A Curious Man

by Neal Thompson

  Comics: The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu, Picador, 2009; The Comics: Before 1945, by Brian Walker, Harry N. Abrams, 2004.

  CHAPTER 3

  Moving to and living/working in San Francisco: “The Village Bell was Slowly Ringing,” LIFE, May 18, 1908; DHS (Carol Ennis letter to Bob Considine); MMP (pp. 20–21); “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; “Pictures from the Past,” by John Baggerly, Los Gatos Weekly, September 19, 2001; SRD (March 2, 2009); SCRAP (Saturday Evening Post profile, 1932); GLB; RE (Ripley’s Ramble ’Round the World, December 11, 1922); “Timeline of San Francisco History,” www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/timeline/index.html [accessed September 30, 2012]; US Census, 1910; SFC (June 10, 2009); The Comics: Before 1945, by Brian Walker, Harry N. Abrams, 2004; Rube Goldberg: His Life and Work, by Peter C. Marzio, Harper, 1973; SCRAP (untitled profile by Edgar T. “Scoop” Gleeson, San Francisco Bulletin, 1915; SID (Ripley letters to Nell, August 15, 1909 and October 6, 1909); DHS (notes by Hazel Storer).

  Believe It! sidebar (TAD): New York Times obituary, May 23, 1929.

  Note: Different versions of the end to Ripley’s San Francisco Bulletin career would endure. He’d sometimes claim he was fired after a week. Other times he lasted a year, until an office boy tipped him off that Baggerly was thinking of bagging him and he quit. Occasionally he’d claim he was shown the door after demanding a two-dollar-a-week raise.

  CHAPTER 4

  Ripley at the Chronicle: 1909 San Francisco city directory; author interview with Bill Beutner, research assistant, San Francisco Architectural Heritage, July 29, 2009; “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; SCRAP (“Ripley’s Life a Believe It or Not,” by Gladys Baker, Birmingham News-Age-Herald, May 12, 1936); RE and DHS (untitled, unpublished article by Herbert Corey, based on his interview with Ripley); RE (How to Draw, unpublished Ripley manuscript); “Believe It or Not,” by Jack Banner, Radio Guide, November 9, 1935.

  Note on baseball: Although Ripley would later claim to have been Ping Bodie’s teammate and to have played in California’s minor leagues, I was unable to find records in any Pacific Coast League archives to support this, and neither is he mentioned in any minor-league baseball stories in the Bulletin or Chronicle between 1908 and 1912. He may have continued to play at the semi-professional level, as he had in Santa Rosa—there were scores of “bush league” teams in the Bay Area. He once claimed to have played a season for “the Oakland team of the California State League.” The Oakland Coasters were part of the State League, considered an “outlaw” minor league. Sources include books on the Pacific Coast League; e-mail interview with Dick Beverage; NYG (“Bodie Fans with Ripley,” August 21, 1912); SCRAP (“Getting Acquainted with Rip,” by Robert L. Ripley, Strength magazine, December 1929).

  Ripley and Nell: SID (Ripley letters to Nell, August 15, 1909; October 6, 1909; December 9, 1909; and April 24, 1910); SRD (“As Nell Wilson Knew Him,” May 28, 1949).

  Reno and fight: “Struggle for His Soul,” by David Remnick, The Observer, November 2, 2003; SFC (assorted 1910 clips); NYT (assorted 1910 clips); “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; International Boxing Hall of Fame, www.sweetscience.com; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, by Geoffrey C. Ward, Vintage, 2006 (also the PBS film with Ken Burns); MMP, p. 23.

  Leaving San Francisco: “Believe It or Not Here’s Ripley,” by Lee Bevins, Pageant, October 1948; “Believe It or Not,” by Jack Banner, Radio Guide, November 9, 1935; DHS (Hazel Storer notes); “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; “Strange Things Under the Sun,” by Hugh Leamy, The American, October 1929; SCRAP (“Ripley’s Life a Believe It or Not,” by Gladys Baker, Birmingham News-Age-Herald, May 12, 1936); RE (“Ripley’s Ramble ’Round the World,” December 11, 1922); SCRAP (Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph story, date unknown, circa spring of 1916).

  Route to New York: Ripley likely left San Francisco on either the Western Pacific’s Feather River Route or the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific’s Overland Route, both of which offered daily departures (www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/skeds.html); route details and $85 trip cost estimate from Clifford Vander Yacht—best name ever!—editor of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society newsletter, whom I interviewed on July 28, 2009.

  CHAPTER 5

  Story about arriving in New York: SCRAP (untitled profile by Edgar T. “Scoop” Gleeson, San Francisco Bulletin, 1915).

  Believe It! sidebar (yellow kid): The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst, by David Nasaw, Mariner Books, 2001; The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu, Picador, 2009; The Comics: Before 1945, by Brian Walker, Harry N. Abrams, 2004.

  Looking for work in New York and starting at New York Globe: DHS (Hazel Storer notes); “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; “Strange Things Under the Sun,” by Hugh Leamy, The American, October 1929; SCRAP (“How to Be a Cartoonist,” Saturday Evening Post, October 19, 1940); SCRAP (Herb Corey, article manuscript, date unknown); “Odd Man,” Geoffrey T. Hellman, New Yorker, 1940; America’s Oldest Daily Newspaper, The New York Globe, by James Melvin Lee, The Globe, 1918; The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, Yale University Press, 1995; NYG (assorted clips, February and March, 1912–1913); “Ripley, Believe It or Not—A Real Success Story,” by Harry B. Smith, San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 1935; “Friends Honor Bob Ripley,” Rochester Times-Union, January 5, 1944; NYT (1949 obit.).

  Believe It! sidebar (Yankees): “Red Sox vs. Yankees,” Harvey Frommer, 2005, p. 266.

  Assorted details about cartoons and comics: The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu, Picador, 2009; The Comics: Before 1945, by Brian Walker, Harry N. Abrams, 2004; Over 50 Years of American Comic Books; by Ron Gaulart, 1991; Stripper’s Guide, http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html [accessed October 1, 2012]; Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, cartoons.osu.edu [accessed October 1, 2012]; Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerard Jones, Basic Books, 1995; author interview with Allan Holtz, March 25, 2009.

  Ripley playing for the New York Giants: NYT (assorted clips, including “M’Graw Goes South,” February 17, 1912); “Odd Man,” Geoffrey T. Hellman, New Yorker, 1940; “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; SCRAP (“Getting Acquainted with Rip,” by Robert L. Ripley, Strength magazine, December 1929); SCRAP (“Ripley’s Life a Believe It or Not,” by Gladys Baker, Birmingham News-Age-Herald, May 12, 1936); MMP, pp. 33–34; “The Brighter Side,” Charleston Gazette, January 15, 1939; “Believe It or Not,” by Jack Banner, Radio Guide, November 9, 1935.

  Believe It! sidebar (jazz): “I Remember the Birth of Jazz,” Edgar Gleeson, San Francisco Call-Bulletin, September 3, 1938; Gleeson article, San Francisco Call, March 6, 1913; “Art Hickman and His Orchestra,” by Bruce Vermazen, www.gracyk.com/hickman.shtml [accessed October 1, 2012]; “How Baseball Gave Us ‘Jazz,’ ” by Ben Zimmer, Boston.com, 3/25/12.

  Ripley and Santa Rosa and family: SFB (“Ripley Returns to Scenes of His Early Triumph,” Edgar Gleeson, circa 1915); RE (Ripley telegrams); DHS (Hazel Storer notes); “Odd Man,” Geoffrey T. Hellman, New Yorker, 1940; interview with Bob, Doug, and Rebecca Ripley (nephews and grandniece of Ripley); NYG (“Ripley Interviews Ritchie,” August 9, 1915).

  CHAPTER 6

  Settling in New York, and meeting Bugs Baer: Green Book Magazine, July 1916, http://historicalziegfeld.multiply.com/photos/album/252 [accessed October 1, 2012]; NYT (1949 obituary); NYT (“Bugs Baer Dead,” May 18, 1969); NYG (April 7, 1915, and January 8, 1916); Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, by Geoffrey
C. Ward, Vintage, 2006; “Odd Man,” by Geoffrey T. Hellman, New Yorker, 1940; MMP, pp. 27, 31–32.

  Details on cartoonists and Disney: SCRAP (American Magazine story, 1916); The Comics: Before 1945, by Brian Walker, Harry N. Abrams, 2004; Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, by Neal Gabler, Vintage, 2007; RE (How to Draw, unpublished Ripley manuscript).

  World War I cartoons: NYG (December 6, 1915; August 16, 1916; July 28, 1914; September 8, 1914; June 2, 1914; July 18, 1918; and April 2, 1918); RE (How to Draw, unpublished Ripley manuscript).

  World War I details: How We Advertised America: The First Telling of the Amazing Story of the Committee on Public Information That Carried the Gospel of Americanism to Every Corner of the Globe, by George Creel, Kessinger Pub. Co., 2008; National Archives, www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/063.html [accessed October 1, 2012]; assorted links from the Wikipedia page for the Committee on Public Information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Public_Information); NYG (letter to editor, August 20, 1917).

  Champs and Chumps: “The Incredible ‘Believe It or Not,’ ” by Robert Ripley, Popular Mechanics, February 1936; DHS (Hazel Storer notes, and letters to Hazel); “Strange Things Under the Sun,” by Hugh Leamy, The American, October 1929; “Odd Man,” Geoffrey T. Hellman, New Yorker, 1940; RE (How to Draw, unpublished Ripley manuscript); “The Story of Believe It or Not,” by Mel Heimer, King Features Syndicate Biographical Series, No. 29.

  CHAPTER 7

  Bernarr Macfadden and Freddie Welsh: bernarrmacfadden.com [accessed October 1, 2012]; Occupation: Prizefighter: Freddie Welsh’s Quest for the World Championship, by Andrew Gallimore, Seren, 2006; author interview with Allan Holtz, November 2, 2009.

  On women: RE (typed manuscript of “The New Beauty for Women,” by Robert Ripley—unpublished?); SCRAP (“Getting Acquainted with Rip,” by Robert L. Ripley, Strength magazine, December 1929); SCRAP (“Why I Am Not Married,” by Betty Brainerd, for her “We Women” column, date unknown).

  Life at the NYAC and playing handball: The First Hundred Years: A Portrait of the NYAC, by Bob Considine and Fred G. Jarvis, 1974; New York Athletic Club, nyac.org [accessed October 1, 2012]; author interview with NYAC historian Tom Quinn, August 20, 2009; “Famous Cartoonist Tells Story of His Life,” by Robert Boyd, The Success Magazine, January 1926; Spalding’s Official Handball Guide, by Robert L. Ripley, American Sports Pub., 1923; “The New Beauty for Women,” by Robert Ripley; SCRAP (“Getting Acquainted with Rip,” by Robert L. Ripley, Strength magazine, December 1929); NYT (obituary, 1949); MMP, p. 38; SCRAP (“Ripley Owns an Egg Pen Now,” undated article); “Believe It or Not, Ripley Was Almost as Odd as His Items,” by Donald Dale Jackson, Smithsonian, January 1995.

  Marriage to Beatrice: in addition to obtaining Beatrice’s birth certificate and Ripley and Beatrice’s marriage license, the details of their marriage are based on assorted articles found in Ripley’s scrapbook (many from 1922 and 1923, and others undated), as well as letters from Ripley to his sister; “No One Would Believe It,” by Ruth Biery, Radio Stars magazine, May 1936; and “Why I Am Not Married,” by Betty Brainerd. At the time of their marriage, a few newspapers referred to Beatrice as Beatrice Carlisle. As I explain in chapter 17, for many years there was confusion over the true identity of Ripley’s wife.

  Ziegfeld and the Ziegfeld Follies: Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business, by Ethan Mordden (2008).

  Olympics: The First Hundred Years: A Portrait of the NYAC, by Bob Considine and Fred G. Jarvis, 1974; NYT (July 19, 1920); NYG (August 25, 1920); Official Website of the Olympic Movement, www.olympic.org [accessed October 1, 2012]; Flanders Today, flanderstoday.eu [accessed October 1, 2012].

  Troubles with Beatrice: “No One Would Believe It,” by Ruth Biery, Radio Stars, 1936; MMP, pp. 39–41; SCRAP (assorted stories about the court proceedings and divorce, 1921 and 1923); NYT (April 13, 1923); “The New Beauty for Women,” by Robert Ripley.

  CHAPTER 8

  All details of the Ramble are based on Ripley’s personal travel journals and his cartoons and essays that appeared in the New York Globe and other newspapers. [Note: Though the actual journey began in early December of 1922, some papers wouldn’t start running the illustrated articles until January of 1923.]

  Believe It! sidebar (Titanic): author interview with Tom Quinn.

  CHAPTER 9

  Frank Munsey: “Mr. Munsey Buys,” Time, June 4, 1923; “Another Buy,” Time, February 4, 1924; author interview with Allan Holtz; Forty Years, Forty Millions: The Career of Frank A. Munsey, by George Britt, Farrar & Rinehart, 1935; NYT (Munsey obituary, December 29, 1925); “The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines,” by Peter Haining, www.crimetime.co.uk/features/peterhaining.php [accessed October 1, 2012].

  More troubles with Beatrice: NYG (April 14, 1923); NYT (April 13, 1923); “No One Would Believe It,” by Ruth Biery, Radio Stars magazine, May 1936; SCRAP (“Why I Am Not Married,” by Betty Brainerd, for her “We Women” column, date unknown); SCRAP (assorted stories about the court proceedings and divorce, 1921 and 1923); NYP (Ramble ’Round South America, January 27, 1925).

  Details about Doug and Ethel: interviews with Rebecca and Robert Ripley; RE (letter to Ethel, April 15, 1923).

  Death of the Globe: NYT (Munsey obituary, December 29, 1925); America’s Oldest Daily Newspaper, The New York Globe, by James Melvin Lee, The Globe, 1918.

  Norbert Pearlroth: “In Search of the (Nearly) Miraculous,” by Susan Lydon, Village Voice, October 22, 1979; “You Better Believe This,” by Dan Carlinsky, Modern Maturity, 1974; Pearlroth obituary, Time, April 25, 1983; “Believe It or Not,” by Kenneth Turan, The Washington Post, April 1, 1973).

  Miscellaneous: NYP (Ramble ’Round South America, March 23, 1925 and January 27, 1925); The Circumnavigators Club, www.circumnavigatorsclub.org [accessed October 1, 2012]; SCRAP (“Why I Am Not Married,” by Betty Brainerd, for her “We Women” column, date unknown).

  CHAPTER 10

  All details of the Ramble are based on Ripley’s personal travel journals and the cartoons and essays that appeared in the Associated Newspapers and various other newspapers throughout early 1925. Additional details: MMP; DHS; RE.

  CHAPTER 11

  Munsey’s death: Forty Years, Forty Millions: The Career of Frank A. Munsey, by George Britt, Farrar & Rinehart, 1935; NYT (Munsey obituary, December 29, 1925); “Uncensored Commentaries,” by Theo Lippman Jr., Baltimore Sun, March 31, 2003.

  Handball note: Ripley played at the 1927 National Championships in St. Paul but lost by a few points, in a best-of-three series against the eventual champ.

  Believe It! sidebar (Curtis’s income): Time (June 19, 1933); NYT (Curtis obituary, September 6, 1925); Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

  Starting at New York Post: “Circulation Figures,” Time, October 22, 1923; NYP (“Ripley’s Returned,” August 16, 1926); author interview with Jeff Pearlroth.

  Macfadden: Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity, by Neal Gabler, Vintage, 1995, pp. 72, 74, 77.

  Lindbergh cartoon, lying accusations, and Marching Chinese cartoon: “You Better Believe This,” by Dan Carlinsky, Modern Maturity, 1974; Ripley’s Believe It or Not!: In Celebration … A Special Reissue of the Original!, by Robert Ripley, Ripley Publishing, 2004, p. 39; MMP, pp. 52–53; SCRAP (“Celebrated Caricaturist Entertains with Sketches and Interesting Facts,” exact date and publication unknown; “Ripley to Talk…,” unknown publication, April 9, 1928; and “Ripley Loves to Have Fans Call Him Liar,” New York Herald, day unknown, 1929).

  Lectures and letters, and verifying facts: SCRAP (untitled clip, March 22, 1927; untitled article, by Joseph M. Ripley, American Press, 1929; miscellaneous clips); NYP (letter from Mabel Henry, October 1, 1928; letter to editor, April 12, 1928; assorted Ripley cartoons and essays); SCRAP (“Getting Acquainted with Rip,” by Robert L. Ripley, Strength magazine, December 1929); Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, by Robert Ripley, Ripley Publishi
ng, 2004; MMP, pp. 45, 49, 50, 59.

  Ripley lifestyle versus Pearlroth lifestyle: SID (Rube Goldberg letter to Bob Considine); “You Better Believe This,” by Dan Carlinsky, Modern Maturity, 1974; “In Search of the (Nearly) Miraculous,” by Susan Lydon, Village Voice, October 22, 1979; “Believe It or Not,” by William Allen, Saturday Review, February 1973; “Believe It or Not,” by Kenneth Turan, Washington Post, April 1, 1973; DHS (letters, notes).

  Goes to Hell: “Ripley Goes to Hell,” The Troy Times, May 7, 1928; SCRAP (untitled, Time, March 26, 1928).

  CHAPTER 12

  Simon & Schuster and book reviews: Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s, by Frederick Lewis Allen, Harper Perennial, 2000, pp. 144–45; Simon & Schuster, simonandschuster.net [accessed October 1, 2012]; “Simon & Schuster Inc. History,” www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Simon-amp;-Schuster-Inc-Company-History.html [accessed October 1, 2012]; RE (Schuster letter to Ripley, October 31, 1927); DHS (Ripley’s contract with Simon & Schuster); SCRAP (untitled, by Harry Hansen, The First Reader; “Behind the Backs of Books and Authors,” by Mary Rennels, New York Telegram, day unknown, 1929).

  Lawsuit: NYT (“Sue Ripley,” May 20, 1930).

  Travel to Central America: SCRAP (untitled, Peddie News, date unknown; untitled, San Antonio Light, date unknown; “Believe It or Not, but Ripley Is Home,” unknown publication and date); NYT (Cass Baer’s obituary, May 11, 1929); RE (October 23, 1933 journal entry).