When Worlds Collide, Part 6 of 6

The final installment of When Worlds Collide by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer ran in the January 1933 issue of Blue Book Magazine.

The Editor’s introductory column does not appear in this issue so there is no advance praise for the novel this time, but there are a lot more illustrations for this final installment, 12 in all. That matches the number of illustrations in the opening installment but when you consider the relative sizes of the pictures this is the most heavily illustrated section of the novel. A number of the illustrations are combined into stunning two-page or three-column spreads.

The layout of the initial two pages is interesting in that it not only evokes an upward journey away from the earth, foreshadowing the trip to Bronson Beta, but it uses the placement of the images to emphasize that motion. It also drives home the notion of a Space Ark.

The sweeping upward motion of the opening images is echoed here as the ship departs Earth. As earthbound creatures inhabit the lower-left portion of that previous image, the ultimate destination of Bronson Beta is featured in the upper-right here alongside its primary Bronson Alpha.

In one of the most dramatic images from the novel, travelers in the rocket ship look on as Bronson Alpha collides with Earth, destroying both.

The culminating image is reminiscent of Apollo 11 as Tony descends from the ship to become the first human on Bronson Beta.

Dawn breaks over a new world in the final image as a metaphorical Adam and Eve look on.

There’s no preview of course, but After Worlds Collide starts in just nine months!

Mind, Inc.

Franké did quite a lot of work for Robert Collier’s How 7 through its limited existence. Collier’s next publication, Mind, Inc. was a successor of sorts. Based on the small number of issues available, Mind, Inc. contained little to no art.

What we did find in the June 1929 issue was an advertisement for Man and His Powers by Richard Lynch. It contains a portrait of the author which I’ve reconstructed a bit.

This same image was also used in single-page advertisements for Work and Supply, another of Lynch’s books. This ad appeared in the July 1929 and August 1930 issues.

When Worlds Collide, Part 5 of 6

In the January 1933 issue of Blue Book Magazine, we get the penultimate installment of When Worlds Collide by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.

As in the last issue, the editor didn’t single out this novel for special praise, it’s an example of the theme among many. The point though remains complementary,

“Writing,” observed an acute commentator, “is not literature unless it gives to the reader a pleasure which arises not only from the things said, but from the way in which they are said; and that pleasure is only given when the words are carefully or curiously or beautifully put together.”
In the choice of material for this magazine we are governed first by what is said: by the power and pace and originality of the story; by the reality and human appeal of the people in it; by the interest of its background. But we must also be governed by the manner in which a story is told; for our readers are entitled to the best in this respect also.

Consider… “When Worlds Collide” —a daring idea, set forth with purpose and conviction; people who are real and deserving of your friendship; added to these, a fine quality in the telling that makes it a novel among a thousand.
The Editor of Blue Book

Here are the illustrations. The layout of the initial two pages is different once again.

Here’s a closer look at the opening image.

This installment has only a single two-page spread.

The final image, below, looks distinctly different from the rest of the illustrations. Could this be a different artist? What do you think?

Kay’s Encounter

Franké’s second illustrated story in The American Girl was “Kay’s Encounter” by Jane Abbott. It appeared in its entirety in the April 1921 issue. In it, a young girl battles an alligator to save her beloved horse, Patsey. The story had only a single illustration.

Resources

“Kay’s Encounter,” The American Girl, April 1921, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

The Flesh-Pots of Egypt

The first story Franké illustrated for The American Girl was surprisingly entitled “The Flesh-Pots of Egypt.” It appeared in the January and February issues of 1921.

The scans we have available could be much cleaner; it appears these were converted from microfilm back to a full-sized pdf but without that this artwork might not have been preserved at all.

The magazine had not standardized their layouts yet. In place of a masthead for the story title, we get these sketches incorporated into the first paragraph. The second image looks like an alteration of the first.

Each of the two installments had a single illustration. This one from the January issue,

…and this one the following month.

Resources

“The Flesh-Pots of Egypt,” The American Girl, January 1921, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.
“The Flesh-Pots of Egypt,” The American Girl, February 1921, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

Some Notes on The American Girl

The Sept 1922 issue, Cover Art by J. H. Litchfield

The American Girl was the official magazine of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Originally titled The Rally, it was founded, in 1917, about 5 years after the organization itself. It lasted until 1979.

The early issues contained the kind of content familiar to anyone who has received a newsletter from a national organization: chapter news, national campaigns, motivational articles, and the like.

The title change came in June 1920 and with it an increased page count and additional material beyond just scouting news. This also began a transformation from a newsletter to a magazine that doubled as a recruiting tool. In 1923 the publishers announced their intention to create “a magazine that will appeal more and more to our friends who are not Scouts — or, not yet Scouts, shall we say?” “It will be a great day for us when The American Girl takes her place proudly on the newsstands with all the other big grown-up magazines,” they proclaimed.

Fiction arrived as part of the additional materials, both as short stories and serials. With the fiction came illustrations, usually just one or two for each story or installment. Franké was a regular contributor for about three years starting with the January 1921 issue.

Resources

Girl Scouts of the USA accessed 10 August 2022
“Our New Name,” The American Girl, June 1920, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.
“New Year Resolutions,” The American Girl, January 1923, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

When Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 6

The fourth part of When Worlds Collide by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer was published in the December 1932 issue of Blue Book Magazine.

The editor doesn’t feature the novel in his editorial so prominently this time. Perhaps that’s natural; we’re past the halfway point. It nonetheless figured into his overall theme.

It is interesting to observe, as one reads the magazine through, how fiction reflects the fact that thought is indeed the seed of action…

In that much-discussed novel “When Worlds Collide,” where the “survival of the fittest” theory is invoked to make possible the escape of a few from what seems universal catastrophe. And elsewhere… it is the conflict of ideas no less than the collision of facts that provokes the swift dramatic action essential to a good story.
The Editor of Blue Book

Here are the illustrations. The layout of the initial two pages is different this time.

Let’s take a better look at those images. Unfortunately. the scan is a bit muddy.

The fourth and fifth images combine into a dramatic two-page spread.

The final two images also combine over two pages to depict another intense confrontation.

Comrades of Chaos, Part 1 of 5

Comrades of Chaos by J. Andrew Wood was published in Blue Book Magazine, March 1932.

The author fancies himself an expert on Soviet Russia and maybe he was. In a letter published in the same issue he said the following.

It is certain that, about Russia, the truths of today are not the truths of tomorrow. If you ask me if the Five-Year Plan is to succeed, I answer, “I don’t know.” … They have reached about the sixteenth century in the calendar of civilization, except for the airplanes and things they play about with. And, at their head are a number of white-hot enthusiasts whose ideas project, perhaps, a century ahead of now. Add to that a police system (inherited and hotted-up from the old Czarist days) of which Torquemada might have been proud to be the head – and something worth writing a story about is bound to happen.
J. Andrew Wood

It’s not clear if this novel was ever published in book form, but it is clear that it had some wonderful illustrations.

Story Hour Readings: Fourth Year

In contrast to the other things we’ve posted lately, this comes from the early part of Joseph Franké’s career.

In 1921 Earnest Clark Hartwell published a series of grade school readers for students, one for each of the first through eighth grades. Joseph Franké contributed to most of them.

That includes the fourth-year reader. Franké is explicitly mentioned on the title page for many of them but this one reads “Illustrations by E. A. Furman, B. Westmacott, E. B. Comstock, and others.” Franké is definitely one of the others.

Here are his illustrations that I was able to identify in this volume, separated by the stories that they illustrate.

The Magic Bowl

The Thanksgiving Gifts

The Miller of the Dee

How Crusoe Made Pottery

Try Again

Harry and the Guidepost

Uncertain Images

There are a number of unsigned images that could be Franké’s work. Here are the two most likely.

This one is unsigned, but it is also an illustration for “The Magic Bowl.” The rest of the volume has stories that are illustrated by a single artist; that may also be the case here.

The second picture appears with a story called “The Prudent Farmer.”

There’s a signature in the lower right-hand corner and it could say “Franké” but it’s hard to be sure.

The resolution here isn’t teriffic but for the moment we can at least see the images. Eventually I’ll have to buy a hard copy of this book so that I can get a better look at this signature and maybe find more. If the quality of the hard copy is good enough I’ll try to get better scans of these.

In the mean time you can check it out for yourself at the link below. The best way to see the pictures appears to be to download the pdf.

Story Hour Readings — Fourth Year (1921)

What do you think? Are these last two images his work? How about the other unsigned images? Did I miss any? Please tell us in the comments!

When Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 6

Here are the illustrations from the third part of When Worlds Collide by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer as published in Blue Book Magazine, November 1932.

The magazine is still enthusiastic about the novel. Here’s what they had to say about it this issue.

Not many stories, of course, can give you all or even most of these things. Yet now and then some special achievement really does this. Consider in this light, for instance, “When Worlds Collide,” by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie: it offers you new ideas to think about, new facts to know, interesting people—and in the climax a place fire-new indeed to visit!
The Editor of Blue Book