WE’RE back with the last of the recently found Post War Pinkham stories that ran in the first few issues of Flying Models Magazine. It’s 2o years since the great guerre and Phineas is now running his own “Flying Carpet Airlines” whose motto is: “We Fly Anything, Anybody, Anywhere! The Sky Is The Limit!” He’s settled down in his old Boonetown, Iowa (not with Babbette) and has a son Elmer who is chief pilot at his airlines. His mechanic from the Ninth Pursuits, Casey, is chief grease monkey of the outfit.

“GROUND ALL FLIGHTS!” Phineas Pinkham has just purchased an army surplus L5 and is back in the air flying only to believe he has slipped back to the great guerre and a wayward army surplus barrage balloon now being used for advertising is a big WWI barrage balloon that needs bustin’! From the January 1948 issue of Flying Models, it’s Phineas Pinkham—older, but not necessarily any wiser—in Joe Archibald’s “Trouble or Nothing!”

With the CAA after his hide, the CAB out for his blood, and the FBI gunning for his practical joke business, Phineas Pinkham, the Bagdad, Ohio, wonder-man, could think of nothing better to do than violate every flight rule in the books by hunting rubber cows in the skies while dodging a flock of USAAF .50 caliber slugs!

• Download “Trouble or Nothing” (January 1948, Flying Models)

Five years ago we posted a great article about Robert J. Hogan at home from 1962. We’ve come upon another great article about Hogan as he sets out on his book writing career in 1948. He wrote a number of hard cover westerns for Dodd, Mead & Company, three of them historical westerns featuring a cowboy named Smoke Wade who rides a pinto horse name Jake!

Here’s the article from The Bergen Evening Record, July 14, 1948:

Pulp and Slick Author of More Than 13,000,000 Words Commences Task of Writing First 2 Book-Form Novels

The Bergen Evening Record, Bergen, New Jersey • 14 July 1948, P.20

Describes Office Boy Literature As An Escape And Good Clean Fun

One of Americas most prolific fiction writers, Robert J. Hogan, a man who has written more than 13 million words yet never has had a novel published in book form, is spend-ing the summer in Tea neck while he works on two novels, his first to be published between stiff covers.

STARTED 18 YEAR8 AGO

Hogan started writing for pulp and slick magazines in Florida 18 years ago. 8ince that time this word artist has written enough material to fill 35 “Gone With the Winds”. His efforts during this time were directed toward creating mystery stories of the China Seas or thrilling young and old with stories of racing drivers and airplane pilots.

The present work Hogan is doing is along the lines of the stories he has been working on throughout his career but he is gaining the added recognition of having them put in book form rather than the usual style of the pulp magazines.

He says that people today have a false opinion of the type of literature found in the news stand mystery magazines and that because of an early black eye the magazines have been forced to toe the mark of decency closer than many of the leading magazines of the day. He has received letters from children telling him that their parents would not allow them to read his stories. His advice to the young ones was to allow their parents to read a few of the stories and then abide by their decision.

According to Hogan, after father read the story the children had difficulty in getting the books away from their parents. He believes, that many persons in the country look at his work and similar work of other authors as a complete escape from the realties of the problems at hand.

The writer says that many of his Wall Street friends discovered that the literature of the office boys was a wonderful escape and a way to be completely consumed in good clean fun. According to Hogan, the Wall Street trycoons first became aware of his stories in the early thirties, those days when business was slower than ever before on the exchange. Since that time he has had many devoted followers from the region of finance.

Hogan was born in a parsonage in upper New York State, but left the small town of Buskirk to attend Blair Academy in Blairstown, and then 8t. Lawrence College, where he majored in agriculture.

During the years that he has been turning out his 115 or more novel-length mystery stories he has been living in Florida and Lake Mohawk. Once quizzed on why he preferred to live at Lake Mohawk and Teaneck in the off seasons he stated “I find the local yokels much more interesting than the summer colony people or the Winter vacationers of Florida”. The statement appeared in an article in the Saturday Evening Post about his home at Lake Mohawk, a home built and designed by the writer.

After a time Mrs. Hogan caught the writing bug and has since been fiction editor for the magazine Institute of New York City. Along with caring for her family, writing and editing, Mrs. Hogan also finds time to do some painting.

Hogan has become quite interested in the historical background of the Bergen County area since he has resided in Teaneck. Bent on doing a historical novel of the area Hogan is presently compiling facts about the early homes and historical sights.

When his pretty 19-year-old daughter, Betty, who attends Ogelthorpe University in Georgia, was asked if she too wished to follow a writing career the answer was an emphatic no. She hopes to be a Kindergarten teacher when she completes her studies.

• Download “Pulp and Slick Author of More Than 13,000,000 Words Commences Task of Writing First 2 Book-Form Novels” clipping (14 July 1948, Bergen, NJ The Bergen Evening Record)
• Download “Pulp and Slick Author of More Than 13,000,000 Words Commences Task of Writing First 2 Book-Form Novels” full page (14 July 1948, Bergen, NJ The Bergen Evening Record)

BACK with another of Frederick Blakeslee’s “Adventures Into The Unknown!” Blakeslee published fourteen installments of his two-page illustrated looks into the Unknown between March 1948 and October 1950. With the demise of SHOCK after just three issues, “Adventures Into The Unknown” moves to the long-running Dime Mystery Magazine! In the December 1948 installment, Blakeslee focuses on the Isle of Man and the reported spectral goings on in “Adventures Into The Unknown: The Spectre Hound in Man”

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN: The Spectre Hound in Man
by Frederick Blakeslee (Dime Mystery Magazine, December 1948)

Come back next Monday when Blakeslee will focus on the evil ghosts of Borley!

TIME for another of Frederick Blakeslee’s “Adventures Into The Unknown!” Blakeslee published fourteen installments of his two-page illustrated looks into the Unknown between March 1948 and October 1950. From the pages of the second issue of SHOCK, Frederick Blakeslee looks into the ghosts of Mont St. Michel—an island off the coast of Normandy connected to the mainland by a causeway that is submerged at high tide and the site of one of the gorier battles of the Hundred Years’ War. From May 1948 it’s “Adventures Into The Unknown: The Ghosts of Mont St. Michel!”

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN: The Ghosts of Mont St. Michel
by Frederick Blakeslee (SHOCK, May 1948)

Come back again when next time Blakeslee will focus on the Spectre Hound in Man!

IT’S no secret that we’re big fans of the work of Frederick Blakeslee here at Age of Aces Books. He did the covers for all of Popular Publications’ big Air titles—Dare-Devil Aces, Battle Aces, Battle Birds, Fighting Aces, Dusty Ayres and his Battle Aces, and, of course, G-8 and his Battle Aces. In addition he did the interior art for Dare-Devil Aces, Battle Birds and Fighting Aces. But Blakeslee did art for other titles as well.

This month we’re going to present an illustrated feature Blakeslee ran in the pages of New Publications’ weird mystery magazine SHOCK.This was “Adventures Into The Unknown”. “Adventures Into The Unknown” was a two page illustrated feature that explored weird and eerie mysteries and tales.

Unfortunately, SHOCK only ran three issues, and Blakeslee’s feature only in the first two, but it moved to the pages of Popular’s long running Dime Mystery Magazine with the December 1948 issue. It stayed with the title even when it changed it’s name to 15 Mystery Stories in 1950.

From the pages of the premiere issue of SHOCK, Frederick Blakeslee looks into the mystery surrounding Glamis Castle—long thought to have hidden a monster deep within a secret room! From March 1948 it’s “Adventures Into The Unknown: The Secret of Glamis Castle!”

ADVENTURES INTO THE UNKNOWN: The Secret of Glamis Castle
by Frederick Blakeslee (SHOCK, March 1948)

Smithsonian has a more detailed article on the mystery if you care to read more about it!