Norman Arthur Danberg, better known as Norman A. Daniels and other

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 ...

s (June 3, 1905 – July 19, 1995),The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: Daniels, Norman A
/ref> was an American writer working in

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 ...

s, radio, and television. He created the pulp hero 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 wrote for such series as '' The Phantom Detective'' and '' The Shadow''.

Life

Danburg was born in Connecticut and attended Columbia University and Northwestern University. He married his wife Dorothy Daniels (nee Smith) in 1931; they both subsequently became professional writers, and collaborated frequently. Danburg typically wrote under the alias Norman A. Daniels, but he also published under the

s John L. Benton, Frank Johnson, and house names including C. K. M. Scanlon, Will Garth and G. Wayman Jones. Daniels' early stories were detective tales and thrillers for

s. His first published story was "The Death-House Murder", which appeared in ''Detective-Dragnet'' magazine in January 1932. That year he sold stories to ''

All Detective All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

'', ''

Shadow Magazine The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

'', and ''

Gangster Stories ''Gangster Stories'' was a controversial pulp magazine of the early 1930s. It featured hardboiled crime fiction that glorified the gun-toting gangsters of the Prohibition era. It was published by Harold Hersey, as part of his Good Story Magazine Com ...

''. In 1933 he sold his first story to Thrilling Publications, launching a long association with the company. Subsequently editor Leo Margulies hired Daniels to write a novel featuring The Phantom Detective, a pulp hero inspired by the highly successful character The Shadow. Daniels went on to write over 30 of the Phantom Detective's adventures. In 1938, Margulies approached Daniels about creating a new hero series to run in ''Black Book Detective'' starting in 1939. The result was the

, former district attorney Tony Quinn, who dons a bat-themed costume to fight crime after an acid attack apparently blinds him. The character was noted for his similarity to

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, who debuted the same year, though both sets of creators denied copying the other. Daniels wrote most of the 62 Black Bat stories that appeared from 1939 to 1952. In 1939, Danberg created a comic book feature, '' Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog'', which appeared in MLJ Comics' ''

Blue Ribbon Comics ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' is the name of two American comic book anthology series, the first published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc., commonly known as MLJ Comics, from 1939 to 1942, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The rev ...

''. Daniels also created the Crimson Mask and contributed to a variety of other magazines in various genres, including '' The Shadow'' and '' Doc Savage''. He additionally wrote for radio, and served as a scriptwriter for the serial ''

Nick Carter, Master Detective ''Nick Carter, Master Detective'' was a Mutual radio crime drama based on tales of the fictional private detective Nick Carter from Street & Smith's dime novels and pulp magazines. Nick Carter first came to radio as ''The Return of Nick Carter ...

''. In the 1950s, he and Dorothy Daniels began writing for television, contributing stories for drama and western programs; two of Daniels' stories were adapted for the series ''

Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was ren ...

''. Daniels continued writing into the 1980s, and he and Dorothy donated their papers to Bowling Green University's Browne Popular Culture Library. Daniels died in

Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...

in 1995.

References

External links

* * (previous page of browse report, as 'Daniels, Norman' undated), and more under linked pseudonyms *
Dorothy Daniels
at LC Authorities, with 6 records, an
at WorldCat
with some catalog records under linked pseudonyms {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Norman A. 1905 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American writers Pulp fiction writers