Black Mask (magazine)

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Black Mask
Editor H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan; Philip C. Cody (1924–1926) later Joseph Shaw, and Fanny Ellsworth (1936–1940)
Categories Hardboiled
FrequencyStarted monthly, then twice a month after August 1922, then monthly in 1926
PublisherPro-Distributors Publishing Company, 1920–40; Popular Publications 1940–51
Founded1920
First issueApril 1920
Final issue1951
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Website blackmaskmagazine.com

Black Mask was a pulp magazine first published in April 1920 [1] by the journalist H. L. Mencken and the drama critic George Jean Nathan. It is most well-known today for launching the hardboiled crime subgenre of mystery fiction, publishing now-classic works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Cornell Woolrich, Paul Cain, Carroll John Daly, and others. [2]

Contents

Early years, 1920–26

The magazine was one of several money-making publishing ventures to support the prestigious literary magazine The Smart Set , which Mencken edited, and which had operated at a loss since at least 1917. Under their editorial hand, the magazine 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." The magazine's first editor was Florence Osborne (credited as F. M. Osborne). [3]

After eight issues, Mencken and Nathan considered their initial $600 investment to have been sufficiently profitable, and they sold the magazine to its publishers, Eltinge Warner and Eugene Crow, for $12,500. The magazine was then edited by George W. Sutton (1922–24), followed by Philip C. Cody. [4] Cody had significant interests and expertise in the publishing world serving as Vice President of Warner Publications publishers of such mass market magazines as Field and Stream, and pulp genre publications such as Black Mask. Under Cody's editorship, the content of Black Mask became more sensationalist. Cody, who had a keen sense for what appealed to the public marketplace, focused on what had the most reader allure. Under Cody, the stories chosen for publication were longer, more intricately plotted and strewn with more blood, guts, gore and sex. Cody served as both circulation editor and general editor from 1924 to 1926. In 1926, Joseph Shaw took over the editorship.

Contributing authors

Early Black Mask contributors of note included J. S. Fletcher, Vincent Starrett, and Herman Petersen. [5] Shaw, following up on a promising lead from one of the early issues, promptly turned the magazine into an outlet for the growing school of naturalistic crime writers led by Carroll John Daly. Daly's private detective Race Williams was a rough-and-ready character with a sharp tongue, establishing a model for many later acerbic private eyes.

Black Mask later published stories by the profoundly influential Dashiell Hammett, creator of Sam Spade and The Continental Op, and other hardboiled writers who came in his wake, such as Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Paul Cain, Frederick Nebel, Frederick C. Davis, Raoul F. Whitfield, [5] Theodore Tinsley, Todhunter Ballard (as W.T. Ballard), Dwight V. Babcock, and Roger Torrey. [6] The best-known contributors to Black Mask were mostly men, but the magazine also published works by many female crime writers, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Katherine Brocklebank, Sally Dixon Wright, Florence M. Pettee, Marion O'Hearn, Kay Krausse, Frances Beck, Tiah Devitt and Dorothy Dunn. [7] Crime fiction made up most of the magazine's content, but Black Mask also published some Western and general adventure fiction. [3]

The magazine was successful, and many of the writers whose work appeared in its pages, such as Hugh B. Cave, went on to greater commercial and critical success. Writer George Harmon Coxe created "Casey, Crime Photographer", for the magazine; the character became a media franchise, appearing in novels, films, radio and television programs, comic books, and theatrical productions. [8]

Black Mask's covers were usually painted by Fred Craft or J. W. Schlaikjer. [9] Shaw gave Arthur Rodman Bowker a monopoly on creating illustrations for the interior of the magazine. [10]

Decline and revival

Black Mask reached a sales peak in the early 1930s, but then interest began to wane under increasing pressure from radio, the cinema, and rival pulp magazines. In 1936, refusing to cut writers' already meager pay, Shaw resigned, and many of the high-profile authors abandoned the magazine with him. Shaw's successor, Fanny Ellsworth (1936–40), managed to attract new writers to Black Mask, including Cornell Woolrich, Frank Gruber, Max Brand and Steve Fisher. [11] However, from the 1940s on, Black Mask was in decline, despite the efforts of a new editor, Kenneth S. White (1940–48). The magazine in this period carried the work of John D. MacDonald. [3] Henry Steeger then edited Black Mask anonymously until it ceased publication in 1951. [4] In 1953, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine bought Black Mask Magazine, and turned it into a special department which “features harder-edged works of crime, noir, and private-eye writers.” [12] [13] Black Mask ceased to exist in EQMM in the 1970s but was reinstated in 2008 and continues to run today. [14]

In 1985, the magazine was revived as The New Black Mask, featuring noted crime writers James Ellroy, Michael Collins, Sara Paretsky and Bill Pronzini, as well as Chandler and Hammett reprints. Edward D. Hoch praised the revived Black Mask, stating in the book Encyclopedia Mysteriosa that "it came close to reviving the excitement and storytelling pleasure of the great old pulp magazines". As a result of a legal dispute over the rights to the name Black Mask, the magazine ceased publication in 1987. It was revived as a short-lived magazine entitled A Matter of Crime. [15]

Original copies of the Black Mask are highly valued among pulp magazine collectors. Issues with stories by Chandler and Hammett are especially coveted and command high prices. [3]

In 2016, the magazine, including its copyrights and intellectual property, were acquired by Steeger Properties, LLC. [16] It was relaunched by Altus Press. [17]

Select covers from Black Mask were featured as collectable items in the 2020 action-adventure video game Mafia: Definitive Edition . [18]

Anthologies

Related Research Articles

Pulp magazines were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 through the 1960s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages; it was 7 inches (18 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) high, and 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. Pulps were the successors to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Chandler</span> American novelist and screenwriter (1888–1959)

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime. All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dashiell Hammett</span> American writer (1894–1961)

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, The Continental Op and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellery Queen</span> Detective fiction writer (joint pseudonym)

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murder mysteries. Dannay and Lee wrote most of the novels and short story collections in which Ellery Queen appears as a character, and these books were among the most popular American mysteries published between 1929 and 1971. Under the pseudonym Ellery Queen, they also edited more than thirty anthologies of crime fiction and true crime. Dannay founded, and for many years edited, the crime fiction magazine Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which has been published continuously from 1941 to the present. From 1961 onwards, Dannay and Lee commissioned other authors to write thrillers using the pseudonym Ellery Queen, but not featuring Ellery Queen as a character; some such novels were juvenile and were credited to Ellery Queen Jr. They also wrote four mysteries under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross, which featured the detective Drury Lane. Several movies, radio shows, and television shows were based on their works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mystery fiction</span> Genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious murder

Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective, who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

Joseph T. "Cap" Shaw (1874–1952) was the editor of Black Mask magazine from 1926 to 1936.

<i>Red Harvest</i> 1929 novel by Dashiell Hammett

Red Harvest (1929) is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by the Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction, much of which is drawn from his own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The plot follows the Op's investigation of several murders amid a labor dispute in a corrupt Montana mining town. Some of the novel was inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre, a 1920 labor dispute in the mining town of Butte, Montana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Spade</span> Fictional private detective

Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett.

<i>Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine</i> American crime fiction magazine

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, EQMM is named after the fictitious author Ellery Queen, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective named Ellery Queen. From 1993, EQMM changed its cover title to be Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, but the table of contents still retains the full name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Continental Op</span> Fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett

The Continental Op is a fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett. He is a private investigator employed as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency's San Francisco office. The stories are all told in the first person and his name is never given.

<i>The Simple Art of Murder</i> Book by Raymond Chandler

The Simple Art of Murder is the title of several quasi-connected publications by hard-boiled detective fiction author Raymond Chandler:

Hardboiled fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction. The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence of organized crime that flourished during Prohibition (1920–1933) and its aftermath, while dealing with a legal system that has become as corrupt as the organized crime itself. Rendered cynical by this cycle of violence, the detectives of hardboiled fiction are often antiheroes. Notable hardboiled detectives include Dick Tracy, Philip Marlowe, Nick Charles, Mike Hammer, Sam Spade, Lew Archer, Slam Bradley, and The Continental Op.

Popular Publications was one of the largest publishers of pulp magazines during its existence, at one point publishing 42 different titles per month. Company titles included detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction. They were also known for the several 'weird menace' titles. They also published several pulp hero or character pulps.

Carroll John Daly (1889–1958) was a writer of crime fiction. One of the earliest writers of hard-boiled fiction, he is best known for his detective character Race Williams, who appeared in a number of stories for Black Mask magazine in the 1920s.

Michael Wiley writes the Shamus Award-nominated Franky Dast mysteries, the Shamus Award-nominated Sam Kelson Chicago PI mystery series, the Daniel Turner thrillers, and the Shamus Award-winning Joe Kozmarski hard-boiled detective mystery series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Gores</span> American writer

Joseph Nicholas Gores was an American mystery writer. He was known best for his novels and short stories set in San Francisco and featuring the fictional "Dan Kearney and Associates" private investigation firm specializing in repossessing cars, a thinly veiled escalation of his own experiences as a confidential sleuth and repo man. Gores was also recognized for his novels Hammett, Spade & Archer and his Edgar Award-winning or -nominated works, such as A Time of Predators, 32 Cadillacs and Come Morning.

George Caryl Sims, better known by his pen names Paul Cain and Peter Ruric, was an American pulp fiction author and screenwriter. He is best known for his novel Fast One, which is considered to be a landmark of the pulp fiction genre and was called the "high point in the ultra hard-boiled manner" by Raymond Chandler. Lee Server, author of the Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers, called Fast One "a cold-hearted, machine-gun-paced masterwork" and his other writings "gemlike, stoic and merciless vignettes that seemed to come direct from the bootlegging front lines."

Raoul Whitfield was an American writer of adventure, aviation, and hardboiled crime fiction. During his writing career, from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s, Whitfield published over 300 short stories and serials in pulp magazines, as well as nine books, including Green Ice (1930) and Death in a Bowl (1931). For his novels and contributions to the Black Mask, Whitfield is considered one of the original members of the hard-boiled school of American detective fiction and has been referred as "the Black Mask's forgotten man".

Stephen Gould Fisher was an American author best known for his pulp stories, novels and screenplays. He is one of the few pulp authors to go on to enjoy success as both an author in "slick" magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post, and as an in-demand writer in Hollywood.

Frederick Lewis Nebel, was an American writer. Although he published more than 300 stories and three novels, many of which were adapted for film, he is best known today for his hardboiled detective fiction.

References

  1. ↑ Michelle Denise Smith (2006). "Sour Cans and Love Slaves: National Politics and Cultural Authority in the Editing and Authorship of Canadian Pulp Magazines". Book History. 9. JSTOR   30227392.
  2. ↑ Server, Lee (2014). Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers. Facts on File library of American literature. Facts On File, Incorporated. ISBN   978-1-4381-0912-1 . Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bleiler, Richard (1999). "Black Mask". In Herbert, Rosemary (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.  38–39. ISBN   0-19-507239-1.
  4. 1 2 Hagemann, Edward R., ed. (1982). A Comprehensive Index to Black Mask, 1920–1951. Popular Press. ISBN   0-87972-202-9.
  5. 1 2 DeAndrea, William L., ed. (1994). Encyclopedia Mysteriosa. MacMillan. pp.  287—289. ISBN   0-02-861678-2.
  6. ↑ Smith, Erin Ann (2000). Hard-Boiled: Working-Class Readers and Pulp Magazines. Temple University Press. p. 95. ISBN   1-56639-769-3.
  7. ↑ Pronzini, Bill (1998). "Women in the Pulps". In Grape, Jan; James, Dean; Nehr, Ellen (eds.). Deadly Women: The Woman Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion. Carroll & Graf. pp.  17—19. ISBN   0-7867-0468-3.
  8. ↑ Cox, J. Randolph (2005). Flashgun Casey, Crime Photographer: From the Pulps to Radio and Beyond. David S. Siegel, William F. Nolan. Yorktown Heights, N.Y.: Book Hunter Press. ISBN   1-891379-05-4.
  9. ↑ Robinson, Frank M.; Davidson, Lawrence (2007). Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines. Collectors Press. p. 59. ISBN   1-933112-30-1.
  10. ↑ Layman, Richard (2005). Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade. Vince Emery Productions. pp.  78. ISBN   0-9725898-6-4.
  11. ↑ Nolan, William F., ed. (1985). The Black Mask Boys: Masters in the Hard-Boiled School of Detective Fiction. William Morrow. pp.  30. ISBN   9780688039660.
  12. ↑ "EQMM Highlights - About EQMM | Ellery Queen". www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  13. ↑ "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Subscription | Ellery Queen". www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  14. ↑ "History - About EQMM | Ellery Queen". www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  15. ↑ DeAndrea, William L., ed. (1994). Encyclopedia Mysteriosa. MacMillan. pp.  256. ISBN   0-02-861678-2.
  16. ↑ "Steeger Properties, LLC, Acquires Black Mask Magazine". Steeger Properties. 2016-07-19.
  17. ↑ moring (2016-10-05). "Argosy, Black Mask, and Famous Fantastic Mysteries Return". Altus Press. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  18. ↑ "Seek out these Mafia: Definitive Edition collectibles". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
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