Robert Leslie Bellem: Difference between revisions
→External links: rm parent cats |
|||
| Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
[[Category:American short story writers]] |
[[Category:American short story writers]] |
||
[[Category:American screenwriters]] |
[[Category:American screenwriters]] |
||
[[Category:American fiction writer stubs]] |
|||
[[Category:American screenwriter stubs]] |
|||
Revision as of 19:50, 30 May 2012
Robert Leslie Bellem was a prolific American pulp magazine writer, best known for his creation of Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective. He was born in either 1894[1] or 1902,[2] and died in 1968.[3] Before becoming a writer he worked in Los Angeles as a newspaper reporter, radio announcer and 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 (1950s version), the original Perry Mason show, 77 Sunset Strip, and other shows.
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.[1]
Bellem's most famous creation was the hardboiled detective Dan Turner, 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.[4]
Bellem also created other characters, such as Nick Ransom[5] 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.[2] 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.
References
- ^ a b Haining, Peter (2000). The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines. Prion Books. ISBN 978-1-85375-388-6.
- ^ a b Bill Pronzini's introduction to the 1987 paperback edition of Bellem's novel Blue Murder, published by Dennins McMillan Publications.
- ^ Garyn G. Roberts. "Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context". p. 258. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
- ^ "Dan Turner, Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". thrillingdetective.com. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
- ^ "Nick Ransom Created by Robert Leslie Bellem (1902-1968)". thrillingdetective.com. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
External links
- Robert Leslie Bellem's entry at the Internet Movie Database
- Robert Leslie Bellem bibliographies 1-2 at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir Matuschenko)
- Robert Leslie Bellem at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
   | This article about an American short story writer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about an American screenwriter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |