Todd,
Re your question below:
> Did Hammett ever write about whether or to
what
> extent Daly had any
> influence on his choices, of market if not
career?
> I don't know/remember
> whether the lead time in publication between
Daly's
> and Hammett's early
> contributions to HB would've allowed Hammett to
even
> see Race Williams and
> his predecessors before beginning to publish his
own
> CF.
Hammett's first BLACK MASK story, "The Road Home," and Daly's
first BLACK MASK story, "The False Burton Combs," both
appeared in the same issue, December 1922. Both displayed a
tendency toward the hard-boiled PI type of character, but the
notion wasn't quite fully formed in either story. Appearing
in the same issue, it seems unlikely that Daly had any
influence on Hammett.
Daly beat Hammett into print with the very first genuine
hard-boiled private eye story, "Three-Gun Terry," in the May
15, 1923, issue of BLACK MASK, followed in the very next
issue by "Knights of the Open Palm," the first official Race
Williams story
(though Terrence Mack in "Three-Gun Terry" is virtually
identical, and the story could be reprinted as "Three-Gun
Williams" with no problem).
Hammett's first Op story, "Arson Plus," appeared, IIRC, in
one of the September 1922 issues of BLACK MASK. Though Daly
beat him into print by a few short months, it doesn't seem at
all unlikely that Hammett, being a far more careful writer,
might have been working on "Arson Plus" before either of
Daly's yarns were printed, Since he'd already exhibited a
tendency toward this kind of fiction in "The Road Home," I
feel safe in saying that, had Daly never written a word,
Hammett still would have created the Continental Op. The
hard-boiled private eye character was independently conceived
by Daly and Hammett, and Hammett's vision is the one that
has, justly, endured.
That said, Daly should be read, particularly by Spillane
fans. Spillane was an avid Daly fan and has always
acknowledged the influence the Race Williams series had on
his Mike Hammer novels.
JIM DOHERTY
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