Buck Rogers in Celluloid

Back in the 1930’s there was a semi-pro magazine called, SCIENCE FICTION DIGEST, which was later renamed, FANTASY MAGAZINE. It ran from September 1932—January 1937.  Although little remembered today, this fan-sponsored project ended up being very important to the history of science fiction. People we think of as founding writers of the genre wrote columns and tributes to other writers, and premiered stories later published elsewhere, such as C.L. Moore’s Northwest Smith Story, “Nymph of Darkness.” It also published some of the wackiest writing experiments ever seen in the field. The first shared-world science fiction story, COSMOS, being the best known of these experiments. In the magazine we see regular columns by Ray Palmer, Forrest Ackerman, Robert Bloch, Mort Weisinger, and Julius Schwartz. We see regular contributions from  C. L. Moore, J. Harvey Haggard, “Doc” Smith, Murray Leinster, Edmond Hamilton, Harl Vincent, Eando Binder, Jack Williamson, and Ray Gallun to name a few.  

I am lucky enough to have a complete set of issues in facsimile copies. I’ve been teased that I’m one of the few people who’d still read them. Perhaps this is true but those old issues hold a wealth of interesting information you can’t find anywhere else. They tell you, between the lines, what the fields of science fiction and fantasy were like at their inceptions.

Here’s an example. Forrest Ackerman wrote a regular column of movie reviews. In the 1930’s there weren’t too many science fiction films, although probably more than you’d guess. He wrote pithy reviews of American and foreign films spanning the genres of war, horror, thrillers, and of course, “scientifiction.” Many of the films have not survived the test of time, the names mean little to us. But in the March 1936 issue (it’s FANTASY MAGAZINE by this time) Ackerman says the following:

Scientificartoons. While “Flash Gordon” is soon to be seen on the screen, portrayed by Larry, “King of the Jungle” Crabbe—serial is actually underway at Universal—“Buck Rogers” is already available for miniature-movie projectors. Small celluloid strips, animated sketches, may now be purchased at 10c each, at many dept. and Ten Cent stores. Operated in the projector, they run several seconds apiece, showing 25^th Century action. One episode presents Buck blasting his way out of a walled prison. In a second, he and Wilma—supported in the air by their backstrap gravity-nullifiers, and propelled by rocket-blasts—are seen battling, with ray-guns, an enemy space-ship. A third pictures the popular pair riding a vehicle which might bear the name “aircycle.” A fourth shows the fantastic “Spidership” in motion. And the fifth, and final known at this time, pictures Buck bucking his way up though an avalanche of what may be meteors.

Sadly, I can find no evidence that these celluloid strips still exist. However, there were View-Master reels from 1978 showing later Buck Rogers adventures. The series had a lot of merchandising, and much of it is still around today. It seems that one of our original space heroes has retained his sex appeal even after nearly a century.

Here’s a bit of “Funtasy” from Robert Bloch in the September 1936 issue of FANTASY MAGAZINE.

Hero—In science-fiction, the guy who knows the guy who knows the guys who have the plan to get the plan to use the plan to destroy the world—only the hero prevents it. In other words, a stooge.

This is the Rocketeer signing off for today.