EDitorial Comments

Additions to Collectibles Page

Today I’m adding another dozen or so items to the Collectibles for Sale page. The better items include high-grape copies of the December 1937 issue of Doc Savage (with the sequel to his very first adventure) and Lost Worlds, the scarce 1944 Arkham House collection of Clark Ashton Smith yarns originally published in Weird Tales and other pulps. I’m also listing a half dozen or so issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories with good author lineups (Bradbury, Hubbard, Vance, etc.), along with some anthologies.

As always, an item’s list price includes postage and handling to domestic buyers. International buyers must contact me for shipping costs before purchasing.

THE BLOOD ‘N’ THUNDER SAMPLER: Now Available!

The majority of people who visit this site are already familiar with Blood ‘n’ Thunder, the flagship publication of Murania Press. A good many are subscribers; some have been supporting the magazine since it was launched in 2002. But my little corner of cyberspace also receives a fair number of visitors who, while having a genuine interest in the subjects BnT covers, have never seen an issue. These include, for example, fans of vintage movies, who have purchased such Murania Press books as Cliffhanger Classics, Western Movie Roundup, and Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders. Occasionally, when selling my wares at shows that cater to film buffs, those folks will casually flip through an issue and say, “Well, this looks interesting. I’ll have to try one some time.”

It’s primarily for such people that I’ve just put together The Blood ‘n’ Thunder Sampler, which reprints material from issues 24 through 29 as it originally appeared in the magazine’s pages. I could have produced a third volume of The Best of Blood ‘n’ Thunder, but the first two don’t accurately represent BnT in that they are smaller in size, with reset type and only a tiny sampling of the illustrations that grace each number. Quite frankly, I’m trying to appeal to potential subscribers and believe I’ll have better luck with a compilation replicating the actual pages of popular articles from the recent past.

I’ve deliberately chosen for the Sampler a number of articles whose subjects are such readily familiar characters as Zorro, Tarzan, The Shadow, Hopalong Cassidy, and The Green Hornet. Those pieces — some of BnT’s best, in my opinion — should prove attractive to readers who might be less enthusiastic about, say, my 22,000-word survey of The Popular Magazine, which is also reprinted in the Sampler. And I’m betting some folks who purchase issues sporadically will be delighted to buy for $19.95 (postage included) a jumbo-sized BnT containing the best material from six back issues that cost $11.95 each.

If you’re among those who’ve thought about trying BnT for a long time without ever “pulling the trigger,” take a chance on the Sampler and see what you’ve been missing. I’m pretty sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Windy City 2015: 100 Days to Go!

The countdown begins!

As I write these words it’s exactly 100 days to the beginning of this year’s Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.  “The Windy,” as it’s popularly known, has become a mecca for fans and collectors of vintage pulp fiction and related material.  Now in its 15th year, the confab gets underway on Friday, April 17, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Exhibit space in the massive hucksters room has already sold out, which is always a good sign. Lower gas prices and a slowly but steadily improving economy should translate to attendees with more disposable income, so I’m expecting a big show.

The Windy benefits from being the calendar year’s first big pulp-themed event. As such, it sees the unveiling of collectibles that dealers have obtained during the long hiatus that technically begins in early November, following Rich Harvey’s annual Pulp Adventurecon in New Jersey. And not just pulp magazines, either. You can also find rare, vintage “slicks,” digests, fanzines, paperbacks, first-edition hardcovers, and even old comic books. Some dealers offer original art from pulps, paperbacks, and hardcovers. A few sell movie memorabilia and movies on DVD. Most currently active publishers of pulp-fiction reprints (including Murania Press) show up to exhibit their latest books, as do the writers and publishers of “New Pulp” products.

The Windy’s Friday- and Saturday-night auctions are always exciting. For the last several years they’ve been dominated by items from the estate of uber-collector Jerry Weist. This year continues that sale, with nearly 9000 items scheduled to go on the block: approximately 5300 pulps, 2000 dime novels, and 1700 true-detective and men’s-adventure magazines. (Much of this material will of necessity be sold in large lots of 100 or more pieces.)

A small lot from one of last year's auctions.

In 2015 the Windy celebrates the 125th birthday of legendary writer H. P. Lovecraft, whose classic works in such pulps as Weird Tales and Astounding Stories redefined horror fiction and influenced countless storytellers to follow. So the con’s film program — selected and presented by yours truly — will feature movies and TV episodes adapted from Lovecraft’s most memorable tales. And I’m willing to bet that the annual exhibit of original pulp art will sport HPL-related paintings and illustrations.

Over the last 15 years co-chairmen Doug Ellis and John Gunnison have turned the Windy from a modest one-day show into the hobby’s premier event, and I’m proud to be part of it. I can’t recommend this convention too highly; it’s always the year’s high point for me, pulpishly speaking, and if you haven’t attended one yet you really ought to give it a try. Don’t wait too long, though: There’s a limit to rooms available to Windy attendees at the Westin’s special convention rate, so those who plan on joining us this year should make their reservations ASAP. Clicking on the above link will take you to the show’s web site, which has a link to the hotel’s site. That’ll give you all the information you need.

Please consider making the trek to Chicagoland this April. If you’re a fan of pulp fiction I guarantee you’ll have a great time. Oh, and don’t forget to stop by the Murania Press table!

One corner of the massive dealer room, seen during set-up time.

Happy Birthday, Spencer Bennet!

Who, you ask, was the King of the Motion-Picture Serial? Well, most aficionados would bestow the title on Buster Crabbe. Others would nominate Kane Richmond. A fair number might say the distinction belongs to Tom Tyler, or Ralph Byrd, or maybe even Kirk Alyn. Fifty years ago, old-time fans would have nominated Eddie Polo, William Duncan, William Desmond, or Charles Hutchison. Good choices, all. But the real Serial King — the one man synonymous with this unique film format — has got to be Spencer Gordon Bennet, born on this day in 1893.

As a daring and athletic young man Bennet did stunts for, and helped with the production of, Pathé’s landmark chapter play The Perils of Pauline (1914). He continued to work in the same capacity on numerous Pathé serials for the next several years, sustaining serious burns while performing a fire stunt for The Shielding Shadow (1916). World War I service with the AEF interrupted Bennet’s career, and he stayed in Europe for a year or so after the conflict ended. But when he returned home he found his old job waiting for him. Bennet soon became an assistant director to George B. Seitz, who was entrusted with turning out the serials starring Pearl White, Pathé’s biggest moneymaker and the first Serial Queen to become an international sensation.

Additionally, in 1919 veteran writer-director Seitz began producing chapter plays in which he also starred.  Bennet practically co-directed these vehicles, staging many of the scenes in which his boss appeared.  He also stunted and played supporting roles in Seitz serials, most notably as a motorcycle cop in The Sky Ranger (1921).  This was valuable on-the-job training.  Bennet developed the skill of visualizing edited sequences in his head, which enabled him to shoot only such fragments of film as would be needed to realize that vision. By knowing where the editor would normally insert a quick reaction shot, he would shoot just the brief flash required, rather than stage the entire scene in close-up only to have most of the footage discarded in the assembly process.  This procedure saved time, money, and film stock.

Bennet (white shirt) between takes with Allene Ray and J. Barney Sherry.

In 1925, when George B. Seitz accepted former colleague Lucien Hubbard’s offer to direct several big-budget Zane Grey Westerns for Paramount, Spence assumed his position as full director of Pathé’s East Coast serial unit. Working closely with Frank Leon Smith, who doubled as scenario writer and production supervisor, Bennet efficiently turned out the ten chapters of Play Ball, which starred the newly minted team of Allene Ray and Walter Miller. Later that year the same stars, writer, and director collaborated on The Green Archer, one of the most critically and commercially successful serials of the Twenties.  Years later Bennet said he considered Archer the best chapter play he ever directed.

The following year Frank Leon Smith took his leave of the serial unit after clashing with Pathé management. To avoid leaving his old friend Bennet in the lurch, Smith first completed the scenarios, selected locations, and approved casting for the serial then in development. This ten-chapter opus was The House Without a Key (1926), based on the Earl Derr Biggers novel that introduced famous detective Charlie Chan.

Having relocated permanently to California, Bennet soldiered on for Pathé until the firm ended serial production in 1929. Without a job for the first time in his life, the 36-year-old director started freelancing, selling his services mostly to independent producers who specialized in low-budget Westerns and action-oriented melodramas. He directed two serials in the Thirties: The Last Frontier (1932) and The Mysterious Pilot (1937).

Bennet (on steps) directing a scene from THE GREEN ARCHER.

The next year, Spence became a contract director for Republic Pictures. Between 1943 and 1947 he helmed serials and “B” Westerns for the company; his best chapter plays during this period included Secret Service in Darkest Africa, The Masked Marvel, The Tiger Woman, Haunted Harbor, and Manhunt of Mystery Island.

The 1947-48 movie “season” saw Bennet working for erstwhile Poverty Row producer Sam Katzman, who had replaced Rudy Flothow as Columbia’s autonomous producer of serials. Either Columbia, or Katzman, or both decided to invest heavily in properties that had achieved success in other media — comic books, newspaper strips, radio dramas — and thus had built-in audiences. Production quality therefore took a back seat; money that might have been spent on better sets or special effects was allocated to licensing fees. Bennet’s well-known ability to bring in films on time and under budget was put to the test. His serials for Katzman included Superman, Batman and Robin, Congo Bill, Bruce Gentry, Atom Man vs. Superman, Captain Video, and Blackhawk. And he was at the helm of the last American chapter play produced for theatrical distribution, 1956’s Blazing the Overland Trail. In addition to being the most prolific director of serials — 52 in all, not counting the Seitz serials he worked on — he was involved with the form for its entire lifespan.

Bennet (left) on a set for THE GREEN ARCHER with Ray and Miller.

Bennet continued worked with Katzman (directing several of Sam’s Jungle Jim “B” films starring Johnny Weissmuller) and other producers of low-budget product. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Spence resisted the temptation to direct episodic TV after completing his last theatrical film, The Bounty Killer (1965). At that point — still a vibrant, healthy man — he chose to retire, enjoying his leisure time and staying in shape by swimming and playing handball regularly. He died in 1987 at the ripe old age of 94, having lived long enough to see his old films avidly collected on video by fans too young to have seen them in theaters.

Happy birthday, Spence!

The extremely rare photos accompanying this post are among those you can see in my recently released history of the silent serial, Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders. It’s available right here at this site; just hop over to the Books page and it can be yours with one click of the mouse.

For One Week Only: Overstock Sale — Half Off Selected Items

Currently I have excess copies of some Murania Press books filling storage-unit shelves I’d like to reclaim for newer inventory.  So, for the next week only, I’m making them available at half price, domestic shipping included.  There have been Murania Press sales before, but never with such a steep discount.

From today, January 2, through next Friday, January 9, the following titles are available for purchase at half their suggested retail prices:

The Best of Blood ‘n’ Thunder, Volume One     OVERSTOCK SOLD OUT!

The Best of  Blood ‘n’ Thunder, Volume Two   OVERSTOCK SOLD OUT!

Blood ‘n’ Thunder’s Cliffhanger Classics    OVERSTOCK SOLD OUT!

Classic Pulp Reprints #3: Pirates of the Pines   OVERSTOCK SOLD OUT!

Classic Pulp Reprints #4: The Wilderness Trail   OVERSTOCK SOLD OUT!

Just go to the pages those titles occupy in the site’s Books section and order as you normally would.  Between now and next Friday at midnight the shopping carts will be configured to accept payments of half each item’s list price.  International buyers will have to pay a little extra for shipping; please contact us at muraniapress@yahoo.com for those costs.

Newly Added Collectibles For Sale

I recently added a couple dozen items to the Collectibles section.  Most are science-fiction pulps, with some historically important items among them.  For example, there’s a pretty nice copy of the October 1933 Astounding Stories, the first issue published by Street & Smith and one of the scarcest of the entire run.  I’m also offering the July 1939 Astounding, which is considered by most SF scholars and aficionados to be the issue that ushered in the “Golden Age of Science Fiction.”  And I have a high-grade copy of the 1952 Startling Stories with Philip José Farmer’s groundbreaking short novel “The Lovers,” which for the first time depicted in a mature and thoughtful way an interspecies sexual relationship.

In the days and weeks to come I’ll be adding many more items to the Collectibles section: vintage pulps, vintage hardcovers (including some choice Arkham House titles), vintage paperbacks, facsimile pulp reprints, movie memorabilia, and lots of other good stuff.  So check back frequently.

Happy New Year!

To those who follow Murania Press: Please accept my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2015.  I know last year was a difficult one for many of you, and it’s no secret that 2014 was unexpectedly challenging for me as well.  Funny how that happens just when you think everything is under control.

Be that as it may, I plan to get Murania Press back on track again this year.  Revamping the subscriber database and order-fulfillment process has proved more difficult than originally expected, despite the yeoman work of my assistant Kevin.  The two of us finally evolved a practical approach to working together, but despite our best efforts some orders fell between the cracks.  And creating the new database resulted in a number of subscribers accidentally being dropped from the list, which meant they didn’t get issues of Blood ‘n’ Thunder in a timely fashion.  Additionally, there was more than a little confusion between Kevin and I about who had done what; at times each thought the other had responded to individual requests from frustrated customers.  In fact, we still have a few unresolved problems along those lines, but most have now been addressed and 2015 fulfillment should proceed on a much smoother basis.  Scratch that: It will proceed on a much smoother basis.

To check the status of orders and subscriptions please address your inquiries to Kevin at muraniapress@yahoo.com.

In the coming year I plan to spend more time promoting Murania Press products and updating this blog.  Initially I posted several items per week, some of them quite extensive, but that schedule became untenable as other commitments made increasing demands on my time.  I expect to post more frequently here in 2015, even if some of my contributions are limited to brief reviews, announcements, or observations.

Meanwhile, I offer heartfelt thanks and best wishes to those of you who have supported Blood ‘n’ Thunder and Murania Press over the last couple years of diminished activity.

On My Way to Cinecon

In 1974, shortly after my 21st birthday, I drove to New Haven, Connecticut with some film-buff friends to attend something called Cinecon 10.  It was advertised as a convention for devotees of silent and early sound movies. The core membership was comprised of private collectors who shared 8mm and 16mm prints from their holdings.  Musical accompaniment for the silents was provided by other members whose themes tinkled from old, indifferently tuned pianos.  In a small hucksters room other hobbyists sold and traded a variety of wares: films, posters, lobby cards, publicity stills, vintage trade journals, and related effluvia.

It was the most fun I ever had on a Labor Day weekend.

Now, 40 years later, I’m headed to Cinecon again.  The group hasn’t missed a year, and the 2014 confab is its fiftieth.  After several decades hopping from city to city, Cinecon settled in Hollywood permanently in 1990.  The privately owned 8mm and 16mm prints have been replaced by theatrical-gauge 35mm prints sourced from private archives and the movie studios themselves.  Instead of seeing the films in hotel meeting rooms, Cinecon attendees now view everything in the famous Egyptian Theatre, a silent-era movie palace restored some years ago.

Among the items on this year’s program are several silent-serial chapters that I’ll be introducing.  This, of course, will enable me to plug (and hopefully sell many copies of) my book on the early chapter plays, Distressed Damsels and Masked Marauders.

Unfortunately, preparing for Cinecon — and other activities I’ll be undertaking while in Los Angeles — has prevented me from finishing some Murania Press chores I’d hoped to wrap up before leaving.  So if I owe you something, please be patient and accept my apologies.  I’ll be back home on Thursday, September 4, and will pick up where I’m leaving off tonight as I quit to pack for an early-morning flight tomorrow.

Meanwhile, take advantage of this weekend’s special sale on DD&MM and The Perils of Pauline: Centennial Edition.  It’s the next best thing to being at Cinecon and seeing those old serials on the Egyptian’s big screen.

BLOOD ‘N’ THUNDER #41 (Summer) Now Shipping To Subscribers

I’m just back from Ohio and PulpFest 2014, which was an unqualified success. Still working on a convention report, but in the meantime I want to report that subscriber copies of Blood ‘n’ Thunder #41 (Summer 2014) are beginning to ship from the printer. Although the last issue was egregiously tardy in reaching some subscribers, I believe that Kevin and I have finally caught all the glitches in our refurbished database, and that shipping of this issue will proceed quickly and efficiently. In fact, more than two-thirds of the orders for subscriber copies have already been processed.

Watch this space tomorrow for my PulpFest report.