1966.

This very lazy series cover dates from 1966. I'm assuming it was a decision by the publisher to make the most simplistic series style possible requiring little effort by all involved to say nothing of cheap. No photographer or illustrator to pay. Bring it in the front door, shove it out the back. Or as one fellow designer calls it, "sausage making." I'm not blaming the designer because cover designs are done by committee. Too often way too much input from too many people. This is just a sad case of everyone giving up. In a few years the publisher gave up with this idea and decided sex sold better (see my previous post). Sex sold the year before and sex sold the following years. What was there about 1966? I don't remember pirate things being particularly popular. Yes, I know that skull and cross bones signify death, poison, etc., but this was the best they could come up with in '66?

Printed in 1966.

So let's go back a year to 1965 when sex was selling. Subtle sexuality. These photos could have just as easily been found in a woman's magazine. And though a series design, it was at least flexible. Okay, I have no idea what the redhead on the left is doing. Scouring the shower wall in the middle of the night? Did she sleepwalk and do windows? I can't say the images are particularly thought provoking, but then let's remember the direction the covers went the next year. Let's call these the Stepford years. Mindless looking women posing.

Printed in 1965.

1962 and 1964. We've finally arrived at covers I'm interested in collecting. Yes, the illustrations look like they could have been from an early '60s Playboy, but they're interesting. You look at these women and know something is going on. They make you wonder what the story is. Well, what I wonder the most is why there's an arrow forming the first part of "Perry Mason" on the 1962 cover. I can guarantee you that someone at the publisher said, "...but is it too clever? Too gimmicky?" There was a committee decision behind this arrow. At least one person had to be convinced the arrow was important.

The cover on the left is from 1962, the one on the right from 1964.

1959. Now we're talkin'! This cover, front and back, is just plain fun. A seductress on the front with a strange modern painting of a guy behind her and a brochure in her hand. An interesting blend of vertical and horizontal movement for the eye. Not a stunning cover, but eye-catching. I do wonder what's going on here. On the back we get Earl Stanley Gardner's signature (how many people thought they had just bought an autographed book?) AND an ad for the Perry Mason show staring Raymond Burr.

Printed in 1959.

The original tv series was on the air from 1957 to 1966. Earl Stanley Gardner died in 1970 (though one post on Wikipedia says 1969). I wonder how much input Gardner had in each final cover design if any?

To read Wikipedia's post about the Perry Mason tv show click here. Their post about the character of Perry Mason is here. To read about the author, Earl Stanley Gardner, click here. To read a very interesting post about Gardner click here.

Seriously, no matter what you think of the writing or of the show, Perry Mason has been around for a very long time. Good marketing or good storytelling? I'm thinking both.

More Mason covers to come in the next post showing the evolution of marketing one product through many decades.

EARL STANLEY GARDNER and Perry Mason Through the Years

Since I was moving things, specifically Perry Mason books, around on a bookcase I thought it time to do another post about the small collection I have. I have written about this collection twice in the past:

She'd Only Read PERRY MASON

What do you do with A STUTTERING BISHOP?

I haven't added anything to the collection in quite awhile because I haven't seen any from the time periods I like. This leads me into this post. Marketing a specific author in a specific time period.

It's fun to see how as decades passed covers changed to reflect what the publishers hoped was their market. The covers I like are from the 1940s and early to mid-1950s. They start to loose me in the late 60s, loose me completely in the 70s, and then barely redeem themselves in the 90s.

As I've said in past posts, I used to collect these books for my landlady who died in 1997. The two covers below were from editions that were on the shelf in bookstores in the 90s. They are simple, mainly typographic, with images that are all but forgotten. At the time there were a lot of vintage mystery authors being sold that had really nice covers. Earl Stanley Gardner was not one of them. They were boring. The publisher was obviously choosing safe colors, type style, and a boring image to attract readers. They all looked the same because the illustration was so secondary and pointless. It was sort of rote mystery buying. Mind you, they were only publishing a small selection of Gardner's work. I believe they were counting on Gardner fans to be their market and were not looking to attract new fans. Within a few years I never again saw a newly printed Perry Mason on any bookstore shelves.

The cover on the left is from 1995, the one on the right from 1989.

So let's go back to the 1970s when marketing was obviously geared mainly towards men who wanted to think all women were sexy babes. Many of the covers had what I would call "sex kittens" as their image. Graphically they are very 70s and pretty silly. I can't help but think of Laugh-In when I look at them. Okay, they also look a bit like ads you'd see these days for sex phone lines. The women look a bit stupid, slightly sexy, and the type who would have hung out (so to speak) at Hefner's house.

The cover on the left is from 1970, the one on the right from 1971.

Now, let's try Bond, James Bond. Well of course these aren't Ian Fleming novels, but they certainly do seem to be putting the idea of Bond girls on the covers. These date from the late 1960s. I don't collect these. Nor do I collect the ones from the 1970 through the 90s. They're all just so boring and stupid.

The cover on the left is from 1969, the one on the right from 1968.

The next post will deal with some of the images from the early 1960s and 1950s. For me these are interesting with a point of view that makes some sense to both men and women.

Now, the good and bad news. Some of Gardner's books are again in print. The bad news is that they are POD (print on demand) and have very uninteresting covers. The publisher is House of Stratus in the UK. Okay, I think the covers are pointless and poorly done which is often the case with POD books. I will leave it to you to decide if you think any of these books make you want to read them or if they in any way project the idea of Perry Mason. I give the company credit for getting Gardner out to a new audience, but these anemic covers would have me looking elsewhere for Gardner books. Namely used bookstores.

World War II, Books for Soldiers, and MARION HARGROVE

Yesterday’s post was partially about a mystery author from the early part of the 2oth century who appears now to be virtually unknown. Fame doesn’t last and a writer’s work can soon be forgotten except by the devoted fans who must search out used editions. Makes me continue to wonder about books in the future on digital devices. There won’t be books to pass down to family and friends. No books found at thrift stores. What will even be in libraries?

Authors, such as Anthony Berkeley, could actually enjoy a resurgence if a publisher chooses to reissue the books digitally, but first there needs to be a demand and how will that happen if he’s forgotten? In this respect I really like what Google Books is attempting to do. The writing from the past will not be forgotten. But again it will all be ultimately determined in this country by supply and demand. If there isn’t a profit to be made the words of a deceased author may simply vanish. I happen to like the fact that I will always have books in my life and hope to be gone before everything becomes digital. Which brings me to today’s post...

This book was found on a table at my post office where they used to allow a book and magazine exchange. The current postmaster has stopped this practice, turning what was a fun and friendly place into just another boring post office I rarely visit.

I have not read this book, but eventually will having now found out some interesting information about the author (I will also be reading the one from yesterday). And isn't it interesting that the author's name does not appear on the cover except as part of the title?

Again, one of the things that drew me to the book is the fact it too was published during war time, World War II, just as yesterday’s book was.

First, let us deal with that little black box on the back cover. In yesterday’s post it was noted that the publisher, Pocket Books, encouraged readers to “share” the book with someone in uniform. Today’s book, published in 1944, a year before yesterday’s, asks you to “Send this book to a boy in the armed forces anywhere for only 3 cents.” Now we’re talkin’! This makes sense. Why did things change in ’45? Did they sense the war was coming to an end? Had too many people taken them up on the 3 cent deal and they’d found their profits dropping? Had the government stepped in and changed the rules? I haven’t a clue. Probably something worth researching.

Take a look at the following pages and try to imagine a company today asking anyone to give something of themselves for the country. We are told on a daily basis to take, take, take and buy, buy, buy. We are not asked to put ourselves second by any corporation, or for that matter even by many in the government. The war and those serving are someone else’s problem. Unless we are constantly reminded about the fact we’re at war we conveniently forget it.

Marion Hargrove, the author of this book, which was originally published in 1942 by publisher Henry Holt, is a man who left his mark on many of us, even if we don’t know it.

Did you ever watch the much loved movie The Music Man? Mr. Hargrove wrote it. He wrote for the tv shows Maverick, The Rogues (a show I loved during its brief run), I Spy (LOVED that show), 77 Sunset Strip, even The Waltons. So most likely at some point you’ve seen some of Marion Hargrove’s work.

As to this book, here’s a bit of a piece posted at AMC’s site that explains how the book came about:

Marion Hargrove was an author, Hollywood screenwriter, and writer for television whose initial success came through a series of accidents, including numerous experiences in military training. Born Edward Thomas Marion Lawton Hargrove, Jr. in Mt. Olive, NC, and later raised in Charlotte, he developed an interest in journalism while in high school. At age 20, he took a full-time job with the Charlotte News as a features and women's page editor as well as a writer and rewrite man. In July of 1941. Hargrove was drafted and, through a combination of physical ineptitude and an individualistic approach to following orders, achieved an astonishing level of incompetence as a rookie soldier. He became a legendary incompetent at Fort Bragg, the camp where he was stationed, and he wrote about some of his experiences for his old newspaper.

Fate took a hand in early 1942 when, by sheer chance, he was assigned to show playwright Maxwell Anderson around the base. He presented some of his writing about his comical exploits to Anderson, who, in turn, passed it along to publisher Henry Holt, who was impressed enough to assemble Hargrove's columns into a book, which was published as See Here, Private Hargrove (1942). The book enjoyed combined hardcover and paperback sales of over two-and-a-half-million copies and also earned the blessing of the War Department, which wisely saw Hargrove's gently self-deprecating, humorous vignettes of army life as a way of reassuring prospective draftees and their families that military service wasn't all danger and hardship. (SOURCE: AMC)

Click on the source link above to read more of their column. And click here to see his listing at IMDB.

Wikipedia provides the following information:

Marion Hargrove (October 13, 1919 – August 23, 2003) was an American writer noted for the World War II bestselling book See Here, Private Hargrove, a collection of humorous newspaper columns written mostly before the United States entered the war. (The book was made into a 1944 movie with Robert Walker as Hargrove and Donna Reed as his love interest.) During the war, he served on the staff of Yank, the Army Weekly. After the war he wrote two novels: Something's Got to Give (1948) and The Girl He Left Behind (1956). He also wrote for various popular magazines, and served as feature editor of Argosy.

In 1955, Hargrove settled in Los Angeles and began writing television and film scripts. His credits include Cash McCall (1960), The Music Man (1962), and television episodes of Maverick (1957), The Restless Gun (1957), Colt .45 (1957), Zane Grey Theater (1957), the pilot script for 77 Sunset Strip entitled Girl on the Run (1958), The Rogues (1964), I Spy (1966), The Name of the Game (1969), Nichols (1972), The Waltons (1975), and Bret Maverick (1981). Collaborator Roy Huggins discusses Hargrove at length in his Archive of American Television videotaped interview. Hargrove was one of three Hollywood writers interviewed and analyzed at length in Prime Time Authorship (2002), by Douglas Heil. While working at Warner Bros. in 1959, he was the center of a successful grass-roots letter-writing campaign to acquire a suitable couch for his office on the studio lot. A selection of these letters was published in Playboy Magazine under the title Hollywood Horizontal (1959) and anthologized in The Playboy Book of Humor and Satire (1965). With characteristic modesty, Hargrove never publicly claimed to be their sole author. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Click here for another column with photos of Mr. Hargrove.

And you can click here to read a rather touching post from his son following his father’s death.

All in all I’m quite happy I took this little old paperback off the shelf today.

ANTHONY BERKELEY, Mystery Writer

First off, when you receive a software update notice and you find that update is over 1 gb and you're on satellite...your online usage comes to a standstill. So it was for me yesterday. I set the download going and just walked away from the machine. Everything now is neatly installed, ship to shore up and working. All clear.

Today I feature a book I found at a thrift store years ago. The graphic image grabbed me as well as the fact that it was one of the special war time issues in which the publisher included a blurb on the back cover stating "Share this book with someone in uniform." They gave no information as to how you were supposed to do this and no information that they would provide a free or discounted copy in a way that would lead you to believe they were being especially patriotic. I'm guessing they just thought you should give your copy to someone in uniform (and guys working at gas stations in uniforms need not apply). But then we come to the word "share" which means that you are not actually giving the book to someone and you expect to be able to get it back. You are after all just sharing the book.

So let's say you met a soldier in a drug store in 1945 and you felt all patriotic and walked up to him and said, "I want to share this book with you." The soldier, taken aback by your kindness, takes the book from you and puts it in his pocket after saying, "Thank you." You remind him that you aren't giving it to him, you're just sharing, and that you've left your address on the inside cover so that he can return it to you when he's finished with it. Now this might have worked as a genuinely good come-on if he was especially appealing to you, but if you were just sharing because you thought it patriotic...I think you can see where I'm going. Nowhere.

As to the book Trial and Error by Anthony Berkeley I have found the following, though nothing specifically about this October 1945 edition of a book originally published in 1937.

First off, neither movie that was made with the title Trial and Error (Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough in 1962; Jeff Daniels and Michael Richards in 1997) have anything to do with this novel. Apparently this is not a copyrighted title. So if you're thinking of writing a cookbook you might find this a useful title, especially for a book on cakes (which makes me think of the book Cake Wrecks, one of the funniest books I've ever seen and which got its start at this blog: www.cakewrecks.com).

Now, if you Google "Trial and Error" you'll find over 3,500,00 results, including a book published by Oxford University Press in 1985 with the subtitle "The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution." Okie dokie then. Not opening up that can of billions of years old worms or 6000 year old worms, depending on your DNA.

After looking at 10 pages of Google suggestions and seeing nothing about this particular book I reluctantly tried Bing which said there were 157,000,000 entries. Yeah, I'm not feeling the love of those Microsoft Bing clearing-your-brain-of-clutter ads.

You will find that the first Google entry is actually Wikipedia's discussion of the phrase "trial and error" and the surrounding methodology:

Trial and error, or trial by error, is a general method of problem solving, fixing things, or for obtaining knowledge. "Learning doesn't happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again." (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

So basically we have no idea why this author, Anthony Berkeley, chose this title and have no idea how it pertains to the copy on the back cover.

As to Mr. Berkeley himself there is some information to be had.

First from our favorite, Wikipedia (you know one of these times I'm going to slip up and type Wikileaks and then I'll end up on the no-fly list for sure):

Anthony Berkeley Cox (5 July 1893 – 9 March 1971) was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.

Life

Berkeley was born in Watford, England, and educated at Sherborne School and University College London. After serving in the Army in World War I, he worked as a journalist for many years, contributing to such magazines as Punch and The Humorist. In 1938 he took up book reviewing for John O'London's Weekly and the Daily Telegraph, writing under his pen name Francis Illes. He also wrote for the Sunday Times in the 1940s, and for the Manchester Guardian, later The Guardian, from the mid-1950s until 1970. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

They then give a listing of his novels with "Trial and Error" listed under "Other novels" which seems a tad disrespectful. "Oh yeah, that's one of his other novels."

Looking at the site Fantastic Fiction in the UK you'll see at some point the book was reissued with a different cover. Checking Amazon shows only used books so I'm making a huge assumption that he is not being published in the US these days.

To actually read an interesting piece about the author go to Martin Edwards Books. And to see a photo of the author go to Classic Crime Fiction.

To see a picture of Peter Sellers click here which will take you to the official Peter Seller's website. Yes, it's true, the deceased and much missed Peter Seller's has a website. And yes, they offer "news" updates. Okay, not asking why they offer news updates. And by the way, when I clicked on "News" nothing showed up so I guess they've got the whole news thing covered.

And how is it I ended this piece with Peter Sellers? Trial and error of course.

A NEW YEAR With a Couple of Recommendations

Now that we're officially out of the season, though my tree is still up and looking beautiful, it's time to move away from festive ephemera or anything pertaining to the holidays. You'll soon find I'm reneging on this.

This post is about two books you might be interested in, both with links to Amazon in the left column where you can see pages from their interiors and read reviews. One about ephemera, the other about being an artist.

Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants by Steven Brower. Okay, I actually think they could have chosen a better title because this is simply too "hip" for a lot of people. It doesn't really give you an idea of the wonders between the covers. If you like collecting vintage paperbacks this is the latest book to provide a quick fix. Page after page of wonderful, odd, and salacious covers of all genres. Mysteries, science fiction, westerns, romance, even the classics, and so much more are covered. I was pleased to find a few books I actually own including this one below, I Want to Live.

A movie tie-in book for a film noir starring Susan Hayward for which she won an Academy Award. Want to see the movie? Turner Classics will be showing it on January 16th, check your schedule for the exact time.

Now, the second book is a complete opposite. Signed, Abiah Rose is a wonderful children's book that my friend, who is an illustrator, gave to me for Christmas (told you I wouldn't let the holiday go in this post). An edition signed by the author Diane Browning. A tale of a young girl in the 18th century who wishes to be an artist. Though allowed by her father to paint, she is discouraged from signing her work, her mother telling her it would be "prideful." Oh my how times have changed. Abiah chooses to quietly sign her work with a rose. How many traveling artists from long ago were women hiding their identity? A beautifully illustrated book with an uplifting story. Do check out her blog at http://www.dianebrowningillustrations.com/.

As I said, totally different subject matter, but each book well worth owning.

A little tattered BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S

Oh how something so tattered can make me happy for 50 cents.

I stopped at a neighborhood estate sale and found a few things to make me smile. Things that nobody else would give a second look. This is one of them. I saw the spine and new immediately it was an old copy. I've learned to scope out old titles by their spines, thus I don't waste time bending over looking through boxes of anything recent. Not interested.

Was in heaven when I saw the genuine Holly Golightly on the front. Never again will this book have Audrey Hepburn on the cover. So I add it to my collection of movie tie-in books.

Yes, I collect movie tie-in books too, and I give explanations in these two other posts:

TRAIN of Thought which features Steve McQueen and Paul Newman

and Sweet Smell of SUCCESS featuring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.

But to step back in time for just a few moments...

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

If you're of a certain age this will most likely be the cover you remember when you first read To Kill a Mockingbird in school. This edition was published March 1962. There were only three books I remember not wanting to give back to the teacher when class discussions were through. "...Mockingbird was one of them.

I found this one in a used paperback book store probably about 25 years ago. I wanted it immediately, but even more so when I saw the inscription inside.

Click on image to see it larger.

Did Greg Parks go on to become a writer? Second place out of 400 entries. An auspicious start. Or did he never "publish" again like Harper Lee?