Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-28

To the old-time reader of detective
stories nothing can be queerer than the
| present widespread popularity of this
| type of fiction.
Why did not the general public. as q
whole, know years ago that this was an
interesting and diveCting form of read
ing matter?
Why was it necessary for the mass
of the people to wait until the years
1929 and 1880 to discover what many
had found out years before?
The old time detective story fan
cannot help being slightly amazed, and
somewhat amused. at the present vogue
of something which he liked in his
youth.
He began with the nickel novels
"Old King Brady" Nick Carter" and
so on, in which a rather rough-and-
ready school of detectives involved
themselves into some desperate scrapes
for the edif1cation of the boys of 1900
and up
There was none of the fine deduc-
ton of the later school, Towering in
Sherlock Holmes, Raffies and the re-
mainder down to the rather sophisti-
Gated detective of S. S. Van Dine.
Old King Brady was man of Drawn,
who plunged in after the villain, got
himself knocked in the head for his
pains, tied up in room to wait his
fate, and then somehow managed to
wriggle loose and turn the tables on
the villains, after all.
These stories were the granddaddias
of the present crop, now going strong
throughout the world. The old nickel
stories, published once a week, were
most often read surreptitiously, since
the mothers of that era had an idea
that anything in paper backs was some
how shocking
The mothers of those times were very
easily shocked. anyway. Perhaps that
explains why Johnny preferred to read
his "Old King Brady" under the ample
covers of the grade school geography
book
Perhaps biographies have a better
use today, but in the early COS it is
questionable whether they had any
greater mission in the world than as
protective coverings for the serial adven-
lures of the mighty Frank Merriwell.
his pale imitation brother, Dick; Fred
Fearnot the aforementioned King
Brady and Nick Carter Then there
were scent issues called THE Liberty
Boys of 70" Buffalo Bill" and others,
whose names we do not recall.
PACoSlL NOBuC 1Ol JllC dCbCCbiNG
story strikes the old-time reader as
queer. not that the public is reading it,
but that it took the mass of the people
so long to discover that there was en-
tertainment in this brand of fiction.
Vogues move in cycles. The innate
worth of anything, it would seem, has
very little to do with its popularity.
Popularity, reaching to the proportions
of a fad" depends upon other fac
tors than genuine worth although often
enough the mass preference for any
thing may show ability, talent, worth,
in the thing or person preferred.
The present huge interest in avia-
ton depended not upon the work of
planes in the World War, but solely
upon the striking feat of Lindbergh,
kindling the imagination of the people.
Then We became air minded
The vogue for the detective tale
came as a part of the great spread of
the reading habit which submerged
the country following the World War.
The cause for the huge increase in the
number of volumes printed lay some
where between increased leisure, pros
perity and the publicity given the
printed word by its tremendous diff
fusion through newspapers and maya
zines.
The detective story. as a separate
brand of fiction. got great impetus dur
ing the war when President Wilson let
1t be known that he was reader OF this
form of writing. Immediately the gen.