YOUR TIME MACHINE TO THE PAST!

THE PULPS

BLACK MASK

Black Mask was a pulp magazine launched in 1920 by journalist H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan as one of a number of money-making publishing ventures to support the prestigious literary magazine The Smart Set, which Mencken edited, and which operated at a loss. Under their editorial hand, Black Mask was not exclusively a publisher of crime fiction, offering, according to the magazine, "the best stories available of adventure, the best mystery and detective stories, the best romances, the best love stories, and the best stories of the occult."

MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mask_(magazine)

http://www.blackmaskmagazine.com/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809511150

MORE: http://www.magazineart.org/main.php/v/pulpcrime/blackmask/BlackMask1929-09.jpg.html

BLACK MASK Magazine Profile

BLACK MASK was founded to make money. It did. Its success funded the publication of THE AMERICAN MERCURY, and it was quickly sold. Its new owners made it famous, and it provided the outlet for stories by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Rare issues with stories by these authors can command prices of a thousand dollars and more. You can click here to go directly to the gallery of cover images.

BLACK MASK was arguably the most famous crime pulp. But in its earliest days, it wasn't devoted solely to crime; it covered "Western, Detective, and Adventure Stories," and you can see the transition in the legend at the top of the cover in the issues we have for you.

MORE: http://www.magazineart.org/magazines/b/blackmask.html

Black Mask started life fairly innocuously as a general pulp running all types of fiction from adventure to romance to westerns. However, it was the advent of Joseph T. Shaw as editor in November 1926 that saw Black Mask transformed into what is generally regarded as the finest detective pulp magazine ever published. Even though Shaw was fired in 1936, the magazine continued with a consistently high standard into the early 1950s, reaching a total of 340 issues.

MORE: http://www.philsp.com/mags/black_mask.html

The English edition of the March 1936 issue of Black Mask has turned up on EBay. This issue features Raymond Chandler's "The Man Who Liked Dogs." It's listed as Buy It Now for $299. On the other hand, the e-text is here for free.

MORE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/12/found-on-ebay-1.html

Henry Louis MENCKEN was a well-known literary journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker - known as the "Sage of Baltimore" and the "American Nietzsche"; George Jean NATHAN, a Jewish-born editor and the leading American drama critic of his time.

They had been financially successful with another pulp money spinner of theirs called 'Parisienne', which itself had been followed by an erotic stablemate called 'Saucy Stories'. Keeping 'The Smart Set' solvent was always their priority, and there had initially been plans to follow up 'Saucy Stories' with an all-Negro pulp.

MORE: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=162741630

On 1 October 1923, shortly after its launching of Race Williams, Black Mask published Dashiell Hammett’s first Continental Op story, "Arson Plus" (Goulart 34). Like Daly’s, Hammett’s detective was sardonic and tough and spoke and unadorned vernacular. He differed from Race Williams in his detachment and restraint. The Continental Op was willing to use a gun if he had to, but never reveled in his own violence.

MORE: http://home.comcast.net/~mossrobert/html/criticism/pulps.htm

Vol. XVI, No. 10. 128 pp. Cover painting by J. W. Schlaikjer; headings by Arthur Rodman Bowker. 9¾x6¾, color pictorial wrappers. First Appearance.

Raymond Chandler's first appearance in print with his short story "Blackmailer's Don't Shoot" in this issue of Black Mask magazine, which feature's Chandler's detective Mallory. Also, includes Erle Stanley Gardner's "Dead Men's Shoes" (A thrilling Chinatown story), which is the magazine's featured story with the front cover illustration of a Chinese man holding a smoking gun. See Bruccoli's Chandler Checklist p. 17.

Rafael DeSoto - The Black Mask Magazine
14.5"x10.75"w
Oil on Canvas

Rafael de Soto (1904-1987). Born in Spain, Rafael de Soto moved to Puerto Rico at the age of seven. He came to New York to study archaeology but always wanted to be a priest; he became an artist instead. De Soto started by illustrating interiors for Top-Notch magazine, using the public library to research his western covers. He worked for Street & Smith, Pines Publications, and Ace Magazines. But the main body of his work was produced during a sixteen-year relationship with Harry Steeger at Popular Publications. After John Howitt left, de Soto created cover art for The Spider, many of his own concepts, which were so interesting that the stories were written about the cover art itself. His covers numbered approximately eight hundred -- he was a fast artist, spurred into speed by need, the Depression, and his family responsibilities.

MORE: http://www.meyereastgallery.com/detailed/default.asp?num=258&pict=6156

THE NEW BLACK MASK MAGAZINE

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Back to Black, Part IV

(Previous installments of author Mark Coggins’ look back at The New Black Mask magazine can be found here.)

In the fourth issue of The New Black Mask, Detroit detective novelist Loren D. Estleman, who also had a story in the first NBM, makes a return appearance, this time to nab the cover with his original Amos Walker story, “Blond and Blue.” That issue was published in 1986,but in correspondence years later, Estleman told me he was never

very happy with the artist’s portrayal of Walker (the gentlemen in the illustration with his coat pulled down around his shoulders), feeling that his protagonist came off looking more like game-show host (and The Snoop Sisters co-star) Bert Convy than a tough-guy private investigator. Judging by this Convy photo, at least, he could well have a point.

MORE: http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/11/back-to-black-part-iv.html

BACK TO MAIN ARTICLES PAGE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------