Part I introduced novels that were inserted in the weekend edition of at least 24 North American newspapers between 1919 and 1973. The novels were not serialized but complete in one issue, at least in the US. The Star Weekly published by the Toronto Star had two and three part inserts from 1960 to 1973. Little information is available on these inserts but I estimate between 10,000 and 12,000 were published. Many titles were published in more than one newspaper so the number of titles is less, perhaps 8,000 to 10,000. The vast majority were recently published or soon to be published romance, adventure, Western, crime, thriller and other genres. Most are long forgotten and out of print. But one title stands out.
On May 23, 1937 readers of the Sunday editions of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free Press and Chicago Herald and Examiner found that week's novel, The Great Gatsby. While advertised as "complete" this version is nearly 30% shorter than the published book, 34,000 words vs. 48,000. Rare today this abridged version was reprinted in volume 21 (2023) of The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review. Here is the abstract for the accompanying article:
"Shortly before F. Scott Fitzgerald relocated to Hollywood for his final attempt at screenwriting, a condensed version of his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, appeared in a select few newspapers on 23 May 1937, twelve years after its original publication fell far short of its author's original expectations. Featuring artwork by well-known book illustrator and landscape artist Harold E. Snyder (who presented the characters in some decidedly 1930s fashions rather than how they might have dressed and looked in 1922), the condensation sanitized the novel, revising offensive language like Owl Eyes's "poor son-of-a-bitch" (recast as "poor fellow") and excising suggestive scenes (such as Nick's strange, sudden appearance next to Chester McKee's bed, where the photographer reclines in his underwear). This version of Gatsby has long been hard to find, with only a handful of surviving copies available in various Fitzgerald collections."
Here are three US newspaper novels from that era. The Bangor Daily News novels are 16 pages, The Philadelphia Inquirer 20 pages.
Bangor Daily News - August 19, 1939 - Step in the Dark by Ethel Lina White (1876-1944), Wm. Collins, 1938.
Bangor Daily News - October 7, 1939 - Smoking Altars by Gladys St. John Loe (1895-?), Claude Kendall, 1936.
Philadelphia Inquirer - July 13, 1941 - Deep Waters by Ben Ames Williams (1903-1989). I can't find a book version of this. It was published earlier in Maclean's May 1, 1939.
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