THE CORINTH/REGENCY PAPERBACKS
In the
early 1960s, a West Coast publisher – CORINTH/REGENCY
started reprinting the Phantom
Detective, an early pulp magazine character, in paperback. Jon Hanlon, a
pulp enthusiast, presumably was the editor for the several series that followed
– and was possibly the reason behind the reprint series.
CORINTH/REGENCY was basically a
pornographic publishing house, and had very few straight stories being printed under their imprint.
But for 48
issues – CR 101 – CR 148 – CORINTH/REGENCY
reprinted 22 Phantom Detective
stories, 8 issues of Operator #5, 7
issues of Secret Agent X, and 4
issues in the Doctor Death series 3
novels by Harold Ward, and 1 short story collection from the magazine. They
also reprinted 5 titles from Dusty Ayres
– 4 novels of Dusty Ayes and 1
issue containing short stories from the magazine. And finally, two issues from
the Terror Tales series, consisting
of short stories from that magazine
title.
Due to poor
distribution these series were hard to locate at the time, and too, when most
paperbacks were selling for forty and fifty cents, the CORINTH/REGENCY line was priced at sixty cents, which hurt their
sales tremendously. The series ended in the mid 1960s. There were several
reasons for this: threatened lawsuits, plus the defeat of a California
pornography law. Today this series is a most sought after collection, and the
one time price of sixty cents has now shot up to $10.00 or $15.00 per copy, if
you can even find them now.
The covers
were beautiful and gaudy, but very little good
girl art. Following is a brief synopsis about the character and pulp
history of the series reprinted.
The Phantom Detective: The character
was based on D. L. Champion’s Mr. Death that
ran in 1932. Leo Margulies, head editor of the Ned Pines pulp house, BETTER PUBLICATIONS, had Champion make
some changes to his story, and in February 1933 the Phantom Detective was born full-grown in his own magazine. It
lasted for twenty years, ending in 1953 with 170 issues.
The character
was very popular in its day, and the stories must have been written by just
about every big name in the field back then. Robert Wallace was the house name
used on the series, but because of the many writers involved, the stories were
very uneven, and the character seemed to change with each story.
Operator #5: One of the most sought after series in
the pulp magazines at one time. This series was begun in April 1934 in POPULAR PUBLICATIONS. The author
writing under the Curtis Steele house name at the time was Frederick C. Davis,
but after the first year or so other writers took over the series – most
notably, Emile C. Tepperman. The series only lasted for 48 issues, ending in
November 1939.
Secret Agent X: The super spy was never
given a name. The character was created by Paul Chadwick, under the Brant House
house name, but was eventually turned over to several writers. It began with
the February 1934 issue, lasting for 41 stories, and ending with the March 1939
issue.
Dusty Ayres: This series was written exclusively by Robert Sidney Bowen. Beginning
with the July 1934 issue it only lasted for twelve issues, ending with the July
1935 issue. Bowen once stated the series was only planned for twelve issues, no
more.
Doctor Death: This series started as a
short story character in ALL-STORY
DETECTIVE, written by Edward P. Norris. It graduated to its own magazine
with novel-length stories in February 1934, this time written by Harold Ward
under the Zorro house name. The series only lasted in its own magazine for
three issues, ending with the April 1935 issue.
Terror Tales: These two novels were
just filled with selected short stories.
The Paperbacks
CR 101 The
Phantom Detective (7/40)
The Vampire Murders
CR 102 The
Phantom Detective (6/37) The Dancing Doll Murders
CR 103 The
Phantom Detective (7/37) The Beast-King Murders
CR 104 The
Phantom Detective (2/38) Tycoon of Crime
CR 105 The
Phantom Detective (8/38) The Broadway Murders
CR 106 The
Phantom Detective (4/40) The Daggers of Kali
CR 107 The
Phantom Detective (12/43) Murder Under
The Big Top
CR 108 The
Phantom Detective (5/41) The Trail To Death
CR 109 The
Phantom Detective (7/38) Yellow Shadows of Death
CR 110 The
Phantom Detective (3/40) Murder Trail
CR 111 The
Phantom Detective (11/40) The Green
Glare Murders
CR 112 The
Phantom Detective (1/38) Fangs of Murder
CR 113 The
Phantom Detective (2/41) The Curio Murders
CR 114 The
Phantom Detective (12/41) Murder Stalks
A Billion
CR 115 The
Phantom Detective (8/40) Murder Money
CR 116 Operator
#5 (7/35)
Legions of The Death-Master
CR 117 The
Phantom Detective (11/38) Death Glow
CR 118 Doctor
Death (2/35) 12 Must Die
CR 119 The
Phantom Detective (3/43) Stones of Satan
CR 120 Operator
#5 (3/35)
The Army of The Dead
CR 121 Doctor
Death (3/35) The Gray Creatures
CR 122 Secret
Agent X (2/34) The Torture Trust
CR 123 The
Phantom Detective (9/40) The Melody Murders
CR 124 Operator
#5 (5/34)
The Invisible Empire
CR 125 Doctor
Death (4/35) The Shriveling Murders
CR 126 Secret
Agent X (11/34) Servants of The Skull
CR 127 The
Phantom Detective (5/40) The Uniformed Killers
CR 128 Operator
#5 (9/34)
Master of Broken Men
CR 129 Doctor
Death (SS) Doctor Death And Other Terror Tales
CR 130 Secret
Agent X (2/38) Curse of The Mandarin’s
Fan
CR 131 The
Phantom Detective (7/39) The Forty
Thieves
CR 132 Operator
#5 (8/35) Hosts of The Flaming Death
CR 133 Dusty
Ayres (7/34)
Black Lighting
CR 134 Secret
Agent X (6.34) City of The Living Dead
CR 135 The Phantom
Detective (8/38) Death Under Contract
CR 136 Operator
#5 (5/35)
Blood Reign of The Dictator
CR 137 Dusty Ayes (8/34) Crimson Doom
CR 138 Secret
Agent X (4/34) The Death-Torch Terror
CR 139 The
Phantom Detective (12/37) The Corpse
Parade
CR 140 Operator
#5 (4/35)
March of The Flame Marauders
CR 141 Dusty
Ayres (9/34)
Purple Tornado
CR 142 Secret
Agent X (9/34) Octopus of Crime
CR 143 Terror
Tales #1 (SS) The House of Living Death And Others
CR 144 Operator
#5 (6/35)
Invasion of The Yellow Warlords
CR 145 Dusty
Ayres 7/35) The Telsa Raiders
CR 146 Secret
Agent X (1/35) The Sinister Scourge
CR 147 Terror
Tales #2( SS) Death’s Loving Arms And Others
CR 148 Dusty Ayes (SS) Black
Invaders Vs. The Battle Birds
This was a
good series for the paperback collector, especially for those that can’t afford
the original pulp magazine editions, plus they are a neat set to have. The
reprints were well done, except for some updating. The series gives a brief
sample of a few of the great pulp heroes. The stories themselves were taken
from the best of the series of pulps, and well worth reading. CORINTH/REGENCY was a pornographic
publishing house that, for a brief period, reprinted a fantastic series of
paperbacks. I wish there had been more.
Great article, especially with the complete list. Another thing to start collecting???
ReplyDeleteThanks for this article. I have several of the Phantom Detective titles I bought used in the mid-60s for a dime each. I always wondered how many there were.
ReplyDeleteThey do make a nice set. I have all the covers posted on my Yahoo Group, Action Sixties, along with many other paperback covers.
ReplyDeleteGood article.
ReplyDeleteI recall some of these. My parents owned used bookstores for a number of years (1965 through about 1980) and the Regency/Corinth books used to come in from time to time, usually in larger collections, and almost always in like-new condition.
While in California in early 1970 we used to hit the swap meets every weekend, and I found boxes full of them. I think porno bookstores were trying to get rid of them (LOL). But, really, they showed up in strange places sometime. It was fun hunting for books back then, and just finding one book would be a treat.
ReplyDeleteTom Powers, I don't see your message, but D.L. Champion wrote Mr. Death in a series of novelettes in 1931. The Mr. Death stories became the model for The Phantom Detective. Leo Margulies just had Champion do some make-over of the Mr. Death character, and in February 1932, The Phantom Detective became the second pulp hero with his own magazine - probably released in November 1931, shortly after the Mr. Death run.
ReplyDeleteI see that Corinth reprinted all three of the published Doctor Death novels, so CR129 was obviously a collection of short stories from Dell's earlier, unrelated Doctor Death character.
ReplyDeleteCorinth also reprinted the first three of Popular Publications' Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds, along with #12, "The Telsa Raiders" (CR145), which is the series' finale. Which leads me to ask, what then is in CR148 ("Black Invaders vs. the Battle Birds")? Your notation says Short Stories, yet as far as I know Popular never did publish any Dusty Ayres short stories. Logic would then seem to dictate that (like the final Doctor Death reprint) the stories in CR148 were unrelated, non-Dusty Ayres stories from Popular's BATTLE BIRDS, the title that pre-dated the DUSTY AYRES AND HIS BATTLE BIRDS incarnation (and was revived again afterward five years later, from 1940 to 1944). Is this in fact the case?
The actual title of the Dusty Ayres series was Dusty Ayres And His Battle Birds, and you are right, the short story collection was short stories from the magazine, not short stories of Dusty Ayres. Same with the Doctor Death issue of short stories, just short stories that appeared in that magazine. Down the road I might list the titles from the short story collections. Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tom. I meant that I assumed the last Corinth-Regency DOCTOR DEATH reprint (CR129, Doctor Death and Other Terrors) was composed of the four Doctor Death stories that preceded the self-titled DOCTOR DEATH magazine, from Dell's ALL DETECTIVE: "Doctor Death", "Cargo of Death", "Death's I.O.U.", and "13 Pearls" (all since re-collected by Altus Press). While that particular Doctor Death was from the same publisher (Dell) as the later Rance Mandarin character from the DOCTOR DEATH villain pulp which ran for 3 issues, it wasn't the same character (or written by the same author).
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that Corinth-Regency did some "updating", so I'm wondering if they might even have taken some short stories from the pre-Dusty Ayers BATTLE BIRDS magazine and changed the name of the lead character in those unrelated stories to "Dusty Ayres".
No, just short stories from the magazine, no Doctor Death titles. The same with the Battle Birds, just short stories from that magazine, nothing to do with Dusty Ayres.
ReplyDeleteI guess people who bought those paperbacks expecting to read Doctor Death or Dusty Ayres stories must have been disappointed, to say the least. While they had exhausted the already-published Doctor Death stories, there were still plenty of Dusty Ayres novels that they didn't reprint, which makes me wonder why if they were going to do another Dusty Ayres book (which did not have any Dusty Ayres stories in it) they wouldn't just have reprinted another one of the nine existing novels which they *hadn't* already reprinted.
DeleteI'm glad Altus Press is finally planning to reprint all 12 of of the Dusty Ayres novels. The idea of a series of a near-future air-war is a good one (reminiscent of Operator #5's "Purple Wars") and seems to combine elements of the Purple Wars with that of G-8's weird war, with a more science-fictional slant like that of Terrence X. O'Leary's War Birds.
I agree, they should have. But I was happy with all of their books. In the 1960s we weren't getting much in the way of pulp reprints, except SF and Bob Howard. Doc Savage was going strong at Bantam, and a couple Shadow novels, but that was about it. The C/R reprints filled a big space. Dusty Ayres, Operator #5, and Phantom Detective. Wow. I never cared much for the Doctor Death novels, but loved the Doctor Death short stories with Nibs Holloway. There are still some of those that need to be reprinted. Nibs was an excellent Dime Novel Nick Carter type character.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that you realize in retrospect when looking at what kind of pulp reprints were successful in the 1960s and 1970s is how important the cover art and logo design were in helping to sell the books. Ace's early ERB reprints had covers by Frazetta and Krenkle (and Lancer's Conan series had the Frazetta covers, too). Bantam's Doc Savage reprints had those great James Bama covers. Paperback Library's Avenger reprints had a logo design and cover art that was so successful in selling the series that not only did they manage to reprint ALL of the pulp novels, but they commissioned a dozen new ones from Ron Goulart, making that series even MORE successful in paperback reprint form than they were in the original pulp magazine incarnation. When I finally saw the original pulp covers years later, I can sort of see why the magazine didn't catch on. If they'd had the kind if stunning cover art seen on Street & Smith's Shadow or Doc Savage pulps, it probably would have done a lot better and lasted longer. (I never really cared for that "disembodied head overlooking the scene of the crime" cover art concept seemingly preferred by Better/Standard's line of hero pulps.)
ReplyDeleteRegardless, how else can you explain the failure of characters like The Shadow and The Spider to catch on in their initial reprintings in paperback? The covers obviously weren't grabbing people's attention. I haven't seen a lot of the cover art from the Corinth-Regency books, and poor distribution probably accounts for a lot of why none of those series went the distance, as well, but I have to assume the cover art just wasn't reaching out and grabbing those potential readers, for the most part.
Of course, that said, in terms of sheer numbers it would appear that Corinth-Regency's Phantom Detective reprints were more successful than any other pulp resurrections with the exception of ERB, REH, Lovecraft, Bantam's Doc Savage, WPL's The Avenger, and Pyramid/HBJ/Jove's The Shadow.
DeleteThat's with the caveat that these reprints were very likely (as they came from a publisher of soft porn novels) bootlegs attempting to fly under the radar. But indeed, they may at least have checked to determine that copyrights had not been renewed on the Pines publications. It does seem like a stretch of credulity that if the characters had been legitimately licensed, Harry Steeger would have chosen to go with such a publisher of questionable reputation, rather than with one of the many long-established paperback imprints.
The thing that really amazes me is that BANTAM didn't make an attempt with the first couple of years (so... 1965-66 or so) to get another pulp reprint series or two going after Doc Savage hit it big... at just about the same time as ERB was rediscovered by readers. Maybe it's because they were holding out for The Shadow, and that license was still tied up by Belmont.
Bantam did have a short run of Shadow novels beginning in 1969. Thankfully, they reprinted some early Shadow novels, too. The covers weren't the best, and that might have hurt the Bantam series. After all, Doc had Bama's art gracing Doc's covers. If Steranko had provided covers for the Bantam Shadow series, we might have seen a much longer run. I'm sure Steeger didn't give permission for C/R to reprint the Popular Publication's titles. C/R probably never checked to see if some of the stuff they were reprinting were still under copyright.
ReplyDelete