The Online Reefer Madness Teaching Museum
REEFER
MADNESS
ERA:
PULP BOOKS - Dime
Store Novels
Note:
this index is a work in Progress, it by no means lists ALL
the reefer madness
Dime Store Novels. At best it is only a starting list.
How
does one categorize reefer madness era (dime store) novels?
The start [1934) and stop (1962) dates, which correspond to the campaign
are obvious.
For
the purposes of this (very partial but ever growing) list museum has chosen to
sub-categorize them as follows:
·
[a] Overt
- which includes such obvious novels as "Marihuana" by William Irish.
With its sleazy (good girl art)
cover and plot---centered around the evil weed---obviously falls into this
category.
[b] Covert - In which the "weed of madness"
only plays a secondary or side role in the stories plot.
·
[c]
Obtuse - But by far most novels fall into this type. These are the ones where marihuana itself has little to do
with the novels plot, but when mentioned is always done so in the negative.
[hypothetical example]
"Sleazed-bag Johnny, was slithering his way back
down the dark streets toward his den of iniquity, when to his right he spotted,
Jimmy-the-fink. Hey, he thought to
himself, Jimmy always sells good medical marihuana cigarettes-----just what he
needed before committing some heinous crime. "Hey, Jimmy, do you have some good smokes for me"
he asked." etc.
No
doubt some of the authors actually relived there own works, but many others were
simply in it for the money -- and let the truth be damned.
Of such was the stuff of the Reefer Madness campaign.
1936
LADY IN THE MORGUE By
Jonathan Latimer
A nude woman found hanging from a bathroom door has no
shoes, no name, no friends, and only four dollars. But someone wants her body enough to kill a morgue attendant
to steal it (we've got a dead naked blonde, an alcoholic private detective, a
marihuana smoker, a drunken bulldog, and a left-handed undertaker --how could
you *possibly* need anything more in a mystery written in 1936?
In the 1930s narcotics were associated with the forces of evil but
Latimer describes rather lightheartedly in The Lady in the Morgue a group of
musicians getting stoned in the back room of a restaurant. "Those are my
boys," said Udoni. "Many musicians have cults, as you call them. It
makes the dreams beautiful, instead of sordid, as they ordinarily are from
marihuana. I myself rarely smoke, but now it helps me... forget" "You
mean you get so you really believe in Brahma?" Crane demanded. Udoni said.
"After the second cigarette one believes anything."
1938
YOUNG DOCTOR KILDARE BY Max Brand.
A real sick book, by Max Brand.
Doctor Kildare (who works at the DuPont general hospital) --
An interesting adventure for the doctor as he gets involved with a
marijuana racket (picture of a joint on the front and spine of the DJ).
1945
MARIJUANA MURDER By Anonymous, Canada, Superior Publishers, Limited Cover shows woman in raincoat
being grabbed at by hand cover art not credited, rare digest size
1946
IT AIN'T HAY
(1946) By David Dodge
Murder and
the Marijuana Traffic. The chapters
have titles like, “Quickest road to insanity,” or “Dope and homicide”
etc. A perfect example of reefer
madness and with good reason, technical supervisor was the infamous Joe
O’Ferrall (the narc) who next to Anslinger did the most to promote it.
1948
THE INCONVENIENT BRIDE
(1948) By James M. Fox
Crime map
on back (Marijuana mixup location
etc.)
1949
BELOW SUSPICION
- (1949) By John Dickerson Carr
Dr. Fell
pointed to the far end of the eerie, marihuana-smelling
chapel. Down there, he said, candles burn at the altar.
You grovel before Lucifer. Ect.
- She was caught in a frenzied nightmare of murder and profane desire.
1949
THE
AMBOY DUKES (1949) By Irving Shulman.
This is a novel of
Wayward youth in Brooklyn. Dead End Kids of Brooklyn. No girls to tough for the Dukes to handle.
No parties too wild for the Dukes to throw.
For the Amboy Dukes were one of the wildest toughest of those hard-boiled
young gangs who terrorize Brooklyn's sprawling slums, for whom theft, dope, and
mayhem are just the ordinary happenings of any average day.
1950
FIGURE IT OUT FOR YOURSELF
- (1950) By James Hadley Chase
Also sold
under the title of "The Marihuana
Gang”
1950
DUKE (J.D.GANGS AND
MARIJUANA IN HARLEM);
By ELLSON,HAL POPULAR LIBRARY 219 (1950) on
order from e-bay.
1951
I'LL GET MINE
(1951) By Thurston scott
She loved
Men, Money and Marijuana
1952
THE MARIJUANA MOB, James Hadley
Chase, Eton 1952 Original Wraps. VGF Eton E116 A paperback remake of
" Figure it out for Yourself"
complete with Good Girl Cover art and Great 1950's references to marijuana.
1952
KISS THE KILLER
(1952 ) By Joseph Schallit
When Marijuana
means murder! (back Cover) A ROTTEN RACKET NARCOTICS - some punk is selling marijuana
to teenagers.
1952
HOOKED (Narcotics: America's Peril) By Will Oursler and Laurence Dwight Smith. -"The Brutal Truth about Dope and Crime" - Not
actually a pulp, but you could fool me by the cover.
1952
TEEN-AGE VICE by C. R. Cooper
The original books about dope,
gangs, & juvie delinquents! Narcotics
& drugs, jailbait & sex, gangs & fiends in rare vintage form.
1953
THE HOODLUMS By
John Eagle
“It had been a wild night.
When he awoke there was only Lisette. She was in a ripped slip. One eye
was black and blue and swollen. Her hairdo was down. He looked around. On the
dresser were empty bottles. He swung his feet to the floor. It was full of
ashes, marijuana butts and spilled whiskey” etc.
1954
GANG GIRL By
Wenzell Brown
Good Girl
Art cover, back cover reads: “Educated
in the streets - Fifteen years old and she was learning fast.
She knew how to fight with her knees, her elbows, her teeth, how to hold
a blackjack, how to spot a cop, how to roll marijuana, how to lure a man into a
dark hallway. etc., (Avon 560)
1954
TEEN-AGE GANGS -
(1954) By Dale Kramer & Madeline Karr
* Not a
Reefer Madness book
1954
DEVIL'S DAUGHTER – By Floyed Shaw AKA Park Avenue Girl:
“Her world was a tawdry place of phone calls in the
night, rotting tenements with walls reeking of marijuana smoke, callous men whose ruthlessness had carved an empire
in crime and vice—“
1954
RUSTY DESMOND By JANUARY,STEVE
First
Edition 1954. Cover depicts 2
Juvenile Delinquents fighting (teenage Girl and Boy) with 50's convertible in
the background. Marijuana is
mentioned on the first page in a paragraph about the story and the making of a
juvenile delinquent; "secret dates, marijuana parties, and stick-ups for
thrills" - avon book 553
1955
TRAP by George E. Jones, A Graphic Mystery #106, Full of marijuana
and prostitution from the 50s.
1955
RUN, CHICO, RUN – By Wenzell Brown
Gold Medal. A novel of Spanish Harlem in the '50s, where the
kids were weaned on reefers, lead pipes and gang wars. Chico was one of those kids, one who found love in the
squalid back alleys, who knew there was a better life beyond the block's squalor
and struggled to find it-- until Spanish Harlem sucked him back to its depths.
1956
MEAN STREETS By
Thomas B Dewey
Includes, among other things, rape and reefers
(Marijuana). It is the story of a
city terrorized by a juvenile gang.
1956
PARK AVENUE GIRL By
SHAW,FLOYD
(Reprints
Avon 570) 956 Reprint Edition.
Cover depicts a young woman
smoking a cigarette and surrounded by three men.
The blurb on the first pages states "she knew the degradation of
strange apartments reeking of marijuana smoke"
- avon book 740
1956
VIPER: THE CONFESSIONS OF A DRUG ADDICT – By Raymond Thorp
London Robert Hale
Limited 1956. For the first time in
this country since de Quincey, a drug addict has written his astounding
confessions; a documentary that horrifies yet compels the reader to walk with
Thorp into the half-light of London's drug world. -- The
author, a young clerk from suburbia, haunts the jazz clubs of Soho and finally
begins to smoke Indian hemp or marijuana. It
is the first step on the road to prison and to a living death.
Soon he is a "pusher"
1956
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL By Morton
Cooper
Basis for jaw-dropping 1958 Mamie Van Doren
"bad-film"--an amateurish, hilariously awful marijuana expose!
"High School Confidential" a disturbing novel of today's teen-age
delinquents, by Morton Cooper based on the MGM motion picture release, Loews
Inc.
1957
THE BABY DOLL MURDERS
- (1957) By James O. Causey
She could
look like a wistful child and she loved to play games -- such as murder, men and
marijuana.
1957
THE BIG BOXCAR
By Alfred Maund
(Rape,
Alcoholism, Marijuana and Prostitution in Alabama) (SOUTHERN NOVEL)
First
Edition 1957. Cover depicts a young
woman and a boxcar full of hoboes, some are
shooting
craps, others sitting around. The
blurb is on the back cover telling about the characters in the book,
"The Spook - whose story of addiction to marijuana is both painful
and hilarious" ballantine book 250
1958
HELL TO PAY, By Cox, William
Kids with ducktail hairdos and tight pants who live on marijuana
and the big H and glory in viciousness. Juvenile Delinquent novel
1958
VICE TRAP -
(1958) By Elliott Gilbert
Nick, who
found release in marijuana--while he yearned for another man's wife.
1959
BASEMENT GANG By Williams, David
NY
Beacon [1959]. A bold novel of reefers and sex in the city. Photo cover shows
man with women with thinly disguised erection.
This is “a daring novel of reefer
smoke, reckless thrills and the wild love of boys and girls of the city
streets!” In short, this is a juvenile delinquent classic.
1959
ANYTHING FOR KICKS - (1959)
BY Morton Cooper (author of High School Confidential) Some delinquent punks with
switchblades. Some girls who
couldn't wait to ply an ancient trade .. A few cats who puffed reefers.
1959
CRY KILL -
(1959) - By Wenzell Brown
A separate
world with hell just a few feet away -Reefer smoke cast a thick blue haze over
the purple warriors' club room. Etc…
1959
SEE HOW THEY BURN: - (1959)
by Edwin Gilbert
–
(original Title: The HOT AND THE COOL).
“A world clouded with lust and Marijuana smoke, but Gilbert has given
it a feeling of authenticity.” – Florida TIMES UNION
1959
.SIN STREET- By
BRISTOW,BOB
A story of teen-age
prostitutes and marihuana DELL B SERIES B-139 (ORIGINAL 1959) PAPERBACK
(HARDBOILED NOVEL) GOOD . Books Are
Everything, Richmond, KY, U.S.A. (on order)
1960
VICE-COP - By
DEMING,RICHARD
(A story of thrill parties, marijuana and murder) Cover
by Paul Rader shows a teenage semi-nude girl lying dead after a thrill party of
spiked drinks, marijuana and orgies. The
blurb on the first page is "he knew all about the special drinks and the
special cigarettes" and the cops working the murder on the first page of
Chapter 1 states "we were working the marijuana detail out of the Narcotics
Squad" belmont book 221
1961
THE GOLDEN HOOLIGAN: -
(1961 ) By Thomes B. Dewey
Pete
Schofield tangles with Marijuana and
Murder in a sizzling case that’s almost too hot to handle
====================================
= = =
List of books that the museum does not have
Note, these may or
may not be reefer madness novel
Donations
excepted:
1930
IT WALKS BY NIGHT By John Dickerson Carr
Henri Bencolin Series (Paris
Police Prefect) - (Set in Paris; Grand Guignol -- very well done, with some
dated reefer madness and very purple prose) - grobius@sprynet.com
*
When he says of a character that she will be dead in five years from smoking
marijuana or hashish, he must be alluding to cocaine or heroin or something more
insidious, otherwise this lad Carr from Pennsylvania wasted his time in Paris.
Fie! The spookiness and atmosphere of this book is faked. He got this sort of
thing better a few years later when he knew more about it.
--
The influence of Gaston Leroux, who is a very bad role model, is very evident in
this early story. JDC's favorite mystery, The Mystery of the Yellow Room, is (at
least in the translation I've read) a dog turd, especially with its 16-year-old
detective Rouletabille and a bunch of ponderously stupid gendarmes. It is,
frankly, awful -- though I like LeRoux's book Phantom of the Opera (it's better
than the movies and Broadway show that were based on it).
1940
-
Marijuana
mystery, Stimson, Mary (Sturdivant), Mrs., 1897-
1943
MARIHUANA By Woolrich, Cornell or
Irish, William Detective Fiction Weekly 1943 1st True first of this story, in
Detective Fiction Weekly, May 3, 1943..
MEXICAN
MEMORABILIA!
Here's
a great find! It's "Marihuana," from Bolsi-Libros, Ediciones
Culturales Latino-Americanas, May, 1953, 62 pp. In
Spanish. A very economical edition detailing the consequences of marijuana use.
Fabulous cover, a la ?Reefer Madness? and ?Cocaine Fiends.? An upstanding
citizen (he?s wearing a tie, after all) lights up and goes mad (look at those
eyes!). One can't imagine the unthinkable horrors he inflicted on the sweet
young thing on the floor, with the crimson blood flow and skirt hitched up above
the tops of her nylons. Bright colors! This is a very unusual and hard-to-find
item, and the perfect Christmas gift. --See Photo!
1952
BEYOND DESIRE by Albert L. Quandt
"From the Cheap Thrill of a
'Reefer' to the Life Giving Effect of a 'Shot' here is the tragic account of the
helpless & hopeless victims of greed, lust & evil".
Original Novel #707.
1952
“Too
Hot For Hell” by
Keith Vining. This is a paperback original published by Ace Books for the first time in 1952. Blurb: “Marijuana
(marihuana), music and murder made him. .
1953
THE REEFER CLUB By Luke Roberts
Stallion Books Cover reads, the story your children WON:T DARE tell you!
A Glimpse Into The Lives Of Our Lost Generation / REEFER CLUB by Luke Roberts.
"The girl was the slave of marijuana - yet was she wholly bad?"
First edition published by Universal, NY,
1953
RAPTURE ALLEY by Whit Harrison (AKA Harry Whittington).
Carnival Books #918 1953
This book went into a second printing in mid 1953 with all of the front
and back and inside end page blurbs mentioning "Drug use" gone and
replaced with less sensationalized wording. (A by product of the Winter 1952-53
Gathings commission on pornographic materials who complained about paperbacks
with a statement attacking paperback reprinters for "the dissemination of
artful appeals to sensuality, immorality, filth, perversion and
degeneracy," and assailed the "lurid and daring illustrations of
voluptuous young women on the covers of the books." While none of the
committee's proposals became law, one immediate result of the Gathings Committee
was the toning down of cover designs and language on covers.
Many of the original copies of this book were sent back to the publisher
by the retailers in compliance and encouragement by local groups and police
censors' actions in removing from the newsstands paperback titles they found
offensive. Catholic organizations frequently took the lead in these
actions, and court victories by publishers in New Jersey and Ohio in 1953 did
little to deter them. This is a
very scarce title with a classic cover By the famed Rudolph Belarski of a doped
up girl in 3 frames of marijuana ecstasy with a classic blurb of "The
Shocking Story Of A Girl Who Took The Road To Dope Addiction" (changed in
the 2nd edition to "The candid story of a girl who lived recklessly on
forbidden thrills.") The back
cover reads "A Smoke, a sniff,
a jolt...Dope is no road to ecstasy no matter what people say. It's for defeated
people, bitter lonely people...." A Classic drug book by a pulp master with
the dope theme as the main feature of the story.
1953
DOPE, INC. –By
Joesten, Joachim,
Avon A538, a look at the dirty world of the dope trade;
"..most newspapers merely report an isolated incident. What is the overall
picture like? Why do people become dope addicts? How does the dope trade
operate? What are the international aspects of the narcotics racket?
What is the cure? In this book, without sugar-coating, you will find many
of the answers. This book names names -- tells you how and where the narcotics
trade operates, who the big shots behind the racket are -- and how people's
lives are debased when they fall under the influence of narcotic
addiction."; cover photograph shows a frightened young woman recoiling in
horror from a hand offering her one of those deadly reefer cigarettes
("reefers" that's right, isn't it?, isn't that what the kids call
them?).
1953
THE LONG WINDOW By John Eshleman
Washburn, New York, 1953 First edition of the author's
first book. The plot involves an
"educated houseman whose basement room smelled faintly of marijuana".
1954
MONKEY ON MY BACK by Wenzell
Brown.
A well known book published by
WDL Books originally in U.S.A. 1953, this copy published in London 1954.
"Teenagers caught in the dope racket". Claims to be true and terrifying experiences of
"junkies" who started "blasting" for thrills and couldn't
"kick" the habit, they then of course committed crimes to get the
"Monkey off their backs". An important social document!
1954 "SAY
IT WITH MURDER" by Edward Ronns -
187 pgs.; paperback) - Nice original Graphic Mystery
paperback murder novel. Great GGA cover art with a hot redhead running from a
murder scene! Cover art by Marchetti. "Because once again Carmody had
turned avenger. He meant to settle the score for lemon-haired Irene, the prey of
love and a sneak attack. For Martha, whom he coveted body and soul. For young
Lila, who lived on moonglow and marijuana, and shared the bed of a madman!"
1955- REEFER BOY By Hal
Ellson
A Story of Teenage Drug Addicts.
London: Neville Spearman, 248pp
Reefer Boy is the story of drug addiction and its attraction for
juveniles. The novel is based on fact and is an early example of drug culture
fiction, though condemning the dope peddlers and the effects of drugs on the
health and morals of the victims.
First
English edition. 8vo., a very good copy in original dark green cloth, spine
lettered in black, illustrated dust jacket chipped at extremities. London,
Neville Spearman. 1955. A scarce drugs novel. "From the reeking slums of a
big city, from the twilight world of escape-hungry 'junkies', comes this
striking and powerful novel of tormented adolescents - neglected by society,
victimized by ruthless dope-peddlers. 'Reefer Boy' is the subject of drug
addiction and its menacing attraction for juveniles. The hero is 16-year-old
Chico and his friend Angel, and the book shows their inevitable moral and
physical destruction through their craving for drugs. The material of this book
is sensational, but this is not a sensational novel. It is based on fact - the
shameful, inescapable fact that society takes no responsibility for these lost
and bitter children. So long as we permit these sordid conditions to exist,
stories like 'Reefer Boy' will be true. About
the Author: Recreational therapist who comes into daily contact with the
underprivileged and emotionally disturbed teen-agers about whom he writes. More
than two years of interviewing and several hundred pages of notes went into the
preparation of the background of 'Reefer Boy'. Mr. Ellson writes with
indignation and compassion, and while the character of Chico is fictional, every
detail of his story has been corroborated by the experience of some boy or girl
- not once but many times"
1956
REEFER GIRL By Jane
manning
AKA Young Sinners - This 1956 paperback "Young
Sinners" was originally published under the Reefer Girl".
1957
QUARTET IN "H" By Hunter,
Evan (aka McBain, Ed. )
AKA - "Second Ending"!
Illustrated
by Tom Dunn Painted Cover! -- (original Title Was "Second Ending") -
USA.: Pocket Books (#C-236). 1957 Soft Cover.
384 pages. Story of
Andy's life; Golden Trumpet, JAZZ Band, Big-time Combos, now a JUNKIE on
Benzedrine, Marijuana, then HEROIN, dope addict, with monkey on his back!
Hardcover was titled "Second Ending"! SCARCER under this title! SCARCE
in paperback! With an illustration of a HYPO Needle crossing the "H"
in the title!
1959
THE COOL WORLD - by Warren Miller,
pub. by Little, Brown.
This is about a neighborhood with kids gone bad, reefers, junk and
wayward people the way it was in the 1950's.
1960's BEACH BINGE
by DEAN McCOY.
Beacon #580.
Great GGA Blonde Smoking cover Art! A Juvenile Delinquent Sleaze/Drug novel.
"Teens on the Loose with Marijuana in their pockets and Liquor on their
breath and too much time on their hands!" Lesbian content.
1951
- Musk, Hashish and Blood - by Hector France.
Avon 308 Rare Drug PB
- A classic title and a very collectible paperback.
Published by Avon books in 1951 and numbered 308. This is a paperback
first as well as being the first printing of this book. The second (and last
Avon) printing was Avon 415. This
is an all time classic, right below Marihuana, Black Opium and Junkie as an
important paperback drug book.
I AM A TEEN-AGE DOPE
ADDICT by VALERIE JORDAN.
Monarch #MB526.The old Marijuana leads to Heroin story.
"First Your Hooked and then Your CHAINED"!
1961
THE HOT AND THE COOL by Edwin
Gilbert (already have under a
different name)
RUSTY
DESMOND - by STEVE
JANUARY. Avon #T-359. A Rare Classic Juvenile Delinquent "Girl Gone
Bad" & Crime novel. "SECRET DATES, MARIJUANA PARTIES &
STICKUPS FOR THRILLS & EASY MONEY"! Beautiful GGA & J.D. Punk cover
Art
I LIKE IT TOUGH by James Howard -- Dangerous marijuana dope ring,
white slavery. Great cover art -- Popular Library
1955
ANGELS IN THE GUTTER, Gangs, Drugs, -
Angles in the Gutter, author, Joseph Hilton, published by Gold Medal Book
(Fawcett), 191 pages. 1st printing April 1955. Walk down all your side streets
through the raucous stone jungle of the city's backwash and you'll meet her. The
delinquent. And hundreds like her, roaming the pavements in aggressive knots,
schooled on reefers, zip guns, gutter rumbles. A very clean and tight paperback
with only a little rubbing on the spine edges. Appears to have never been read
no creases. A very nice copy. I have 17 other drug, gang, juvenile delinquent
paperbacks titles listed this week so bid away and save on shipping. All of
these are vintage and in very good, to near fine condition.
1956 - Dream
Peddlers - The Dream Peddlers by Floyd Miller, author of "The
Savage Streets". Popular Library 1956. Slight cress in front cover, not too
noticeable. General wear, but nice solid spine.
Love and temptation in Spanish Harlem. The story of a vicious narcotics
ring in the barrio. Great 1956 pulp fiction!
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