Joseph Lawrence Greene (August 1, 1914 – 1990) was an American author of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novels and short stories whose most familiar creations are ''
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of ''Tom Corbett—Space Cadet'' stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950s.
The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro ...
'' which, in 1951, became a television series popular with young audiences, as well as ''
Dig Allen Space Explorer'', a series of six books published between 1959 and 1962, which focused around the adolescent hero Dig Allen and his interplanetary adventures in the genre of boys' juvenile literature. A prolific writer, he also contributed numerous stories to
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
and was an editor, until 1972, for
Grosset Grosset may refer to:
* Grosset Wines, an Australian winery
* Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Ran ...
publishing while writing under a number of pseudonyms including, purportedly, the house
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
"Alvin Schwartz" and also "Richard Mark", and using sundry variations of his own name ("Joseph Lawrence", "Joe Green", "Joseph Verdy", "Larry Verdi", "Lawrence Vert"), which exemplified such foreign-language wordplays for "Green" as "Verdy", "Verdi" and "Vert".
Comics
Joseph Greene was involved in many key titles during the so-called
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...
, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. He apparently acted as "
a ghost writer for the some of most famous comic characters of the era", including
The Green Lama
The Green Lama is a fictional pulp magazine hero of the 1940s, created by American author Kendell Foster Crossen. He is commonly portrayed as a powerful Buddhist Lama, dressing in green robes with a red scarf and using his powerful skill set t ...
,
Spunky and
Golden Lad
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
(for
Spark Publications
Spark Publications was a short-lived comic book publisher in the mid-1940s, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The company was established and owned by Ken Crossen, who was the creator and writer of the Green Lama. Most of their comics was ...
).
[''Joseph Greene's Tom Corbett Connection'' By "Cadet Ed"](_blank)
Accessed May 7, 2008 In 1942, he is believed to have begun working for
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
on their ''All-American'' line of characters including ''
Aquaman
Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially ...
'', ''
Boy Commandos
Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in ''Detective Comics'' #64 (June 1942) by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — ...
'', ''
Green Arrow
Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 in November 1941. His secret identity, real name is Olive ...
'', ''
Hawkman
Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...
'', ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
'' and ''
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
''.
[Biography by Joe Desris, in ''Batman Archives'', Volume 3 (]DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
, 1994), p. 223
He is also said to have worked for comics publishers including the
American Comics Group
American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, ''Adventures into the Unknown''. ACG's best-known ch ...
,
Better Publications
Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...
(including on ''
The Fighting Yank''), ''
Dell Publications'' (including ''
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of ''Tom Corbett—Space Cadet'' stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950s.
The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro ...
''),
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Stone Gleason (1898–1971), was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including '' Daredevil Comics'', '' Crime Does Not Pay'', and ''Boy Comics''.
Backgr ...
,
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
as well as
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel, the alter ego of radio reporter Billy Bats ...
and
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...
for which, during the early 1950s, he wrote various
romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...
.
[Joe Greene at the ''Who's Who of American Comic Books''](_blank)
by Jerry Bails
Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...
et al.. Accessed May 7, 2008
According to comics historian
Jerry Bails
Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...
, Greene wrote for
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...
's syndicated newspaper strip Johnny Comet/Ace McCoy in 1952–53,
and
CIO News' first strip, ''The Adventures of Jim Barry, Trouble Shooter''. He also reputedly provided work for the
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
features
The Black Bat
The Black Bat was the name of two unrelated pulp heroes featured in different pulp magazine series in the 1930s, most well known because of their similarity to DC Comics hero, Batman. There is, also, a Black Bat character, that is seen in toys a ...
and
The Phantom
''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...
.
Early Tom Corbett
Greene also produced work for radio, film and television, most notably for various versions of
Tom Corbett
Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1995 ...
. Around 1945, he provided a script for a comic book storyline likely entitled ''Space Academy'', before submitting to Orbit Feature Services, Inc., on January 16, 1946,
script(originally titled ''The Pirates of Space'', but subsequently revised to ''Space Cadets'') for a prospective radio show featuring primary cadet Tom Ranger.
Accessed May 8, 2008 The following year, Greene refined the title as ''Space Academy'', submitting another radio script to
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, and, ultimately, to Rockhill Studios, which expanded its efforts in working with him to develop it as a show for the newly developing medium of television.
By 1949, the title was reconsidered, as both "Cadet" and "Academy" were thought to be somewhat ubiquitous — indeed, in 1948,
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...
, one of the top names in science fiction, published a novel entitled ''
Space Cadet
''Space Cadet'' is a 1948 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about Matt Dodson, who joins the Interplanetary Patrol to help preserve peace in the Solar System. The story translates the standard military academy story into outer space: a ...
'' — so the title was expanded (by Greene and Rockhill's
Stanley Wolf) to include the name of the main character: ''Tom Ranger, Space Cadet''.
In order for this to come about, Rockhill licensed "the "''Space Cadet''" name from Robert Heinlein...
ndmilk
dth
connection... in its publicity."
Thus, in October 1949, ''Tom Ranger and the Space Cadets'' was developed as a syndicated
newspaper strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
, although the strip went unused until it was recycled a few years later.
Corbett debut on TV and in comics
On October 2, 1950, at the start of TV's third full-schedule season, drawing on the unpublished newspaper strip, and undergoing a last minute name-change, ''Tom Corbett, Space Cadet'' premiered on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
. Eleven months later, on September 9, 1951, a newspaper strip of the same name, written by
Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman (April 29, 1924 – May 30, 1999) was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s. Credited in the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' as the most prolific comic-book wr ...
(with unknown levels of input from Greene
) and illustrated by (a ghost artist for
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips.
Biography
...
on the ''
Steve Canyon
''Steve Canyon'' is an American adventure comic strip by writer-artist Milton Caniff. Launched shortly after Caniff retired from his previous strip, '' Terry and the Pirates'', ''Steve Canyon'' ran from January 13, 1947, until June 4, 1988. It ...
'' strip), made its debut.
Distributed by
Field Enterprise Syndicate, it drew heavily on the unpublished 1949 ''Tom Ranger'' strip, itself recycled and adapted into the first TV episode.
In 1951, Greene sued Rockhill over royalty payments, ultimately being awarded a judgment over payments "for the television or radio show but not both," as well as full rights (minus royalty fees to Rockhill) to any comic book version of Tom Corbett. Greene wrote ''Tom Corbett, Space Ranger'' comics for
Dell Publications between 1952 and 1954.
In the same year,
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group.
Today, through the Penguin Gro ...
began publishing a series of Tom Corbett books, beginning with ''Stand by for Mars!'', while the second and third seasons of ''Tom Corbett'' proceeded on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television, while a six-month radio show aired on ABC radio.
In 1953, with the financially successful release of the theatrical feature ''
It Came From Outer Space
''It Came from Outer Space'' is a 1953 American science fiction horror film, the first in the 3D process from Universal-International. It was produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. The film stars Richard Carlson and Barbara ...
'', Rockhill sued
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
for using "a modified Practi-Cole Products Tom Corbett helmet" in the production. Universal settled the case for $750.
Corbett books
Published, starting in 1952, by Grosset & Dunlap (which, by the 1950s, was a well-established publisher of series such as ''
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
'', ''
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...
'' and ''
Rick Brant
Rick Brant is the central character in a series of 24 adventure and mystery novels by John Blaine, a pseudonym for authors Harold L. Goodwin (all titles) and Peter J. Harkins (co-author of the first three). The series was published by Grosset ...
''), the ''Tom Corbett'' series was published as a tie-in to the character whose copyright lay with Rockhill Radio, and the plots, which strove to provide inspiration, echoed the radio scripts more than the ones on television or in comics.
[Tom Corbett: Grosset & Dunlap Books](_blank)
Accessed May 8, 2008
Written under the name "Carey Rockwell", the series' authorship is not nearly as well documented as that of the
Stratemeyer Syndicate
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...
's output, but suggestions naturally include Greene himself as ''editor'' (an association made by Jerry Bails
) if not also writer.
Another possibility names ''The Cincinnati Kid''-author
Richard Jessup as a candidate for authorship of the Corbett novels.
Technical advice was provided by
Willy Ley
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...
, one of the leading rocket experts of the 1950s, and also a writer of science fiction who not only "helped design the
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...
Tom Corbett Space Academy
playset
Playsets, or play sets, are themed collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. The most common toy playsets involve plastic figures, accessories, and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a co ...
" for the character, but was known for years as a key voice urging the development of U.S. space exploration and as author of myriad journal articles and books, including contributions to
Collier's ''Man in the Moon'' series.
''Corbett'' continues
The series would ultimately run for five seasons, beginning its fourth season on
DuMont Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
in 1953, and its fifth and final season a year later on NBC.
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group.
Today, through the Penguin Gro ...
published its eighth "Tom Corbett" title (''Robot Rocket'') in 1955/56, marking the effective end of the series on radio, television, and in books.
[Tom Corbett: Grosset & Dunlap Books II](_blank)
Accessed May 8, 2008
Following an investigation by the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
in 1965 over delinquent taxes, Rockhill's rights to Tom Corbett were purchased by a new entity, Direct Recordings, Inc. while papers owned by Stanley Wolfe were later donated to the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
.
In 1984, Greene gave his personal "
kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...
s" of the television episodes to TV nostalgia merchant Wade Williams, who subsequently assumed some rights to Corbett.
In 1990,
Eternity Comics
Eternity Comics was a California-based comic book publisher active from 1986 to 1994, first as an independent publisher, then as an imprint of Malibu Comics. Eternity published creator-owned comics of an offbeat, independent flavor, as well as so ...
produced a five-issue collection of the 1950s newspaper strips, under the title ''Original Tom Corbett, Space Cadet''.
Books
Greene is likely to have overseen, plotted and edited — if not also ghost-written — some (or all) of the eight ''Tom Corbett, Space Cadet'' novels for Grosset & Dunlap, published between 1952 and 1956.
Between 1959 and 1962, he wrote six titles in the Juvenile
SF series "''
Dig Allen Space Explorer'' for
Golden Press
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...
."
These began with 1959's ''The Forgotten Star'', and finished with 1962's ''Lost City of Uranus''.
Greene served as an editor at Grosset roughly between 1964 and 1973, ultimately working his way up to the positions of "managing editor and acting editor-in-chief before leaving the company."
During his semi-retirement in the late 1970s and 1980s, he published a number of independent
almanac
An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other ...
s - "several about astrology and one entitled ''American Elsewhen Almanac''."
Joseph Greene's son, Paul, in a letter subsequently reprinted online, indicated that his father died in 1990, the year of his 76th birthday, but the date and circumstances have not been indicated.
"Who Wrote the Dig Allen Series?" on Jonathan K. Cooper's 2007 ''Tom Swift Homepage''
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Joseph
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
American science fiction writers
American comics writers
American children's writers
American writers of young adult literature
American television writers
American male television writers
1914 births
1990 deaths
American male screenwriters
American male short story writers
20th-century American short story writers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters