Bell Features and Publishing Artists Part III - René again

The mystery discussed in the last post on early Canadian paperback artist René has been solved (thanks Morgan). He is Rene Kulbach.

He worked on Bell Features original early 1940s comics and did the covers on two of Bell's 17 paperbacks.

Here I'll show his front cover signature which matches up with his comic one.

Bell Features and Publishing Artists Part II - René

The seventeen paperbacks published by Toronto's Bell Features and Publishing circa 1946 have seven signed covers. Five are by Adrian Dingle and two by an artist signing as René. Both covers have a difficult to decipher signature. Fortunately he/she signed the back cover of The Canyon of Death more clearly as "RENÉ".

Assuming this is not René Magritte the artist remains unknown.

Bell Features Part V

Have just added another book from 1940s Canadian paperback publisher Bell Features and Publishing to the collection. The series is not numbered but there are only 17 titles known. This is my sixteenth.

Like the other books in the series Heart in Chains is digest sized (18mmx14mm) and 96 pages of very small type. It is a paperback original. The author is Dorothy Leona Edgar, about whom nothing is known. She did write one other novel, The Strange Loves of Vickie Saunders. She may have been the wife of another writer Keith Edgar who had two books published by Bell.

The story "is a dramatically drawn picture of a sinister woman who spun a web of deceit, little caring of the hearts that were trapped therein."

Bell Features and Publishing Part IV

The 1940s Canadian publisher Bell Features and Publishing is best known for their comics. But there was money to be made in post war Great Britain and Bell found a partner in Pembertons of Manchester. Together they published 17 96 page digests:

Armstrong, Buck              Laila--Queen of the Range
Crowell, Will                    The Terror of Mocking Valley
Denison, Clift                  The Spy in the Room
Douglas, Dayle                Haunted Harbor
Earl, Cliff                        The Cowboy Kid from Bear Paw
Edgar, Dorothy                Heart in Chains
Edgar, Keith                    The Canyon of Death
Edgar, Keith                    The Kunwak Treasure
Ernenwein, Leslie             The Renegade Westerner
Gould, Stephen                Homicide Johnny
Leinster, Murray               Cowgirl Fury
Leinster, Murray               The Blonde and the Outlaw
Porter, Raymond W.          Living by the Trigger
Porter, Raymond W.         Under the Sign of the Six-Shooter
Shappiro, Herbert             Love Throws a Loop
Yates, Peter                    Curtain Call for Murder
Yates, Peter                    The Dress Circle Murders

Nine of the 17 were westerns. Here are a couple. I don't know where either was first published. Both are copyright 1946.

Bell Features and Publishing Artists Part I - Adrian Dingle (1)

The signatures of two artists are found on some of the 17 books published by Toronto's Bell Features and Publishing in 1945 and 1946. The best known is Adrian Dingle (1911 - 1974). Dingle started his career in comics, then onto magazine illustration and fine art. Below are two of  his Canadian superheroes from 1942 - the Penguin and Nelvana.

Bell - The Blonde and the Outlaw

Bell Features and Publishing Part III

Another two of the 17 books published by Toronto's Bell Features and Publishing for the post war UK market.

Both were published as paperback originals: Curtain Call for Murder (New York: Vulcan Publications, 1945) as Vulcan Mystery 6 and The Dress Circle Murders (New York: Green Publishing, 1945) as Five Star Mystery 1. The Bell editions are dated 1945.

Bell Features and Publishing Part II

Here are two more books published by Toronto's Bell Features and Publishing in 1946 for the post war UK market.

Cowgirl Fury was first published in July-October 1931 issues of Triple-X Western as "The Two Gun Kid". Love Throws a Loop was published as The Texan (New York: Robert M. McBride, 1946).

Bell Features and Publishing Part I

Anyone with an interest in 1940s Canadian low-cult will recognize the name Bell Features and Publishing. Bell was one of the major publishers of Canadian comics. Much less well known are Bell's 17 books. All are unnumbered 96 page digests printed in 1946 and sold in the UK through Pembertons of Manchester Ltd.

Armstrong, Buck              Laila--Queen of the Range
Crowell, Will                    The Terror of Mocking Valley
Denison, Clift                  The Spy in the Room
Douglas, Dayle                Haunted Harbor
Earl, Cliff                        The Cowboy Kid from Bear Paw
Edgar, Dorothy                Heart in Chains
Edgar, Keith                    The Canyon of Death
Edgar, Keith                    The Kunwak Treasure
Ernenwein, Leslie             The Renegade Westerner
Gould, Stephen                Homicide Johnny
Leinster, Murray               Cowgirl Fury
Leinster, Murray               The Blonde and the Outlaw
Porter, Raymond W.          Living by the Trigger
Porter, Raymond W.         Under the Sign of the Six-Shooter
Shappiro, Herbert             Love Throws a Loop
Yates, Peter                    Curtain Call for Murder
Yates, Peter                    The Dress Circle Murders

Here are two of the ten westerns. The Canyon of Death is an original. I don't know the publishing history of Under the Sign of the Six-Shooter.

Keith Edgar

Keith Edgar wrote seven novels for Canadian paperback publishers in the 1940s. In order of publication (all Toronto):

Honduras Double Cross (Howard Publications, 1944) - "a story so remarkable, and full of exciting adventure, that your interest is held in mystifying suspense right up to its thrilling climax."

I Hate You to Death (F. E. Howard Publications, 1944) - "Basil Hayden, Publisher of a chain of magazines .. is confronted by seven writers and artists who ... have done work for him with nothing to reimburse them but abuse and ill-feeling. This is a story full of action and humor, and is well worth while for all lovers of mystery."

The Case of the Incendiary Blonde (The National Publishing Company, 1945) - "You will find these novelettes  to be filled with rapid-fire adventure and mystery with the Incendiary Blonde sprinkled with enjoyment." The title story is one of eight stories.

The Canyon of Death (Bell Features & Publishing Co., Limited - 1946) - "How Luke Sheldon turned the peaceful town of Ranger into a bloody battlefield makes this hard-riding and hard-shooting tale impossible to put down until the last Sharps rifle has fired and the last Colt is silent." The Kunwak Treasure (Bell Features & Publishing Co., Limited - 1946) - "From the moment when they are stranded in the hostile wilderness, the story moves forward with breathless pace and the reader will find it impossible to put the book down."

Arctic Rendezvous (Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd., 1949) - "Here is the story of a man and woman, savage and elemental, matching their hatred and a strange attraction in a race for a guilty secret and a sunken fortune."

"Murder," She Said (Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd., 1950) - "Every man who looked at Susan Brown began to get ideas - wrong ideas. How was anyone to know that she was more at home with a sten gun and a set of burglar tools than in a parked car or the back row of the movies?"