Whitman Mystery Stories - Tom Harmon and the Gridiron Plot

This is definitely a book I would have never imagined myself reading under any circumstances.  I am not now, nor have I ever been, a fan of professional sports or college sports.  I do not like football, basketball, baseball, or any other sport of that kind.  (I will, however, watch an ice hockey game, if I can see it live!)  That being said, reading a book about sports would never be on my radar - and yet, here we are.  In recent years, I have discovered that quite a number of the Whitman Authorized Editions actually contain some pretty solid stories, and the illustrations in some of them are actually very well done (better than many of the later line illustrations in the Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and Hardy Boys books from Grosset & Dunlap).  Thus, when I happened across this book at a local bookstore for just $4.99, and the dust jacket was in such great shape, I thought:  why not?

 

Tom Harmon and the Great Gridiron Plot was written by Jay Dender.  Who is Jay Dender, you may ask?  Well, that's a really good question, and quite frankly, I have no idea.  From everything I could find online, this appears to be the only book written by Mr. Dender, and there is nothing I could find to even indicate whether "Jay Dender" is a real person or just a pseudonym.  I found this odd, since many of the Whitman books I have read have had authors who wrote more than just one book for the company.  (There are some exceptions, where the creator of a particular comic strip character may have written the Whitman book based on their character; but that's an exception, and not a rule.)  The one thing I can say is that Mr. Dender (or whoever was using that nom de plume) was very well versed in the area of football, as the story contains quite a bit of details regarding not only how the game is played, but very specific plays and descriptions of the various plays during the games.  Only someone well versed in the game (or a super-uber-fan) would have that kind of detailed knowledge of the game!

 

The story is set at the fictional university, Stockton, where Tom Harmon is a senior and is the star player of their football team, the Panthers.  While there is a real Stockton University in New Jersey, it is doubtful, based on the descriptions in the book, that this is supposed to be that particular campus.  And while the various colleges against whom the Panthers play reflect the names of real colleges and universities in our world, Webster, Harper, Douglas and the others are also fictionally created within the story.  As the copyright page specifically indicates, with the exception of the authorized use of the name "Tom Harmon," all names and places within the story are entirely fictional.  As far as the main character goes, Tom Harmon was apparently an all-around sports star, both in high school (in Indiana) and in college (University of Michigan).  According to the brief bio of Harmon on the dust jacket flap, Harmon managed to score "33 touchdowns, kicked 33 points after touchdown, kicked two field goals for a total of 237 points - the best scoring record in Big Ten history [at that time]."   While I am unfamiliar with the man or his fame (not being a sports fan), I have no doubt he was extremely popular at the time, for Whitman to seek out and license his name for use in a book like this.  And, as it turns out, he was the father of actor Mark Harmon (who, coincidentally, played in an episode of the Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries back in the 1970s - "The Mystery of the Solid Gold Kicker," which was about a successful football player that is framed for murder!  Coincidence?  I think not!).

 

While the main focus of the story is Stockton's goal of winning the "Big Seven" title in order to save their coach's job (his job is in jeopardy because a group of alumni were offering a rather large sum of money to the university to build additional buildings on campus - but the catch is, either the team wins the Big Seven this year, or the coach must be let go!), there are a couple of subplots that play into the story.  One is the obvious dislike that one of the players has for Tom, whether it be out of jealousy of his fame or for other reasons.  The other concerns attacks made on Tom just prior to games - the first, a physical attack when he and a fellow player are taking a shortcut through the woods; the second, an attempt to make it appear Tom cheated on an important test to have him expelled so he can no longer play for the team.  Everyone begins to wonder - is someone out to get Tom personally, or are all these tactics merely a way to keep Stockton from winning the Big Seven, so that the coach will be ousted from the university.

 

Honestly, I had to force my way through a lot of the story where the focus was on the football strategies and plays out on the field.  Dender goes into some excruciating detail that might be fun for fans of the sport, but was rather tedious for me.  The college antics of the students made for much better reading, and the tiniest bit of mystery is what kept my interest in the story.  That being said, Dender does manage to write the characters in such a way as to have you rooting for them, particularly when Tom keeps getting singled out for these attacks.  Nearly his entire team, as well as most of the students and faculty, all support Tom (as if they wouldn't, considering he is the title character, after all), and you know that, in the end, it is all going to work out for everyone - but it is the getting there that makes for enjoyable reading.  

 

The illustrator for this book is Henry E. Vallely (1881-1950), who has provided illustrations for quite a number of the Whitman Authorized Editions.   Vallely also provided illustrations for Big Little Books, women's magazines, in addition to his work for Whitman.  His illustrations are distinctive, with beautifully rendered scenes that truly stand out.  I'm always thrilled when I find a book that identifies him as the illustrator, as I know I am in for a treat with the internals.  The endpage spread is a nicely rendered scene from one of the many games played within the book, and thankfully, it does not spoil anything from the story (as some of the endpages for these Whitman books have a habit of doing).

 

While the football aspect is definitely not my cup of tea, the overall story was not bad, and I managed to make it through without getting overly bored.  A nice addition to my ever-growing Whitman collection.

 

RATING:  7 stolen brass canons out of 10 for plenty of college hi-jinks, locker room antics, and last minute winning touchdowns to craft a halfway decent story. 

 

 

Jennings Follows a Clue - Second in the series of Jennings Books

This is one of those books I had a friend pick up on a lark, and it turned out to be surprising in a number of ways.  The title sounded like a fun read, and since the publisher was Collins, I knew it was a British book.  However, I was completely unaware that this was actually the second book in an on-going series of tales about a precious young boy named J.C.T. (John Christopher Timothy) Jennings and his best friend, C.E.J. (Charles Edwin Jeremy) Darbishire, who are students at the Linbury Court preparatory school.  The series is authored by Anthony Buckeridge (1912-2004), a British author who is best known for this series, as well as another about another schoolboy named Rex Milligan.  The Jenning series lasted for a total of 24 books, with the first book (Jennings Goes to School) being published in 1950, and the final book (That's Jennings) being published 44 years later in 1994.

 

As I began reading Jennings Follows a Clue, I began to wonder if this be a book a simply read and passed on, as it was not overly exciting.  It begins as simply another book about boys at a prep school and their misadventures as they look for ways to have fun and try desperately to avoid any kind of school work whatsoever.  Jennings and his cohort, Darbishire, are some extremely imaginative children, whether it be playing cops and robbers, spies and thieves, cowboys and Indians, or any other made up adventure.  When Jennings gets a little too rambunctious as a gyro-copter and knocks into Mr. Carter, the teach takes it upon himself to introduce Jennings and a couple of other students to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, reading aloud tales of the great detective.  Little does he know that the reading of this book inspires young Jennings to open up his own detective agency at the school, enlisting Darbishire as his very own "Watson."  Now, if they could only find a real mystery to solve...

 

 While the book has a slow start to it, the reader quickly begins to realize the story is more than just a tale of boys' life at a prep school - it is almost an Airplane! or Naked Gun or Scary Movie version of boys' life.  The number of crazy circumstances, the number of bumbling comedy of errors, and the number of Abbott-and-Costello-like dialogue exchanges will more than make you smile, and pretty often make you giggle and laugh out loud.  Jennings and Darbishire are right there at the middle of everything, and despite all of their best intentions, their over-active imaginations lead them into one big mess after another.  The Headmaster, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Wilkins all attempt to reign the boy in, but with Jennings, there is simply no controlling the boy!  He is determined to be a detective, and with Darbishire at his side, the Linbury Court Detective Agency (or Ln. Ct. Det. Ag., for short) is going to solve every mystery the school has to offer - and as luck would have it, one does fall right into their laps, even if no one believes them.

 

The boys make their share of mistakes trying to find a mystery, but when they spot the shadow of a man in the infirmary late at night, when no one is supposed to be there, they believe they are on to something.  They keep their suspicions under wraps, Jennings determined to get real evidence of a thief before they present it to the Headmaster; and with the big Sports Day games coming up, the Ln. Ct. Det. Ag. have very little free time to devote to their detecting.  One fateful night, they chance to see the intruder again, so they sneak over to the infirmary to catch the man in the act - only, the tables get turned, and they are the ones caught instead - locked inside a room while the thief gets away!  At first, the Headmaster does not believe their story, until they return to the school and find that someone has stolen all of the boys' Sports Day trophies from the library!  The game is now afoot, and unwittingly (or, perhaps we should say, dimwittedly!), Jennings and Darbishire follow up on their one clue - a button torn from the thief's shirt - to track down and ultimately unmask the crook.  (And if you pay attention while reading the book, you'll be able to spot the thief fairly easily - but blink, and you might miss it!)

 

Now, there are some things worth mentioning about the story, particularly the time of year.  On the very first page of the first chapter, the author describes "the grumbling February sky" (p. 9), yet, just before that, indicates that this takes place "[d]uring the first half of the Easter term" (p. 9).  This seems rather odd, since Easter normally takes place between March 22 and April 25, and it never falls in February.  So, perhaps the reference to "Easter term" is actually just another way of describing the "Spring term" for the school?  Next, the author makes a passing reference to "Dick Barton" (p. 50), when Jennings suggests to Darbishire that they will hail the next car and ask the driver to follow the one they are chasing, because "[t]hat's what 'Dick Baron' does anyway, and it always works" (p. 50).  I looked it up, and it seems Dick Barton was a radio-serial about a special agent that used to be broadcast on the BBC between 1946 and 1951 - and since this book was first published in 1951, it would have been right around the time that serial was coming to an end (but clearly, young boys like Jennings and Darbishire would still have listened to the stories and be familiar with the character).

 

In addition, readers get a brief lesson in Latin, when the boys are in class, using the pronouns hic, haec, hoc as sound effects for their imaginary plane battle - which comes to an abrupt end when the teacher enters the room, albeit Jennings misses the queue and keeps his "gun" firing:  "Hic-haec-hoc ... hic-haec-hoc ... hic-haec-hoc ... B-A-N-G!" (p. 181).   They jokingly utilize  the feminine ablative, accusative singular, genitive plural, and other variations of the words in their battle, naming their conjugations as they bleat them out in their fantasy battle.  I found this to be an ingenuious way of the author to insert a bit of actual learning into the story.

 

I am not sure who did the cover art  for this edition, but it is a beautiful, wrap-around scene that depicts the opening sequence, when Jennings and Darbishire are attempting to play a quiet game of chess while all the other boys in their grade (or "form," as it is referred to in the book) are wildly engaged in noisy activities, one of which sends a boxing glove right into the chessboard, knocking over all of our main characters' pieces.

 

While I ultimately enjoyed the story, and found a number of conversations to be very much along the lines of the 1980s and 1990s parody films, I am unlikely to search out any other books in the series.  A quick glance at the list of books on the back inside flap of the dust jacket reveals that this book appears to be the only one with any sort of mystery to it. All of the other books appear to be simply tales of Jennings' life at the boarding school and the various misadventures he and Darbishire find themselves in time and time again.  These are not my typical reading material, and so this is just a one-off that will find itself on my shelf of British children's books, never to have any of the other books in its series around it.

 

RATING:  7 Grossman Cine Camera de Luxes out of 10 for a slapstick style misadventure filled with plenty of misunderstandings, crack comments, and a touch of mystery. 

 

The Baseball Boys of Lakeport - the Second Volume of the Lakeport Series

This book is definitely not a usual one for me.  However, it is a book I could not pass up when I saw it up in Cooperstown, New York a couple of years back when my friend, Pam, and I went up there to explore all the sites that actually existed and were used in the Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of Mirror Bay.  After all, Cooperstown is famous for its baseball, and this book happens to be authored by none other than Edward Stratemeyer, the same man who created Nancy Drew (and whose daughter authored Mirror Bay!). Thus, even though I'm not a sports fan at all, and even though I'm not normally a fan of series books for boys, I picked this up for no other reason than to have a collectible from my visit to Cooperstown.  However, as I was chatting with another friend recently, he was asking me about books written by Edward Stratemeyer, and I had to admit I have never read one.  So, thanks to his prompting, I picked up this book and gave it a read.

 

The Baseball Boys of Lakeport is the second volume in a series of books set in the fictional town of Lakeport. What I find amusing about that is the fact that another Stratemeyer series, The Bobbsey Twins, is also set in the town of Lakeport.  The first volume of The Bobbsey Twins series, written by Stratemeyer and published in 1904, featured the two sets of twins having adventures in their hometown of Lakeport.  The first books in this Lakeport Series were published in 1908 (see below for questions regarding publication and copyright dates), and while they did not feature the Bobbsey family, they did feature a group of boys who managed to form clubs of some sort involving a variety of activities.  The boys went hunting in the first book, formed a baseball team in this book, then went on to form a boat club, a football team, an automobile club, and at the end, an aircraft club.  There was very little mystery to this book - it was more about the adventures of the boys and they trouble they faced from local bullies, and based on some of the recap of the first book in this one, I would hazard the guess that all of the books were the same.  This series only lasted six books, being published from 1908 to 1912:

 

1 - The Gun Boys of Lakeport, or The Island Camp (1908)

2 - The Baseball Boys of Lakeport, or The Winning Run (1908)

3 - The Boat Club Boys of Lakeport, or The Water Champions (1909)

4 - The Football Boys of Lakeport, or The Champions of the School (1909)

5 - The Automobile Boys of Lakeport, or A Run for the Mountains (1910)

6 - The Aircraft Boys of Lakeport, or The Rivals of the Clouds (1912) 

 

While the "boys" in the book are quite a few in number, Stratemeyer seems to focus on four or five main boys, with a number of supporting characters that have minimal dialogue or action.  The main characters are Joe Westmore and his older brother, Harry, and their good friend, Fred Rush.  Other boys who share the spotlight are Link Darrow and Paul Shale.  Rounding out the cast are the minor players, such as Frank Pemberton, Walter Bannister, Matt Roscoe, and a few others whose names only appear once or twice throughout the story.  On the other side of the tracks, you have the bullies/villains of the story, which include Dan Marcy, a carry-over from the previous book who caused the boys considerable problems when they were out hunting; Si Voup, the captain of the opposing baseball team who will do anything to win the championship; Sidney Yates, another player of the opposing team who pulls some nasty tricks that get him punished severely by his father; and then there is Montgomery Jaddell, the school principal who is quite the stick in the mud, and who seems dead-set on making life as difficult as possible for the boys during their last weeks of school for the year.

 

While there is the main story involving the formation of the Lakeports amateur baseball team and their struggles to earn money to buy uniforms and equipment, as well as their games against various opposing teams from the surrounding towns, there are a couple of smaller adventures along the way - such as a stolen boat that leaves the boys stranded on Pine Island and the kidnapping of the Lakeports' two strongest players just before the final championship game. The boys also come up against some vagrants who think they are going to report their activities, as well as a bull that somehow gets loose and runs rampart through the main street, and a stolen cash box (that Harry and Joe's father mistakenly believes Harry took!).  Again, there are no major mysteries, and most everything centers around the boys' baseball activities.  Again, the subject matter of the book is not necessarily my cup of tea, but the writing is actually well-done, the story nicely paced, and the characters are varied enough to avoid a cookie-cutter cast.

 

The internal illustrations are by Max Francis Klepper (1861-1907), who was a German-born artist who immigrated to the United States in 1876 and grew up in Indiana before working in Illinois and New York.  He contributed illustrations to a number of magazines, such as Collier's, Harper's Monthly, Cosmopolitan, and others, as well as providing illustrations for several books during the early 1900s, one of which was this particular book.  More information about the artist can be found here:  Max Francis Klepper.

 

Something I found rather interesting is the copyright page.  Pretty much all references to this book I was able to find online provides a copyright and publication date of 1908.  However, the copyright page for this book lists the original Copyright as 1905, by A. S. Barnes & Co., under the title "The Winning Run."  The Copyright of the Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. edition is 1908, under the title "The Baseball Boys of Lakeport, or The Winning Run."  I was unable to locate any information regarding that earlier copyright, or even a book (or magazine serial) published under the name "The Winning Run" by A. S. Barnes & Co., leaving me to wonder just where that copyright originated.

 

Another surprising fact about the book is its length.  The story is 315 pages, which is nearly 100 pages more than most of the children's series books I am used to reading from the first half of the 20th century.  This must have been somewhat the standard in the very early 1900s, as ads in the back of the book indicate the first three Dave Porter books were 312, 286, and 304 pages, respectively.  Other series listed in those ads show books of various lengths - from 300 pages to 310 pages to 320 pages to 330 pages, and even one book at a whopping 431 pages!  It's actually rather sad that the decades passed, the length of these books aimed at children and young adults gradually decreased to just a little over 200 pages, and ultimately down to just 180 or so pages per book.

 

Overall, not a bad story, and while I may not be rushing out there to hunt down the other five books in the series, if I do happen across any of them at some point, I'm likely to pick them up just to read the further adventures of these Lakeport boys!

 

RATING:  9 silk hats with the top knocked in out of 10 for a wholesome story of sportsmanship, friendship, and adventure, with a lot of sports and a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. 

Short(est) Lived Comic Series #24 - Gil Thorp (Dell Comics)

Growing up, I remember seeing the Gil Thorp comic strip in the funny pages of The Courier Journal and Louisville Times (don't really remember which it was in - the Journal was our morning paper, the Times was our afternoon paper).  I never paid it much attention, since it was about sports, and as anyone who knows me knows, sports is the absolute LAST thing in the world I care about or would ever want to read about!  When we moved to Florida, I never gave that strip another thought - until over this past summer, while at a local comic convention, I came across a rather inexpensive copy of a Dell Comic that was in unbelievably great condition of ... yup, you guessed it ... Gil Thorp!

Gil Thorp is a newspaper strip that was created and originally written and drawn by Jack Berrill.  Online sources reveal that Berrill worked on the strip from the date of its creation back in 1958 until he died in 1996 (nearly 40 years - I'd say that's a pretty good chunk of time for a writer/artist to work on a daily strip!).  After Berrill died, Jerry Jenkins took over the writing, which surprised me, as I recognize his name from the Left Behind series of books.  Apparently, Jenkins only stayed with the strip until 2004, when Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin took over the writing chores.  Rubin stuck around for 18 years on the strip, and this year, graphic novel writer Henry Barajas became the new writer on the strip.  From what I can find online, it appears there were a number of artists who drew the strip once Berrill was no longer able - William Sattler, Frank Bolle, Ray Burns, Frank McLaughlin, and the current artist, Rod Whigham.  Having never read the strip, I can't say whether the writing and art remained consistent through the changes over the years, but considering the fact the strip is still being published, I guess it must have something going for it.

So, when I came across this comic at the convention, I did a quick online search and discovered that Dell only published one issue of the Gil Thorp comic, even though the indicia on the inside first page indicates it is "No. 1" and states the comic is "Published quarterly..."  Don't know if any other issues were planned, or if it was always intended to be just a one-off. Since it was only a one-issue comic, and it was not at all expensive, I thought to myself, "Why not?"  The cover is a beautifully painted scene of Gil Thorp watching two high school baseball players as one sldes into the plate, and the other tries to catch the ball.  The tagline on the cover reads "With the new baseball season, a serious problem arises for Coach Thorp!"  Obviously, Thorp is going to face some king of drama/dilemma in coaching the baseball team, which creates the conflict for the story.

Sadly, back in those days, the comic companies (particularly smaller companies like Dell, Gold Key, etc.) did not give credit to any of the creators within the comic.  As such, I have no way of knowing for sure who wrote the story and who provided the pencils, inks, colors, lettering, etc.  I will say, though, the art is very clean-cut, and the artist manages to give distinct appearances to each of the characters so they are easily discernible from one another.  The  backgrounds are not very detailed, except on a few occasions when we see some books on a bookshelf (p. 8) or stone details on a sidewalk and the side of a house (p. 12).  Otherwise, the backgrounds are kept simple, which actually works, as it keeps the focus of the story on the characters, while at the same time giving the feel of a comic strip (which, more often than not, are not very detailed).  One website I found (Gil Thorp) lists the artist as Eddie Robbins, with the caveat that Robbins was trying to imitate the style of Thorp creator, Jack Berrill.  Whether this is true or not, I have no idea.

The story itself has Thorp being asked to take over as coach for Milford High's baseball team after the previous coach suddenly resigns.  Thorp finds himself faced with resentment from the high school boys, all of whom loved their prior coach, and he especially finds trouble when it comes to one particular boy, Bob Burwell, who is determined to play short stop and his father will do anything to ensure that happens - even if that means trying to get Thorp fired!  The story focuses on Thorp trying to get the boys to work together as a team, rather than trying to impress scouts with their individual talents, and Burwell causes many a problem along the way.  Of course, a small level of romance is thrown into the mix, as Burwell's sister finds herself attracted to Coach Thorp, and she is placed in the middle between her brother and father wanting Thorp out of the picture and Thorp trying to teach Bob Burwell the importance of teamwork and taking responsibility for one's own actions.

I can't deny that the story was not exactly thrilling - unlike superhero or crime comics, there are no big fights, no dangerous shoot-outs, and no unexpected surprises.  About the closest thing you get is when two thugs try to convince Burwell to throw a game so that they can win some big money - but he does not hesitate to tell his father and Thorp, who set up a trap to catch the men.  The comic is basically alla about Thorp trying to teach the boys a lesson that will help them later in life, and it ends with a moral being instilled, and both Burwell men coming to realize the error of their ways.  The story is what you would expect from a tale published in 1963 - very clean cut, right always wins, and nothing untoward or scandalous that might offend anyone (although, viewing it from today's standards, I'm sure people would take offense to the fact that the comic has only white characters - there are no minority characters whatsoever).

 

I guess I should be grateful that there was only one issue, as I honestly don't think I'd be interested in reading another sports story about Coach Gil Thorp.  Sports fans may enjoy the comic, but, no, this one was not for me.

 

RATING:  6 wicked bouncers toward third out of 10 for at least giving the strip a try as a full-length comic.