Uh, did I misunderestimate something? In any case, what happened — or, what didn’t happen, to be more accurate — was a bit of humor that hardly makes up for the conflict that could have been. And what is one to make of an awkwardly-written passage as this, something that's not an uncommon Daly feature?: “Eddie Gorgon was a big shot, with his brothers behind him. But then, I was something of a big shot, with nothing but myself behind me - or maybe a gun or two, though they’re generally before me.” Huh? There's got to be a better way of trying to say what he was trying to say.
But what do I know? And what do many critics and editors of Daly during and since the pulp heydays of the ‘20s and ‘30s know? Regardless of what detractors say, what reviewers or indifferent Black Mask editor Joe Shaw had to say — “Write them. I won’t like them. But I’ll buy them and print them.” — it must be remembered that Carroll John Daly, for the most part, had been a popular success: whenever his name appeared on a Black Mask cover, sales jumped 15%.
Which probably suited Daly just fine. He had a lead character he could vicariously mix up in some common brawls not of his concern, and Daly himself could remain as over-inconspicuous as the houses on the White Plains street he couldn‘t distinguish. Meanwhile, he’d just stay indoors and reap the rewards.
Article comments