Sat 2 Feb 2008
Paperback Cover #24: STEVE FISHER – I Wake Up Screaming.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Covers[12] Comments
The artist for this nifty paperback cover isn’t identified, so I won’t hazard either a guess or an opinion, but if you believe you know, I’d surely like to hear from you.
That the girl looks something like Betty Grable, for those of us old enough to remember her, is not too surprising, as she starred in the 1941 film version with Victor Mature, Carole Landis, and Laird Cregar. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the film, and now I’m itching to.

Frank Loose sent me the following publication data for the book, supplemented by my own records:
Hardcover:
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1941.
Robert Hale, UK, 1943.
Paperback:
Handi-Book #27, 1944.
Popular Library #129. No date stated. Frank says 1948; Graham Holroyd says 1947. Dealers on ABE seem to be 50-50 either way.
Bestseller Mystery B204, digest-sized, 1957.
Bantam Books A2145, 1960.
Black Lizard, 1988.
Vintage, 1991.
Frank also adds, “I have a copy of the Black Lizard, but I want to read the original. If I understand correctly, the revised version starts with the Bantam book in 1960. Everything before that date should be the original unedited, unrevised version.”
I’m sure Frank is right about this. I’m not sure, but I believe the reason for the revision is that Fisher himself wanted to “modernize” the book. If so, it’s the same thing John D. MacDonald did toward the end of his career when he published two collections of short stories taken from the 1940s pulp magazines. He rewrote some of the stories to make them seem as though they were taking place in the 1980s.
It was a really bad idea, as far as I was concerned — something like “colorizing” black-and-white movies.
But I don’t know for sure if that’s what Fisher did, nor why Black Lizard didn’t go back to the original novel for their edition. Once again, if you have more information, I hope you’ll pass it along.
From the back cover:
Once there was a girl named Vicky Lynn. She met Pegasus, a screen writer, and they fell in love. Then Pegasus and three friends pooled their resources to sponsor Vicky. They built her into a glamorous personality, and she won a screen contract. And the next day she was murdered.
For Pegasus, Vicky’s death was the end of the world, until he became aware of Vicky’s lovely sister Jill, who believed in him when everyone branded him killer.
To escape the police, Peg and Jill ran away, but their flight turned into a cycle of terror, of hiding and running from the ever-approaching shadow of a relentless, obsessed pursuer!
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
I read the “updated” Bantam Book. I didn’t realize it was revised until comments started appearing about 60’s topics that I know couldn’t have been in the original. I didn’t like it and now I have to see if the original was any better. I had to force myself to finish the book.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Bob, Obviously I agree with you, but I kind of understand that in 1960 it was a marketing decision. But Black Lizard was (should have been) aiming at another market, readers who wanted the original. I think they let us down on this one — a small minus compared to all of the pluses they accumulated, though!
—Steve
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Hey Steve … Nice blurb on your blog about I Wake Up Screaming. I really like the Popular Library cover, too. Thanks for sharing that. I agree that it is a shame that Black Lizard did not select the original to reprint. Seems like a major mistake on their part. I did not know that there were two versions until I bought a used copy last year of the Black Lizard edition and found written in the front, the following, by the original owner of the book: “Not the 1941 version but the 1960 rewrite and quite shitty.” With a quote like that to spur me on, I knew I had to try to track down the original.
If I understand correctly, Black Lizard did a similar thing with Dan Marlowe’s The Name of the Game is Death. I believe their edition is of a revised, tamed down version of the book, and that the original first edition was a bit more violent. Perhaps you can enlighten me on this?
I find it interesting what you wrote about John D. MacDonald. I was unaware that he revised his short stories for a second go-round of publication. I gather you are talking about his collections: The Good Old Stuff, and More Good Old Stuff. I have not read them, though I have considered buying copies. On the surface, nothing wrong with revising/updating stuff i guess, but it does seem to me that it is a bit like ripping yourself off. But, hey, many of the GM writers recycled plots and wrote some great stuff. I guess the final proof is the story that ends up on the page.
I have a lot of JDM pre-McGee stuff — all of it more than competent, and some if it great. However, I still find Charles Williams stories and characters more appealing, but that is probably a subjective call. Had JDM not invented one Travis McGee, I wonder if he would have reached the commercial success that he enjoyed, but, who’s to say! I know one thing, I wish there was more Charles Williams stuff out there!
— Frank
February 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The artist for I Wake Up Screaming is Rudolph Belarski. It has the tell-tale Belarski splayed hand. Though most of his Popular Library covers include his distinctive signature, many are unsigned or the signature was cropped off in reducing the painting’s size to fit the dimensions of the cover. His style, though, is unmistakable. And the hand with the spread fingers will always be a clue to his work.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
J.F. —
Thanks! I’m sure you’re right. Belarski would have been my number one guess, but when I couldn’t confirm it after a quick search, I decided not to put my guess into print — too embarrassed if I’d been wrong, I suppose.
–Steve
May 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Hello Steve,
I have a copy of the Bestseller Mystery (B204) printing of I Wake Up Screaming. “Complete and Unabridged” is the claim on the title page, although I have not compared it to other texts.
Regards,
Bill
May 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Thanks, Bill. I see that I didn’t even have the Bestseller edition listed. (But I do now.)
Ken Johnson’s website gives the date of that edition as 1957, so it’s not likely to have the 1960s references that Bob Sankner says are in later ones.
But I think a close look at the Bestseller might be in order. Most of the books they did were abridged, so a cover statement that one wasn’t should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
May 17th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I don’t have the 1941 Dodd, Mead, but from curiosity, I compared the Bestseller to the Black Lizard (1960 cited as copyright date). I did a chapter by chapter / first sentence- last sentence, random comparison of text, etc. cursory exam.
The Bestseller does not appear to be be abridged. I could find no textual omissions / differences other than the updating of celebrity names and the method of threatened state execution had changed from hanging to gas chamber (Chapter 9).
From the “For what it’s Worth / Half the Story Department.
For anyone interested, there are a couple of cheap ($5/$3)copies of the Bestseller available currently from Net outlets.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Yeoman’s work, Bill. Thanks!
It sounds as though the book was only very slightly modernized — but I still don’t like the idea. The backgrounds of most books are so firmly placed in their original settings that even the smallest of changes can be noticed, and if they are, they’re jarring.
Here’s a For Example. A book taking place in the early 1940s has the feel of the early 1940s, or it does if the author’s any good at all, and a reference to Marilyn Monroe (say) just doesn’t fit, no matter how you look at it. Or her.
— Steve
May 17th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I agree; at one point he mentions Audrey Hepburn and I just got a chill.
The book was again made as a movie (Vicki) in 1953 with Jeanne Crain and Jean Peters – haven’t seen it, though.
I’m don’t know why he bothered with the modernization of course, but perhaps in 1960, Fisher was looking to milk the cow one more time and wanted to make the story appear “contemporary”. Or maybe Bantam did the edits with the same idea. I feel the book has too much of a dark core and wouldn’t have been considered an “A” movie competitor with the likes of what was coming out of Hollywood in the early sixties. But if he could have picked up another check…
March 5th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I’m reading that Bestseller Edition from 1957 even as we speak(?) and there’s a reference in it to Cinemascope and another comment that “Liz Taylor is single again.” so apparently Fisher or somebody did an interim update even before 1960. Also watching simultaneously(?) the original film & the re-make. More later….
March 9th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
[…] Comment: This book was revised and updated several times over the years. See this earlier post and the comments that follow for some of the details. […]