While I am not big on most biographies, I did have a couple on my want list tied to Walter B. Gibson (1897-1985), best known as the author of The Shadow, and Lester Dent (1904-59), who did Doc Savage. When I found both of these at great prices at PulpFest 2025, I got them.
First up is Walter B. Gibson and The Shadow by Thomas J. Shimeld and published by McFarland in 2003. It should still be available. Shimeld is a magician and performer who discovered Gibson at an early age, even meeting his nephew, Wendel Gibson, who gave him access to family records on Walter.
This biography is about 190 pages and was originally published in casebound form, but was soon published in paperback. I found it interesting that it has an introduction by Gibson’s son. While I knew that Gibson was married, I hadn’t seen mention of any children. Overall, I found this an enjoyable biography as the author approached it not from a purely academic focus, but from a fan who is revealing his subject for all of us.
We start off with a background on Gibson’s family. I was surprised to learn of his connection to the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, who was a cousin of Walter’s. So clearly from the beginning, writing was part of his life. We learn of his early life and how those experiences shape it. Trips with his family, obtaining a magic kit early on, which led to a lifetime working in magic and illusion. He also started keeping a diary at age 10, which is a source of a lot of information on him.
We learn of his time at Colgate University, during which he was involved in a variety of things, both with magic and writing, which would serve him well in the future. Afterwards, he started his career. Or maybe that’s careers. He was doing writing, getting more into magic with shows, traveling with a carnival, and the like. He started his own magic shop and got on the radio. And all during this time, he was making contact with many top magicians, which would advance his career.
We get chapters on magicians Howard Thurston and Harry Houdini, both whom had an impact on Gibson. Gibson was publishing many books on magic, a few of which can still be obtained.
This then brings us up to the creation of The Shadow as a radio narrator character and the creation of The Shadow as a pulp hero by Gibson. His work on The Shadow is covered in several chapters. Sadly, one outcome of this was the breakup of his marriage to his first wife, Charlotte, the mother of his only child, and later his second wife, Julie.
We next learn of his work with Harry Blackstone Sr., whom, among other things, he developed a comicbook for. We get a whole chapter devoted to Gibson’s third wife, Litzka, who seems more the perfect counterpart to him, as she was also a magician and writer. They remained together until he passed away. She passed in 1996.
Gibson’s later years are also covered, as well as what happened after his passing, with Litzka’s efforts to preserve his legacy.
I thought the book had a good number of photos and art pieces. My only complaint is that they included some pulp covers, but instead of noting the original artist, they noted the person who touched up the art. I would like to see a bibliography on Gibson, at least for his books, but I understand that may be difficult and don’t fault the book for not including this. But overall, I thought this was an excellent biography. The author worked in Gibson’s various writing and magical work, along with personal details.
Next, we have Lester Dent: The Man, His Craft, and His Market by M. Martin McCarey-Laird and published by Hidalgo Publishing Co. in 1994. As far as I know, this one is out of print.
What I thought was a photo of Dent on the cover is actually a piece by Tim Faurote, who has done many Doc Savage related pieces for The Bronze Gazette and elsewhere.
Coming in at a little over 100 pages, this book covers both Dent’s career and life, and the author was able to meet with Dent’s widow, Norma.
The first chapter gives an overview of the pulps. I would disagree with ranking Black Mask as the top pulp, as I feel that goes to (in no particular order) to Adventure, Argosy, Blue Book (not mentioned here), and Short Stories, along with Black Mask. Similarly, I would disagree with naming Dent as one of the more prolific. There were several who wrote a lot more, such as the unmentioned H. Bedford-Jones, and even Gibson wrote more than Dent.
The next chapter goes into the topic of the need to create heroes. It’s with the third chapter that we get into the creation of Doc Savage.
The fourth chapter goes into Dent’s writing career, not just with Doc, but beyond. I have to disagree with the claim that Dent used many unknown pen names and had multiple works in pulps like the Black Mask. Dent was not that prolific, and avoided pen names as he wanted to get his name out, and those pseudonyms he used were usually imposed by the publishers, like Kenneth Robeson. And he had only two works in Black Mask and no others. I think that Will Murray had done a lot of work to show what Dent has written in the pulps.
We finally get Dent’s life covered in the fifth chapter, from his childhood, his early career, and getting into writing. We learn a little about his sailing adventures in the Caribbean, and his later move to La Plata, Mo., and building his “gadget house.” The sixth chapter gets into his writing philosophy, which many are aware of from his “Master Plot Formula.” And the final gets into his impact.
Sadly, this work is a bit of a disappointment. There are only a couple of photos in the book. I have actually learned more about various aspects of Dent’s life from other sources, such as his “gadget house,” his yacht that he sailed around the Caribbean, and more. As compared to the Gibson bio, this is more like a starting point for a bio, but I wish someone would come up with something more substantial.
While overall both are decent biographies, I felt the Gibson one was the best. This is what I expect when I get a biography, with ample enough photos and a good coverage of the subject’s life and career. For me, while the Dent one did cover him, it could, and I think should, have gone more in-depth and with more photographs.
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