Notes On After-Dinner Story aka Six Times Death, 1944 (a s.s. collection) by Cornell Woolrich writing as William Irish

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After-Dinner Story (Lippincott, 1944, by William Irish) is the second of Cornell Woolrich short story collections issued during his lifetime. It contains six stories of which all but one were first published in pulp magazines under Cornell Woolrich’s name. At the time, he had released the novels Phantom Lady (Lippincott, 1942) and Deadline at Dawn (Lippincott, 1944), under the pen name of William Irish and, as Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black (Simon and Schuster, 1940), The Black Curtain (Simon and Schuster, 1941), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943), and The Black Path of Fear (Doubleday, 1944). In short, he was already well known. This second collection went through numerous paperback editions after the initial hardcover release, sometimes under the alternative title Six Times Death. In the UK it was published in 1947 by Hutchinson. It was included in Lippincott’s 1960 hardcover omnibus edition The Best of William Irish along with Phantom Lady and Deadline at Dawn. As far as I know, After-Dinner Story is out of print and expensive to find today, but most individual stories are easy to locate in recent anthologies except perhaps for “Murder-Story” that hasn’t appeared in any anthology except in this one. Any way, this book is in the public domain in Canada, via fadedpage.com

Synopsis (Source: Wikipedia and my own compilation):

“After-Dinner Story” (Black Mask, January 1938). An elevator crashed with seven people inside, including the operator. The operator died instantly, the other six survived though they got trapped for several hours. By the time they were rescued, they couldn’t explain how one of them died by a shot. His death was labelled as a suicide. A year later, the dead man’s father invites the five survivors to dinner to tell them “an after dinner story”.

“The Night Reveals” (Story Magazine, April 1936). An insurance investigator suspects his wife of being the arsonist behind a recent wave of fires. Consequently, he manages to convince her to voluntarily enter in a psychiatric centre for her evaluation. However, there is nothing to indicate that she is not a balanced and normal person. Therefore she cannot be held against her will. But he finds unbearable the idea of her being fully aware of her acts.

“An Apple a Day” is the only story in the selection not previously published in a pulp magazine. The story follows the vicissitudes of an apple that, as a result of a robbery, ends up with a precious gem hidden inside. In this way, the apple passes from hand to hand without anyone noticing what it contains. The story reflects the individual circumstances of all those who find the apple.

“Marihuana” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 3 May 1941). A man, depressed after breaking up with his wife, is pressured into trying marihuana for the first time by ones “so called” friends, with the secret intention of making fun at him. In this manner, he is driven to a secluded place where people smoke weed. The joke ends up terribly bad when, under the influence, he becomes a psychotic spree killer that breaks havoc throughout the city.

“Rear Window” aka “It Had to Be Murder” (Dime Detective, February 1942) is perhaps Cornell Woolrich’s best-known short story, since it served as the basis for the script of Hitchcock’s 1954 masterpiece, Rear Window. Hal Jeffries, bedridden and with a cast on one of his legs, spends his time watching his neighbours through their rear windows. One day he suspects something is not right in one of the apartments. Could he be witnessing the outcome of a murder?

“Murder-Story” (also known as “The Inside Story” and “The Murderer’s Story”) (Detective Fiction Weekly, September 11, 1937). A writer becomes the prime suspect in a murder case once the police discover that one of his unpublished stories recounts with all sorts of details what could have happened the night of the crime.

My Take: An interesting selection of stories by Woolrich, among which, in my view, three stand out, “After-Dinner Story”, “The Night Reveals” and “Rear Window”. The rest are significantly among his weakest production for my taste, which does not exclude that some paragraphs are a pleasant read.

(Source: Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC. J. B. Lippincott Company, USA, 1944)

(Source: Facsimile Duct Jackett LLC. Hutchinson UK, 1947)

About the Author: Cornell Woolrich was born Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich on December 4, 1903 in New York City, and during his adolescence he lived with his grandfather and aunt and mother. In 1921 he enrolled in Columbia College and in his junior year began the first draft of a novel. When it sold a few months later, he quit Columbia to pursue the dream of bright lights. During his early career he published six novels. His second, Children of the Ritz (1927), won first prize of $10,000 in a contest cosponsored by College Humor magazine, which serialized it, and First National Pictures, which filmed the story in 1929. Woolrich was invited to Hollywood to help with the adaptation and stayed on as a staff writer. After his sixth novel, Manhattan Love Song (1932), Woolrich sold next to nothing. But at that moment he was on the brink of a new life as a writer, one so different from his earlier literary career that decades later he said it would have been better if all his pre-suspense fiction “had been written in invisible ink and the reagent had been thrown away.” He was about to become the Poe of the twentieth century and the poet of its shadows. Between 1934 and 1939 Woolrich sold at leas 105 stories as well as two book-length magazine serials, and by the end of the decade he had become a fixture in mystery pulps of all levels. In these tales Woolrich created, almost from scratch, the building-blocks of the literature we have come to call noir. In 1940 he joined the migration of pulp detective writers from lurid-covered magazines to hardcover books with his so-called Black Series: The Bride Wore Black (1940), The Black Curtain (1941), Black Alibi (1942), Black Angel (1943), Black Path of Fear (1944), and Rendezvous in Black (1948). In the early forties the entrepreneurs of dramatic radio and films discovered that countless Woolrich stories were naturals for adaptation and began buying from him the rights to stories like “It Had To Be Murder” (1942) which became the basis for the Hitchcock film Rear Window (1954). In fact, Woolrich continued to write more novels than could be published under a single byline and came up with the pseudonym William Irish. The novels published under the Irish byline were Phantom Lady (1942), Deadline at Dawn (1944), Night has a Thousand Eyes (1945), Waltz into Darkness (1947), and I Married a Dead Man (1948). The success of his novels led to publication of several collections of his shorter work in hardcover and paperback volumes. In addition, fifteen movies were made from Woolrich material between 1942 and 1950 alone and his influence pervaded the culture of the forties so extensively that many film noir classics of that period give the sense of having been adapted from his work even though he had nothing to do with them. Woolrich published little new after 1948, apparently because his long absent father’s death and his mother’s prolonged illnesses paralyzed his ability to write. Woolrich’s personal situation remained wretched, and more than once he sank to passing off slightly updated old stories as new work, fooling book and magazine publishers as well as readers. Diabetic, alcoholic, wracked by self-contempt, and alone after his mother’s death in 1957, Woolrich dragged out his life. In the late sixties Woolrich had plenty of money and his critical reputation was secure not only in America but in Europe, but his physical and emotional condition remained hopeless. He died of a stroke on September 25, 1968. (Source: Francis M. Nevins, ed. from Night & Fear: A Centenary Collection of Stories by Cornell Woolrich)

Bibliography: Cornell Woolrich’s novels written between 1940 to 1948 are considered his principal legacy. During this time, he definitively became an author of novel-length crime fiction which stand apart from his first six works, written under the influence of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Woolrich’s best known novels are: The Bride Wore Black as William Irish (Simon and Schuster, 1940) aka Beware the Lady, Phantom Lady as William Irish (Lippincott, 1942), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943), Deadline at Dawn as William Irish (Lippincott, 1944), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (as George Hopley) (Farrar & Rinehart, 1945), Rendezvous in Black (Rinehart, 1948) and I Married a Dead Man (as William Irish) (Lippincott, 1948).

Short story collections: Nightwebs (1971), Darkness at Dawn (1988)

Individual stories/novellas: “Murder at the Automat” (1937), “Angel Face” aka “Face Work” (1937), “Mystery in Room 913” aka “The Room with Something Wrong” (1938), “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to Be Murder” aka “Rear Window” (1942) and “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958).

A Cornell Woolrich bibliography can be found here.

Recommended Reading: Francis M. Nevins’ Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die is an enormous, in depth biography and critical study on Woolrich and his work. It is a very detailed look at Woolrich’s world. Nevins also edited the best of all Woolrich collections, Nightwebs, which contains important essays and bibliographies as well. It also contains Woolrich’s autobiographical story, “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), which is a gentle self portrait of a pulp writer. (Source: Mike Grost at A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection)

Suspense — “After-Dinner Story” by Cornell Woolrich

“Who Was Cornell Woolrich?” by Richard Dooling

“Do People Really Know What They Think They Know About Woolridge?” by Curtis Evans

Cornell Woolrich is also covered by Martin Edwards in his book The Life of Crime (Chapter 30 Waking Nightmares Noir Fiction)

Lo que la noche revela, de Cornell Woolrich como William Irish

Lo que la noche revela, su título en inglés es After-Dinner Story (Lippincott, 1944, de William Irish) es la segunda de las colecciones de relatos de Cornell Woolrich publicadas durante su vida. Contiene seis historias de las cuales todas menos una se publicaron por primera vez en revistas pulp con el nombre de Cornell Woolrich. En ese momento, había publicado las novelas Phantom Lady (Lippincott, 1942) y Deadline at Dawn (Lippincott, 1944), bajo el seudónimo de William Irish y, como Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black (Simon and Schuster, 1940), The Black Curtain (Simon and Schuster, 1941), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943) y The Black Path of Fear (Doubleday, 1944). En resumen, ya era muy conocido. Esta segunda colección pasó por numerosas ediciones de bolsillo después del lanzamiento inicial en tapa dura, a veces bajo el título alternativo Six Times Death. En el Reino Unido fue publicada en 1947 por Hutchinson. Se incluyó en la antología de tapa dura de Lippincott de 1960, The Best of William Irish, junto con Phantom Lady y Deadline at Dawn. Hasta donde yo sé, After-Dinner Story está agotada y es cara de encontrar hoy en día, pero la mayoría de las historias individuales son fáciles de localizar en antologías recientes, excepto quizás “Murder-Story”, que no ha aparecido en ninguna antología excepto en esta. De todos modos, este libro es de dominio público en Canadá, a través de fadedpage.com

Sinopsis (Fuente: Wikipedia y elaboración propia):

“Cuento de sobremesa” título original: “After-Dinner Story” (Black Mask, enero de 1938). Un ascensor se estrelló con siete personas dentro, incluido el operador. El operador murió instantáneamente, los otros seis sobrevivieron aunque quedaron atrapados durante varias horas. Para cuando fueron rescatados, no pudieron explicar cómo uno de ellos murió por un disparo. Su muerte fue catalogada como un suicidio. Un año después, el padre del muerto invita a cenar a los cinco sobrevivientes para contarles “una historia de sobremesa”.

“Lo que la noche revela” titulo original: “The Night Reveals” (Story Magazine, abril de 1936). Un investigador de seguros sospecha que su esposa es la pirómana detrás de una reciente ola de incendios. En consecuencia, logra convencerla de ingresar voluntariamente en un centro psiquiátrico para su evaluación. Sin embargo, no hay nada que indique que ella no es una persona equilibrada y normal. Por lo tanto, no puede ser retenida contra su voluntad. Pero encuentra insoportable la idea de que ella sea plenamente consciente de sus actos.

“Aventuras de una manzana” título original: “An Apple a Day” es la única historia de la selección no publicada previamente en una revista pulp. La historia sigue las peripecias de una manzana que, a raíz de un robo, acaba con una gema preciosa escondida en su interior. De esta forma , la manzana pasa de mano en mano sin que nadie se dé cuenta de lo que contiene. La historia refleja las circunstancias individuales de todos aquellos que encuentran la manzana.

“Marihuana” título original: “Marihuana” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 3 de mayo de 1941). Un hombre, deprimido tras romper con su mujer, es presionado para probar marihuana por primera vez por unos “supuestos” amigos, con la secreta intención de burlarse de él. De esta manera, es conducido a un lugar apartado donde la gente fuma hierba. La broma termina terriblemente mal cuando, bajo la influencia, se convierte en un asesino psicótico que causa estragos por toda la ciudad.

“Ventana trasera” Título origianal: “Rear Window” también conocida como “It Had to Be Murder” (Dime Detective, febrero de 1942) es quizás el cuento más conocido de Cornell Woolrich, ya que sirvió de base para el guión de la obra maestra de Hitchcock de 1954, Rear Window. Hal Jeffries, postrado en cama y con una pierna enyesada, se pasa el tiempo mirando a sus vecinos a través de sus ventanas traseras. Un día sospecha que algo no anda bien en uno de los apartamentos. ¿Podría estar presenciando el resultado de un asesinato?

“Cuento policial” Título original: “Murder Story” (también conocida como “The Inside Story” y “The Murderer’s Story”) (Detective Fiction Weekly, 11 de septiembre de 1937). Un escritor se convierte en el principal sospechoso de un caso de asesinato cuando la policía descubre que uno de sus relatos inéditos relata con todo lujo de detalles lo que pudo haber ocurrido la noche del crimen.

Mi opinión: Una interesante selección de relatos de Woolrich, entre los que, a mi juicio, destacan tres, “After-Dinner Story”, “The Night Reveals” y “Rear Window”. El resto está significativamente entre su producción más floja para mi gusto, lo que no excluye que algunos párrafos sean de agradable lectura.

Sobre el autor: Cornell Woolrich cuyo nombre completo era Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich nació el 4 de diciembre de 1903 en la ciudad de Nueva York, y durante su adolescencia vivió con su abuelo, su tía y su madre. En 1921 se matriculó en el Columbia College y en su tercer año comenzó el primer borrador de una novela. Cuando se vendió unos meses después, dejó Columbia para perseguir el sueño del cine. Durante su carrera inicial publicó seis novelas. La segunda, Children of the Ritz (1927), ganó el primer premio de 10.000 dólares en un concurso copatrocinado por la revista College Humor, que la publicó por entregas, y First National Pictures, que rodó la historia en 1929. Woolrich fue invitado a Hollywood para ayudar con la adaptación y permaneció como escritor contratado. Después de su sexta novela, Manhattan Love Song (1932), Woolrich no vendió casi nada. Pero en ese momento estaba al borde de una nueva vida como escritor, una tan diferente de su carrera literaria anterior que décadas más tarde dijo que hubiera sido mejor si toda su ficción anterior al suspense “hubiera sido escrita con tinta invisible y el reactivo habiera sido desechado”. Estuvo a punto de convertirse en el Poe del siglo XX y el poeta de sus sombras. Entre 1934 y 1939, Woolrich vendió al menos 105 historias, así como dos series largas por entregas en revistas , y al final de la década se había convertido en un cláscico en la revistas pulp de misterio de todos los niveles. En estos cuentos, Woolrich creó, casi desde cero, los fundamentos básicos de la literatura que hemos dado en llamar noir. En 1940 se unió a la migración de escritores de detectives pulp de revistas de tapas chillonas a libros de tapa dura con su llamada serie “Black”: The Bride Wore Black (1940), The Black Curtain (1941), Black Alibi (1942), Black Angel ( 1943), Black Path of Fear (1944) y Rendezvous in Black (1948). A principios de los años cuarenta, los empresarios de radio y cine descubrieron que innumerables historias de Woolrich eran innatas para la adaptación y comenzaron a comprarle los derechos de historias como “It Had to be Murder” (1942), que se convirtió en la base de la película de Hitchcock La ventana indiscreta. (1954). De hecho, Woolrich siguió escribiendo más novelas de las que podían publicarse con un solo nombre y se le ocurrió el seudónimo de William Irish. Las novelas publicadas bajo el nombre de Irish fueron Phantom Lady (1942), Deadline at Dawn (1944), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1945), Waltz into Darkness (1947) y I Married a Dead Man (1948). El éxito de sus novelas llevó a la publicación de varias colecciones de sus relatos en volúmenes de tapa dura y en rústica. Además, se hicieron quince películas con material de Woolrich solo entre 1942 y 1950 y su influencia impregnó la cultura de los años cuarenta de tal manera que muchos clásicos del cine negro de ese período dan la sensación de haber sido adaptados de su obra a pesar de que no tenían nada que ver con ella. Woolrich publicó poco después de 1948, aparentemente porque la muerte de su padre, ausente durante mucho tiempo, y las prolongadas enfermedades de su madre paralizaron su capacidad para escribir. La situación personal de Woolrich siguió siendo deplorable, y más de una vez cayó en la tentación de hacer pasar historias viejas ligeramente actualizadas como nuevos trabajos, engañando a los editores de libros y revistas, así como a los lectores. Diabético, alcohólico, atormentado por un cierto desprecio por sí mismo y solo, tras la muerte de su madre en 1957, Woolrich arrastraba su existencia. A fines de los años sesenta, Woolrich tenía mucho dinero y su reputación estaba asegurada no solo en los Estados Unidos sino también en Europa, pero su condición física y emocional seguía siendo desesperada. Murió de un derrame cerebral el 25 de septiembre de 1968. (Fuente: Francis M. Nevins, ed. de Night & Fear: A Centenary Collection of Stories de Cornell Woolrich)

My Book Notes: “Dilemma of the Dead Lady” aka “Wardrobe Trunk”, 1936 a s.s. by Cornell Woolrich

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Included in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original, November, 2007. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 15373 KB. Print Length: 2489 pages. ASIN: B000XPNUHW. eISBN: 978-0-307-49416-0. “Dilemma of the Dead Lady” a novelette by Cornell Woolrich from Detective Fiction Weekly [vol. 103 #3, July 4, 1936] 852 – 892 pp.

The Instant Babe Sherman Became Desperate, He Began to Make Mistakes— Just Two Mistakes, but Either Could Cost His Life!

“Dilemma of the Dead Lady”, sometime known as “The Dilemma of the Dead Lady”, has had a varied life. Inspired by a cruise Cornell Woolrich took with his mother in 1931, he twists the memories into one of his most horrifying suspense stories. Although it was common for Woolrich to visit great terrors on ordinary, decent people, in this tale the central character is such a lowlife that we almost feel he deserves whatever befalls him.

After its original publication in the July 4, 1936, issue of Detective Fiction Weekly, it was retitled “Wardrobe Trunk” for its book publication in The Blue Ribbon (1946) by William Irish, Woolrich’s pseudonym. Oddly, Woolrich rewrote it as a radio play titled “Working Is for Fools,” which was never produced but did appear in the March 1964 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

My Take: Almost at the beginning of this story, Woolrich describes Babe Sherman as follows:

“He was a good-looking devil, if you cared for his type of good looks—and women usually did. Then later on, they always found out how wrong they’d been. They were only a sideline with him, anyway; they were apt to get tangled around a guy’s feet, trip him up when he least expected it. Like this little—what was her name now? He actually couldn’t remember it for a minute, and didn’t try to; he wouldn’t be using it any more now, anyway.”

When the stroy begins Babe Sherman is at his hotel’s room packing a big wardrobe trunk. He intents to return immediately to New York from France by boat. He’d used all his resources to fleece the life savings of a shop assistant of a jewellery store on Rue de la Paix and, in an oversight, had stolen a valuable string of pearls with a diamond clasp, and replaced it by a fake one.

While hiding the pearls in the heel of his shoe, there’s a knock at the door. To his surprise the young French woman shows up and soon realises how stupid she has been for having believe his false promises. This unpleasant surprise is not going to have a happy ending.

“He had never yet killed anyone, didn’t intend to even now. But death was already in the room with the two of them. She could have still saved herself, probably, by using her head, subsiding, pretending to fall in with his plans for the time being. That way she might have gotten out of there alive. But it would have been superhuman; no one in her position would have had the self-control to do it. She was only a very frightened French girl after all. They were both at a white-heat of fear and self-preservation; she lost her head completely, did the one thing that was calculated to doom her. She flung herself for the last time at the door, panic-stricken, with a hoarse cry for help. And he, equally panic-stricken, and more concerned about silencing her before she roused the house than even about keeping her in the room with him, took the shortest way of muffling her voice. The inaccurate way, the deadly way. He flung the long loop of pearls over her head from behind like a lasso, foreshortened them into a choking noose, dragged her stumbling backward. They were strung on fine platinum wire, almost unbreakable. She turned and turned, three times over, like a dislodged tenpin, whipping the thing inextricably around her throat, came up against him, coughing, clawing at herself, eyes rolling. Too late he let go, there wasn’t any slack left, the pearls were like gleaming white nail heads driven into her flesh.”

Shortly after, another knock at his door reminds him he has to hurry up if he doesn’t want to miss the train. He has no escape, hides the body in the trunk with his belongings and opens the door. The hotel’s porter helps him lower the trunk to the taxi and, not without difficulty, he manages to catch the train on time and gets on board of his boat at the last minute, bribing everyone not to put the trunk in the hold. In this manner he’s allowed to keep it in his cabin. But he is not alone. He shares it with another man, a man whom he suspects to be a New York cop. In consequence, it won’t be an easy task for him to get rid of the corpse without arousing suspicion. But fate will play him a bad trick.

In a nutshell, another entertaining noir tale by Cornell Woolrich with his peculiar sense of humour and his personal narrative style

“Dilemma of the Dead Lady” has been reviewed, among others, by “Mike Gray” at Ontos.

About the Author: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 April 1903—25 September 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer who wrote under the names Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley and William Irish. His biographer Francis Nevins Jr. rated him the 4th best crime writer of his day behind Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler. Like Chandler, little is known about his personal life. Woolrich was born in New York City and his parents separated when he was young. He lived for a time in Mexico with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother. Attending Columbia University, he dropped out his senior year when his first novel Cover Charge was published. He continued writing and living with his mother. After she died, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with Mystery Writers of America colleagues and younger fans, but alcoholism, diabetes, and an amputated leg left him a recluse. Hopley-Woolrich throughout his writing career published 27 novels and 16 short story collections resulting in over 40 films and TV theatre episodes based on his stories. His most famous film adaptation is the movie Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, based on his story “It Had To Be Murder”. (Sources: The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

Bibliography: Cornell Woolrich’s novels written between 1940 to 1948 are considered his principal legacy. During this time, he definitively became an author of novel-length crime fiction which stand apart from his first six works, written under the influence of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Woolrich’s best known novels are: The Bride Wore Black as William Irish (Simon and Schuster, 1940) aka Beware the Lady, Phantom Lady as William Irish (Lippincott, 1942), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943), Deadline at Dawn as William Irish (Lippincott, 1944), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (as George Hopley) (Farrar & Rinehart, 1945), Rendezvous in Black (Rinehart, 1948) and I Married a Dead Man (as William Irish) (Lippincott, 1948).

Short story collections: Nightwebs (1971), Darkness at Dawn (1988)

Individual stories/novellas: “Murder at the Automat” (1937), “Angel Face” aka “Face Work” (1937), “Mystery in Room 913” aka “The Room with Something Wrong” (1938), “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to be Murder” aka “Rear Window” (1942) and “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958).

A Cornell Woolrich bibliography can be found here.

Recommended Reading: Francis M. Nevins’ Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die is an enormous, in depth biography and critical study on Woolrich and his work. It is a very detailed look at Woolrich’s world. Nevins also edited the best of all Woolrich collections, Nightwebs, which contains important essays and bibliographies as well. It also contains Woolrich’s autobiographical story, “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), which is a gentle self portrait of a pulp writer. (Source: Mike Grost at A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection)

“Who Was Cornell Woolrich?” by Richard Dooling

“Do People Really Know What They Think They Know About Woolridge?” by Curtis Evans

Cornell Woolrich is also covered by Marin Edwards in his book The Life of Crime (Chapter 30 Waking Nightmares Noir Fiction)

Dilemma of the Dead Lady, un relato breve de Cornell Woolrich

En el momento en que Babe Sherman se desesperó, comenzó a cometer errores: ¡solo dos errores, pero cualquiera podría costarle la vida!

“El Dilema de la Dama Muerta”, ha tenido una vida variada. Inspirado en un crucero que Cornell Woolrich realizó con su madre en 1931, transforma los recuerdos en una de sus historias de suspense más aterradoras. Aunque era común que Woolrich infundiera grandes terrores en la gente común y decente, en este cuento el personaje central es un canalla tan despreciable que casi sentimos que se merece lo que le suceda.

Después de su publicación original en la edición del 4 de julio de 1936 de Detective Fiction Weekly, se le cambió el título a “Wardrobe Trunk” para su publicación en la colección de relatos The Blue Ribbon (1946) de William Irish, el seudónimo de Woolrich. Curiosamente, Woolrich lo reescribió como una obra de radio titulada “Working Is for Fools”, que nunca se realizó pero apareció en la edición de marzo de 1964 de Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

My Take: Casi al comienzo de esta historia, Woolrich describe a Babe Sherman, de la siguiente manera:

“Era un demonio apuesto, si te importaba su buena apariencia, y las mujeres generalmente lo hacían. Luego, más tarde, siempre descubren lo equivocadas que han estado. Esta era sólo una actividad secundaria para él, de todos modos; eran propensas a enredarse en los pies de un hombre, haciéndolo tropezar cuando menos lo esperaba. Como esta pequeña… ¿cómo se llamaba ahora? De hecho, no pudo recordarlo ni por un instante, y tampoco lo intentó; de todos modos, ya no la usaría más.”

Cuando comienza la historia Babe Sherman se encuentra en la habitación de su hotel empaquetando un gran baúl. Intenta regresar inmediatamente a Nueva York desde Francia en barco. Había usado todos sus recursos para estafar los ahorros de toda una vida de una dependienta de una joyería en la Rue de la Paix y, en un descuido, había robado un valioso collar de perlas con un cierre de diamantes, y lo había reemplazado por uno falso.

Mientras esconde las perlas en el tacón de su zapato, llaman a la puerta. Para su sorpresa, la joven francesa aparece y pronto se da cuenta de lo estúpida que ha sido por haber creído sus falsas promesas. Esta desagradable sorpresa no va a tener un final feliz.

“Nunca había matado a nadie, ni siquiera tenía la intención de hacerlo ahora. Pero la muerte ya estaba en la habitación con los dos. Todavía podría haberse salvado, probablemente, usando su cabeza, cediendo, fingiendo estar de acuerdo con sus planes de momento. De esa manera podría haber escapado viva de allí. Pero hubiera sido sobrehumano; nadie en su situación habría tenido el autocontrol para hacerlo. Después de todo, solo era una chica francesa muy asustada. Ambos estaban pálidos de miedo y con instinto de superviviencia; perdió la cabeza por completo, hizo lo único que podía condenarla. Arremetió por última vez contra la puerta, presa del pánico, con un ronco grito de socorro. Y él, igualmente presa del pánco, y más preocupado por silenciarla antes de que despertara a toda la casa que por mantenerla con él en la habitación, eligió el camino más corto para amortiguar su voz. El camino inexacto, el camino mortal. Lanzó el largo collar de perlas sobre su cabeza desde atrás como si fuera un lazo, y acortándolo como una soga asfixiante, la arrastró hacia atrás. Las perlas estaban ensartadas en un fino alambre de platino, casi irrompible. Ella giró y volvió a girarse, tres veces más, como si fuera unos boliches desplazados, la cadena azotándole  irremediablemente alrededor de su garganta, se acercó contra él, tosiendo, arañándose a sí misma, con los ojos en blanco. La soltó demasiado tarde, ya sin holgura en la cadena, las perlas parecían relucientes cabezas de clavos blancos clavados en su carne”.

Poco después, otra llamada a su puerta le recuerda que tiene que darse prisa si no quiere perder el tren. No tiene escapatoria, esconde el cuerpo en el baúl con sus pertenencias y abre la puerta. El portero del hotel le ayuda a bajar el baúl al taxi y, no sin dificultad, consigue llegar a tiempo al tren y se sube a su barco en el último momento, sobornando a todos para que no pongan el baúl en la bodega. De esta manera se le permite guardarlo en su camarote. Pero él no está solo. Lo comparte con otro hombre, un hombre del que sospecha que es un policía de Nueva York. En consecuencia, no le resultará fácil deshacerse del cadáver sin despertar sospechas. Pero el destino le jugará una mala pasada.

En definitiva, otro entretenido cuento noir de Cornell Woolrich con su peculiar sentido del humor y su personal estilo narrativo.

Sobre el autor: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 de abril de 1903 – 25 de septiembre de 1968) fue un escritor de novelas y relatos estadounidense que escribió bajo los nombres de Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley y William Irish. Su biógrafo Francis Nevins Jr. lo calificó como el cuarto mejor escritor policiaco de su época detrás de Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner y Raymond Chandler. Al igual que Chandler, se sabe poco sobre su vida personal. Woolrich nació en la ciudad de Nueva York y sus padres se separaron cuando él era joven. Vivió un tiempo en México con su padre antes de regresar a Nueva York para vivir con su madre. Asistiendo a la Universidad de Columbia, abandonó su último año cuando se publicó su primera novela Cover Charge. Continuó escribiendo y viviendo con su madre. Después de que ella muriera, socializó en bares de Manhattan con colegas de Mystery Writers of America y fanáticos más jóvenes, pero el alcoholismo, la diabetes y una pierna amputada lo dejaron recluido. Hopley-Woolrich a lo largo de su carrera como escritor publicó 27 novelas y 16 colecciones de cuentos que dieron como resultado más de 40 películas y episodios teatralizados para la televisivo basados ​​en sus historias. Su adaptación cinematográfica más famosa es la película Rear Window dirigida por Alfred Hitchcock y protagonizada por James Stewart, basada en su historia “It Had To Be Murder”. (Fuentes:  The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

Prólogo de Rodolfo Walsh aobre la obra de William Irish

My Book Notes: “Angel Face” aka “Face Work”, 1937 a s.s. by Cornell Woolrich

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Included in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original, November, 2007. Book Format: Kindle Edition. File Size: 15373 KB. Print Length: 2489 pages. ASIN: B000XPNUHW. eISBN: 978-0-307-49416-0. “Angel Face” by Cornell Woolrich from Black Mask Magazine, October, 1937. 1641 – 1674 pp.

In 1935, Cornell Woolrich (1903 – 1968) submitted a story titled “Angel Face” to Dime Detective Magazine, which published it as “Murder in Wax” in its March 1, 1935 issue. A couple of years later, he sold a similar story about an avenging angel to Black Mask, who published it as “Face Work” in its October 1937 issue. This story has often been reprinted under the title Woolrich clearly wanted for it, “Angel Face”,  finally given to it by Frederic Dannay when he reprinted it in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine for December 1946. While it has the usual number of plot inconsistencies, one expects from the great poet of darkness, it is quintessentially Woolrich in all his noir glory. Both “Murder in Wax” and “Angel Face” were the basis for one of the seven great novels in his memorable “Black” series, The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943).

In addition to its frequent reprints, “Face Work” enjoyed other incarnations. It was bought for the movies soon after publication—the first of numerous Woolrich stories to be filmed. Columbia made it into a weak fifty-eight-minute B movie titled Convicted in 1938. Although it starred a young Rita Hayworth and meticulously followed the story, even lifting much of the original dialogue, it is neither a noir film nor a memorable one. Twelve years later, it was aired as “Angel Face” on radio’s famous Suspense series (May 18, 1950) with Claire Trevor as the good-hearted stripper who tries to save her brother from being convicted of a murder.

My Take: In “Face Work” aka “Angel Face” Woolrich reworked his 1935 short story “Murder in Wax” changing the characters from husband and wife to brother and sister. This change, minimal in appearance, modifies the  story in a certain sense and, in my view, even improves it.

“Angel Face” is narrated in the first person by Jerry Wheeler, a young woman of twenty-seven with a pretty face and a hard life behind, who does whatever it takes for her younger brother Chick. Since she was sixteen, she spent most of her young girlhood to keep him out of the orphan asylum or the reformatory.

When the story begins Chick has been cajoled by Ruby Rose Reading, a girlfriend of a mobster and he wants to run off to Chicago with her. To protect Chick, Jerry has come to see Ruby Rose to persuade her to take her hands off from him. 

“There’s a little girl on our street, oh not much to look at, thinks twelve o’clock’s the middle of the night and storks leave babies, but she is ready to take up where I leave off, pinch pennies and squeeze nickels along with him, build him into something, get him somewhere, not spread him all over the landscape.  He’s just a man, doesn’t know what’s good for him, doesn’t know his bass from his oboe. I can’t stand by and watch her chew her heart up. Give her a break, and him, and me. Pick on someone your size, someone that can take it. Have your fun and more power to you – but not with all I’ve got!”

But Jerry achieves nothing and, upon returning home, she said to her brother:

“I’m not asking anything for myself. I’m older than you, Chick, and when a girl says that you’ve got her down to bedrock. I’ve been around plenty, and ‘around’ wasn’t pretty. Maybe you think it was fun wrestling my way home each morning at five, and no holds barred, just so— so…. Oh, I didn’t know why myself sometimes; just so you wouldn’t turn out to be another corner lizard, a sharpshooter, a bum like the rest of them. Chick, you’re just a punk of twenty-four, but as far as I’m concerned the sun rises and sets across your shoulders. Me and little Mary Allen, we’ve been rooting for you all along; what’s the matter with her, Chick? Just because her face don’t come out of boxes and she doesn’t know the right grips, don’t pass her by for something that ought to be shampooed out of your hair with gasoline.”

But he didn’t have an ear for music;

That same night, around four in the morning, Jerry’s doorbell rings. A couple of detectives enter his house. They don’t ask if they could get in. After a while, all Jerry can find out is that someone had strangled Ruby Rose Reading at a quarter past eight that evening. And there’s no question who could have done it. Chick was seen walking into her apartment a few minutes earlier. Shattered by the news, she tries to incriminate herself saying it was she who killed her, but later on in trial, Chick will be found guilty and sentenced to death. But Jerry has already become determined to do whatever it takes to save him from the electric chair.

In short, “Angle Face” is a little gem that perhaps may have been forgotten among the amount of Cornell Woolrich stories and that, in my view, is very much worth reading. I consider that it is quite a success the change of main characters to a brother and sister, which makes the story seems more credible. Another achievement is the change in roles among brother and sister, as presages the chosen names. Jerry is more likely to be a guy’s name and Chick a gal’s name. It is as well an excellent story around the maternal figure that performs Chick’s elder sister. And, last but not least, it serves as a great introduction to the world of Cornell Woolrich for those who wish to start reading his oeuvre.

About the Author: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 April 1903—25 September 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer who wrote under the names Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley and William Irish. His biographer Francis Nevins Jr. rated him the 4th best crime writer of his day behind Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler. Like Chandler, little is known about his personal life. Woolrich was born in New York City and his parents separated when he was young. He lived for a time in Mexico with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother. Attending Columbia University, he dropped out his senior year when his first novel Cover Charge was published. He continued writing and living with his mother. After she died, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with Mystery Writers of America colleagues and younger fans, but alcoholism, diabetes, and an amputated leg left him a recluse. Hopley-Woolrich throughout his writing career published 27 novels and 16 short story collections resulting in over 40 films and TV theatre episodes based on his stories. His most famous film adaptation is the movie Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, based on his story “It Had To Be Murder”. (Sources: The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

Bibliography: Cornell Woolrich’s novels written between 1940 to 1948 are considered his principal legacy. During this time, he definitively became an author of novel-length crime fiction which stand apart from his first six works, written under the influence of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Woolrich’s best known novels are: The Bride Wore Black as William Irish (Simon and Schuster, 1940) aka Beware the Lady, Phantom Lady as William Irish (Lippincott, 1942), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943), Deadline at Dawn as William Irish (Lippincott, 1944), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (as George Hopley) (Farrar & Rinehart, 1945), Rendezvous in Black (Rinehart, 1948) and I Married a Dead Man (as William Irish) (Lippincott, 1948).

Short story collections: Nightwebs (1971), Darkness at Dawn (1988)

Individual stories/novellas: “Murder at the Automat” (1937), “Mystery in Room 913” aka “The Room with Something Wrong” (1938), “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to be Murder” aka “Rear Window” (1942) and “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958).

A Cornell Woolrich bibliography can be found here.

Recommended Reading: Francis M. Nevins’ Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die is an enormous, in depth biography and critical study on Woolrich and his work. It is a very detailed look at Woolrich’s world. Nevins also edited the best of all Woolrich collections, Nightwebs, which contains important essays and bibliographies as well. It also contains Woolrich’s autobiographical story, “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), which is a gentle self portrait of a pulp writer. (Source: Mike Grost at A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection)

“Who Was Cornell Woolrich?” by Richard Dooling

“Do People Really Know What They Think They Know About Woolridge?” by Curtis Evans

Cornell Woolrich is also covered by Marin Edwards in his book The Life of Crime (Chapter 30 Waking Nightmares Noir Fiction)

“Angel Face” también conocido como “Face Work”, es un relato breve de 1937, de Cornell Woolrich

En 1935, Cornell Woolrich (1903 – 1968) envió una historia titulada “Angel Face” a la revista Dime Detective, que la publicó como “Murder in Wax” en su número del 1 de marzo de 1935. Un par de años más tarde, vendió una historia similar sobre un ángel vengador a Black Mask, que la publicó como “Face Work” en su número de octubre de 1937. Esta historia se reimprimió a menudo con el título que Woolrich claramente quería para ella, “Angel Face”, que finalmente le dio Frederic Dannay cuando la reeditó en Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine en diciembre de 1946. Si bien tiene el número habitual de inconsistencias en la trama, que uno espera del gran poeta de las tinieblas, es la quintaesencia de Woolrich en todo su esplendor noir. Tanto “Murder in Wax” como “Angel Face” fueron la base de una de las siete grandes novelas de su memorable serie “Black”, The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943).

Además de sus frecuentes reediciones, “Face Work” disfrutó de otras versiones. Fue adquirida para el cine poco después de su publicación, la primera de las numerosas historias de Woolrich que se rodaron. Columbia la convirtió en una flojal película serie B de cincuenta y ocho minutos titulada Convicted en 1938. Aunque estaba protagonizada por una joven Rita Hayworth y seguía meticulosamente la historia, incluso eliminando gran parte del diálogo original, no es una película noir ni memorable. Doce años más tarde, se emitió como “Angel Face” en la famosa serie de radio Suspense (18 de mayo de 1950) con Claire Trevor como la stripper de buen corazón que intenta salvar a su hermano de ser condenado por un asesinato.

Mi opinión: En “Face Work”, también conocido como “Angel Face”, Woolrich reelaboró ​​su relato de 1935 “Murder in Wax” cambiando los personajes de marido y mujer a hermano y hermana. Este cambio, en apariencia mínimo, modifica en cierto sentido la historia y, a mi modo de ver, incluso la mejora.

“Angel Face” está narrada en primera persona por Jerry Wheeler, una joven de veintisiete años con una cara bonita y una vida dura a sus espaldas, que hace lo que sea por su hermano menor Chick. Desde que tenía dieciséis años, dedicó la mayor parte de su infancia a mantenerlo fuera del asilo de huérfanos o del reformatorio.

Cuando comienza la historia, Chick ha sido engatusado por Ruby Rose Reading, la novia de un mafioso, y quiere fugarse a Chicago con ella. Para proteger a Chick, Jerry ha venido a ver a Ruby Rose para persuadirla de que le quite las manos de encima.

“Hay una jovencita en nuestra calle, no parece gran cosa, que piensa que las doce en punto es la mitad de la noche y las cigüeñas traen a los niños, pero está preparada para continuar donde yo no llego, ahorra unos céntimos y exprime monedas de cinco centavos junto con él, para convertirlo en algo, conseguir algo de él, sin esparcirlo por todas partes. Es solo un hombre, no sabe lo que es bueno para él, no distingue su bajo de su oboe. No puedo quedarme de brazos cruzados y mirarla haciendo de tripas corazón. Dale un respiro, a él y a mí. Elige a alguien de tu tamaño, alguien que pueda soportarlo. Diviértete y mejor para tí, ¡pero no con lo único que tengo! (mi tradución libre)

Pero Jerry no consigue nada y, al regresar a casa, le dice a su hermano

“No te pido nada para mí. Soy mayor que tú, Chick, y se bien cuando una chica te dice que está en tu médula. He estado muchas veces allí, y ‘allí’ no era bonito. Tal vez pienses que fue divertido luchar de regreso a casa todas las mañanas a las cinco, sin restricciones, así que… así que… Oh, yo misma no sabía por qué a veces; para que no termines siento otro lagarto, un francotirador, un inútil como el resto.  Chick, solo eres un mocoso de veinticuatro años, pero por lo que a mí respecta, amanece y anochece siempre igual. La pequeña Mary Allen y yo, te hemos apoyado todo el tiempo; ¿Qué te pasa, Chick? Solo porque su cara no sea excepcional y no conozca la postura correcta, no la cambies por algo que tendriás que enjabonarte con gasolina para poder arrancártelo del cabello”.

Pero él no tenía oídos para escuchar su música; (mi traducción libre)

Esa misma madrugada, alrededor de las cuatro de la mañana, suena el timbre de la puerta de Jerry. Un par de detectives entran en su casa. No preguntan si pueden entrar. Después de un tiempo, todo lo que Jerry puede averiguar es que alguien había estrangulado a Ruby Rose Reading a las ocho y cuarto de la noche. Y no hay duda de quién podría haberlo hecho. Chick fue visto entrando en su apartamento unos minutos antes. Destrozada por la noticia, intenta incriminarse diciendo que fue ella quien la mató, pero más tarde en el juicio, Chick será declarado culpable y condenadao a muerte. Pero Jerry ya está decidida a hacer lo que sea necesario para salvarlo de la silla eléctrica.

En definitiva, “Angle Face” es una pequeña joya que quizás haya quedado olvidada entre la cantidad de relatos de Cornell Woolrich y que, a mi modo de ver, merece mucho la pena leer. Considero que es todo un acierto el cambio de personajes principales a un hermano y una hermana, lo que hace que la historia parezca más creíble. Otro logro es el cambio de roles entre hermano y hermana, como presagian los nombres elegidos. Jerry es más probable que sea un nombre de chico y Chick un nombre de chica. Es también una excelente historia en torno a la figura materna que interpreta la hermana mayor de Chick. Y, por último, pero no menos importante, sirve como una gran introducción al mundo de Cornell Woolrich para aquellos que deseen comenzar a leer su obra.

Sobre el autor: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 de abril de 1903 – 25 de septiembre de 1968) fue un escritor de novelas y relatos estadounidense que escribió bajo los nombres de Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley y William Irish. Su biógrafo Francis Nevins Jr. lo calificó como el cuarto mejor escritor policiaco de su época detrás de Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner y Raymond Chandler. Al igual que Chandler, se sabe poco sobre su vida personal. Woolrich nació en la ciudad de Nueva York y sus padres se separaron cuando él era joven. Vivió un tiempo en México con su padre antes de regresar a Nueva York para vivir con su madre. Asistiendo a la Universidad de Columbia, abandonó su último año cuando se publicó su primera novela Cover Charge. Continuó escribiendo y viviendo con su madre. Después de que ella muriera, socializó en bares de Manhattan con colegas de Mystery Writers of America y fanáticos más jóvenes, pero el alcoholismo, la diabetes y una pierna amputada lo dejaron recluido. Hopley-Woolrich a lo largo de su carrera como escritor publicó 27 novelas y 16 colecciones de cuentos que dieron como resultado más de 40 películas y episodios teatralizados para la televisivo basados ​​en sus historias. Su adaptación cinematográfica más famosa es la película Rear Window dirigida por Alfred Hitchcock y protagonizada por James Stewart, basada en su historia “It Had To Be Murder”. (Fuentes:  The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

My Book Notes: Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics (1985) a collection of s.s., by Cornell Woolrich

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Peter Bedrick Books, 1988. Book Format: Trade Paperback. Number of pages: 297. ISBN:‎‎ 978-0872262041. Reprint Originally published by Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1985. Edited by Francis M. Nevis, Jr. & Martin H. Greenberg.  With an Introduction by Francis M. Nevins, Jr.

Darkness at Dawn collects thirteen short stories by Cornell Woolrich published in pulp magazines between 1934 and 1935, the time when he became a mystery and suspense writer. If only for this reason it’s worth reading. The selection was recollected seventeen years after Woolrich’s death by Francis M Nevis Jr in 1985 although some of the stories were published in previous compilations. Together they provide a unique opportunity to access in one book his first foray into the genre. In these stories there are already present the themes that will shape his imaginary in his later work such as a race against time and the figure of the guilty innocent, all wrapped up in a peculiar sense of black humour. As in any selection not all the stories have the same quality, some are better than others, but in any case I’m pretty sure that their interest will more than offset some shortcomings such as a certain naivety in its plots, an excess of coincidences and, occasionally, some incoherencies.

“Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair” (aka “Hurting Much?”) (Detective Fiction Weekly, August 4, 1934) was Cornell Woolrich’s first mystery tale. A dentist is charged of having poisoned a patient. A journalist in the waiting room, who happens to be a personal friend of the dentist, is convinced of his innocence and will do as much as possible to prove his innocence, even at the risk of his own life.

“Walls That Hear You” (Detective Fiction Weekly, August 18, 1934). When the police come to the door and ask if Eddie Mason lives there, his brother fears something terrible could have happened to him. In fact, he had been abandoned on a deserted road with his fingers cut off and his tongue severed. With nothing in his life  that could serve to explain it, it can only be assumed that he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that he was mistaken for another person. Either way, the cops are unable to communicate with him and decide to give up the investigation. Under such circumstances, his brother takes up the investigation at his own risk. 

“Preview of Death” (revised into “Murder Before the Camera” aka “Screen Test”) (Dime Detective Magazine, 15 November 1934). This story was inspired by a real case, the death in 1923 of silent film actress Martha Mansfield. In the tale, a young and promising actress becomes a human torch and dies during a shooting of a film when her skirt catches on fire. The detective assigned to protect her will have to investigate whether it was an accident or a premeditated murder.

“Murder in Wax” (Dime Detective Magazine, March 1, 1935). An unfaithful husband is accused of slaying his mistress, with whom he intended to elope the same night in which she was found murdered. Sentenced to the electric chair, his devoted wife goes to great lengths to save him from execution, even when all the odds are against him. A powerful tale narrated in the first person by the wife herself that was later expanded by Woolrich into his 1943 novel, The Black Angel.

“The Body Upstairs” (Dime Detective Magazine, April 1, 1935). While investigating a leaky roof, an off duty detective discovers a crime. The woman on the floor above had been murdered and her corpse was placed in the bathtub. The cops assigned to investigate the case torture the victim’s husband in a desperate attempt to force him confess a crime he has not committed. The detective who uncovered the crime refuses to accept a simple solution as that, he’s convinced of the innocence of the husband and sets out to uncover the truth on his own.

“Kiss of the Cobra” (Dime Detective Magazine, May 1, 1935). The story begins When Detective Charlie Lawson’s father-in-law returns from India with his new wife Veda, and she will break havoc as soon as she sets foot inside the house. Although the story has some supernatural elements the solution  ends up having a rational explanation. Woolrich originally submitted the story under the title “Three Cigarettes in the Dark”.

“Red Liberty” (aka “Mystery in the Stature of Liberty” and “The Corpse in the Statue”) (Dime Detective Magazine, July 1, 1935). During a sightseeing tour of the Statue of Liberty, an off duty detective observes an overweight man having difficulties to climb the stairs, but he doesn’t catch sight of him descending neither taking the last ferry. He starts wondering what could had happened to him? His concern increases when at the ferry’s terminal no one reports him missing, even though he’s quite convinced that, on his arrival, he wasn’t alone.

“Dark Melody of Madness” (aka “Papa Benjamin” and “Music from the Dark”) (Dime Mystery, July 1935). Eddie Bloch, a famous jazz composer and bandleader, voluntarily presents himself to the New Orleans police to confess he has shot an African American man to death. But this is the South in the mid thirties and the police instantly begins to exonerate him until he is let to tell them the whole story from the beginning. Thus, we will find out he killed Papa Benjamin to free himself from the curse he had cast on him for having steal the African rhythms that gave him fame and money.

“The Corpse and the Kid” (aka “Blind Date” and “Boy with Body”) (Dime Detective Magazine, September 1935). A young man sets in motion a desperate attempt for covering up his beloved father for having murdered his stepmother in a jealous rage. In order to get rid of her body, he wraps up her corpse in a rug and carries it on his back through New Jersey to a date where her lover waits, to frame him for the crime.

“Dead On Her Feet” (Dime Detective Magazine, December 1935). A police detective sent to break up a dancing marathon finds out that one of the last contestants, an underage woman, is actually dead in her partner’s arms while keeping the music playing. The story was published the same year as Horace McCoy’s similar-theme novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

“The Death of Me” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 7 December 1935). A man, drowned in debt and jobless, tries to kill himself and let his wife collect his life insurance but fails in his attempt. Wandering aimlessly, he comes across the body of a man hit by a train at a railway crossing. The body has its head disfigured and is of a similar size to his own. Consequently, he grabs this as an opportunity to exchange their identities. At the dead man’s hotel he discovers a bag full of money that makes him believe he’ll be able to bury his past and start afresh. But he’ll end up wishing he hadn’t.

“The Showboat Murders” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 14 December 1935), is a fast-action short tale in which an off-duty policeman who happens to be at a showboat with his fiancée, witnesses a murder and is caught up in a frantic chase to stop the killer.

“Hot Water” (Argosy, 28 December 1935). “Hot Water”, “Agua Caliente” in Spanish, is the name given to a gambling resort located south of the border, a place where movie stars at that time might hide out for a little rest and relaxation. The narrator of the story, Shad, works as a bodyguard to superstar Fay North who, during an unscheduled trip to “Agua Caliente”, is kidnapped and taken to the desert. Shad quickly sets off in her pursuit. A great action packed short story with which Woolrich puts an end to the year 1935.

My Take: Perhaps the best word to define this selection could be interesting. It is a rather uneven collection, with some stories that I found worth reading as: “Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair” (1934), “Preview of Death” (1934), “Murder in Wax” (1935), “Red Liberty” (1935), “The Corpse and the Kid” (1935) the best IMO, and “Hot Water” (1935), although only few live up to the expectations set in:  “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to be Murder” (1942), “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), “Murder at the Automat” (1937) and “Mystery in Room 913” (1938). 

In any event I’d like to make my own Jim Noy’s words: “Certain phrases from this collection — heavy breathing sounding “like sandpaper on concrete”, or a rented room so small that “I didn’t even smoke; there wasn’t room enough for two kinds of air in the place” — really hit the mark, and discovering just how damn fine a stylist Woolrich can be is a real delight. He’s always written well even in the small coverage I’ve managed to date, but to see story after story turn up striking images, palpable emotions, and tellingly limned characters is a real delight.”

Darkness at Dawn has been reviewed, among others, by Jim Noy at The Invisible Event. You could also find at Curtis Evans’ blog The Passing Tramp, reviews of some of the above stories scattered in other collections.

About the Author: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 April 1903—25 September 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer who wrote under the names Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley and William Irish. His biographer Francis Nevins Jr. rated him the 4th best crime writer of his day behind Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler. Like Chandler, little is known about his personal life. Woolrich was born in New York City and his parents separated when he was young. He lived for a time in Mexico with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother. Attending Columbia University, he dropped out his senior year when his first novel Cover Charge was published. He continued writing and living with his mother. After she died, he socialized on occasion in Manhattan bars with Mystery Writers of America colleagues and younger fans, but alcoholism, diabetes, and an amputated leg left him a recluse. Hopley-Woolrich throughout his writing career published 27 novels and 16 short story collections resulting in over 40 films and TV theatre episodes based on his stories. His most famous film adaptation is the movie Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, based on his story “It Had To Be Murder”. (Sources: The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

Bibliography: Cornell Woolrich’s novels written between 1940 to 1948 are considered his principal legacy. During this time, he definitively became an author of novel-length crime fiction which stand apart from his first six works, written under the influence of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Woolrich’s best known novels are: The Bride Wore Black as William Irish (Simon and Schuster, 1940) aka Beware the Lady, Phantom Lady as William Irish (Lippincott, 1942), Black Alibi (Simon and Schuster, 1942), The Black Angel (Doubleday, 1943), Deadline at Dawn as William Irish (Lippincott, 1944), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (as George Hopley) (Farrar & Rinehart, 1945), Rendezvous in Black (Rinehart, 1948) and I Married a Dead Man (as William Irish) (Lippincott, 1948).

Short story collections: Nightwebs (1971), Darkness at Dawn (1988)

Individual stories/novellas: “Murder at the Automat” (1937), “Mystery in Room 913” aka “The Room with Something Wrong” (1938), “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to be Murder” aka “Rear Window” (1942) and “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958).

A Cornell Woolrich bibliography can be found here.

Recommended Reading: Francis M. Nevins’ Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die is an enormous, in depth biography and critical study on Woolrich and his work. It is a very detailed look at Woolrich’s world. Nevins also edited the best of all Woolrich collections, Nightwebs, which contains important essays and bibliographies as well. It also contains Woolrich’s autobiographical story, “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), which is a gentle self portrait of a pulp writer. (Source: Mike Grost at A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection)

“Who Was Cornell Woolrich?” by Richard Dooling

“Do People Really Know What They Think They Know About Woolridge?” by Curtis Evans

Cornell Woolrich is also covered by Marin Edwards in his book The Life of Crime (Chapter 30 Waking Nightmares Noir Fiction)

Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics, una colección de relatos de Cornell Woolrich

Darkness at Dawn recopila trece cuentos de Cornell Woolrich publicados en revistas “pulp” entre 1934 y 1935, época en la que se convirtió en escritor de misterio y suspense. Aunque solo sea por esta razón, vale la pena leerlo. La selección fue recopilada diecisiete años después de la muerte de Woolrich por Francis M Nevis Jr en 1985, aunque algunas de las historias se publicaron en compilaciones anteriores. Juntos brindan una oportunidad única de acceder en un solo libro a su primera incursión en el género. En estas historias ya están presentes los temas que configurarán su imaginario en su obra posterior como la carrera contrarreloj y la figura del inocente culpable, todo ello envuelto en un peculiar sentido del humor negro. Como en toda selección no todas las historias tienen la misma calidad, unas son mejores que otras, pero en cualquier caso estoy bastante seguro de que su interés compensará con creces algunas carencias como cierta ingenuidad en sus tramas, un exceso de coincidencias y, ocasionalmente, algunas incoherencias.

“Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair” (aka “Hurting Much?”) (Detective Fiction Weekly, 4 de agosto de 1934) fue el primer cuento de misterio de Cornell Woolrich. Un dentista es acusado de haber envenenado a un paciente. Un periodista en la sala de espera, que resulta ser amigo personal del dentista, está convencido de su inocencia y hará todo lo posible para demostrar su inocencia, incluso a riesgo de su propia vida.

“Walls That Hear You” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 18 de agosto de 1934). Cuando la policía llama a la puerta y pregunta si Eddie Mason vive allí, su hermano teme que le haya pasado algo terrible. De hecho, lo habían abandonado en una carretera desierta con los dedos cortados y la lengua amputada. Sin nada en su vida que pueda servir para explicarlo, solo se puede suponer que estuvo en el lugar equivocado en el momento equivocado, o que lo confundieron con otra persona. De cualquier manera, los policías no pueden comunicarse con él y deciden abandonar la investigación. En tales circunstancias, su hermano emprende la investigación por su cuenta y riesgo.

“Preview of Death” (revisada en “Murder Before the Camera”) (Dime Detective Magazine, 15 de noviembre de 1934). Esta historia está inspirada en un caso real, la muerte en 1923 de la actriz de cine mudo Martha Mansfield. En el cuento, una joven y prometedora actriz se convierte en una antorcha humana y muere durante el rodaje de una película cuando su falda se incendia. El detective asignado para protegerla deberá investigar si se trató de un accidente o de un asesinato premeditado.

“Murder in Wax” (Dime Detective Magazine, 1 de marzo de 1935). Un marido infiel es acusado de asesinar a su amante, con quien pretendía fugarse la misma noche en que fue hallada asesinada. Condenado a la silla eléctrica, su devota esposa hace todo lo posible para salvarlo de la ejecución, incluso cuando todas las probabilidades están en su contra. Una poderosa historia narrada en primera persona por la propia esposa que luego fue ampliada por Woolrich en su novela de 1943, The Black Angel.

“The Body Upstairs” (Dime Detective Magazine, 1 de abril de 1935). Mientras investiga un techo con goteras, un detective fuera de servicio descubre un crimen. La mujer del piso de arriba había sido asesinada y su cadáver fue colocado en la bañera. Los policías encargados de investigar el caso torturan al marido de la víctima en un intento desesperado por obligarlo a confesar un delito que no ha cometido. El detective que descubrió el crimen se niega a aceptar una solución tan simple como esa, está convencido de la inocencia del marido y se propone descubrir la verdad por su cuenta.

“Kiss of the Cobra” (Dime Detective Magazine, 1 de mayo de 1935). La historia comienza cuando el suegro del detective Charlie Lawson regresa de la India con su nueva esposa, Veda. ella causará estragos tan pronto como ponga un pie dentro de la casa. Aunque la historia tiene algunos elementos sobrenaturales, la solución termina teniendo una explicación racional. Woolrich presentó originalmente la historia bajo el título “Three Cigarettes in the Dark”. 

“Red Liberty” (aka “Mystery in the Stature of Liberty” y “The Corpse in the Statue”) (Dime Detective Magazine, 1 de julio de 1935). Durante un recorrido turístico por la Estatua de la Libertad, un detective fuera de servicio observa a un hombre con sobrepeso que tiene dificultades para subir las escaleras, pero no lo ve descendiendo ni tomando el último ferry. Empieza a preguntarse qué le habrá pasado. Su preocupación aumenta cuando en la terminal del ferry nadie denuncia su desaparición, aunque está bastante convencido de que, a su llegada, no estaba solo.

“Dark Melody of Madness” (aka “Papa Benjamin” and “Music from the Dark”) (Dime Mystery, julio de 1935). Eddie Bloch, un famoso compositor y director de orquesta de jazz, se presenta voluntariamente ante la policía de Nueva Orleans para confesar que ha matado a tiros a un afroamericano. Pero esto es el Sur a mediados de los años treinta y la policía inmediatamente comienza a exonerarlo hasta que le permiten contarles toda la historia desde el principio. Así, nos enteraremos que mató a Papa Benjamin para liberarse del hechizo que le hizo por haberle robado los ritmos africanos que le dieron fama y dinero.

“The Corpse and the Kid” (aka “Blind Date” y “Boy with Body”) (Dime Detective Magazine, septiembre de 1935). Un joven pone en marcha un intento desesperado por encubrir a su amado padre por haber asesinado a su madrastra en un ataque de celos. Para deshacerse de su cuerpo, envuelve su cadáver en una alfombra y lo lleva a la espalda por Nueva Jersey hasta una cita donde la espera su amante, para incriminarlo por el crimen.

“Dead On Her Feet” (Dime Detective Magazine, diciembre de 1935). Un detective de la policía enviado para disolver un maratón de baile descubre que uno de los últimos concursantes, una mujer menor de edad, está realmente muerta en brazos de su compañero mientras sigue sonando la música. La historia se publicó el mismo año que la novela de tema similar de Horace McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

“The Death of Me” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 7 de diciembre de 1935). Un hombre, ahogado en deudas y sin trabajo, intenta suicidarse y dejar que su esposa cobre su seguro de vida pero fracasa en su intento. Deambulando sin rumbo, se encuentra con el cuerpo de un hombre atropellado por un tren en un cruce ferroviario. El cuerpo tiene la cabeza desfigurada y es de un tamaño similar al suyo. En consecuencia, aprovecha esto como una oportunidad para intercambiar sus identidades. En el hotel del muerto descubre una bolsa llena de dinero que le hace creer que podrá enterrar su pasado y empezar de nuevo. Pero terminará deseando no haberlo hecho.

“The Showboat Murders” (Detective Fiction Weekly, 14 de diciembre de 1935), es un cuento de acción rápida en el que un policía fuera de servicio que se encuentra en un showboat con su prometida, es testigo de un asesinato y se ve envuelto en una frenética persecución para detener al asesino.

“Hot Water” (Argosy, 28 de diciembre de 1935). “Hot Water”, “Agua Caliente” en español, es el nombre que se le da a un complejo de juegos de azar ubicado al sur de la frontera, un lugar donde las estrellas de cine en ese momento se escondían para descansar un poco y relajarse. El narrador de la historia, Shad, trabaja como guardaespaldas de la superestrella Fay North, quien, durante un viaje no programado a “Agua Caliente”, es secuestrada y llevada al desierto. Shad rápidamente se pone en marcha en su persecución. Una gran historia corta llena de acción con la que Woolrich pone fin al año 1935.

Mi opinión: Quizás la mejor palabra para definir esta selección podría ser interesante. Es una colección bastante irregular, con algunos relatos que encontré dignos de leer como: “Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair” (1934), “Preview of Death” (1934), “Murder in Wax” (1935), “Red Liberty” (1935), “The Corpse and the Kid” (1935) el mejor en mi opinión, y “Hot Water” (1935), aunque pocos están a la altura de las expectativas puestas en: “All at Once, No Alice” (1940), “It Had to be Murder” (1942), “The Penny-a-Worder” (1958), “Murder at the Automat” (1937) y “Mystery in Room 913” (1938).

En cualquier caso, me gustaría hacer mías las palabras de Jim Noy: “Ciertas frases de esta colección: [una] respiración pesada que suena “como el papel de lija sobre el cemento”, o una habitación alquilada tan pequeña que “ni siquiera fumaba; no había suficiente espacio para dos tipos diferentes de aire en ese sitio”, realmente dan en el blanco, y descubren lo excelente que Woolrich puede ser como estilista, son una verdadera delicia. Siempre ha escrito bien, incluso en los poco relatos que he logrado leer hasta la fecha, pero ver historia tras historia cómo presenta imágenes sorprendentes, emociones palpables y personajes elocuentemente dibujados es una verdadera delicia”. (Mi traducción libre)

Darkness at Dawn ha sido reseñado, entre otros, por Jim Noy en The Invisible Event. También pueden encontrar en el blog de Curtis Evans The Passing Tramp, reseñas de algunas de las historias anteriores dispersas en otras colecciones.

Sobre el autor: Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 de abril de 1903 – 25 de septiembre de 1968) fue un escritor de novelas y relatos estadounidense que escribió bajo los nombres de Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley y William Irish. Su biógrafo Francis Nevins Jr. lo calificó como el cuarto mejor escritor de crímenes de su época detrás de Dashiell Hammett, Eric Stanley Gardner y Raymond Chandler. Al igual que Chandler, se sabe poco sobre su vida personal. Woolrich nació en la ciudad de Nueva York y sus padres se separaron cuando él era joven. Vivió un tiempo en México con su padre antes de regresar a Nueva York para vivir con su madre. Asistiendo a la Universidad de Columbia, abandonó su último año cuando se publicó su primera novela Cover Charge. Continuó escribiendo y viviendo con su madre. Después de que ella muriera, socializó en bares de Manhattan con colegas de Mystery Writers of America y fanáticos más jóvenes, pero el alcoholismo, la diabetes y una pierna amputada lo dejaron recluido. Hopley-Woolrich a lo largo de su carrera como escritor publicó 27 novelas y 16 colecciones de cuentos que dieron como resultado más de 40 películas y episodios teatralizados para la televisivo basados ​​en sus historias. Su adaptación cinematográfica más famosa es la película Rear Window dirigida por Alfred Hitchcock y protagonizada por James Stewart, basada en su historia “It Had To Be Murder”. (Fuentes:  The Passing Tramp; Wikipedia).

More About Cornell Woolrich

That Cornell Woolrich led a very reclusive and reserved life is well known. Until now, however, most of the information we had was taken from Francis M. Nevins Jr., Cornell Woolrich’s biography, First You Dream, Then You Die (Mysterious Press, 1988) and other articles in Mystery*File, in which Cornell Woolrich was characterized as a self-hating gay man who mistreated women and was far too close to his mother. However, the truth is much more complicated, as Curtis Evans suggests in his article Do People Really Know What They Think They Know About Cornell Woolrich? (Crime Reads, January 10, 2022).

It’s seemed important to me to make this clarification, since I wrote in my previous posts about Woolrich, taking for granted an opinion which is now being challenged.