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Web
Site Picture Credits
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used in the book and on this Web site are from Hal Glatzer's collection.
Too Dead To Swing is a work of fiction; and no representation of any person or persons, living or dead, is intended by these illustrations. No claim of copyright to any of the source materials is made or implied by their inclusion here. The illustrations are intended for educational purposes only: to help convey to audiences a feeling for life in 1940, when the story takes place.
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Home Page
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Eric
Larson, of Studio E-Books, in Santa Barbara, CA,
was the art
director for the
novel, Too Dead To Swing, published in
2002 by
Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co., of
Santa Barbara.
The
illustration on the front cover,
which suggests a publicity shot of Ted Nywatt and the women in the
Ultra Belles, is, however, a publicity shot
for an act called Lester Cole and the
Debutantes. Hal
Glatzer purchased the photograph in San Francisco
in 1998, from a dealer in paper
ephemera. Although undated, it was probably taken around 1940.
It's credited on the face to the Maurice Seymour studio, Chicago, and is inscribed in pen: "To MS - Lester Cole and The Debs." On the reverse side, the photograph is ink-stamped: "Lester Cole and The Debutantes."
Only
one brief Web citation has been found for this
act, and it references a movie appearance in
1945. (This particular Lester Cole is not
the same Lester Cole who was a blacklisted
Hollywood screenwriter.) Anyone who can
supply background information about Lester
Cole and The Debutantes is warmly encouraged
to contact
Hal Glatzer.
The map of California,
on the back cover of the book, is a detail from the
front cover of The Penguin Guide to California, Penguin Books, 1947; artist
uncredited.
The images
accompanying the chapter-headings (Sunday,
Monday, etc.) are all from unmailed postcards and/or fold-out
color postcard packets from various publishers; undated, but
c.1940-45.
The
diagram of the Pullman car (murder scene) was adapted by Hal
Glatzer, using Paint Shop Pro, from a brochure titled Life On A Pullman, published by The Pullman Company, Chicago, 1939.
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The
cover art for the audio-play of Too Dead To Swing is a collage. Initially assembled by Hal Glatzer, using PaintShop Pro, it incorporates design elements from two vintage paperback books whose cover artists are uncredited: In The Teeth of the Evidence (Avon, 1951) and The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars (Dell, 1946). |
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The collage was retouched and enhanced by Dean Gustafson, using Photoshop. |
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1940
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"California in 1940" |
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The map of California is
a detail from the cover of The Penguin Guide to California, Penguin Books, 1947; artist
uncredited. The "CALIFORNIA" logotype is from an undated picture-postcard, probably c.1945. |
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"The Band's Itinerary" |
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The images of the Santa Cruz waterfront, the Claremont Hotel, the "Golden Eagle Hotel" [actually the Hotel Sacramento], Lake Tahoe, and Market Street in San Francisco, are all from unmailed postcards and/or fold-out postcard packets from various publishers; undated, but c.1940. |
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"Cost of Living" |
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The 1939 Plymouth coupe is abstracted from an advertisement in The New Yorker, April 1, 1939. The women's and men's clothing illustrations are reproduced from the Fall and Winter 1939-1940 Montgomery Ward catalog. The Spud cigarette ad is abstracted from an ad in The New Yorker, March 25, 1939. |
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"Train Travel" |
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The illustration of a streamliner is abstracted from an advertisement for Sandeman sherries and ports in The Stage Magazine, January 1937. The illustrations of Pullman car interiors, in both black-and-white and color, are from a brochure titled Life On A Pullman, published by The Pullman Company, Chicago, 1939. The photos of a club car and a ladies' washroom aboard Southern Pacific trains are from the house-organ Southern Pacific Bulletin, March 1937. |
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"Ju-Jitsu" |
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"Breaking An Unwelcome Embrace" was drawn by Alton Pickens, the illustrator of Lightning Ju-Jitsu, by Harry Lord (New Power Publications, New York, 1943). |
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Swing Music
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"Sheet Music" |
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Audio-Playwrights sells sheet music for the three songs in Too Dead To Swing "Walking On Eggshells," "Remember To Forget," and "Yours 'Till Dawn." The price is $20 for the set of three, including shipping (Order). |
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The artworks on the covers were adapted from the covers of three vintage music sheets. Audio-Playwrights will refund the purchase price of the Too Dead To Swing sheet music to the first person who correctly identifies all three vintage cover sources (Got the answers?). After that happens, the original sources will be identified here. |
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"Swing Music" |
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The line-art illustration of two teenagers dancing is from College Humor magazine, March 1940. The magazine page featuring Tommy Dorsey, and headlined "Jitterbugs May Be Noisy, But I Love 'Em," is from Look Magazine, February 27, 1940. |
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"Women In Swing" |
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The photo of the brass section of Ina Rae Hutton's Melodears appears in "American Women in Jazz," by Sally Placksin (Wide View Books, 1982). It is credited "Courtesy of Ruth McMurray," and McMurray is identified as playing trombone at top, right. |
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The color illustration of women musicians wearing red neckerchiefs, was drawn by Kurt Hilscher. It is abstracted from the cover of a song-magazine titled Klingende Illustrierte, published by Verlag Martin Curtius, Berlin. Undated; probably c. 1943. |
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"Swinging Soundies" |
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The photo of the Panoram "Soundie" jukebox, and of Lorraine Page's band, are from Look Magazine, November 19, 1940. |
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Return To Top
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Hannah
Dobryn
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"The Author" |
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Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case. Uncredited cover artist. The book, by Dorothy Wayne (probably a pseudonym), is one of at least four in the "Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery" series. It was published in 1933 by the Goldsmith Publishing Co., Chicago. |
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The photograph of Hannah Dobryn is a snapshot purchased at a flea market in San Francisco in 1998. The date of the photograph is unknown; but (judging from her attire) probably c. 1940. The identity of the subject is also unknown. "Hannah Dobryn" is a pen name for Hal Glatzer, who wrote and copyrighted the novel Too Dead To Swing, adapted it as a script, and produced the audio-play. |
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"The Composer" |
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The illustration for the Republic serial Zorro's Fighting Legion is a theater lobby-card. It appears in "Cliffhanger: A Pictorial History of the Motion Picture Serial," by Alan G. Barbour (The Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ, 1980). |
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The publicity shot of Ted Nywatt and the women in the cast of To The Nines
(also appearing on the cover of the book) was purchased in San Francisco in 1998 from a dealer in vintage paper ephemera. The photo is undated, but is credited on the face to the Maurice Seymour studio, Chicago, and is inscribed in pen: "To MS - Lester Cole and The Debs." On the reverse side, the photograph is ink-stamped: "Lester Cole and The Debutantes." "Ted Nywatt" is a pseudonym for Hal Glatzer, who wrote and copyrighted all three of the songs -- music and lyrics -- that are performed in Too Dead To Swing. |
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