Bill Trotter wasn’t even notified about the cover-artist change. It was all happening so fast. We figured Dad would be okay, since he was in and out of the hospital for a short time before going in forevermore. I remem-ber that we did some fixing on the Warrior of Noomas cover, laying it out. After that, Dad was lost to me forever as a cover artist, and a few months later he was to die in a convalescent hospital.
By then I was deeply involved with making full use of Bill. He was not only able to do covers, to meet deadline, but also “traffic direct” the whole operation, laying them out, doing all the art direction, and final paste-up. In other words, I didn’t have to do anything other than tell him the title of the book and okay the final artwork. He would take the copy I gave him for cover lines and get them all set up in type, put it all together, and that was it.
With Dad, I’d had to do a lot of that work myself, for we’d literally de-signed covers together. Plus this wasn’t his natural creative field.
With Bill, it was totally different. He was basically a cover artist and art director. He had been doing this kind of thing for a long time and knew the business. I was able to turn that side of the operation over to him, thus free-ing myself up for writing.
I’d actually done the layouts in the months previous to working with Bill Hughes. I remember that Images of Tomorrow had to be done almost on the fly. We’d gone on some weekend trip, Brigitte and I, and mother had “baby sat” our dog, Spatz. When we got home there were messages from Powell Publications and elsewhere. I don’t remember all the details, but do remember putting the Images cover together on the kitchen table.
Everything was done very fast, and delivered directly to the printer. It was the rushing deadlines that force me to make fast, instant solutions to getting covers when Dad was ill.
From Bill Trotter’s POV I’d kind of surprised him. He wondered why I simply didn’t call him to assign the covers to one of his artist connections, who did covers for some of his other books. He was working with a num-ber of people like me.
In any case, I showed him the results of my instant decision, pointing out there hadn’t been time to consult with him–and not admitting that I didn’t want to lose total creative control over the books I was commis-sioned to release, including things like the Harlan Ellison book, and the Powell Sci-Fi line, which, to be truthful, I considered “my personal proper-ty” even though it wasn’t in any way such a thing. I’d convinced Bill Trot-ter to do the line as Powell Sci-Fi and had managed to get the packages to-gether for the opening months with covers Dad did. I had Uncle Louis do-ing the two Noomas covers and then hired Bill Hughes to fill in for Dad.
Over the years between his first magazine sale and last pocket book cover Dad managed to produce around 40 covers. When he started sci-fi work, in the early ’50s, it was considered impossible to break into the New York market from the West Coast. But he managed. By the mid ’50s Dad was getting assignments from such magazines as Famous Monsters of Filmland, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Stories, Fantasy & Science Fiction—along with many pocket book commissions.
To me, personally, the final painting my father did—for my book Im-ages of Tomorrow—combines both his commercial and artistic talents in the very finest level. It was my personal treasure, and I have the original hanging in my home. It was a final statement—a perfect combination of what he stood for as an artist. It said it all.
*Excerpted from Pocketbook Writer: Confessions of a Commercial Hack and edited by Earl Terry Kemp. All of Mr. Nuetzel’s newly released books can be accessed via his website https://haldolen.com/wscan/WScan.html or directly through Amazon.com.
Added notes by Earl Kemp:
REED ENTERPRISES, INC. was William Hamling’s distributing arm of his Greenleaf publishing complex in Mission Valley, San Diego.
From all the employees signed on originally as the firm was established, two quit the company early on and went into business as publish-er/distributor on their own. Presumably having learned quite a lot about what that entails under Hamling’s employ.
The first of those, and by far the most successful, was Donald Partric, who formed Publisher’s Export Corporation (PEC) and operated it from his A-frame residence in the Fletcher Hills sector of El Cajon, where coinci-dentally I happened to live.
And Bill Trotter was the other. Trotter lived in the Shady Lane Apart-ments just off Second and Madison Streets in El Cajon…and I lived two streets from him on Roselle Avenue. There were numbers of times, after the editorial division of Greenleaf was fully operating along with Reed En-terprises in San Diego, when Bill and I would, for convenience or necessity, share the ride and drive into the office together.
He named his company Powell Books.
SOME WRITINGS FROM ELSEWHERE
The following material in this section comes from FLUFF, and reflects material published in what was politely called “girlie mags” back in the 1950s-60s & 70s. I’ve included my “blurg” from this book, so here is starts…
Well, if you are going to deal with prostitution and all that, and some of these stories certainly, at best, linger over this very subject, one way or an-other, then maybe it might be smart to consider an argument…
IN DEFENSE OF PROSTITUTION?
They call it the “wor1d’s oldest profession” and label it as something dirty and immoral. It’s been condemned socially for so long that it is im-possible to remember when it was embraced by all and accepted as a part of life. lt is illegal in the United States, and many countries in the world at least restricted. The so-called “red-light” districts, where a series of “hous-es” would line the street for the direct purpose of selling a woman’s body for an evening to any man might desire to buy her services, are outlawed. The wild west days are over. Today the only way for men to find a woman who is willing to sell herself physically to him for a few hours of pleasure is by going to a cheap bar, or by finding a contact to a “call-girl”. And escort service. It isn’t easy, it isn’t cheap and it isn’t legal! And some say it isn’t moral, either!
We’re not concerned with the morality—purely the practical side of the subject.
In support of the legal and moral side of the argument it should be pointed out that they have a strong case.
Most prostitutes come from broken families, poor families, or where the mother and father are unhappy together or drink to excess, or where there is illegitimacy. Many come from the tragedy of having been seduced at a very early age, either by friend or father or stepfather. The fact is that most girls get into prostitution because of an early environment which was inducive to seeking a quick and easy escape. Poverty, drug addiction and physical threats, can cause a girl to turn to this way of making a living. Sometimes it is simply survival. Runaways get trapped in the big city cesspool that won’t let them escape: sell their bodies or starve. By the time that they have been in their profession long enough to become expert in the arts of pleasing a man for money, more than 80% will have been infect by some form of venereal disease. Many of these women die prematurely of these diseases or because of mental disorders created as a direct result of their professional experience. [2005 note: and Aids demands the use of condoms for safe sex.] This is the ugly side. The elements which would shock any thinking person.
Yet there are other considerations to take into account. One point is that while prostitution has its built-in bad points, it helps to solve many other problems. The Christian theologian, Saint Augustine, after the fall of Rome, believed that if prostitution were eliminated it would cause far worse forms of perversion, vice and immorality, so, in his own belief, it was a lesser evil.
Interesting conclusion.
Society has tried to rule it out many times in history but never managed to do so. It couldn’t be stopped in the 15th or 16th centuries any more than it has been stopped today. Paris, during this period, had orders that all prosti-tutes be flogged and shaved bald and placed into exile for life, without rights of a trial, and yet they couldn’t
stop it.
Today the only thing which laws against prostitution have been able to do is create a new form which is called the “call girl”. And the price for this woman’s services ranges from $25 to $500 a night! (And far more in 2006.) All this has done is to make it impossible for the young man on the street to easily obtain a woman’s services —and places prostitution either in the streets or on a large nationwide big-business scale. Big business hires women to “please” out-of-town clients so they will give the orders to their company. It is all handled in a delicate way—but it is simple prostitution at high prices.
What are the reasons for man to seek out a woman for the night? Why will somebody be willing to pay money for a woman’s entertainment? And more important, why is prostitution so very important to society and young men and women?
Let’s take a typical case of the sensitive young man who believes in the standard “accepted” social moral code. Which is? That there should be no sexual relations between a man and a woman until the wedding night.
It is a popular belief that repressing the sexual urge over a period of time can cause a man to be unable to perform the sex act. Be that as it may, one harm it can do is to make things awkward on that most important night when he takes his bride in his arms and is expected to be a GREAT lover. Without experience! He is expected to caress her with expert care, to build the desires and passions in her virginal body to the peak of ecstasy and then finish this first experience in making love as if he had done it all his life and knew exactly what he was doing. The question which comes to mind quite vividly is: how many women have enjoyed the first sexual experience—even with a skilled partner? And what’s more: what is the young bride’s reaction to a husband who turns out to be awkward, inexperienced and unable to complete a sexual act? It is a recorded fact that many—if not most—divorces are caused because of sexual mismatching or “mental cru-elty,” as it is many times called—which means that the husband, for one reason or another, was unable to develop a satisfactory relationship in the bed chambers with his wife. Many women live their lives in such a marriage with men who never give them sexual satisfaction; some cheat, some simply live sexless lives.
We won’t deal with the fact that few women are virgins on their wed-ding night, or than the very idea of remaining a virgin is considered, in some circles, as rigidly outdated. Regardless of all these factors in modern times, the reality is that we live in a world of true believers who think that sex is basically for building family, rather than pure pleasure and daughters are still taught to save it for their wedding night. The public stance, even the legal structure in many countries and societies place a rigid price tag on virginity for unmarried women. So, let us bypass all that and consider what prostitution can do for society in general.
Sure, it is true that many couples manage to learn together but how many others never get this far?
How many so-called “frigid” wives are merely women who have hus-bands unable to excite their desires and bodies to the point where they get sexual pleasure during the act?
If a young man had a way to learn, before marriage—without the pro-cess of seducing as many young girls as he was able to—the arts of love making, many of these problems would he solved before the wedding night! And there are many experienced men—but their experience has come from seducing young women and learning while taking the virginity of their bodies. How much worse is this than seeking out an expensive prostitute and learning “what the score is” from one who knows the ways of sex?
But this is merely one side of the defense for prostitution
What about the man who is not married? What should he do to relieve the needs of his body? Seduce women for the mere pleasure of seeing how many he can have? Or would it be better if he could seek out a prostitute, pay for her services and then leave? Some would suggest that is far more moral to seek a professional rather than taking advantage of some women who might not want to be sexually active with her date.
Seduction isn’t rape; but it can be a form of pressure that breaks down the reluctance of some women not sophisticated enough to simply say “No” and mean it.
What about sexual crimes?
Would there be as many if there was legal prostitution? It is provable fact that in countries where prostitution is legal, there are less sexual crimes, almost to the point where they aren’t even heard of!
How many young girls have not only lost their virginity in a sordid back-seat-of-a-car-seduction, but also ended with bearing an unwanted child? Is this what the law is trying to aid by making it impossible for a young man to find out what sex is all about with a professional prostitute. Isn’t there some realistic way to avoid such tragic “accidents”? Sure, sexual education on a grand scale might help. But even then, there is a place for prostitution even in this social equation.
Wouldn’t it be much better for a young man to satisfy his natural and normal interest in his body and sexual urges with the help of a professional prostitute instead of with some young girl his own age whom he takes ad-vantage of?
There is no question about the fact that neither solution is really desira-ble. Neither pro nor con leads to Utopia! Yet where is the answer? What solution could be suggested which is better than having legal prostitution to solve the sexual side of American life? A defense for prostitution is merely an argument against the closed-mind attitudes of many people who say that sex isn’t here, that it isn’t a problem, and that people shouldn’t indulge in it! And there are no children born out of wedlock, and teenage pregnancy doesn’t exist.
It is impossible to curb the sexual urge; it is a basic part of our nature and needs to be realistically guided and realistically dealt with in a way that is the least damning and damaging to people and society at large.
It is a defense for the only solution which we have at the present for the realistic problem of the need for young men to learn something about the sexual side of life without harming themselves or others in the process. Better with a professional than seducing virgins. The idea of children learn-ing from other inexperienced children is frightening. And that’s what hap-pens every day. Young boys doing their best to get the girl to do it with them. Such activity is a reality, but it is, at the same time, a damning one, and if prostitution was widely accepted it might very well help to cut down the numbers of illegitimate births.
The fact is that no matter what the law reads it can never, has never, and will never make prostitution stop existing. People have tried to stop it throughout history and failed. It existed in ancient times, before Rome and it was a natural part of that Empire. And it continues to exist. Where there is a demand, there will be a product to fulfill that demand! Enough men want the services of prostitutes—and because of that they will be with us until another solution has been presented for our needs.
Saying it is wrong, evil and immoral, doesn’t change the fact that there is a basic need for prostitution in the scheme of things—like it or not! And until that time when the need for it stops and another solution is offered, there will be men to buy, women to sell, and all the shouting and all the legal double-talk will never change the fact that it is here to stay!
Right or wrong! Moral or immoral!
Face the truth!
There is a defense for prostitution!
This is one of the liquor articles which I had published during this time. It is my special History of Rum. This is a about the charms of rum and how it can be used to create a seductive mood for a romantic night for a couple in love. Or, at the very least, a night of mutual pleasure, if you happened to be a would-be pirate with a lovely maiden on hand to go off on a South Sea Island adventure. That’s when you…
SAY RUM, CHUM?
Anytime anybody thinks of a fancy, out-of-this-world drink they will invariably come up with a mental picture of some rum drink. There are several reasons for this; and most of them are pretty good and understanda-ble. Rum drinks have the hint of tropics and therefore the hint of roma
nce and passion which will delight any lovely female and help to bring her into a more willingly seductive mood.
Once, when having a friend over for a dinner and entertainment, and a few drinks, the subject came up as to what had been put into the “cocktail that I’d mixed her with.” It would seem, from her reactions, that something had hit her right between the eyes like an exploding atomic bomb, sending colorful stars in all directions and she couldn’t see how it had all been done. She said it made her feel so warm and gay—and she wasn’t talking about the weather or anything short of an inner feeling to be affectionate and show her pleasure at having been put in the “right mood.” The simple answer was, naturally, rum.
There is nothing like rum in the world, when it comes to making a strong drink with hidden power-drivers, or making a good tasting drink which all will enjoy, regardless of their tastes in liquor.
Today, rum is thought of in combinations such as the zombie, which a rather sharp restaurant owner created for the pleasure of his customers. To-day, Don the Beachcomber is almost as famous as the drink he originated.
But rum has had a long and interesting history which is connected with literature, pirates and rum-runners, that gives it more than a mere romantic flavor to the taste buds.
“Fifteen men on a Dead Man’s Chest—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!”
Robert Louis Stevenson wasn’t just writing a few lyrical lines of fanta-sy for his book Treasure Island, when he created those now famous verses for his bearded and deadly pirates to sing while downing bottle upon bottle of this dark brown liquor which was their favorite “man’s” drink. He was taking a truth of life about these rugged men of the high seas and recording down for history and literature the devotion which these daring men had for this distilled sugar byproduct.