Weird Tales in Its Sixties & Seventies

I have been writing about anniversaries of Weird Tales and observances of those anniversaries within the pages of the magazine, as well as in other publications. Here is a list of my articles about Weird Tales in its sixties and seventies:

• "Weird Tales: Years without Anniversaries" (Sept. 14, 2024) is about the years 1978, during which there weren't any issues published, and 1983, in which Lin Carter's fourth Weird Tales paperback came out. I don't have a copy of that book, and so I wasn't able to say whether there was any anniversary content in its pages. Nineteen eighty-three was the sixtieth-anniversary year of Weird Tales.

• Luckily, Phil Stephenson-Payne, who conducts the website The FictionMags Index, does have a copy of that book. He provided us with an excerpt from Lin Carter's essay from Weird Tales #4 (1983). I transcribed that text into an article called "Weird Tales at Sixty" (Sept. 15, 2024).

• On September 17, 2024, I posted an article called "More of Weird Tales at Sixty." That article is about Robert Weinberg's program book for the World Fantasy Convention, held in Chicago in October 1983. The late Mr. Weinberg's book is overtly an anniversary issue and has a lot of anniversary-related content.

• In "World Tales (1985)" (Sept. 19, 2024), I wrote about the program book of the World Fantasy Convention held in Tucson, Arizona, in October-November 1985. Created by Donald D. Markstein, that book was made to look like an issue of Weird Tales from the 1940s, but it isn't an anniversary issue. For the sake of completeness, I have included it in my blog. Before you reach the end of this article, you will see another publication included for the sake of completeness.

• "Weird Tales at Sixty-Five" (Sept. 21, 2024) is about the Spring 1988 issue of Weird Tales, the first issue after a hiatus. That publication, too, was overtly an anniversary issue, as indicated on its front and back covers. I don't have a copy of it (yet), but Mike Harwood was kind enough to send images of an introductory essay, written by "The Editors," and published as an entry of "The Eyrie." That essay is four pages long. Maybe I'll post it on this blog, but not yet. Anyway, the Editors made a really noteworthy distinction when they wrote: "We intend to resurrect the magazine, not to exhume it." They weren't interested in what they called "necrophilia" regarding long-dead authors and their works. As in seemingly every other anniversary essay, they made a list of authors. Fortunately, their list makes up a small percentage of their overall word count. I take that to be something less than mere filler. On the back cover, as well as in "The Eyrie," they gave some space to both H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Despite objections beginning perhaps with Robert Bloch and more recently from Jeff VanderMeer, editors and publishers of weird fiction know on which side their bread is buttered. I feel certain they will continue to publish stories of the Cthulhu Mythos and of heroic fantasy. Witness the issues of Weird Tales published in 2022-2023. Thank you, Mr. Harwood for your contribution.

• "Weird Tales at Seventy & Seventy-Five" (Sept. 23, 2024) is about two issues, those of Spring 1993 (70 years) and Summer 1998 (75 years). Phil Stephenson-Payne has let us know that he didn't find any mention of an anniversary in the former but that there is mention of the seventy-fifth anniversary in the latter. Thank you, Mr. Stephenson-Payne.

There was a break in the publication of Weird Tales from Spring 1994 to Summer 1998. During that time, there was a magazine called Worlds of Fantasy & Horror that was basically Weird Tales but without the title. Weird Tales came back with the Summer 1998 issue, mentioned above. So again, an anniversary issue came at the end of a break in publication. I guess we can call that a pattern. Thanks to Mike Harwood for pointing this out.

Mike Harwood has also let us know that Satellite TV Europe published a magazine called Weird Tales, complete with the classic main title logo, in March 1997, just in time for the seventy-fourth anniversary of the magazine. The name of the cover artist is unknown. According to Mr. Harwood, there isn't any fiction in that magazine, only non-fiction about movies and TV shows. Below is the image of the cover that Mr. Harwood sent to me. Thanks again to Mike Harwood.

Corrected on September 26, 2024.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley

World Tales (1985)

In 1985, the World Fantasy Convention was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. The dates were October 31 to November 3, 1985. The souvenir book of the convention is entitled World Tales, and it was made to look like an issue of "The Unique Magazine." Not only does it look like an issue of Weird Tales, it is superior in quality to any issue published up until that time. You might as well call it an honorary issue of the magazine, published at a time when Weird Tales was not. The cover art is by Victoria Poyser. That keeps with the precedent of cover art by a woman artist. In the 1930s and '40s, she was Margaret Brundage. In the program book of two years before, she was Rowena Morrill. World Tales is pulp-sized, perfect bound, and contains 88 pages. The paper is off-white and beautifully made. The cover stock is excellent, and the typeface resembles that of a pulp magazine of long ago. Donald D. Markstein was the man behind the book. He designed, produced, and packaged World Tales. Weird Tales-related content includes an appreciation of guest of honor Evangeline Walton, a poem by Clark Ashton Smith, and a letter's column called "The Crow's Nest," but then the whole issue is Weird Tales-related in that it's essentially a facsimile of the original. If you collect issues of Weird Tales, you might want to add this book to your collection.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley

More of Weird Tales at Sixty

Lin Carter observed the sixtieth anniversary of Weird Tales magazine in his fourth Weird Tales paperback of 1983. Presumably, Carter had a license to publish his four-book series under the Weird Tales title and using the Weird Tales logo. The owner of the Weird Tales property, though, was Robert Weinberg, and he published his own volume in observance of that anniversary. His was the program book of the World Fantasy Convention, which was held at the Marriott O'Hare Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, from October 28 to October 30, 1983.

World Fantasy Convention 1983: Sixty Years of Weird Tales was edited by Robert Weinberg and published by Weird Tales Ltd. of Oak Forest, Illinois, in cooperation with Pulp Press. It's a softbound book, perfect bound, and 96 pages in all. Inside is a lot of Weird Tales-related content, including:

• "Introduction" by Robert Weinberg, who was also the chairman of the convention. The late Mr. Weinberg's introduction begins with the words "Sixty years ago . . ."

• An appreciation of guest of honor Manly Wade Wellman, written by Karl Edward Wagner.

• An appreciation of guest of honor Rowena Morrill, written by Robert Weinberg, who compared her to Weird Tales cover artist Margaret Brundage. The author also listed some of Rowena's art created for stories by Weird Tales authors H.P. Lovecraft, Manly Wade Wellman, E. Hoffman Price, and Clark Ashton Smith. Rowena created art for the front and back covers of the program book as well.

• A profile of Robert Bloch by Stephen King.

• "The Searcher After Horror" by Bloch, an account of his own early writing career and his association with Lovecraft.

• "World of Weird, 1931-1932" by Jack Williamson.

• "The Most Popular Stories in Weird Tales 1924 to 1940, with Statistics and Analytical Commentary" by Sam Moskowitz, a very useful reference work.

• Short stories by past and future writers for Weird Tales Manly Wade Wellman, Ramsey Campbell, Hugh B. Cave, and Brian Lumley.

Robert Weinberg's program book could be a model for other publications about weird fiction that also include weird fiction. But almost all of his contributors have since left us, including Brian Lumley, who died earlier this year, on January 2, 2024. So where would you find contributors of such stature today? And not the fake stature of the twenty-first century, but real stature based in talent, influence, accomplishment, and personality? I'm not sure.

I'll have more on this topic soon.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Weird Tales at Sixty

Phil Stephenson-Payne has confirmed that Lin Carter's Weird Tales #4, from 1983, was in fact an anniversary issue. He has supplied an excerpt from Carter's essay in that issue:

By the time this issue reaches the stand, Weird Tales will have entered its sixtieth year, so this is by way of being an anniversary issue to The Unique Magazine.

By this issue, the 287th, we have published (at a conservative estimate), some 14,713,000 words . . . yes, fourteen million, seven hundred and thirteen thousand words of the finest stories in the modern literature of the macabre.

As seems only befitting, we are celebrating this anniversary in a "unique" manner: that is, we are happy to present herein two contributions, written especially for Weird Tales, by two writers who, between them, represent virtually the entire history of this extraordinary magazine. The first of these is Frank Belknap Long, who made his first appearance in these pages in 1924, our second year of publication. Mr. Long, a youthful protege of the great H.P. Lovecraft and a prolific and gifted writer in his own right, has contributed fiction and verse to no fewer than forty-seven issues of the magazine. He appears in this issue with a new story, aptly entitled "Homecoming."

Our second "anniversary item" is the work of one of our most distinguished alumni, Mr. Ray Bradbury. While Mr. Long was the first major discovery of WT's most famous editor, Farnsworth Wright, Mr. Bradbury was an early discovery of Dorothy Mcllwraith, who succeeded Farnsworth Wright to the prestigious editorial chair. His first story appeared in our issue for November, 1942, eighteen years after the debut of Frank Belknap Long, and over the years his distinctive short-stories have adorned some twenty-seven issues of Weird Tales. His last appearance here was in our Fall, 1973 issue, while Mr. Long's last appearance here was in the issue dated Summer, 1974.

Between the two of these gifted gentlemen, then, they span most of the entire history of Weird Tales--two hundred and seventy-three issues, anyway--which explains why, to us, they represent the history of the Unique Magazine. And we are delighted to welcome them back to this sixtieth anniversary issue of the magazine in which they both were first published.

* * *

One final word on this sixtieth anniversary issue, and then we will turn the page over to our correspondents. Our Weird Tales 'First' department has become a regular fixture in this new series, and for this very special issue it seems only fitting and proper to reprint a story from the very first issue of this magazine, that of March, 1923.

Among the twenty-four stories, and the first part of a serial, which appeared in that historic first issue, only one tale has survived the generations to become something of a modem classic in horror fiction. Often anthologized, it seems appropriate to reprint it at this time . . . "Ooze," by Anthony M. Rud.

(Boldface added.)

Thank you, Mr. Stephenson-Payne.

Weird Tales #4 (1983), edited by Lin Carter, with cover art by Doug Beekman.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Weird Tales: Years without Anniversaries

Weird Tales was in print from March 1923 to September 1954. The magazine sometimes observed its own anniversary. Sometimes it was the readers who did the observing in their letters to "The Eyrie." The most prominent anniversary issues were the first, in May/June/July 1924, and the twenty-fifth, in March 1948. Weird Tales was not in print from October 1954 until the summer of 1973. If there were observances of anniversaries during those years, they would have been in other places and under other banners. If there were such observances, I don't know anything about them.

I wrote the other day that Sam Moskowitz is supposed to have dissuaded Leo Margulies from bringing Weird Tales back into print. Now I have a source for that information. In Weird Tales #1, edited by Lin Carter and published in 1980, Moskowitz wrote:

     I twice talked Leo Margulies out of reviving the magazine, once in 1958 and again in the sixties, because I thought he would lose his shirt. (p. 266)

So if  Margulies had gone ahead with bringing back Weird Tales in 1958, maybe it would have been just in time for the thirty-fifth anniversary of "The Unique Magazine."

There weren't any issues and no revivals at all during the 1960s, although now I find that two of the Pyramid paperback anthologies about which I wrote the other day were intended as the start of a series. In Weird Tales #1, Sam Moskowitz revealed:

     I ghost edited for Leo Margulies the Pyramid paperbacks Weird Tales (1964) and Worlds of Weird (1965), which were intended to be a series, with covers and some interiors by Virgil Finlay. They apparently did not do well enough to justify continuing the series [. . .]. (p. 265)

Moskowitz went on to put together the fiftieth-anniversary issue of Weird Tales in Summer 1973 and three more issues in that brief four-issue revival. There wasn't any forty-fifth anniversary issue in 1968, nor a fifty-fifth anniversary issue in 1978, again, because Weird Tales was not in print during those years.

Lin Carter's four paperback issues of Weird Tales were published from 1980 to 1983. The last issue came out in 1983. I don't have a copy of it, but I assume there was at least some awareness of an anniversary, for Carter reprinted Anthony M. Rud's story "Ooze," originally in the first issue of the magazine from sixty years before.

There were two issues of Weird Tales published by Bellerophon Network in 1984-1985. These, too, were aware of the history of Weird Tales magazine, but there isn't any overt anniversary content in their pages as far as I can see. (Thanks again to Brian Forbes for providing me with the contents of those two issues.) And now we're getting close to another revival of Weird Tales and the sixty-fifth-anniversary issue of Spring 1988. A couple of things came before that issue, though, and I'll write about those next.

To be continued . . .

Weird Tales #1 (1980), edited by Lin Carter, with cover art by Tom Barber.

Original text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Wrap-Up of Art and Artists of the Bellerophon Weird Tales

I'd like to start today by thanking publisher and editor Brian L. Forbes for photocopies provided by him of the two issues of the Bellerophon Weird Tales. Before hearing from Mr. Forbes, I had little hope of ever seeing these two issues, let alone studying them or owning them. So, thank you, Brian.

The Bellerophon issues of Weird Tales are interesting for a number of reasons. They were preceded by Lin Carter's paperback series of Weird Tales from 1980-1983, Sam Moskowitz's revival of 1973-1984, and of course the original run of 1923-1954. Although Weird Tales had appeared in a format larger than a regular magazine size (approximately 8-1/2 x 11 inches) before, the Bellerophon issues were the first non-pulp-sized or non-digest-sized Weird Tales in decades. Brian Forbes' two issues also brought Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, J.N. Williamson, and other well-known authors into the magazine's pages for the first time.

There were new artists, too. I have to admit to a bias in singling out Dave Stevens, even if his contribution amounted to just one illustration. In addition, Ro H. Kim's covers are good, although one appears to be a swipe. The Bellerophon issues also introduced photographs and comic strips to Weird Tales. It's nice to imagine that the magazine could have continued under the Bellerophon Network.

There are two Bellerophon issues, but they don't look an awful lot alike, at least on the inside. The typefaces used in the respective interiors are different. The second issue is longer (96 pages vs. 72 pages) and has a greater cover price ($2.95 vs. $2.50) than the first. The first issue has more original art in it than the second. In fact, if I have counted right, the only original art in the second issue (other than collages) are comic strips by Bruce David. (The collages were, I believe, assembled by Brian Forbes and came from Forrest J Ackerman's vast collection of science fiction and fantasy books and magazines.)

Speaking of art, much of the art in the Bellerophon issues is reprinted from previous sources, some without any indication as to the artist's identity. Most of these pieces of unsigned art (unsigned because they are apparently snippets) are nondescript. The following piece shows a very distinct style, however, and might be identifiable as to the artist. (This sounds like a job for you, Mike Tuz.)

An illustration by an unidentified artist, reprinted in Weird Tales, Winter 1985, for the story "Vengeance by Proxy" by John Wyndham. The style is distinctive enough, I think, to identify the artist who created it. That artist could easily have drawn for comic books.

So this ends my series on the art and artists of the Bellerophon Weird Tales (even though I did not cover all of them). And what comes next? Your guess is as good as mine.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

George D. Sukara (b. 1948)

Illustrator, Animator, Storyboard Artist, Art Teacher
Born June 13, 1948, Ohio?

The Bellerophon Network seems to have employed a lot of people associated with movies, radio, and television, including Harlan Ellison, Michael P. Hodel, Brinke Stevens, Dave Stevens, Overton Loyd, and Ro H. Kim. George D. Sukara is included in that list. According to the Internet Movie Database, he began working in animation as an assistant animator on The Black Cauldron (1985). That movie was released shortly after the first Bellerophon issue of Weird Tales came out in the fall of 1984. Mr. Sukara had two illustrations in the Fall 1984 issue, for stories by Stephen King and Larry Tritten. You can see his movie credits at the aforementioned database.

Update (Oct. 5, 2016): Mike Tuz informs me that George D. Sukara is, in addition to being an animator, an art teacher. In fact, Mr. Sukara is teaching an introduction to cartooning beginning tomorrow at the Peninsula Art Academy in Peninsula, Ohio. Follow this link for more information. Thanks to Mike Tuz for the tip.

George D. Sukara's Illustrations in Weird Tales

"Beachworld" by Stephen King (Fall 1984)

"Flecks of Gold" by Larry Tritten (Fall 1984)

Further Reading

See the Internet Movie Database, here, for a list of George Sukara's credits.

Updated on December 7, 2018.

Copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Dave Stevens (1955-2008)

Comic Book Artist, Comic Strip Artist, Illustrator, Storyboard Artist
Born July 29, 1955, Lynwood, California
Died March 11, 2008, Turlock, California

Dave Stevens is too big a subject for a mere blog article. I have to admit that I admire his art so much that it's still hard for me to think about his passing or to write about his life and work. I will say only that Dave Stevens was married to the former Charlene Brinkman in 1980, that their marriage lasted only six months, that she continued modeling for him after that, and that she was the model for his only illustration for Weird Tales, for her own story "The Pandora Principle" (with A.E. van Vogt), from Fall 1984.

Dave Stevens' Illustration in Weird Tales

"The Pandora Principle" by Brinke Stevens and A.E. van Vogt (serial, Fall 1984)

Further Reading

Any number of sources on line and in print.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Overton Loyd (b. 1954)

Fine Artist, Cartoonist, Illustrator, Animator, Costume Designer, Television Personality

Born April 20, 1954, Detroit, Michigan

Overton Loyd is most well known for covers and other art for record albums by Parliament (Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome, 1977; Gloryhallastoopid (Or Pin the Tail on the Funky), 1979; Motor Booty Affair, 1979) and Bootsy's Rubber Band (This Boot Is Made for Fonk-N, 1979). He has also done fine art, cartooning, animation art, and costume design. His lone illustration for Weird Tales appeared in the Fall 1984 issue of the magazine. Rather than repeat here information available elsewhere on the Internet, I'll just refer you to Mr. Loyd's websites (below).

Overton Loyd's Illustration in Weird Tales

"Laugh Track" by Harlan Ellison (Fall 1984)

Further Reading

• Overton Loyd Studios: http://www.overtonloydstudios.com
• Overton Loyd: http://overtonloyd.com/
• Overvision: http://overvision.com/
• Overton Loyd on Wikipedia, here.
• "Overton Loyd Makes The P-Funk Universe Just A Little Bit Funkier With His Cool Artwork," on Funkatropolis, April 26, 2012, here.

Copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Hyang Ro Kim (b. ?)

Ro H. Kim
Artist, Portraitist, Illustrator, Teacher
Born ?, Republic of Korea

There were only two issues of the Bellerophon Network's version of Weird Tales and only two covers. The Korean-American artist Ro H. Kim created both. The Winter 1985 issue called him Hyang Ro Kim, but Mr. Kim clearly signed his cover art as "Ro H. Kim." That same issue wrote of him:

Mr. Kim is revered as one of the top portrait and scenery painters in Hollywood, having been commissioned for his portrait work by names such as George C. Scott, Judy and Diana Canova, and the late William Holden. Mr. Kim's work is best known by millions of television viewers on the evening soap, "Dallas." [p. 21]

In becoming an artist to stars, celebrities, and presidents, Ro Kim has come a long way. Growing up in Poahung, South Korea, he drew pictures on toilet paper because that was his only available medium. His parents wanted him to be something other than an artist. Instead, Mr. Kim came to America in 1972 and set about his chosen career. Since then, he has become a very successful artist and especially a painter of portraits. His two covers for Weird Tales are in fact portraits. Brinke Stevens appeared on the front of the Fall 1984 issue. Texas-born dancer, model, and actress Jacqueline Pulliam was the subject of the Winter 1985 cover. Ro Kim also created the cover for Lon of 1000 Faces! by Forrest J Ackerman, et al. (1983). You can see images of Mr. Kim and created by Mr. Kim at his website, Ro Kim Art, at http://www.rokimart.com/home.

Ro H. Kim's Covers for Weird Tales

Fall 1984

Winter 1985

Further Reading

Ro Kim Art at http://www.rokimart.com/home

Weird Tales, Fall 1984, with cover art by Ro H. Kim showing model and actress Brinke Stevens.

Weird Tales, Winter 1985, with cover art by Mr. Kim. This time his model was Jacqueline Pulliam

According to James van Hise in Locus #308 (Sept. 1986), Mr. Kim's cover for the Winter 1985 issue was a swipe from a Victoria's Secret catalogue. After seeing photocopies of the two Bellerophon issues, very generously provided to me by publisher Brian L. Forbes, I have to admit to a little confusion. Jacqueline Pulliam, the model for this cover, was associated with Bellerophon and Weird Tales: a photograph of her appears inside on the editor's page (Winter 1985, p. 21), and she modeled Weird Tales nightshirts in a couple of advertisements (Fall 1984, p. 37, and Winter 1985, p. 49, both with Brinke Stevens). I can't say whether the woman in the photograph on the right above is Ms. Pulliam. It doesn't look like Ms. Pulliam to me, but I can't say for sure. But if that is she, then maybe the same person was a model for both images shown here. More likely, it seems to me that Mr. Kim, who freely works from photographs, used an image from a Victoria's Secret catalogue and perhaps a photograph of Jacqueline Pulliam to create his cover. In any case, you can read Mr. van Hise's full article, "Weird Lingerie Tales," at this URL:

http://www.icshi.net/sevagram/biblio/brain.php

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Bruce David (1941-2016)

On July 4, 2016, I wrote the introduction to this series on the art and artists of the Bellerophon issues of Weird Tales from 1984-1985. I have moved through the categories of art reprinted from other sources (Clare Angell, Edd Cartier, and Rod Ruth) and art reprinted from previous issues of Weird Tales. I will leave a few names in the latter category--Joseph R. Eberle, Jr., Virgil Finlay, and Frank Utpatel--for another day. Instead, I would like to move on to the five names in the category of artists new to Weird Tales with the Bellerophon issues. First is Bruce David. And what I write here is based on the speculation that the Bruce David about whom I write is the same Bruce David who contributed to the magazine. I can say at least that it is a speculation with a little force.

Bruce David

Journalist, Writer, Editor, Cartoonist, Screenwriter

Born 1941

Died June 17, 2016, presumably in Los Angeles, California

Bruce David was born in 1941 and served in the U.S. Army, in Germany and elsewhere. When he and his sister graduated from college, she asked him what he would like to do with his life. "[B]asically because I'm a shallow person," he remembered, "I said[,] '[U]ltimately I'd like to be the editor at Playboy magazine'." (1) David didn't quite make it to Playboy. (1a) Instead, he worked for Hustler for nearly forty years. Publisher Larry Flynt remembered how David arrived at Hustler:

Bruce was working for Screw and wrote a review of the very first issue of Hustler back in 1974. He said, "The new men's upstart, Hustler, has just nudged out Refrigerator Monthly as the most boring publication in America." So I called him up. I told him, "I love your review. And I agree with you, by the way. Why don't you come to Columbus and help us out." He worked for Larry Flynt Publications for nearly four decades. He was stubborn, arrogant . . . very creative. He was Bruce." (1)

Before going to work for Mr. Flynt, Bruce David wrote for Screw and Penthouse, was founding art director of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, and produced and sometimes co-hosted a television show called Midnight Blue in New York City. David returned to television in the mid 1980s with scripts for Family Ties, ALF, Mr. Sunshine, and MacGyver. He was a fan of science fiction and was interested in UFOs and mythology. "I came up through the underground press," David said, and that influence showed in his comic strips, including S.M.O.G., which appeared in Weird Tales in 1984-1985. (3) Although I have not seen every issue of Weird Tales (far from it), I think it pretty likely that S.M.O.G. was the only comic strip ever to appear in the magazine.

Bruce David retired from Larry Flynt Publications in about 2013 and died this year, on June 17, 2016, presumably in Los Angeles, at age seventy-five. He was well remembered at his death and is keenly missed by those who knew him.

Notes

(1) Quoted in "Interview with Bruce David" by Bruce David in Genetic Strands, November 3, 2008, originally in Hump magazine in the 1990s, here.

(1a) Update (Feb. 1, 2022): Actually, Bruce David did make it into the pages of Playboy. I found his comic strip S.M.O.G. in the issue of August 1986, page 111. The accompanying brief article explains that S.M.O.G. was a feature in L.A. Weekly and that David did indeed write scripts for television, including two episodes of Family Ties. So I have the right Bruce David, thus the stricken text.

(2) Quoted in "Hustler Editorial Director Bruce David Passes Away" by Ariana Rodriguez in XBiz: The Industry Source, June 21, 2016, here.

(3) Quoted in "Interview with Bruce David."

Bruce David's Comic Strip S.M.O.G. in Weird Tales
Two installments each in the issues of Fall 1984 and Winter 1985

Further Reading

The sources shown above in the notes; "Former Hustler Editorial Director Bruce David Passes" by Mark Kernes in AVN, June 21, 2016, here; and other sources easily found on the Internet.

S.M.O.G., Bruce David's comic strip about a man who immerses himself in a sensory deprivation chamber in order to face his fears, from Weird Tales, Winter 1985, page 87.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Harry Ferman (1906-1973)

Newspaper Artist, Art Editor, Illustrator, Cartoonist, Poet, Writer of Letters
Born March 6, 1906, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Died April 28, 1973, Wichita, Kansas

So far, I have written about the following artists whose work was reprinted in the Bellerophon issues of Weird Tales in 1984-1985: Clare Angell (1874-1932?), Edd Cartier (1914-2008), Rodney M. Ruth (1912-1987), and Henry del Campo (1899-1961). The first three artists were not originally published in Weird Tales. Their drawings that appeared in the Bellerophon issues are from other sources. The last, Henry del Campo, was published in Weird Tales in 1939-1954, but little was known of him before I wrote an entry on him for this blog. There is more known of Harry Ferman, although I didn't have his dates when I wrote the introduction to this series. Once I have written about Harry Ferman, I'll go on to Boris Dolgov, but don't get your hopes up: less is known of him than of the enigmatic Nictzin Dyalhis.

Harry Elvis Ferman was born on March 6, 1906, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Elvis A. Ferman and Agnes "Aggie" Hannah Ferman. Ferman's father worked on the railroad. That might explain the presence of the Ferman family in Chapell, Nebraska, in the 1910 census. In 1920, they were in Buffalo, Iowa. Throughout the 1930s, '40s, and beyond, Harry Ferman and his family lived in Wichita, Kansas.

On September 25, 1929, at age twenty-three, Harry E. Ferman married Myrtle Gertude Volz, equally twenty-three years of age, in her native Elkhart, Iowa. He was by then living in Wichita, Kansas, and working as an artist. Like her husband, Myrtle Volz Ferman was an artist and poet. She was also a photographer, a sculptress, and a maker of wedding cakes. Author, teacher, Marine veteran, and "junkyard dog" David Daniel Ferman has written fond remembrances of his parents on his self-titled blog. I urge you to read about them by clicking here. (Update, March 21, 2023: Commenter Jean-Yves has let us know that the link is no longer active. See below. However, David Daniel Ferman's book 1938: Ghosts That I Have Known [2021] is now available for purchase. Mr. Ferman died on January 17, 2022, presumably in Texas. He was eighty-eight years old.)

From 1930 to 1961, Harry Ferman was an artist on the Wichita Beacon. He also contributed cartoons to sports magazines and later worked as a corporate artist for the Boeing Company. From the issues April 1939 to July 1942, Harry Ferman illustrated stories appearing in Weird Tales. His list of credits for that magazine is long, so instead of showing it here, I'll provide this link to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Ferman also had one of his illustrations reprinted in Weird Tales for Winter 1985.

According to the University Libraries at Wichita State University, "Ferman became well known for his letter writing, especially for the sketches he would add to each one written. The recipients of these letters were known as 'Fermanites' and lived throughout the nation." The university has a small collection of those letters, written to Ferman's friend Ralph Finnell.

Harry E. Ferman died in Wichita, Kansas, on April 28, 1973, at age sixty-seven and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Wichita.

Harry Ferman's Illustrations in Weird Tales

See the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, here.

Further Reading

Look for links in the text above.

An illustration by Harry Ferman for "The Song of the Slaves" by Manly Wade Wellman, Weird Tales, March 1940.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Rodney M. Ruth (1912-1987)

RMR
Illustrator, Advertising Artist, Children's Book Artist, Syndicated Comic Strip Artist
Born September 21, 1912, Benton Harbor, Michigan
Died January 27, 1987, Park Ridge, Illinois

When I introduced this series, I didn't know who RMR was. I found out at PulpFest by looking at an issue of Amazing Stories in which Rod M. Ruth signed several illustrations with a distinct flourish to his initials. He was born Rodney McCord Ruth on September 21, 1912, in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Edd Cartier went to school in New York City and found work with Street and Smith, a publisher with headquarters in that city. Rod Ruth did much the same in his locale by studying at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the Frederick Mizen School of Arts, and the Institute of Design, and going to work for Ziff-Davis of Chicago. His illustrations appeared in Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures from 1940 to 1951. He also drew the newspaper comic strip The Toodles from 1941 to 1958. Ruth had a more varied career than Cartier and continued working as a professional artist even after pulp magazines came to an end. He illustrated books about dinosaurs and animals and Rand McNally's series of books about monsters and aliens, for which he had a real flair. Rodney McCord Ruth--RMR--died in Park Ridge, Illinois, on January 27, 1987, at age seventy-four.

Rodney M. Ruth's Illustrations in Weird Tales

"Yellow" by Conda Douglas (Winter 1985; from an unknown source)

"The Bus People" by J.N. Williamson (Winter 1985; from an unknown source)

"Peau de Cuir" by Steve Perry (Winter 1985; from an unknown source)

Further Reading

• "Ruth, Rod," The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (online), Jan. 14, 2013, here.
• "Rod Ruth," Lambiek (online), no date, here.

Note: I have a new computer, but when you get a new computer, about half of your old stuff no longer works. For me, that includes some of my software, plus my scanner, plus my scanner/printer/photocopier. As soon as I solve the problem of a scanner, I will post images again.

Update (August 3, 2016): An illustration by Rod Ruth, used in Weird Tales for Winter 1985 but from an unknown original source. Note the stylized initial "R" on the far right.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Edd Cartier (1914-2008)

Illustrator, Draftsman, Art Director
Born August 1, 1914, North Bergen, New Jersey
Died December 25, 2008, Ramsey, New Jersey

Whether he knew it or not, Edd Cartier contributed to Weird Tales. His drawing in the Winter 1985 issue was used to fill out a page containing a book review by Gustavo H. Vintas, M.D. The drawing (which I will post once I have my scanning problem figured out) looks like a clipping from a larger drawing and probably came from another magazine. Cartier is best known for his illustrations in The Shadow, Doc Savage Magazine, Astounding Science Fiction, and Unknown. He also worked for Gnome Press and Fantasy Press. I suspect the drawing came from either Astounding or Unknown.

Edward Daniel Cartier was born on August 1, 1914, in North Bergen, New Jersey, and studied at the Pratt Institute in two stints, one before and one after the Second World War. He served in the U.S. Army during the war and used his G.I. Bill benefits to earn a bachelor of arts degree from Pratt in 1953. He was a unique and versatile artist, and his work, whether signed or not, is unmistakable. It's a shame that he never drew pictures for Weird Tales, as his dark, weird, macabre, and often humorous style would have worked in the magazine. In any case, Cartier died on Christmas Day in 2008 at age ninety-four. I checked my copy of Edd Cartier: The Known and the Unknown (Gerry de la Ree, 1977) and could not find the illustration used in Weird Tales. That's no great surprise, as Cartier created hundreds of drawings published from 1937 onward.

Edd Cartier's Illustration in Weird Tales

Spot drawing on the book review page (Winter 1985; from an unknown source)

Further Reading

• "Edd Cartier (1914-2008)" by Bhob, Potrzebie (online), Dec. 27, 2008, here.
• "Edd Cartier, 94, Pulp Illustrator, Dies" by William Grimes, New York Times, Jan. 8, 2009, here.

An illustration by Edd Cartier, originally from another source--an unknown source but not necessarily an Unknown source--and used in Weird Tales for Winter 1985.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Clare Angell (1874-1932)-Part Three

Clare Eugene Angell was born on March 4, 1874, in Lansing, Michigan, and lived in Michigan and possibly Indiana as a child. In an article from The Inland Printer, from 1897 (Vol. 18, p. 670), Angell detailed his work as a clerk, a student of architecture, and a draftsman and designer for the Park Commission of Detroit. Angell attended school in Lansing and Detroit, including a year of night school at the Detroit School of Arts. Before going to Chicago, he spent some time working on a farm. I wonder now if that was his mother's family farm in Goshen, Indiana.

Before the end of the decade and of the century, Clare Angell made his way to New York City. He seems to have spent the rest of his life there. By the time the article mentioned above was published, he had begun working as an artist with the New York Press where he was recognized as a talented cartoonist and caricaturist. Angell also drew pictures of daily news events for the paper, especially when he could give them a humorous slant. His work earned him mention in the Encyclopedia Britannica under the entry "Caricature."

During the early 1900s, Angell illustrated stories and articles for popular magazines, including The Boys’ Magazine, Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, The Illustrated Companion, and Outing. If he is known at all now, it is for his illustrations for three dozen books published from 1901 to 1920 and his designs for several series of postcards printed from 1907 to 1919. Angell created illustrations for many genre stories, including Westerns, war stories, adventure stories, crime stories, and thrillers.

As of 1921, Clare Angell was still living, though supposedly widowed. His home was in Forest Hills Gardens, in Queens, New York, one of the nation’s oldest planned communities, founded in 1908 and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. The community's park-like setting and collection of Tudor and Georgian homes must have been conducive to the work of an artist, but I have not been able to find any work that is incontrovertibly his from after 1921. The Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay, Ohio, houses some of Angell's original art. Collector and researcher Ken Dickinson has made a thorough study and catalogue of his work as well. Unfortunately, the drawing from Weird Tales of Winter 1985 is not in Ken's catalogue, so we don't know the original source.

So, if Clare Angell's last known credits as an illustrator are from 1921, and he died in 1932, what did he do for those last eleven years? Did he in fact contribute to one or more pulp magazines, possibly science fiction magazines of the period 1926-1932? Is that where the Weird Tales illustration came from? Whatever else might be said, we can suggest that Clare Angell's name be added to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDb) and that he receive credit for his illustration reprinted in Weird Tales. And I would suggest that credit for the illustrations Angell did for Fugitive Anne: A Romance of the Australian Bush (1902), a lost-worlds story by Rosa Campbell Praed, be added to the ISFDb as well.

A drawing by Clare Angell showing the end of the world, from an unknown magazine (1902).

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Clare Angell (1874-1932)-Part Two

The third mystery concerning the artist Clare Angell isn't a mystery so much as a possibility, and it isn't really essential to understanding his life or work.

Clare Eugene Angell (1874-1932) was the son of Eugene Angell (1848-1907) and Mary Butterfield Angell (ca. 1853-?). Eugene Angell, born on May 13, 1848, in Livingston County, Michigan, was the son of Henry Angell (1809-June 2, 1872) and Sarah M. (or W.) Bennett Angell (Jan. 4, 1821-May 25, 1872). (1) Henry and Sarah were both natives of New York, but that is as far east as I can get them. In 1850 they were in Michigan. Before that . . . ? And I don't know the names of their parents.

Angell is a common name in some places in the East. One of those places is Providence, Rhode Island. In fact, there is a street in Providence called Angell Street. At 494 Angell Street, there is a large house, once home to a family named Lovecraft. On August 20, 1890, the last male child in America with that surname was born in that house. He was christened Howard Phillips Lovecraft. In 1926, H.P. Lovecraft penned a story called "The Call of Cthulhu." One of the characters in that story is named George Gammell Angell, almost certainly after one of Lovecraft's own ancestors and an unknown Angell of Providence. So was Clare Angell the artist descended from the Angells of New England? Maybe. We may never know. But like I have said before, if you draw any line long enough, it becomes a circle, and so a connection to Weird Tales eventually meets another connection to Weird Tales.

* * *

The last mystery of Clare Angell concerns this drawing, reprinted in Weird Tales in the Winter issue of 1985:

The first thing to take care of here is the signature and the artist's credits. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDb) gives the artist's name as "Clare A. McGill." The misreading of the signature is understandable. If I hadn't already written about Clare Angell, I might have looked right past his name myself. But there's no doubt in my mind that Angell was indeed the creator of this illustration--or at least the right side of it.

One of the things I have noticed in looking over the Bellerophon issues of Weird Tales is that some of the illustrations appear to be amalgamations of drawings, either two old drawings fitted together, or a collage of an old drawing and a new drawing to make the old drawing fit a new story. There is something a little odd about the drawing above, attributed as a whole to "Clare A. McGill." The men on the right are dressed in early twentieth-century costume. The woman on the left is obviously a creation of a later period, probably no earlier than the 1920s. Also, the perspective is off: she's a giant compared to the men. And note the mostly blank area separating the two sides of the picture, which are linked by a few scribbled lines. Lastly, she seems to have been drawn in a different style or with a different technique than the men on the right. I would not be surprised to learn that she was drawn by a different artist.

So I guess here is the issue: if this is one drawing created by Clare Angell, then it seems to have been drawn for a science fiction magazine of the 1920s or '30s. But Clare Angell is not elsewhere on the website of the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Did he slip through the cracks somehow? If this is an amalgamation of two drawings, then maybe the right side of the drawing came from one of the many books illustrated by Clare Angell in the early 1900s and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database is correct in not giving him any pulp magazine credits, even if he lived into the pulp magazine era (assuming the death date of 1932 is correct). Still, the right side of the drawing obviously illustrates a science-fictional scene, so I guess we had better track down Clare Angell's credits as an illustrator and make a case that he belongs somewhere on the ISFDb.

Note
(1) They were married on August 5, 1872, in Mason County, Michigan, not long after the deaths of Eugene Angell's parents.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Clare Angell (1874-1932)-Part One

Cartoonist, Designer, Illustrator 

Born March 4, 1874, Lansing, Michigan

Died October 7, 1932, Manhattan, New York, New York

There are mysteries surrounding Clare Angell. One is of little or no interest to anyone who is not a proud Hoosier. Another might be thought of as a mere detail. A third offers a possibility. The last--and the newest--should interest science fiction fans and begs for some inquiry.

The first mystery involves Angell's place of birth. In her book Art and Artists of Indiana (1921), Mary Q. Burnet listed Angell as having been born in Goshen, Indiana. Public records tell a different story. If those records are accurate--and I believe they are--then Clare Eugene Angell was born on March 4, 1874, in Lansing, Michigan. His father, Eugene Angell (1848-1907) was also a native of Michigan. Clare Angell's mother, Mary Butterfield Angell (ca. 1853-?), was born in Indiana, probably in Goshen. In 1880 she was with her husband and children in Lansing. Three years later, Eugene Angell, a banker and investor, became insolvent. Presumably he and his wife separated after that, and she took the children with her. The records of the 1890 census have of course been lost. They may very well have shown Clare Angell with his mother in Goshen, where she was enumerated in the 1900 census with her surviving family. But by then Clare Angell was on his own as an artist and probably living in New York City. So a mystery remains: why did Mary Q. Burnet list Clare Angell as an Indiana native? That mystery will probably never be solved, but being a Hoosier and having no small amount of Hoosier pride, I take Clare Eugene Angell as one of us, and I have included him on my blog Indiana Illustrators and Hoosier Cartoonists. You can read what I have written about him by clicking here and here.

The second mystery involves Angell's date and place of death. Writer and collector Ken Dickinson and I have looked in vain for anything on Clare Angell's life and career after about 1923. What happened to him? Where did he go? What did he do? Well, the fourth mystery, about which I will write in Part Two of this series, seems to indicate that Angell survived at least long enough to contribute to science fiction magazines. That means at least until 1926 and the advent of Amazing Stories. Then I found an entry on the artist in a truly impressive work on series novels authored for children, research done by James D. Keeline. The problem is that I don't know what that work is called or how to get to the whole thing. Luckily I have a link to the part in question: authors, artists, and titles beginning with the letter A. Here's the link:

http://keeline.com/SC-A.pdf

On page 24, you'll find a note speculating that Angell, age sixty-two, died on October 27, 1932, in Manhattan. Although the age is wrong, the name is right and the place fits with what we know about him. So for now, that mystery is solved--or at least semi-solved.

Clare Angell's Illustration in Weird Tales
"The Girl with the Indigo Eyes" by Stanton A. Coblentz (Winter 1985; from an unknown source)

Further Reading

• "Clare Angell (1874-?)" by Terence E. Hanley, Indiana Illustrators and Hoosier Cartoonists (online), Sept. 29, 2010, here.
• "Clare Angell: Postcard Artist and Illustrator" by Ken Dickinson and Terence E. Hanley, Picture Postcard Monthly (magazine), Nov. 2013.

To be continued . . . 

Copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley