THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT DOGS that crime fiction writers and their 'tecs find attractive, and the feeling seems to be mutual, a case in point being . . .
"Snoops."
By Arthur J. Burks (1898-1974).
First appearance: Detective Tales, December 1935.
Short short story (7 pages).
Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 120).
(Note: Text very faded but readable.)
"He was a natural-born comedy actor, without even trying to be."
WHO needs Sam Spade when Snoops is on the case?
Principal characters:
~ Detective Nate Hirl ("I'm no Sherlock"), Snoops ("He wanted to be bought by someone, and he didn't much care whom"), Mike Hargan (deceased), the chief ("'Don't tell me, Nate,' said the chief, 'that after all these years you finally found a clue?'"), and Flit Casso ("That damned dog knew where it was all the time!").
References and resources:
- "a low-comedy Scotty":
"They are an independent and rugged breed with a wiry outer coat and a soft dense undercoat. The first Earl of Dumbarton nicknamed the breed 'the diehard'. According to legend, the Earl of Dumbarton gave this nickname because of the Scottish Terriers' bravery, and Scotties were also the inspiration for the name of his regiment, The Royal Scots, Dumbarton’s Diehard. Scottish Terriers were originally bred to hunt vermin on farms." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- "I like Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies":
"Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Walt Disney. Though originally characterized as a cheeky lovable rogue, Mickey was rebranded over time as a nice guy, usually seen as a spirited, yet impulsive hero." (Wikipedia HERE.)
"Silly Symphony (also known as Silly Symphonies) is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this include Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Three Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels)." (Wikipedia HERE.)
- Arthur J. Burks was an incredibly prolific pulpster—and fast, too:
"Between 1930 and 1940 Burks wrote up to two million words per year, a pace so rapid that he earned the nickname 'Speed Merchant of the Pulps.' In 'Quantity Production,' a feature piece he wrote for Writer's Digest in 1937, he unashamedly called himself a 'hack' and described his output as near-pathological: 'I like to write, I have to write or go mad. And the more I want to write the faster words tumble over themselves to get onto paper'." (From Encyclopedia.com, below).
- His FictionMags Index occupies nearly five pages. Not surprisingly, Burks birthed series characters (i.e., two or more appearances) in every genre: Professor Leodas Lahme (1928, 1938), Don Queue (1928-29), Captain Joseph Marquand (1929-30), Baron Laube (1930, 1934), Kid Friel (1930-31), Caleb Barter (1931-32), Leslie Keren (1932-33), Doris Noel (1933-34 in All Detective), Evan Post, a.k.a., Black Falcon (1933-34, 1936), Fan Tzo (1933-34), Allan Benson, a.k.a., The Guillotine (1934), Carla Stengl (1934 in The Phantom Detective), Duff Braden (1935-36 in Popular Detective), Sark Clayton (1935-36 in Thrilling Detective), Eddie Kelly (1936 in Clues Detective Stories), Harlan Dyce (1936-38 in Clues Detective Stories), David Haslup (1937, 1938), and Josh McNab (1938-39 in Astounding).
- More info on Burks is available on Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), Enclopedia.com (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE).
- Another instance of a canine getting involved with a detective is Fredric Brown's "To Slay a Man About a Dog" (HERE), while dogs as victims of a nefarious plot are found in Arthur Gask's "The Destroyer" (HERE).
The bottom line:
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment