FenrisUlf Posted September 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! One strange idea for a member of the Empire Club would be: Moe Howard. He was quite a scrapper when a kid, he had a fine sense of social justice for his time, and he wasn't lacking in chutzpah either. He was also a fair character actor, though personally he was shy and retiring -- rather different from the usual pulp hero (or his screen self). Anyone who wants to know more should try and hunt down a copy of his autobiography. It's a very good work for someone who wants to set a story or scene in the midst of vaudeville and its performers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! One strange idea for a member of the Empire Club would be: Moe Howard. He was quite a scrapper when a kid' date=' he had a fine sense of social justice for his time, and he wasn't lacking in [i']chutzpah[/i] either. He was also a fair character actor, though personally he was shy and retiring -- rather different from the usual pulp hero (or his screen self). Anyone who wants to know more should try and hunt down a copy of his autobiography. It's a very good work for someone who wants to set a story or scene in the midst of vaudeville and its performers. Have you ever read any of Stuart Kaminsky's detective novels featuring P I Toby Peters ? Set in early 1940's Hollywood they often feature well known movie people (including The Marx Brothers, Mae West. Howard Hughes etc) in supporting roles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted September 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! I believe I read one starring Mae West, but I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! The Mae West one is titled (not surprisingly) "He Done Her Wrong" I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted September 12, 2005 Report Share Posted September 12, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Not really contributing any. But I was thinking it is getting to be a England/America thing perhaps too much. A suggestion might be more of other places if it is to be international. Course I am drawing blank, but just trying to help with suggestions. Surely, there would be a Frenchman or 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted September 13, 2005 Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Not really contributing any. But I was thinking it is getting to be a England/America thing perhaps too much. A suggestion might be more of other places if it is to be international. Course I am drawing blank, but just trying to help with suggestions. Surely, there would be a Frenchman or 2. Jules Verne, of course. Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile. Wilhelm Messerschmitt and Juan de la Cierva can discuss Aeroplane design. And back to Anglo-Americans: A. Marmon Wasp---won the first Indy 500, in 1911. Plus Hiram Bingham, who 'discovered' the Inca city of Macchu-Pichu in the same year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu2000 Posted September 13, 2005 Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! I like several of the celebrities mentioned. Has anyone mentioned Lon Chaney (Sr)? I think The Man of A Thousand Faces would've been a good candidate for "secret adventures." He and Douglas Fairbanks could've teamed up as a 20s Hollywood version of James West and Artemis Gordon. Battling insidious threats to the movie business . . . and the world! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead guy on tab Posted September 13, 2005 Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! How about some up and comers: Raymond Chandler Ian Fleming Alfred Hitchcock Henry Stanley (pre 1904) William J. Burns (detective after 1909) Eddie Rickenbacker for the Francophiles: Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) Pierre and Marie Curie Gustave Eiffel Rene Fonck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted September 13, 2005 Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! It's a little late, but I think if you're going to suggest somewhat obscure people, you have to also give a sentence or two describing their achievements. Besides, I'm lazy, and I think it would be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted September 13, 2005 Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Looking for furriners, eh? Well... William Butler Yeates (Ireland) won the Nobel in Literature for his poetry in 1923. Fritz Lang (Austria) director who made Metropolis in 1927. He could base it on things he heard from the club. In 1914, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (Russia) put out the word of his theory of "Conditined Repsonse", and teased a lot of dogs by ringing dinner bells. Also, I forgot to include Edgar Rice Burroughs earlier in "writers". A lot of his stuff made publication in the 20's, and he could have gleaned some of it from the exploits of members of the club. And H.G. Wells. Now there's a guy, rife with plot leads, especially if he lends the team his time machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted September 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! I once read a horror novel which starred both H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. They might have been surprisingly effective. Though if they did join, Lovecraft would have had to play the Club-based Mycroft to Howard's two-fisted investigator. Hmm, maybe HPL and REH fought DEMON back in the 20's or even the early 30's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu2000 Posted September 14, 2005 Report Share Posted September 14, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Huh, Like Nero Wolfe. That'd be cool. Maybe the trauma of battling the outre contributed to their early ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted September 14, 2005 Report Share Posted September 14, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Unfortunately, Allen Pinkerton (founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the first private eye company) is before the Pulp Era. Buffalo Bill Cody didn't die until 1917. Three months later "Diamond Jim" Brady died (millionaire, trencherman, and man-about-town). Mustafa Kemal, founder of modern Turkey. Aviator (and member of the US Army Air Corps) James H. Doolittle. Charles Leonard Woolley and Howard Carter, UK archaeologists. William Randoph Hearst, muckraking publisher -- some PCs might work for him. Charles Atlas, of "97-pound weakling" fame. Hugh Lofting, author of the Dr. Doolittle books. Since all (IIRC) of them were adventures in far-away lands, perhaps some of them are "real" places? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! In the realm of semi-mystical/horror: Lawrence Stewart Talbot -- AKA Larry Talbot -- AKA "The Wolfman" (as portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr) I can see him using his fortune to sponsor a variety of quests "against the dark"....Provided he has defeated his own demons that is.... -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted September 20, 2005 Report Share Posted September 20, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Ned Buntline --- Prolific "dime novel" writer. Pretty much the inventor of the Western (as a genre), creator of the iconic figure of "the gunslinger," and portrayor of "lawmen" and "desperadoes." And he really did visit the West back when it was "wild." William Tatem "Bill" Tilden, Jr. --- First American to win men's singles at Wimbledon. John Ray Dunning --- inventor of the cyclotron. Edward R. Murrow --- Broadcaster and commenter on "the media." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Rube Goldberg. Popular cartoonist of unusual "inventions." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest George Kirby Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Females? Irene Adler, of course! Along with Nellie Bly, surely. Annie Oakley as well, in the early days, with Babe Didrickson (spelling) in the later days. Jim Thorpe would a natural; not only is he an excellent athlete, but he had quite a few adventures in the wilds of deepest (bigoted) America in his day. Ditto Jack Robertson, Satchel Paige, and a number of others. In a similar vein, "The Babe"---Babe Ruth---would be a welcome addition. Umm... not to be a wet blanket, but several of the people you mention would never be admitted into the Empire Club except as employees. Thorpe is an American Indian, Paige is black... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Rube Goldberg. Popular cartoonist of unusual "inventions." I agree; and since this is an international club, let's include Rube's British equivalent Heath Robinson ! (They can compare notes !) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! I once read a horror novel which starred both H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. They might have been surprisingly effective. Though if they did join, Lovecraft would have had to play the Club-based Mycroft to Howard's two-fisted investigator. Hmm, maybe HPL and REH fought DEMON back in the 20's or even the early 30's? Is that "Lovecraft's Book" by (I think) Richard Lupoff ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 21, 2005 Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Not really contributing any. But I was thinking it is getting to be a England/America thing perhaps too much. A suggestion might be more of other places if it is to be international. Course I am drawing blank, but just trying to help with suggestions. Surely, there would be a Frenchman or 2. I'm sure someone can come up witha Frenchman or two. To represent Australia I suggest "Snowy" Baker, multi faceted athlete (including boxing) ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted September 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Is that "Lovecraft's Book" by (I think) Richard Lupoff ? I forget the author, but the title was "Shadow's End". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! To 'Fenrisulf" "Shadows End" or "Shadows Bend" ? Hmm I think that I might have that one too. Trade paperback (or at least larger than normal size paperback ) ? Mostly blue cover ? ( I haven't read it yet, of course, wheras I HAVE read the Lupoff title that I mentioned !) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Females? Irene Adler, of course! Along with Nellie Bly, surely. Annie Oakley as well, in the early days, with Babe Didrickson (spelling) in the later days. Jim Thorpe would a natural; not only is he an excellent athlete, but he had quite a few adventures in the wilds of deepest (bigoted) America in his day. Ditto Jack Robertson, Satchel Paige, and a number of others. In a similar vein, "The Babe"---Babe Ruth---would be a welcome addition. Umm... not to be a wet blanket, but several of the people you mention would never be admitted into the Empire Club except as employees. Thorpe is an American Indian, Paige is black... Pulp Hero, page 155: "It also has no policy barring members of the non-white races from joining--..." Admitedly, this is unusual for the time period (v. Pulp Hero page 18ff "Racism And Sexism In The Pulps"), but not very unusual; moves away from racism and sexism were made in many quarters throughout the era. OTOH, looking at the sidebar on page 155, I have to suspect some of the potential members suggested (including by me) might have trouble meeting the requirement to "...have undertaken a journey of exploration, [or] been involved in some adventure..." However, the requirment to have "...otherwise attracted the attention of the Club for...derring-do and ammazing exploits...." is something of a catch-all, don't you know? So, I suppose quite a number of scientists, artists, and athletes might squeak in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted September 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! Pulp Hero' date=' page 155: "It also has no policy barring members of the non-white races from joining--..."[/quote'] They mention the Empire Club in Pulp Hero? COOL! To 'Fenrisulf" "Shadows End" or "Shadows Bend" ? Hmm I think that I might have that one too. Trade paperback (or at least larger than normal size paperback ) ? Mostly blue cover ? ( I haven't read it yet' date=' of course, wheras I HAVE read the Lupoff title that I mentioned !)[/quote'] You're right, it was "Shadow's Bend" My mistake, and thanks for the correction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Re: The Empire Club: recruiting drive! They mention the Empire Club in Pulp Hero? COOL! Yeah, the whole book is full of cool sidebars and other informative bits. Mega-cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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