It’s been a while since I have posted on Jimmie Dale, better known as the Gray Seal, whose stories were written by Canadian author Frank L. Packard (1877-1942) and published in the pulps from 1914-35, and then reprinted in five novels.
Michael Howard has been working on putting out a set of three definitive volumes, along with a new novel. Finally, we get the third volume which has the fourth and fifth novels, along with a lot of other additional materials. Full disclosure, I was sent a copy of the book.
It’s interesting to see how Jimmie Dale operates. At first glance, he seems to follow the model of the rich playboy out for thrills, stealing from the unjustly rich to give to the poor that so many early pulp heroes (especially those from Johnston McCulley) followed from. However, while Dale broke into homes and safes, he never stole anything but left a gray diamond paper seal behind. Hence the nickname. He wears a mask and slouch hat, along with a belt of burglary tools — a sort of “utility belt.” He maintains a secret hideout in the slums with disguise materials, and in the first story took on the identity of “Larry the Bat” to move freely in the underworld. Thus he’s less a Robin Hood-type character than a thrill seeker.
But about a year before the first novel, he is discovered and blackmailed by a mysterious woman known only to him as the Tocsin (French for “alarm bell”) to use his skills to help people and then to battle certain criminal elements, in particular the Crime Club, which controls all crime in New York. He moves from doing it as a lark to actually becoming heroic.
In the first novel, the two finally meet (Tocsin’s real name is Marie LaSalle). We learn her connection to the Crime Club, and she and Jimmie put an end to it, heading off to start a new life together. So that’s that, but Packard quickly brought Jimmie and Tocsin back for a second and third set of adventures as they go after the last of the Crime Club, forming a trilogy, and then on to further adventures. All were serialized in pulp magazines, then reprinted in book form.
- The Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1917) in People’s (May 1914-March 1915 and June-August 1915)
- The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1919) in People’s (November 1916-September 1917)
- Jimmie Dale and the Phantom Clue (1922) in People’s (July 1921-May 1922)
- Jimmie Dale and Blue Envelope Murder (1930) in Short Stories (June-August 1930)
- Jimmie Dale and the Missing Hour (1935) in Detective Fiction Weekly (March-April 1935)
As noted, in this volume we get the fourth and fifth novels. I was interested to see how Packard brought back his characters, as at the end of the last one, the two had sailed away after finally defeating the Crime Club. Further, in the stories, five years have passed since their last adventure. What has happened since then and what starts their new adventure? Also, as the underworld had turned against the Gray Seal, his identity of “Larry the Bat” was linked to the Gray Seal, and his Sanctuary in the slums had been destroyed at the end of the first book, and in the second work, he had to create a new identity of struggling artist and dope head Smarlinghue, along with a new Sanctuary. So will he revise this identity, or create a new one? Or have things been forgotten five years on?
Thus in the fourth novel, we find Jimmie at his gentleman’s club talking with some friends, including newspaperman Carruthers and his best friend Ray Thorne. As the Gray Seal has been gone for five years, it’s thought that he is dead. Probably it’s a good thing because not only is he thought to be a notorious criminal, but also a murderer. Marie is returning from Europe soon, and they will be married in about a month.
But returning home, there awaits a mysterious message which can only have come from the Tocsin. This means Maria is really in New York, operating again as Mother Margot. She warns of a murder of a friend of Jimmie. The man who will be his “best man” at this wedding: Ray Thorne. And it’s all centered around a blue envelope. Can he save his friend by stealing the envelope? He does this, but his friend is murdered, and the Gray Seal is claimed as the one who did it.
So can he expose the criminal conspiracy behind this, find out how his friend was involved and who the real killer is, and expose them, and maybe also show that it wasn’t the Gray Seal? And what is the secret of the blue envelope? Surprisingly he later brings back his old “Larry the Bat” identity, as well as also operating as Smarlinghue. And Marie will be more involved with Jimmie in solving the mystery this time. Interestingly, at the end, Carruthers learns that the Gray Seal isn’t the criminal he thinks he is.
Then the fifth novel, while it was written five years later, is really set immediately after the prior one. As such, his wedding is still upcoming, and Marie is still thought to be in Europe. Things start strangely. Carruthers is approached by someone who needs the Gray Seal’s help. This is someone who saves the Gray Seal’s life. But due to his reaching out to find the Gray Seal, the man is killed and Carruthers is kidnapped. Can Jimmie as the Gray Seal (and his other identities), find and rescue his friend? Who is behind it and why? Is it somehow the same criminal group he dealt with in the previous story? And after this is all said and done, will the two get married?
Of course, on that last point, we don’t know. I like to think they do.
And what about the extra stuff I noted? The editor was able to work with the Packard family and thus provided us with some nice additions. We get a preface by a grandson of Packard. Next off is an incomplete sixth novel, which with the fourth and fifth novels would have formed a second trilogy. Only about a third was written.
Then we get four adventures that were part of the serialized second novel but were left out of the book edition. These had appeared in People’s. There is the script from the first episode of a Jimmie Dale radio show. There’s a biography of Packard from his son, written in 1990. There’s a chronology of the entire Jimmie Dale sage, chapter by chapter, provided by editor Michael Howard. And finally, there is the first chapter of the British edition of the first Jimmie Dale novel, where the setting has been changed to London, with Jimmie being the Grey Seal.
So I should point out that if you want this work, you’ll need to get it from Barnes & Noble and not Amazon. Unfortunately in recent months, Amazon Kindle Publishing has been very strict when it comes to reprints of what they think are copyrighted materials. Even when the works are actually public domain or the publisher has permission from the copyright holder. This is the fourth such incident that I know of. It has driven several reprinters of public-domain comics to Barnes & Noble. Despite the fact the editor had permission from the family, who would be the author’s estate, they still didn’t allow it to be printed.
Regardless, I encourage all to check out the complete sage of Jimmie Dale, the Gray Seal. It sets down many tropes that would be picked up by later pulp heroes, and from those, comicbook and other media. Certainly with all the extras in these, this set comprises the definite editions of these works. And be sure to get Howard’s original Grey Seal novel, set before the first one.
