Amusement Inc. vs. The Scarlet Ace

“Amusement Inc. vs. The Scarlet Ace.” What a title!

I saw this on a pulp collection put out by Pulpville Press. It was interesting. Was “The Scarlet Ace” the hero or the villain? Who was “Amusement Inc.”? Strange name for a group. Not one I’d think either a group of heroes or villains.

But I came to find out when I got the book, that it was an early series by pulpsmith Theodore A. Tinsley. And it wasn’t quite a complete reprint, either.

The book collected the final run of Tinsley’s series about Amusement Inc., a group of former Marines fighting crime with military precision and tactics (and, yes, not quite with official approval). The four stories in this collection comprised the final run of the series, as the group went up against the master crook, The Scarlet Ace. I’d have to wait until Altus Press put out a complete collection of the series, “The Crimes of The Scarlet Ace: The Complete Stories of Major Lacy & Amusement Inc.”

So who or what, is Amusement Inc.? As noted, they are a group of former Marines organized to fight crime. The group is funded by the “Emergency Council to Combat Crime,” a group of six business men who keep their identity hidden under code-names based on the the days of the week. Major John Tattersall Lacy (what a name!) leads the group (code-name: Mr. Sunday), aided by his trusty threesome of Charlie Weaver, Ed Corning, and Pat Harrigan as his executive officers. The rest of the group was made up of former enlisted Marines.

This series first ran in Fiction House’s Black Aces pulp in 1932. However, due to problems, Fiction House shut down this magazine after only seven appearances of this series. But the series soon reappeared in Dell’s All Detective Magazine in 1933. It would seem strange that Tinsley moved the series over there. Did Fiction House sell unsold stories? Who knows? These new stories (a total of four), has Amusement Inc. go up against a mysterious super crook called the “Scarlet Ace.” This name seems to indicate to me that maybe these stories were intended for Black Aces magazine. The idea was that the criminals Amusement Inc. originally faced were really fronts for the Scarlet Ace, something hinted from the beginning. But sadly by the time the series ended, Amusement Inc. had not fully defeated the Scarlet Ace or unmasked him.

Fiction House would later reprint the stories from Black Aces in other magazines in 1937-40.

The first story, “Amusement Inc.” sets things up. In reading it, one sees hints of many later series, both superhero and spy. But consider when it was written: 1932. Major Lacy is recruited by the Emergency Committee to be their new field leader. Their previous two leaders were killed! When he is summoned to their secret headquarters on the top of the Cloud Building (supposedly based on the Empire State Building, but I don’t know), the crooks try to sideline him and bump him off, but fail. At the Cloud Building, he goes to a certain office on the 70th floor, and enters a secret elevator off the washroom, which takes him to the secret penthouse. Through the Emergency Committee, he has access to funds, vehicles, weapons, and more. This includes a special garage in the Cloud Building, which houses their special vehicles, including an armored taxi cab.

He then recruits his three executive officers and then the former enlisted marines (sergeants, corporals, privates) to be his army, called Amusement Inc. In speaking to the Emergency Committee, Lacy wonders if all the criminal gangs are under the leadership of a hidden foe. They suspect so, but do not know (which sets up the appearance of this individual much later: The Scarlet Ace).

In this first story, we see stuff that would later be used by TV, movies, and books: Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D., James Bond, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., etc.

Tinsley, by the way, would go on to write The Shadow novels alongside Shadow creator Walter Gibson.

Also included in this volume is a great introduction by Will Murray, that gives info on the creation of the series and on Tinsley.

The cover of this volume is taken from the series first appearance in All Detective Magazine with the appearance of the Scarlet Ace, and the back cover is from the second appearance in ADM. There was a cover for a further story in ADM (shown at right), but it was not included. A neat thing about the first cover is that it’s done by Frank Tinsley, brother of Theodore, and we learn from the introduction that he had a hand in the creation of the series. So having him do the cover to the story that introduces the Scarlet Ace is really cool.

Recently, Pro Se Press has announced that they will be including a new collection of stories of Major Lacy and his group under their “Pulp Obscura” line. I don’t know when it will come out, but look forward to it.