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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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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|American novelist}}
+{{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 a prolific 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]]. 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)|Adventures of Superman]]'' (1950s version), the original ''[[Perry Mason (TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' show, ''[[77 Sunset Strip]]'', and other shows.
+'''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]].
+==Pulps==
 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]] [[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=thrillingdetective.com |accessdate=18 December 2010 }}</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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/ransom.html |title=Nick Ransom Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968) |publisher=thrillingdetective.com |accessdate=18 December 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).
+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 16: / 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 Matuschenko)
 *{{isfdb name|id=Robert_Leslie_Bellem|name=Robert Leslie Bellem}}
@@ Line 22: / Line 28: @@
 {{Authority control}}
-{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
-| NAME              = Bellem, Robert Leslie
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION = [[American literature|American writer]]
-| DATE OF BIRTH     = July 19, 1902
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
-| DATE OF DEATH     = April 1, 1968
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellem, Robert Leslie}}
 [[Category:1902 births]]
 [[Category:1968 deaths]]
 [[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
-[[Category:American crime fiction writers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
 [[Category:American male novelists]]
 [[Category:American mystery writers]]
-[[Category:American short story writers]]
 [[Category:American male screenwriters]]
 [[Category:Pulp fiction writers]]
 [[Category:American male short story writers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
+[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]

Authority control databases
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