BigJackBrass Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Gerard Fairlie was apparently the inspiration for Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, and was also the man who took over writing the series after the death of "Sapper." I rather like the idea of a two-fisted hero who ends up writing books about himself; might be interesting for a group of characters to meet the prototype for the fiction. Actually, I should have mentioned Drummond much earlier, because he's a character who really deserves inclusion in "Pulp Hero." The books may be jingoistic, racist and violent (Drummond has been described as a "demobbed thug"), but they are of their time and are ripping adventures. Carl Peterson is an absolutely perfect Pulp villain, charming, ruthless and a master of disguise. These days the Drummond stories are often overlooked, but it's worth remembering how immensely popular they - and the many stage and movie versions - were. Even if your characters don't meet "Bulldog" there's a fair chance they'll go to see him prtrayed on the silver screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldorn Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Clyde Beatie (probably misspelled) Frank Buck's "rival". Edward R. Murrow, Reporter. Could be met at any point as he tries to build up the his CBS news team. His real claim to fame came during WW II. But could be met prior to that. Jack Benny, Fred Allen, or any radio show host. The characters could make a guest apperance on a popular comedy or quiz show in New York or Hollywood. David O. Selznick, Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMills, or any other Hollywood producer, director or star. Guarding the filming of a new movie on location (haunted mansion, mystical ruins) while mingling with famous celebrities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomNarrator Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters These are all good references, but a bit skewed to explorers and adventurers. The Pulp Age was also an age of "Progress." Despite the hardships of the Depression (or more likely because of them), people still had faith that science and reason could eventually solve mankind's problems. In my alternate 1930's setting of Terra Omega, Nikola Tesla had an even greater impact on history, but he's just one example. Here are two excellent real life models for your well-meaning but mad scientist/engineer: Howard Scott Founder and Executive Director of the Technical Alliance, an American think tank whose members include such notable men of science as Charles P. Steinmetz, Richard C. Tolman, and Bassett Jones, Scott is a prodigious inventor and vociferous champion of technocracy. The only child of a 19th century American logging baron, he was a child prodigy who read (and understood) evolutionary biology by the time he was four years old. With the use of linear vector analysis, he developed “The Mathematical Theory of Energy Determinants†as a model to describe the entire energy ecology of the North American continent. The premise of Scott's thinking was that anything that functions performs as an "energy consuming device." This definition covered everything from geophysical systems, through ecological systems, organisms, populations, tools and machines. He argued that just like a steam engine, a social system's use of energy could be assessed in terms of efficiency. Of course, the Axis has its share of pulp scientists too: Viktor Schauberger Eccentric Austrian genius and author of "Unsere Sinnlose Arbeit" or “Our Senseless Toil,†outlining his unconventional ideas about harnessing the untapped “implosion energy†of water. His implosion technology creates a self sustaining vortex flow of any liquid or gaseous medium, which has a concentrating, ordering effect and which decreases the temperature of the medium, in opposition to the dictates of "modern" thermodynamics. His Repulsine dynamic hydroelectric engine can produce power and even suspend gravity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted June 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Of course, the Axis has its share of pulp scientists too: Viktor Schauberger Eccentric Austrian genius and author of "Unsere Sinnlose Arbeit" or “Our Senseless Toil,†outlining his unconventional ideas about harnessing the untapped “implosion energy†of water. His implosion technology creates a self sustaining vortex flow of any liquid or gaseous medium, which has a concentrating, ordering effect and which decreases the temperature of the medium, in opposition to the dictates of "modern" thermodynamics. His Repulsine dynamic hydroelectric engine can produce power and even suspend gravity. If I remember right, wasn't Schauberger supposedly involved with the (probably fictional) Kubelblitz project, i.e., 'Nazi flying saucers'? If so, he might make a good villainous mad scientist for after WW2 as well, if you want to do Operation High Jump as a sort of 'last hurrah' of the pulp era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomNarrator Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters If I remember right' date=' wasn't Schauberger supposedly involved with the (probably fictional) Kubelblitz project, i.e., 'Nazi flying saucers'? If so, he might make a good villainous mad scientist for after WW2 as well, if you want to do Operation High Jump as a sort of 'last hurrah' of the pulp era.[/quote'] He was indeed, allegedly. One of the beautiful things about pulp is, the rumors are almost never accurate - the truth is even more outrageous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters One of the beautiful things about pulp is, the rumors are almost never accurate - the truth is even more outrageous. Even better, both rumors and reality have plenty of validity as the basis of Pulp Hero adventures and characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guzalot Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Elliot Ness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Hmm Nazi "flying saucers", not to mention Horten Flying Wings, an early jet or two and maybe even a buzz bomb to harass the P C's with. Aint evil Nazi's fun ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Chamberlin Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I'm probably way off time-wise here, not to mention genre, but what about F.W. Murnow, the guy that did the very first Dracula movie - I just figure he's got to have a few shady secrets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Harry Houdini is a natural, a seriously tough guy in addition to escape artist, magician and professional debunker. Aleister Crowley, of course, world-class mountaineer, adventurer and rake, plus some stuff with magic or something. Too bad Giovanni Belzoni (http://famous-egyptologists.com/belzoni.html) is too early. Circus strongman, inventor, explorer, tomb robber; defiled countless ancient Egyptian artifacts with his name, which you can see in the British Museum to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davies Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I don't remember exact details, but I know that both E.E. "Doc" Smith and Robert A. Heinlein were polymathic-types, and I recall hearing that "Doc" may have actually had some adventures during the Prohibition era ... Chris Davies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Maybe it's just the wrestling fan in me and I'm not sure if he fits the time line or not but I'm thinking Lionel Conacher fits the pulp character mold. In his lifetime he was: an undefeated boxer, a popular pro wrestler of his era, a world class lacrosse player, a Hall of Fame hockey player, a Hall of Fame football player and if the Blue Jays or Expos had existed back then he'd probably have been a Hall of Fame baseball player too. Later went on to be very successful in politics as well, if I'm not mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldorn Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Mentioning Heinlein and "Doc" Smith got me thinking. Lester Dent (Doc Savage's creator) was reported to be a gadgeteer in his own right. Walter B. Gibson was a magician and ghostwriter for Blackstone (I believe, I'm doing this from memory). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters There's always Hedy Lamarr, the glamorous German movie star who drugged her maid to escape her husband (a Viennese munitions dealer sympathetic to the Nazis) and, incidentally, invented frequency-hopping in a secret patent for an unjammable radio guidance system for torpedoes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Joe "The Mighty Atom" Greenstein. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1885440308/103-4529281-0546218?v=glance 5'4" train pulling strongman vaudvillian and wrestler, one of the first westerners to study grapling in Japan; could bend horseshoes, snap chains, twice held back small planes as they were taking off, once took a pistol round to the forehead and was only knocked out, fought the KKK and the American Nazis, HtH combat instructor in WWII and friend to many of the strongest (and strangest) men of the age. Incredible character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I presume Greensteen was the inspiration for the Golden Age Atom character? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I presume Greensteen was the inspiration for the Golden Age Atom character? Looks like it. He may also be the inspiration for some classic Superman art; breaking chans that had been used to bind his arms to his sides was always part of Greensteins act, and he was performing in NY at the right time for Siegel and Schuster to attend his shows. The book is well worth picking up if you can; http://www.ironmind.com has them in stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted June 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Joe "The Mighty Atom" Greenstein. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1885440308/103-4529281-0546218?v=glance 5'4" train pulling strongman vaudvillian and wrestler, one of the first westerners to study grapling in Japan; could bend horseshoes, snap chains, twice held back small planes as they were taking off, once took a pistol round to the forehead and was only knocked out, fought the KKK and the American Nazis, HtH combat instructor in WWII and friend to many of the strongest (and strangest) men of the age. Incredible character. I've read about him before. Truly an amazing man. Didn't he claim he gained his incredible strength by a study of kabbalah while in yeshiva in Poland? So I remember, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted June 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I'm probably way off time-wise here' date=' not to mention genre, but what about F.W. Murnow, the guy that did the very first Dracula movie - I just figure he's got to have a few shady secrets.[/quote'] Murnau plays a starring role in _Shadow of the Vampire_, a film about his making of Nosferatu. Orlock, as it turns out, is a real vampire, and Murnau has to make some unsavory promises to keep him around. Needless to say, neither of them intend to keep their word... Really a very good film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters I've read about him before. Truly an amazing man. Didn't he claim he gained his incredible strength by a study of kabbalah while in yeshiva in Poland? So I remember, anyway. Nope, though he was a devout orthodox Jew from Poland. He started out training as a cricus wrestler as a child in Poland, travelling a circuit that took the circus all the way to India and back. Fled to live with relatives in America around 1904 after accidently killing a drunken soldier (the soldier had attacked and killed a local; Greenstein was unfortunate enough to catch him), went to Japan while working as a freight handler and studdied Judo, came back to the states and worked at odd jobs and as a pro-wrestler until he got his big break in Vaudeville. He did claim that following a strict Kosher diet, faith, and daily exercise were the keys to physical Strength, but (afaik) he was not a Kabbalist. His exercise program was mostly a mix of Yoga and traditional Western and Japanese wrestling exercises, though he also did daily manual labor (early in his career) and strength performances. In a way he was one of America's first Strongman-Preachers, though most of the current crop are Born Again Christians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Either way i'm sure that any enterprising referee could construct an interesting game around Murneau, "Nosferatu" et al ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Joe "The Mighty Atom" Greenstein... Incredible character. Well now, here's a strange and tenuous Pulp HERO link. Example character Randall Irons is pursued by an enemy named Colonel Bruce Forsythe... Bruce Forsythe is a real person (still alive and performing today) who began his career under the name "Boy Bruce the Mighty Atom." Nah, couldn't be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the Evil DM Posted July 6, 2005 Report Share Posted July 6, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters my vote goes to Nikola Tesla. One of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald Mask Posted July 6, 2005 Report Share Posted July 6, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters Sykes and Fairburn of Shanghai - proably survived more gun and knife fights than any fictional heroes. Buster Crabbe - Olympic swimmer and star of Tarzan , Flash Gordon and many action movies. Basil Rathbone - movie actor and fencer on an Olympic level . Otto Skorzney- Geramn Olympic athlete and Commando-Paratrooper . Jesse Owens - Fastest Man on Earth and Track and field winner in 36 olympics.And Errol Flynn who was a a smuggler and Quasi - Pirate in his home country of Tasmania befroe he came to Hollywood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackerjacker Posted July 9, 2005 Report Share Posted July 9, 2005 Re: Real world Pulp characters For modern pulp theres that "rebel billiionaire" guy. Not the most impressive pulp character but c'mon, bored millionaires are the crucible that form most groups of pulp adventurers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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