Frederick Nebel

Uncategorized

Pseudonyms include Grimes Hill, Lewis Nebel & Eric Lewis
(1903-1966)

He was born LOUIS FREDERICK NEBEL on November 3, 1903. He dropped out of high school at fifteen, allegedly after only one day of classes. He worked the docks and checked cars. He became a valet and, in some versions of his biography, a sailor on a tramp steamer.

After his stint on the New York docks, Nebel moved to Canada to work on a relative’s farm and fell in love with the wilderness, and fascinated with Canadian history.

He returned to New York, and took a job as a brakeman on passenger trains, and started writing in his spare time, his experiences in Canada giving him a leg up. He began selling tales of the Great White North to Northwest Stories, beginning in 1925. He wrote under his own name, as well as such pseudonyms as Grimes Hill and Eric Lewis.

Soon enough, Nebel applied his blue-collar work ethic to the typewriter. Encouraged by his early success, he began cranking them out with the regularity of an assembly-line, penning up to five thousand words a day, and at one point  keeping five to six series going at the same time. Not bad for a Staten Island kid who had bounced around from job to job and place to place for the early part of his life.

Nebel wrote and wrote, and then he wrote some more. He pounded out tales about rugged adventurers, cowboys and Mounties for such pulps as Action Stories and North West Stories. He eventually turned to crime, and sold his first crime story to Black Mask in 1926, just a few years after Dashiell Hammett (who later became a friend) and Carroll John Daly. Nebel became a charter member of the Black Mask school, the group of writers who worked for that magazine and championed the hard-boiled detective noir style of the 1920s.

Nebel created the Kennedy and MacBride stories for Black Mask, beginning in 1928 — MacBride the cop and Kennedy the hard-drinking reporter of The Free Press, both investigating crime in the corrupt Richmond City.

Around this time, Nebel had met a woman named Dorothy Blank in Paris. She was from St. Louis, and so when they married in 1930, the couple settled in St. Louis, where much of Nebel’s crime and detective fiction is set.

Next up he began yet another series for Black Mask, featuring “Tough Dick” Donahue, of the Inter-State Detective Agency. Donahue was very much in the Black Mask style–a hard, cold operator, very much reminiscent of his buddy Hammett’s Continental Op.

But Nebel wasn’t done– soon after he started a series for Black Mask‘s rival, Dime Detective. For that magazine, he created Cardigan —a similiarly tough Irish detective, who worked for the Cosmos Decetive Agency.  

Meanwhile, Nebel sold the rights to MacBride and Kennedy to Warner Brothers in the 1930’s, but had nothing to do with the adaptations. Perhaps it’s just as well. Somewhere along the line, skinny, drunk-as-a-skunk Kennedy became a wisecracking newswoman, Torchy Blane, and MacBride the object of her affections. Nine films were made in the series.

When pressed about it, Nebel would respond, “Hell, they always change the stuff around. But I don’t mind–as long as I don’t have to make the changes.”

In 1934, Nebel and Dorothy had moved from St. Louis to Connecticut. He hired a new agent and started selling to slick magazines. In 1937, he and Dorothy had a son, Christopher. That same year, Nebel gave up selling to the pulps entirely, and began writing for slick magazines such as Collier’s, and novels: the suspense tales Sleeper’s East (1933) and Fifty Roads to Town (1934), and But Not The End (1936), set in Depression-era New York City.

They stayed in Connecticut until the late 1950s. Then he became painfully ill, so he and Dorothy packed up and moved to Laguna Beach, Calif. Suffering from chronic high blood pressure, his health continued to go downhill. He stopped writing by the mid-1960s. He suffered a stroke in late April 1967 and died on May 3.

One critic notes that Nebel’s work can be divided into two periods: before 1933 and after. Before 1933, he wrote about tough, loner detectives who were up against trouble. After 1933, his stories featured more of a support network — secretaries, reporters, cops and sources.

Maybe marriage made him realize the value of companionship. One thing is certain: while Nebel’s work is not as well known as his buddy Hammett, and while much of his early work has not been reprinted (until recently–editor), he deserves to be read and re-read as a hero of pulpdom.

SHORT STORIES

 

  • “The Firelight Patrol” (September 1925, North West Stories)
  • “Trade Law” (July 1925, North West Stories)
  • “Stuart of the City Patrol” (December 1925, North West Stories)
  • “Raw Courage” (December 1925, Action Stories)
  • “Soda-Pop Mary” (January 1926, Lariat)
  • “The White Peril” (January 8, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “The Breaks of the Game” (March 1926, Black Mask)
  • “Defiance Valley” (March 3, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “The Black Fox Skin” (April 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Law of the Trapline” (April 22, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Patrol of Courage” (May 8, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Big Moon Lake Patrol” (June 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Somewhere East of Singapore” (July 3, 1926, Action Stories)
  • “Alone” (August 22, 1926, North West Magazine)
  • “Cache Law” (September 1926, North West Stories)
  • “East of Big Moon” (November 8, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Grain to Grain” (November 1926, Black Mask)
  • “High Jinks as Sky High” (November 1926, Lariat)
  • “The Frontier of Vengeance” (December 8, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Tell It to the Mounted” (December 22, 1926, North West Stories)
  • “Claws of the Jungle” (January 1927, Action Stories)
  • “Dumb Luck” (January 1927, Black Mask)
  • “China Silk” (March 1927, Black Mask)
  • “Courage of the Strong” (March 1927, North West Stories)
  • “Hounds of Darkness” (April 1927, Black Mask)
  • “The Hell-Bender” (April 1927, Lariat)
  • “A Man Must Fight” (April 22, 1927, North West Stories)
  • “The Drifting Kid Strikes” May 1927, Lariat)
  • “A Man With Sand” (July 1927, Black Mask)
  • “Return of the Exile” (July 8, 1927, North West Stories)
  • “Emeralds of Shade” (August 1927, Black Mask)
  • “Flyers of Fortune” (August 1927, Air Stories)
  • “Red Night” (August 8, 1927, North West Stories)
  • “A Grudge is a Grudge” (September 1927, Black Mask)
  • “Birdmen of Borneo” (September 1927, North West Stories)
  • “Doom Drums” (October 1927, Danger Trail)
  • “It Takes a Man” (October 22, 1927, North West Stories)
  • “Isle of Lost Men” (November 1927, Action Stories)
  • “The Brave Tradition” (November 1927, The Elks Magazine)
  • “With Benefit of Law” (November 1927, Black Mask)
  • “Flying Jade” (December 1927, Air Stories)
  • “The Penalty of the Code” (January 1928, Black Mask)
  • “Sun Dog Gold” (January 1928, North West Stories)
  • “The Shanghai Jest” (January 1928, Air Stories)
  • “Sky-High Nerve” (February 1928, Air Stories)
  • “The Devil’s Double-Cross” (March 1928, Triple-X Magazine)
  • “Yangtze Yellow” (March 1928, Air Stories)
  • “Skyrocket Scott” (March 1928, Wings)
  • “The Crimson Diamond” (April 1928, Action Stories)
  • “The Hardy Fly Hard” (May 1928, Air Stories)
  • “Birdmen of Passage” (June 1928, North West Stories)
  • “A Gun in the Dark” (June 1928, Black Mask)
  • “Hell to Pay” (August 1928, Black Mask)
  • “Wolves of the Wind” (August 1928, Wings)
  • “Raw Law” (September 1928, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Far North of Chilkoot” (September 22, 1928, North West Stories)
  • “Dog Eat Dog” (October 1928, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Law Alone” (November 1928, Mystery Stories)
  • “The Law Laughs Last” (November 1928, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Secret Vanity” (April 1929, Columbia)
  • “Law Without Law” (April 1929, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Graft” (May 1929, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Proud Youth” (June 22, 1929, Toronto Star Weekly)
  • “Behind the Shield” (August 1929, Columbia)
  • “New Guns for Old” (Sept. 1929, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Cops Are Dumb” (October 1929, Real Detective Tales and Mystery Stories)
  • “The Makings of Command” (October 1929, The Elks Magazine)
  • “A Gambler Passes” (1929, Five-Novels Monthly)
  • “Hell-Smoke” (November 1929, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Wind Patrol” (November 1929, Wings)
  • “Out of Stir” (November 1929, Young’s Magazine)
  • “The Trail to Caribou” (December 1929, North West Stories)
  • “Tough Treatment” (January 1930, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Alley Rat” (February 1930, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Crate Crashers” (February 1930, Air Stories)
  • “Call It Justice” (February 15, 1930, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Empire of the Devil” (March 1930, Frontier Stories)
  • “Isle of Lost Wings, Part 1” (March 1930, Wings)
  • “Isle of Lost Wings, Part 2” (April 1930, Wings)
  • “Wise Guy” (April 1930, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Chechako Trail” (April 1930, North West Stories)
  • “Isle of Lost Wings, Part 3” (May 1930, Wings)
  • “Street Wolf” (May 1930, Black Mask)
  • “Isle of Lost Wings, Part 4” (June 1930, Wings)
  • “Forbidden River” (June 1930, Five-Novels Monthly)
  • “King of the Yukon” (August 1930, North West Stories)
  • “Ten Men From Chicago” (August 1930, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Shake-Down” (September 1930, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Flying Freebooters” (September 1930, Wings)
  • “Brood of the Wind” (November 1930, Wings)
  • “The Devil’s Souvenir” (November 1930, Far East Adventure Stories)
  • “Rough Justice” (November 1930, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “The Red-Hots” (December 1930, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Bloodhounds of the Sky, Part 1” (December 1930, Wings)
  • “Gun Thunder” (January 1931, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Bloodhounds of the Sky, Part 2” (January 1931, Wings)
  • “Bloodhounds of the Sky, Part 3” (February 1931, Wings)
  • “Get a Load of This” (February 1931, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Hell’s Back Door” (February 1931, Far East Adventure Stories)
  • “The Law Dies Hard” (February 1931, North West Stories)
  • “Bloodhounds of the Sky, Part 4” (March 1931, Wings)
  • “Junk” (March 1931, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Kill” (March 1931, Black Mask; as Grimes Hill)
  • “Sky Scrappers” (April 1931, Air Stories)
  • “Sky Spoilers” (April 1931, Air Stories)
  • “Sky Blazers” (May 1931, Air Stories)
  • “The Spot and the Lady” (May 1931, Black Mask; as Grimes Hill)
  • “Beat the Rap” (May 1931, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Muscle Man” (June 10, 1931, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Death for a Dago” (July 1931, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Spare the Rod” (August 1931, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Nobody’s Fall Guy” (August 8, 1931, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Pearls Are Tears” (September 1931, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “The Mystery at Pier 7” (September 1931, Detective Action Stories)
  • “The Crooked Spot” (October 1931, Detective Action Stories)
  • “Death’s Not Enough” (October 1931, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “It’s the Live Ones That Talk” (November 1931, Black Mask)
  • “Death Alley” (November 1931, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Hell’s Pay Check” (December 1931, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Some Die Young” (December 1931, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Whispers of Death” (December 1931, Detective Action Stories)
  • “Six Diamonds and a Dick” (January 1932, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “The X-Circle” (January 1932, Detective Action Stories)
  • “And There Was Murder” (February 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “The Crimson Fist” (March 1932, Detective Action Stories)
  • “The Quick or the Dead” (March 1932, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Phantom Fingers” (March 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Murder on the Loose” (April 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Murder by Ballot” (April 1932, Detective Action Stories)
  • “The Wheel” (April 9, 1932, The Saturday Evening Post)
  • “Backwash” (May 1932, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Tailormade Clue” (June 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Rogue’s Ransom” (August 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Shake-Up” (August 1932, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “The Pinch” (September 17, 1932, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “He Could Take It” (September 1932, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Lead Pearls” (September 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Red Web” (October 1932, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “The Dead Don’t Die” (October 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “The Candy Killer” (November 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “The Devil’s Slouch” (December 10, 1932, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Red Pavement” (December 1932, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “A Truck-Load of Diamonds” (December 1932, Dime Detective)
  • “Murder Cure” (January 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Me–Cardigan” (February 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Doors in the Dark” (February 1933, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Green Widow” (February 11, 1933, Detective Fiction Weekly; rep. January 1951, Black Mask)
  • “Doorway to Danger” (March 1, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Hands” (March 15, 1933, Complete Stories Magazine)
  • “Rough Reform” (March 1933, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Farewell to Crime” (April 1933, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Heir to Murder” (April 1, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Dead Man’s Folly” (May 1, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “The Lemon” (May 6, 1933, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Murder Won’t Wait” (May 15, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Save Your Tears” (June 1933, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Song and Dance” (July 1933, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Chains of Darkness” (July 1, 1933, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Scrambled Murder” (July 15, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Strangle Hold” (July 29, 1933, Detective Fiction Weekly)
  • “Champions Also Die” (August 1933, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Death After Murder” (August 15, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Guns Down” (September 1933, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Murder & Co” (September 15, 1933, Dime Detective)
  • “Dance No More” (September 1933 23, Collier’s)
  • “The Missing Car” (October 1933, Black Bat)
  • “Magnificent Gesture” (November 1933, Redbook)
  • “Lay Down the Law” (November 1933, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Murder á la Carte” (November 15, 1933, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Scoundrel’s Choice” (December 23, 1933, Collier’s)
  • “Spades Are Spades” (January 1, 1934, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Murder Off Stage” (February 1934, Mystery)
  • “Too Young to Die” (February 1934, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Bad News” (March 1934, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Hot Spot” (March 1, 1934, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Kick Back” (April 1, 1934, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Unfriendly Call” (April 7, 1934, Collier’s)
  • “Read ‘Em and Weep” (May 1, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “The Man Who Couldn’t Spell” (June 30, 1934, Collier’s)
  • “Take It and Like It” (June 1934, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Red Hot” (July 1, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “Killed After 10 P.M” (August 1934, Mystery)
  • “Be Your Age” (August 1934, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Not So Tough” (August 15, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “Too Hot to Handle” (September 15, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “Pardon My Murder” (November 15, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “Leave It to Cardigan” (December 15, 1934, Dime Detective)
  • “He Was a Swell Guy” (January 1935, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Hell on Wheels” (February 1, 1935, Dime Detective)
  • “It’s a Gag” (February 1935, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Ghost of a Chance” (March 1935, Black Mask; Donahue)
  • “Hell Couldn’t Stop Him” (April 15, 1935, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “That’s Kennedy” (May 1935, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “A Couple of Quick Ones” (June 1, 1935, Dime Detective)
  • “The Dead Die Twice” (August 1935, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Die-Hard” (August 1935, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Protecting Monica” (October 5, 1935, Collier’s)
  • “Winter Kill” (November 1935, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Death in the Raw” (October 1935, Dime Detective)
  • “The Curse of Cardigan” (December 1935, Dime Detective)
  • “Blood in the Dark” (January 1936, Dime Detective)
  • “Fan Dance” (January 1936, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “No Hard Feelings” (February 1936, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Sign of Murder” (March 1936, Dime Detective)
  • “Lead Poison” (April 1936, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Make Mine Murder” (November 1936, Dime Detective)
  • “Nothing to Lose” (January 1937, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Woman at Bay” (March 13, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Crack Down” (April 1936, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “The Real Thing” (May 8, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Murder by Mail” (June 1936, Dime Detective)
  • “Hard to Take” (June 1936, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Deep Red” (August 1936, Black Mask; Kennedy & MacBride)
  • “Behind the Eight Ball” (March 1937, Dime Detective)
  • “The Grand Manner” (March 6, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Change of Heart” (April 1937, Redbook)
  • “No Time to Kill” (May 1937, Dime Detective; Cardigan)
  • “Reprieve at Eleven” (June 26, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Never Sing Again” (June 5, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Case Against Women” (July 17, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “The Human Side” (August 7, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Dreams Are Real” (September 4, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “The Bars Between” (October 2, 1937, Collier’s)
  • “Night Shift on the Lunchwagon” (November 1937, Esquire)
  • “The Hard Way” (April 2, 1938, Collier’s)
  • “Weekend to Kill” (June 1938, McCall’s)
  • “Ask Me No Questions” (September 1938, The Elks)
  • “Accidental Night” (October 22, 1938, Collier’s)
  • “All the Answers” (October 29,1938, Liberty)
  • “Chance is an Enemy” (March 11, 1939, Collier’s)
  • “Remember the Music” (May 13, 1939, Collier’s)
  • “You Go Your Way” (September 23, 1939, Liberty)
  • “At the End of the Alley Was a Door” (November 1939, Mystery)
  • “The Legend” (December 1939, Women’s Home Companion)
  • “Man-Crazy” (December 30, 1939, Liberty)
  • “The Simple Life” (January 6, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “One Cold Night” (February 17, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “Bet Your Life” (March 9, 1940, Liberty)
  • “The Valley of Wanted Men” (Spring 1940, Northwest Romances)
  • “A Girl Must be Sure” (August 17, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “The Man Who Lost Everything” (October 12, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “The Man Who Promised Not to Tell” (November 1940, Good Housekeeping)
  • “The Girl With the Blonde” (November 16, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “Something to Remember” (November 30, 1940, Collier’s)
  • “If You Can Take It” (December 1940, Women’s Home Companion)
  • “Best of Luck” (April 5, 1941, Collier’s)
  • “When the Time Comes” (June 7, 1941, Collier’s)
  • “Any Boy Can Be President” (August 23, 1941, Liberty)
  • “Grampa and the Spirit of ’76” (September 6, 1941, Liberty)
  • “All the Good Times” (September 1941, American Magazine)
  • “Case for Innocence” (November 1, 1941, Collier’s)
  • “No Time for Tears” (January 1942, American Magazine)
  • “The Great Big-Hearted People” (January 31, 1942, Collier’s)
  • “Rendezvous With Treason” (February 1942, Coronet)
  • “Remember the Good Times” (June 1942, American Magazine)
  • “You Got to Think of the Kids” (August 1942, Liberty)
  • “No Shadow of Doubt” (August 22, 1942, Collier’s)
  • “Wait Till I’m On My Feet” (December 26, 1942, Collier’s)
  • “Something Like a Dream” (February 1943, Good Housekeeping)
  • “Give Me This” (April 17, 1943, Collier’s)
  • “Welcome Home, Soldier” (January 1944, The Elks Magazine)
  • “Moment in the Dark” (January 1944, Cosmopolitan)
  • “You Know How Women Are” (January 1944, Good Housekeeping)
  • “Just Leave Everything to Me” (May 1944, Good Housekeeping)
  • “The Big World” (October 1944, Women’s Home Companion)
  • “The Things You Say” (February 3, 1945, The Saturday Evening Post)
  • “The Woman in Shadow” (March 31, 1945, Liberty)
  • “Last Question” (April 22, 1945, This Week)
  • “You Haven’t Changed a Bit” (May 1945, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Your Face Looks Familiar” (June 16, 1945, Liberty)
  • “You Can’t Have Everything” (July 1945, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Roses in the Rain” (November 1945, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Round Trip” (December 1945, Good Housekeeping)
  • “You Owe It to Yourself” (February 1946, American Magazine)
  • “Wayward Journey” (May 1946, Good Housekeeping)
  • “The Woman Who Changed Her Mind” (January 1947, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Unfinished Marriage” ( June 1947, American Magazine)
  • “The Web” (June 1947, Cosmopolitan)
  • “The Bribe” (September 1947, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Nightfall” (December 1947, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Rebound” (October 1948, Good Housekeeping)
  • “Back in Town” (October 1948, Liberty)
  • “Appointment in Rio” (January 1949, Today’s Woman)
  • “Not a Care in the World” (September 1950, Ladies’ Home Journal)
  • “All the Way Back” (October 1951, Redbook)
  • “Guess Again, Lady” (February 1951, McCall’s)
  • “Forbidden Affair” (January 10, 1953, The Saturday Evening Post)
  • “Old Put’s Camp Ground” (December 1953, Ford Times)
  • “The Girl on the Big Drum” (January 10, 1954, This Week)
  • “Money, Money” (February 14, 1954, This Week)
  • “Scandal in St. Louis” (February 18, 1955, Collier’s)
  • “White Villa in Rio” (April 1955, Cosmopolitan)
  • “Mask of Murder” (October 8, 1955, The Saturday Evening Post)
  • “Try It My Way” (June 1956, EQMM)
  • “You Can Take So Much” (October 1956, EQMM)
  • “The Man Who Knew” (December 1956, EQMM)
  • “The Island Nobody Knows” (February 1958, Ford Times)
  • “The Man You Love” (April 1958, Family Circle)
  • “No Kid Stuff” (April 1958, EQMM)
  • “Wanted: An Accomplice” (July 1958, EQMM)
  • “Pity the Poor Underdog” (August 1958, EQMM)
  • “The Fifth Question” (January 1959, EQMM)
  • “Killer at Large” (September 1961, EQMM)
  • “Needle in a Haystack” (August 1962, EQMM)
  • PUBLICATION DATES UNKNOWN
  • “Wings of Mercy” (Air Stories)
  • “The Bluff That Worked” (Action Stories)
  • “Bolt From the Blue” (Air Stories)
  • “Boomerang Barnes” (Air Adventures)
  • “Coast of Hate” (Action Stories)
  • “The Come Back” (Lariat)
  • “The Creed of Sergeant Bone” (Argosy)
  • “The Darjeeling Diamond” (Action Stories)
  • “Doom Lagoon” (Action Stories)
  • “Flame Island” (Action Stories)
  • “Fly-by-Night” (Short Stories)
  • “The Yukon Trail” (North West Stories)
  • “Outcast Ships” (Air Stories)
  • “Sky-Trap” (Air Stories)
  • “Sunken Sovereigns” (as Lewis Nebel)
  • “Israel Putnam Camp Grounds” (Ford Times)
  • “Some Grudge” (as Eric Lewis)
  • “Wolves of Dismay” (Wide World Adventures)
  • “Pound for Pound” (Danger Trail)
  • “Proud Eagles” (Air Stories)
  • “The Seed of Caution” (Sea Stories)
  • “South of Saigon” (Air Stories)
  • “Stand Up and Fight” (Short Stories)

NOVELS

  • Sleepers East (1933) |  Buy this book
  • But Not the End (1934)
  • Fifty Roads to Town (1936)

COLLECTIONS

RADIO

FILM ADAPTATIONS

Nebel sold the rights to Kennedy & MacBride to Warner Brothers in the 1930’s, but had nothing to do with the adaptations. Some would argue that it was just as well. Because somewhere along the line, skinny, drunk-as-a-skunk Kennedy became a sassy, sexy, wisecracking newswoman, Torchy Blane, and MacBride became the befuddled object of her affections. Nine films were made in the series. On their own terms, the films are kinda fun. When pressed about it, Nebel would respond, “hell, they always change the stuff around. but i don’t mind–as long as i don’t have to make the changes.”

  • ISLE OF LOST MEN
    (1928, Trem Carr Pictures)
    Silent
    Black & white
    Based on the short story, “Isle of Lost Men,” by Frederick Nebel
    Screenplay by George W. Piper
    Titles by Dudley Early
    Directed by Duke Worne
    Starring Tom Santschi, James A. Marcus, Allen Connor
    Variety called it a “great indie meller” with “all the villainy of the high seas and low life islands,” but felt the “megaphoner” could have done better.
  • SHIPS OF THE NIGHT
    (1928, Trem Carr Pictures)
    Silent
    Black & white
    Based on the short story, “Isle of Lost Men,” by Frederick Nebel
    Screenplay by Arthur Hoerl
    Titles by Arthur Hoerl
    Directed by Duke Worne
    Starring Jacqueline Logan, Sôjin Kamiyama, Jack Mower
    A sequel, albeit with different cast, to Isle of Lost Men. Supposedly top notch.
  • SLEEPERS EAST
    (1934, 20th Century Fox)
    64 minutes
    Black & white
    Based on the novel by Frederick Nebel
    Screenplay by Lester Cole
    Directed by Kenneth MacKenna
    Starring Wynne Gibson, Preston Foster, Mona Barrie, J. Carrol Nash, Suzanne Kaaren, Roger Imhof, Howard Lally, Fred “Snowflake” Toones
    Nebel’s first talkie!
  • SMART BLONDE | Buy this DVD
    (1936, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel and his short story “No Hard Feeelings”)
    The first of the Torchy Blane movies!
  • FIFTY ROADS TO TOWN
    (aka “Fifty Races to Town”)
    (1937, @0th Century Fox)
    80 minutes
    Black & white
    Based on the novel by Frederick Nebel

    Screenplay by William M. Conselman, George Marion Jr.
    Directed by Norman Taurog

    Starring Starring Don Ameche, Ann Sothern, Slim Summerville, Jane Darwell, John Qualen, Douglas Fowley, Allan Lane, Alan Dinehart, Stepin Fetchit
    A romantic comedy, with some crime-flavoured trappings.

  • FLY-AWAY BABY | Buy this DVD
    (1937, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • THE ADVENTUROUS BLONDE | Buy this DVD
    (1937, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Black & white
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • BLONDES AT WORK | Buy this DVD
    (1938, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA | Buy this DVD
    (1938, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • TORCHY GETS HER MAN | Buy this DVD
    (1938, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • TORCHY BLANE IN CHINATOWN | Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • TORCHY RUNS FOR MAYOR | Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • TORCHY PLAYS WITH DYNAMITE | Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Bros.)
    A Torchy Blane movie
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
  • SLEEPER WEST
    (1941, 20th Century Fox)
    Based on characters created by Brett Halliday and Sleeper’s East by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Lloyd Nolan as MICHAEL SHAYNE
  • A SHOT IN THE DARK
    (1941, Warner Bros.)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Po-faced detective Bill Ryder reluctantly teams up with smart ass reporter Peter Kennedy to solve a couple of murders.
  • THE BRIBE
    (1948, MGM)
    Based on a story by Frederick Nebel
    Screenplay by Marguerite Roberts
    Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
    Starring Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price

TELEVISION

  • THE PEPSI-COLA PLAYHOUSE
    (1953-55)
    Anthology series, featuring comedy & drama
    Hosts: Anita Colby, Arlene Dahl, Polly Bergen
    Early episodes were broadcast live.

    • “Girl on the Drum” (May 7, 1954)
      Based on an original story by Frederick Nebel
      Teleplay by Fenton W. Warnshaw

      Directed by Herschel Daugherty
      Starring Lita Baron, Anita Colby, Edward Colmans
  • CELEBRITY PLAYHOUSE
    (1955-56)
    Anthology series

    • “Incident in Rio” (May 15, 1956)
      Based on a story by Frederick Nebel
      Teleplay by Lou Morheim
      Directed by James Sheldon
      Starring  Scott Brady, Janet Blair, Russell Johnson
  • THE GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATER 
    (1957)
    (aka “Mystery Writers Theater” in syndication)
    13 episodes
    Host: George Sanders
    Thirty minute mystery drama series hosted by Sanders, originally intended to adapt stories from members of the Mystery Writers of America.

    • “Try It My Way” (October 8, 1957)
      Based on a story by Frederick Nebel
      Teleplay by Whitfield Cook
      Starring Howard Wendell, Phil Arnold, and Gilbert Frye
  • M SQUAD
    (195760, NBC)
    Starring Lee Marvin, Paul Newlan, Gail Kobe
    The adventures of hard-boiled Lieutenant Frank Ballinger (Marvin), a member of the Chicago Police Department’s elite crime-fighting unit.

    • “The Cover Up” (January 10, 1958)
      Story by Frederick Nebel
      Teleplay by Paul Gangelin
      Directed by Edward Ludwig

  • TV TEATRO
    (1958-59)
    Starring Luiz Orioni, Jaime Barcellos, Marly Bueno
     A Brazilian anthology show, of all things.

    • “A Chantagem” (1958)

      Based on a story by Frederick Nebel

      Adaptation by Dionísio Azevedo
      Starring Vida Alves, Jaime Barcellos, Geraldo Louzano

SCREENPLAYS

  • The Isle of Lost Men (1928)
Respectfully submitted by Hugh Lessig. Additional material by Kevin Burton Smith.
For this short sketch, Hugh says “I am indebted to Katherine Harper, an English professor at Bowling Green State University and the excellent analyses offered at the Pulp Mystery Adventure Web Site (now defunct), the anthology Hard-Boiled, edited by Bill Prozini and Jack Adrian Robert Weinberg’s essay “Cardigan,” found in The Adventures of Cardigan (1988,The Mysterious Press).”

 

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