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Robert Leslie Bellem (July 19, 1902 – April 1, 1968)^[1] was an American pulp magazine writer, best known for his creation of Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective. Before becoming a writer he worked in Los Angeles as a newspaper reporter, radio announcer and film extra.

Pulps

Bellem wrote in a variety of genres for many pulp magazines, particularly those owned by Culture Publications such as Spicy Detective, Spicy Adventure, Spicy Western and Spicy Mystery (one of the weird menace pulps). The word "spicy" in the titles of these magazines was meant to indicate sexual content, although this was very tame compared with current standards.^[2]

Bellem's most famous creation was the hardboiled detective Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, whose stories were written in the first person in a racy, slangy style that made them extremely popular. Set against the background of the Hollywood film industry (of which Bellem had personal knowledge), the Dan Turner stories appeared first in the pages of Spicy Detective (subsequently retitled Speed Detective) and later in his "own" magazine, Hollywood Detective, which ran from January 1942 to October 1950.^[3]

Bellem also created other characters, such as Nick Ransom^[4] who appeared a few times in Thrilling Detective, but none proved as successful as Dan Turner. It is claimed that Bellem produced some 3000 short stories in a pulp magazine career lasting less than 30 years.^[5] He also wrote at least two novels, of which the best known is Blue Murder (Phoenix Press, 1938).

S.J. Perelman's essay "Somewhere a Roscoe..." contains excerpts from several of the Dan Turner stories, with Perelman's satiric comments.

TV career

After the demise of the pulps, Bellem switched to writing for television in the 1950s, including a number of scripts for The Lone Ranger, Adventures of Superman, Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip, and others.

References

^ Birth date from Social Security Death Index and California Death Index; death date from California Death Index.
^ Haining, Peter (2000). The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines. Prion Books. ISBN 978-1-85375-388-6.
^ "Dan Turner, Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Archived from the original on April 21, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
^ "Nick Ransom Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
^ Bill Pronzini's introduction to the 1987 paperback edition of Bellem's novel Blue Murder, published by Dennins McMillan Publications.

External links

Robert Leslie Bellem at IMDb
Robert Leslie Bellem bibliographies 1-2 at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir Matuschenko)
Robert Leslie Bellem at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

[1] Birth date from Social Security Death Index and California Death Index; death date from California Death Index.

[Haining-2] Haining, Peter (2000). The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines. Prion Books. ISBN 978-1-85375-388-6.

[3] "Dan Turner, Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Archived from the original on April 21, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2010.

[4] "Nick Ransom Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". The Thrilling Detective Web Site. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2010.

[Pronzini-5] Bill Pronzini's introduction to the 1987 paperback edition of Bellem's novel Blue Murder, published by Dennins McMillan Publications.

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[2]

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|American novelist}}
-'''Robert Leslie Bellem''' was a prolific [[United States|American]] [[pulp magazine]] writer, best known for his creation of [[Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective]]. He was born in either 1894<ref name = "Haining">{{cite book |last=Haining |first=Peter |title=The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines |year=2000 |publisher=Prion Books |isbn=978-1-85375-388-6 }}</ref> or 1902,<ref name = "Pronzini">Bill Pronzini's introduction to the 1987 paperback edition of Bellem's novel ''Blue Murder'', published by Dennins McMillan Publications.</ref> and died in 1968<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=K-OCBcT1O4UC&pg=PA258&dq="Robert+Leslie+Bellem"</ref>. Before becoming a writer he worked in [[Los Angeles]] as a [[journalist|newspaper reporter]], [[announcer|radio announcer]] and [[Extra (actor)|film extra]]. After the demise of the pulps, Bellem switched to writing for [[television]], including a number of scripts for ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'', ''[[Adventures of Superman (TV series)|The Adventures of Superman]]'' (1950s version), The original Perry Mason show, 77 Sunset Strip and other shows.
+{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
+[[File:Spicy Detective Stories April 1935.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Cover of the pulp magazine ''Spicy Detective Stories'' (April 1935, vol. 2, no. 6) featuring "Bullet from Nowhere" by Robert Leslie Bellem]]
+'''Robert Leslie Bellem''' (July 19, 1902 – April 1, 1968)<ref>Birth date from Social Security Death Index and California Death Index; death date from California Death Index.</ref> was an American [[pulp magazine]] writer, best known for his creation of [[Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective]]. Before becoming a writer he worked in [[Los Angeles]] as a [[journalist|newspaper reporter]], [[announcer|radio announcer]] and [[Extra (actor)|film extra]].
-Bellem wrote in a variety of [[literary genre|genres]] for many pulp magazines, particularly those owned by [[Culture Publications]] such as ''Spicy Detective'', ''Spicy Adventure'', ''Spicy Western'' and ''Spicy Mystery'' (one of the [[weird menace]] pulps). The word "spicy" in the titles of these magazines was meant to indicate sexual content, although this was very tame compared with current standards.<ref name="Haining"/>
+==Pulps==
-Bellem's most famous creation was the [[hardboiled]] [[Private investigator|detective]] Dan Turner, whose stories were written in the [[grammatical person|first person]] in a racy, [[slang]]y style that made them extremely popular. Set against the background of the [[Hollywood]] [[film]] industry (of which Bellem had personal knowledge), the Dan Turner stories appeared first in the pages of ''Spicy Detective'' (subsequently retitled ''Speed Detective'') and later in his "own" magazine, ''Hollywood Detective'', which ran from January 1942 to October 1950.[http://www.thrillingdetective.com/turner.html].
+Bellem wrote in a variety of [[literary genre|genres]] for many pulp magazines, particularly those owned by [[Culture Publications]] such as ''Spicy Detective'', ''Spicy Adventure'', ''Spicy Western'' and ''Spicy Mystery'' (one of the [[weird menace]] pulps). The word "spicy" in the titles of these magazines was meant to indicate sexual content, although this was very tame compared with current standards.<ref name = "Haining">{{cite book |last=Haining |first=Peter |title=The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines |year=2000 |publisher=Prion Books |isbn=978-1-85375-388-6 }}</ref>
+Bellem's most famous creation was the [[hardboiled]] [[Private investigator|detective]] [[Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective]], whose stories were written in the [[grammatical person|first person]] in a racy, [[slang]]y style that made them extremely popular. Set against the background of the [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] [[film]] industry (of which Bellem had personal knowledge), the Dan Turner stories appeared first in the pages of ''Spicy Detective'' (subsequently retitled ''Speed Detective'') and later in his "own" magazine, ''Hollywood Detective'', which ran from January 1942 to October 1950.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/turner.html |title=Dan Turner, Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968) |publisher=The Thrilling Detective Web Site |accessdate=18 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110421125118/http://www.thrillingdetective.com/turner.html |archive-date= Apr 21, 2011 }}</ref>
-Bellem also created other characters, such as Nick Ransom [http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ransom.html] who appeared a few times in ''Thrilling Detective'', but none proved as successful as Dan Turner. It is claimed that Bellem produced some 3000 short stories in a pulp magazine career lasting less than 30 years.<ref name="Pronzini"/> He also wrote at least two [[novel]]s, of which the best known is ''Blue Murder'' (Phoenix Press, 1938).
+Bellem also created other characters, such as Nick Ransom<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ransom.html |title=Nick Ransom Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968) |publisher=The Thrilling Detective Web Site |accessdate=18 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225040348/http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ransom.html |archive-date= Dec 25, 2010 }}</ref> who appeared a few times in ''Thrilling Detective'', but none proved as successful as Dan Turner. It is claimed that Bellem produced some 3000 short stories in a pulp magazine career lasting less than 30 years.<ref name = "Pronzini">Bill Pronzini's introduction to the 1987 paperback edition of Bellem's novel ''Blue Murder'', published by Dennins McMillan Publications.</ref>  He also wrote at least two [[novel]]s, of which the best known is ''Blue Murder'' (Phoenix Press, 1938).
 [[S.J. Perelman]]'s essay "Somewhere a Roscoe..." contains excerpts from several of the Dan Turner stories, with Perelman's satiric comments.
+==TV career==
+After the demise of the pulps, Bellem switched to writing for [[television]] in the 1950s, including a number of scripts for ''[[The Lone Ranger (TV series)|The Lone Ranger]]'', ''[[Adventures of Superman (TV series)|Adventures of Superman]]'', ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'', ''[[77 Sunset Strip]]'', and others.
 ==References==
@@ Line 14: / Line 22: @@
 ==External links==
 {{commons category}}
+* {{IMDb name|0068853}}
-* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0068853/ Robert Leslie Bellem's entry at the Internet Movie Database]
-* [http://rraymond.narod.ru/bellem-bib1.htm Robert Leslie Bellem bibliographies 1-2] at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir)
+* [http://rraymond.narod.ru/bellem-bib1.htm Robert Leslie Bellem bibliographies 1-2] at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir Matuschenko)
 *{{isfdb name|id=Robert_Leslie_Bellem|name=Robert Leslie Bellem}}
+{{Authority control}}
-{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
-| NAME              = Bellem, Robert Leslie
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
-| DATE OF BIRTH     =
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
-| DATE OF DEATH     =
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellem, Robert Leslie}}
+[[Category:1902 births]]
 [[Category:1968 deaths]]
-[[Category:American crime fiction writers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
+[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
+[[Category:American male novelists]]
 [[Category:American mystery writers]]
-[[Category:American short story writers]]
+[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
-[[Category:American screenwriters]]
+[[Category:Pulp fiction writers]]
-[[Category:United States fiction writer stubs]]
+[[Category:American male short story writers]]
-[[Category:American screenwriter stubs]]
+[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
-{{US-fiction-writer-stub}}
-{{US-screen-writer-stub}}
-[[ja:ロバート・レスリー・ベレム]]

Authority control databases
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