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RARA-AVIS: The Maltese Falcon in Black Mask
On Sat, 12 Apr 1997, William Denton <buff@vex.net> wrote:
[SNIP]
>One guy had a few _Black Masks_ on his table, and I asked him how much
>one with a Hamett story would go for. He pointed at the one I had in
>my hand, and said, "Actually, that one has one installment of _The
>Maltese Falcon_ in it." But it wasn't listed on the cover! The lead
>story was a Frederick Nebel, and who knows about him these days?
The Maltese Falcon ran over five issues (Hammett's other novels were 4-part
BM serialis, except The Thin Man, which wasn't in BM at all), starting with
the issue dated September, 1929. There is indeed a 'Hammett cover' (which,
as Bill notes, is reproduced in Nolan's biography, _Dashiell Hammett: A
Life at the Edge_) on the September 1929 issue, though interestingly, the
artist seems to have omitted to have read the story, as the character
depicted (is he a cop? what badge is that? maybe it's a PI licence, but
isn't it a little odd to be wearing it so visibly?) is blasting through a
newspaper and, curiously, the barrel of the weapon is protuding through
the paper, and the shot has shattered the wine glass which is exploding on
the table. (The 'lighting' in the picture is pretty odd too.) Whatever
the cover illustrates, it isn't a scene from the episode contained within!
The Maltese Falcon cover is credited to Henry C. Murphy Jnr. The following
four issues of Black Mask carried the remainder of the Hammett story, with
the following 'covers', all painted by J. W. Schlaikjer:
October 1929 Cover: Horace McCoy, "Hell's Stepsons" ('Cptn Jerry Frost
of the Rangers calls for help')
November 1929 Cover: Frederick Nebel, "Hell-Smoke" ('Richmond City has
another bust---with Captain Stephen MacBride on the job')
December 1929 Cover: Raoul Whitfield, "The Crime Breeders" ('Mal Ourney,
coming out of prison, hits the trail of big crime')
January 1930 Cover: Frederick Nebel, "Rough Treatment" ('Hard boiled
Capt. Steve MacBride is sent to a tough town that needs some of his
Richmond City medicine')
The story Matthew Stevens recounts about popularity is one I've come across
before (a year or two ago, in r.a.m if I recall correctly, and I attempted
to correct it there), so I'd like to lay it rest here too.
In the December 1929 issue of Black Mask, Joe Shaw makes a whole-page
appeal to readers, under the banner 'HELP!'. Shaw asks readers to return a
tear-off coupon, stating their favourite story in this issue, and their
favourite story from the previous six issues. In the chapter on The
Maltese Falcon in _Life at the Edge_ Nolan states 'Hammett topped the
readers poll. I think Nolan is referring to the returns of the Dec 29
'poll'. Anyway, the point is, there may have been writers more popular
than Hammett with Black Mask readers at some other time, but in this
period, Hammett was the Mask's leading light.
Eddie Duggan
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