I’m Dan Turner, and I’ve been a private detective in Hollywood for a long while . . .
Introduced by Culture publications, the “Spicy” pulps were an outgrowth of the so-called “girlie” magazines. The latter debuted in 1912 when William C. Clayton launched Snappy Stories.
By the early 1930s, civic organizations were pressuring the publishers and distributors of magazines that they considered obscene to clean up their acts. Frank Armer and Harry Donenfeld — known for Pep Stories and other girlie periodicals — addressed their argument by combining sex with adventure, detective, mystery, and western fiction. Calling themselves Culture Publications, the two launched Spicy Detective Stories in early 1934.
Behind a cover painting by Fred Craft lurked pulp writers Norman Daniels, Esther Schwartz, Jane Thomas, and others. Featuring stories such as “The Love Nest Murder,” “The Kiss Thief,” and “Murder in the Chorus,” the first issue — dated April 1934 — sold well enough that it was quickly converted over to a monthly. Additionally, ashcan editions of Spicy-Adventure Stories and Spicy Mystery Stories were assembled.
When Armer and Donenfeld debuted Spicy Detective Stories in 1934, Robert Leslie Bellem was also on board with “The Shanghai Jester” . . .
His eyes drank in her beauty. The robe had slipped down over her shoulders, revealing more than a glimpse of the firm contours of her bare and jutting breasts. her unclad legs and creamy thighs peered forth boldly from the robe as she walked toward him.
Born in Philadelphia in 1902, Robert Leslie Bellem was working in the newspaper business when he began to submit poetry to Munsey’s Argosy All-Story Weekly, William Kofoed’s Brief Stories, and C. H. Young’s Droll Stories. His first prose story — “Lights Out!” — ran in the August/September 1926 number of Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories, edited by Edwin Baird. In late 1927, Bellem made the girlie magazines his primary market, selling fiction to Paris Nights, Pep Stories, Ginger Stories, Spicy Stories, Broadway Nights, and other risqué magazines. By late 1928, Bellem was established as a reliable supplier of bawdy and breezy fiction.
Square-jawed Cliff Downey is the private eye in “The Shanghai Jester.” It wouldn’t be until the second issue of Spicy Detective — dated June 1934 — that Bellem’s most famous character — Dan Turner — would be introduced in a story called “Murder by Proxy.” After that, there was no looking back.
Following its initial number, Bellem’s Turner would be featured in every issue of Spicy Detective Stories straight through the pulp’s demise as Speed Detective in the issue dated February 1947. In between, the character would also appear in Private Detective Stories and Hollywood Detective (which was called Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective for its first ten issues). Bellem’s wise-cracking gumshoe is thought to have appeared in more than 300 prose stories and about sixty comic strip tales. No wonder the character became the template for almost every other sleuth appearing in Spicy and Speed Detective Stories.
In the October 15, 1938 issue of The New Yorker, American humorist and screenwriter, S. J. Perelman suggested:
If ever a motto was tailor-made for the masthead of Culture Publications, Inc., it is “Arms and the woman,” for in Spicy Detective they have achieved the sauciest blend of libido and murder this side of Giles de Rais. They have juxtaposed the steely automatic and the frilly pantie and found that it pays off. Above all, they have given the world Dan Turner, the apotheosis of all private detectives. Out of Ma Barker by Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade . . .
Spicy Detective Stories ran for 104 issues until it was pushed to adopt a more subdued tone, becoming Speed Detective for its last 28 issues. At this year’s PulpFest, we’ll salute the pulp’s 90th anniversary and more.
Please join us August 1 – 4 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania for PulpFest 2024. You can book a room directly by clicking the “book a room” link at the top of our homepage or call 1-800-222-8733. Be sure to mention PulpFest or use the code CDT91J to receive the convention rate. You must book your room before midnight on Wednesday, July 10, to receive the convention rate.
To learn more about Spicy Detective Stories, visit our YouTube Channel to watch . . .
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Our featured image is excerpted from H. J. Ward’s original artwork for the cover to Spicy Detective Stories for February 1939. Our lead image is the June 1934 issue, with cover art by H. L. Parkhurst. Ward also contributed the cover art for Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, dated January 1942. It is the first issue of the Trojan Publishing magazine.
The Dan Turner comic strip excerpt is from “The Devil’s Ballet,” a story by Robert Leslie Bellem with art by Adolphe Barreaux. It originally ran in Trojan Publishing’s Hollywood Detective for August 1945. You can find more examples of Dan Turner comics at Evan Lewis’s Davy Crockett’s Almanack of Mystery, Adventure and the Wild West.
Of course, Sally the Sleuth is undoubtedly the leading comic strip character born of the “Spicy” pulps.
