Juvenile Delinquents

An early movie recognition 1949

‘JUVIES’

Juvenile Delinquent novels became established in the 1950s and spawned a frenetic era of pulp writing and films that coincided with the emergence of the ‘Teenager’ as a distinct social phenomenon that changed the post war culture. This culture was vibrant and frenetic in literature, film and art, but took different forms in America and Britain. We were more concerned with class and politics in the 1950s, and our literature and films reflected this as I’ve described elsewhere on this site. It wasn’t until the next decade that the two streams of youth orientated art in America and Britain merged in the underground revolution that exploded in the late 1960s; but before that merger the new teenage culture in America was of a different nature to anything seen before, and defined the images of the post war era in indelible ways that persist to the present.

Although the 1950s writing was largely of the pulp variety, its antecedents were rooted in a well-established, mainstream literary tradition that had its roots in the emerging ‘Naturalist’ impulse of the early 20th century. Writers like Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser were concerned with the economic and class constraints that shaped the lives of those at the bottom of the social order in the new industrial urban landscape, with “An American Tragedy” being one of the seminal novels of this tradition in the 1920s.

It was in the 1930s that this emerging urban wasteland began to be fully documented and writers like Nelson Algren, John Dos Passos and especially James T Farrell emerged to give it literary flesh.

Algren’s main work appeared in the 1940s, but he had an early attempt in 1935 with ‘Somebody in Boots’, which he later disowned, and reworked as ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’, although the original made an appearance twenty years later under a new title as a mainstream ‘Juvie’ paperback. By the 1940s Nelson Algren had found his voice and produced two books set in the existential despair of the slums, and then two other novels, equally brutal, but slightly different themes, which were made into major movies.

Dos Passos was another major chronicler of urban angst, and stands alongside the other writers in literary terms, but I’m only interested for this piece with the writers who inspired, and were later included, in the post war juvenile delinquent phenomenon, even though they also were in essence of an earlier, more radical tradition.

James T Farrell was a prolific writer, and much of his work has faded from sight, but over eleven intense years from 1932 to 1943 he produced the seven linked novels of the Studs Lonigan and Danny O'Neill series, set, like Algren, in the slums of Chicago. I first read the O’Neill stories in paperback in the 1950s, but then later discovered the earlier Studs Lonigan trilogy, which I think is one of the great works of American literature, certainly one of my favourites.

The theme of the streets and their young, lost, inhabitants was being picked up by other writers and was becoming mainstream so that by the end of the forties the nihilistic ‘Film Noir’ genre was being augmented by filmed versions of the criminal activities of these tyro ‘Juvenile Delinquents', and in literature some yet to be established writers were cutting their teeth on this new subject.

I’m not intending a comprehensive overview of all the books that were being produced in these years, but mainly those that were turned into movies, initially mainstream, but as the fifties progressed, ‘B’ movie versions of the pulp paperbacks that were filling the newsagent’s shelves.

What follows is a very personal collection of the books, and very often, their movie counterparts, that I was immersed in during the unsettled 1950s cultural shift: they are not all great art, although I believe some come close to that, but they all speak truthfully of an era when subterranean forces were twisting the established order out of shape, and the voices of the un-regarded were being heard, as the inhabitants of this underclass lurched into the view of the appalled denizens of suburbia. It would be naïve to think that the established order didn’t commercialise the trend, as it always does, and many of these fully deserve the 'pulp' epithet which they wear with pride; but a lot of these pieces address real pain and anger, and the times were definitely changing and causing concern to the established order as indicated by some of the social commentary volumes I have included.

Some early works that set the tone for the post war era

Modern Library 1938

A great trilogy, essentially one book, that charts the degradation and final destruction of hope in the Chicago slums

Constable 1938

The first two books in the Danny O'Neill tetralogy. O'Neill was a fringe character in the Studs Lonigan books and his story is developed in the same environment over four books, but this story offers the promise of hope and redemption

Constable 1939

The second in the tetralogy, the other two volumes weren't published in this country until after the war

Harper 1925

Early work set in the working class district of New York, with a heightened literary style that fed into his next three books. First edition with cover art by Dos Passos himself

Constable 1938

An experimental literary style doesn't hide the despairing, angry social conscience raging at the capitalist destruction of working class lives as he sees it.

Bobbs-Merrill 1939

This intriguing literary oddity was published as short story in 1937 then expanded into a novel in 1939.The book portrays the world of New York's Italian-American construction workers during the Depression and was written by one of them. It was an instant sensation, and is often referred to as a classic example of the blue-collar proletarian novel. He had never published before, and didn't produce anything else for twenty years

Post war genesis

Collins 1948

I first read this in the mid fifties and it was the way into the genre for me, one that I never left. A key book in my reading learning curve and a good one. Made into a major movie in 1949

Doubleday 1947

Classic book that helped set the template - the name was adopted by a rock band in 1964. The book was made into a movie 'City Across the River' in 1949

Scribner's 1949

Ellson was a therapist and psychiatric nurse who used his personal experience to become one of the major juvenile delinquent observers with a dozen novels through the 1950s. This is his first book, virtually a case study, with a black protagonist, although the author's voice is neutral and doesn't in any way speak of the black milieu, that would come much later with 'The Cool World' (see below)

Dial Press 1944

Fine book set in the New

York slums and an early example of the theme. Published as a paperback in a revised version with a slightly different title in 1951, and at the height of the boom, reprinted as 'The Young Killers' by Avon in 1957, This hardback first edition is the definitive text. I first became aware of this as a 1957 'B' movie which I loved, and which led me to track down the book many years later

Spearman 1958

Great book set among the Polish-American community in the doomed underside of the Chicago slums. Published in 1942, but this is the first UK printing, with one of Spearman's great covers

Andre Deutsch 1965

A collection of short stories, mainly set in Chicago's Polish community. Published in America in 1947, but this is the first UK edition

The 1950s paperback boom

The life blood of the imagination

With the scene set by a substantial body of work as indicated by the books above, the theme of slum life with a malfunctioning underclass, and an increasingly restless young generation who felt excluded from the newly promised American post war dream, the fifties were ready to find a voice.

Post war America soon became a consumer led boom period, portrayed in the mainstream as a middle class suburban society of aspiration and order, but there was a rot beneath the surface - a dispossessed, but striving underclass of a pre war generation who would still accept the concept of hard work being a way out of their misery in an essentially fair society, but whose children increasingly saw the oppressive nature of an authoritarian system that denied them autonomy in a rigidly ordered class and money based system. The war time generation wanted more, and ironically, it was the consumer led society that provided it.

The term 'teenager' had always been used in a purely numerative sense, but throughout the fifties the newly found spending power of this generation caused a profound split in the popular culture as music, films, comics and books created an entirely separate teenage world that existed alongside, and sometimes overlapped, the increasingly fearful and bewildered established order. The establishment fought back, as it always does, that's why it's the establishment, with censorship and condemnation as it sought to promote a panic in the older generation. They succeeded in many ways in the short term, but the cracks had appeared and would become major fissures in the next decade.

Another great strength of the consumer society is its ability to absorb and process any cultural trend, and in doing so suck out the vital essence that gave it life. It can never completely work its malign magic, and the real wild eyed thing in any art form will survive and procreate in dark places, re-emerging at a later date. Comics, music and books were homogenised by the end of the fifties, but literature is made of sterner stuff and prevailed.

I am not pretending that the paperbacks I'm about to show are masterpieces, although some might be, but I do contend that in their nihilistic depiction of a very particular stratum of American life they reveal an awareness of a real social sickness that no amount of PR could hide. They proliferated in their hundreds and range from reprints of earlier classics to modern pulp rip-offs, with lots of good, concerned writing in between. The garish covers are stereotypical images whatever the content, and are all the more collectable for that, because remember that while these books are important for their content, it is their image that typifies the throw away pop culture that they are such a part of.

THE JUVIES

Regency p/b 1961

Harlan Ellison was an astonishingly prolific writer of science fiction and speculative fiction in general, and produced novels, short stories, TV and film scripts in their 100s over 60 years, and was the winner of multiple awards. He is a major figure in that field, but what is little known is that his first published work was in the Juvenile Delinquent genre. His first two books from 1958 are a novel and collection of short stories, both of which are on this site. In 1961 he produced this documentary work discussing his real life involvement with the actual street gangs, and another collection of short stories, after which he never visited the subject again

Harper 1958

Major study of the gangs and their culture by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist

Museum Press 1955

Frederic Wertham was a psychiatrist who became obsessed with the deleterious effect of popular culture on the young. His primary target was horror and crime comics of the early fifties, and he was largely responsible for bringing in a censorship code that effectively killed the trade. He didn't have the same success with the juvie books, but he watched them carefully and even produced a foreword to one them.

Ace Books p/b 1958

Book of short stories based on the same research as described in 'Memos From Purgatory'

Pyramid Books p/b 1958

Ellison's first book, great title, great cover. Was originally called "Web of the City", but Pyramid books changed the title and published the book without Ellison's knowledge

Ace Books p/b 1961

Later published as 'Children of the Streets', but this is the original publication with the iconic name which was not much used at the time, but is now part of the image.

Classic reprints for the new generation

Signet p/b 1951

Signet p/b 1950

Signet p/b 1951

The great trilogy, published in full, with lovely painted early era covers

Signet p/b 1951

Signet p/b 1952

Signet p/b 1951

Signet p/b 1952

The tetralogy sequel, published in full in Giant 50c double volumes. These are the books that introduced me, and others in the family as we passed them round, to a wealth of great literature that flooded the newsagents with new titles every month - it wasn't all sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - we used to read as well

Signet p/b 1954/53

Three essential authors

Cardinal p/b 1955

Pocket Book p.b.o 1955

Constable h/b 1955

The first US paperback edition with a superb painted cover

Constable h/b 1955

Pocket Book p.b.o 1955

Constable h/b 1955

Evan Hunter spent most of his career known as Ed McBain of the '87th Precinct' series, but before that he produced this classic Juvenile Delinquent novel that was quickly made into an iconic film. This is the UK first edition, which came out a year after the US edition.

Pocket Book p.b.o 1955

His first collection of short stories, a paperback original, with one of the stories introducing Rick Dadier, the teacher in the Blackboard Jungle

Avon p/b 1951

Longman h/b 1959

Pocket Book p.b.o 1955

The 1940s novel with a slightly different title

Signet p/b 1951

Longman h/b 1959

The first paperback version of the seminal novel that introduced me to the deadly streets

Longman h/b 1959

Direct sequel to the preceding title which can never match the originals tragic arc, and softens the hard edges

Collectable paperback editions

Popular Library p/b 1950

First paperback edition of his first book.

Bantam p/b 1951

Popular Library p/b 1950

First paperback edition of his second book. Hal Ellson was a social worker who wrote from a socially concerned viewpoint, and although he portrays the grim reality of street life, he does so with an unsensational, neutral voice, so much so that the notorious Dr Wertham became a great fan and provided an introduction to this book, and referenced it in his seminal work "Seduction of the Innocent"

Love the cover

WDL p/b 1957

Popular Library p/b 1950

Avon p/b 1952

A real gem this: Nelson Algren's four great works were published in the 1940s and 50s, but an early experimental work from 1935 was disowned by Algren and never reprinted. It was called "Somebody in Boots" and original editions are phenomenally difficult to find. Step forward the juvie trend and here it is, retitled for the times, and a real collector's item

Avon p/b 1952

One of a number of paperback editions of the novel, generally collected for the different covers

Avon p/b 1949

Avon p/b 1952

Avon p/b 1949

Great cover somewhat obscured by the movie tie-in sticker

Avon p/b 1957

Avon p/b 1952

Avon p/b 1949

Irving Shulman was the author of "the Amboy Dukes" and its sequels, and also wrote the original treatment for the quintessential teen movie "Rebel Without A Cause". In 1956 he wrote this novel based upon that original treatment.

The title says it all

Avon p/b 1958

Lion Book p/b 1956

Avon p/b 1958

Written purely as a movie tie-in, it's of interest as Jack Nicholson's first film, which is very obscure. Excellent cover painting and photos from the movie

Avon p/b 1955

Lion Book p/b 1956

Avon p/b 1958

Benjamin Appel was a full time writer from the 1930s to the 1960s, and set a lot of his stories in New York's Hell's Kitchen where he grew up

Lion Book p/b 1956

Another Hell's Kitchen story from Benjamin Appel

Avon p/b 1952

Lion Book p/b 1956

Joseph Shallit began writing after the war and produced mainly sci-fi and mystery stories throughout the 1950s. This one concerns teens and the drugs racket with a title change to fit the intended market

Avon p/b 1955

Beacon Book p/b 1954

Serious novel of the slums, first published in 1948 as 'The Lower Part of the Sky', but renamed for the 1950s market. Has an introduction by Irving Shulman

Beacon Book p/b 1954

Quintessential pulp writer whose real name was Prentice Winchell, but who had a huge output of pulp magazine and novel writing under a number of pseudonyms. He specialised in private eye and detective series characters from the forties to the sixties, but obviously turned his hand to the teenage drug culture if the market demanded it

A Miscellany

Gold medal p/b 1960

Prolific writer of gang and drug pulps throughout the 1950s

First published 1953

Berkley p/b 1966

Gold medal p/b 1960

Another prolific writer best known for his sports stories, of which this is one, but also for his private eye output. Hot Rods were a sub genre of the Juvie books and so worth inclusion

First published 1959

Avon p/b 1958

Gold medal p/b 1960

Avon p/b 1958

Very much a movie tie-in of an exploitation movie with nothing to recommend it except its endearing, dated silliness. Russ Tamblyn, Mamie Van Doren, John Drew Barrymore, Jerry Lee Lewis; sex, drugs, rock'n'roll and some extraordinary jive talk. All the book can add is a great cover, and that's enough

Avon p/b 1948

Avon p/b 1958

Rather obscure title and rather overwritten story of a psychopathic killer from the slums, but it certainly has an impact.

The author wrote this book and one other , then pursued a very full career as a movie and TV scriptwriter and producer from the 1950s to 2000

Pan Books p/b 1956

Not really of the genre, although it does feature young people engaging in crime. Written by Jack Finney of "Bodysnatchers" and made into an interesting movie with a very young Kim Novak

Corgi p/b 1958

Not a JD book, but as I discuss in the UK section below, an example of the British version of underworld street life with the emphasis on petty gangs and prostitution in 1950s Soho.

An adaptation of the UK film of 1957

UK classics and US afterthoughts

Convoy Publications P/B 1950

Terrific British movie with Dirk Bogarde oddly typecast as a young thug in his early career. Book is based on the movie by the great Ted Willis who worked on the original script

Ace Books P/B 1959

Convoy Publications P/B 1950

The UK never had the teenage gang problem in quite the same way as the US. After the war the spivs and petty gangsters took the headlines, and in the fifties the Teddy Boys were a passing phenomenon as the teenage culture evolved. Cosh Boys was another name for the street thugs, mainly inspired I suspect by this work.

It was originally written as a very successful play in 1951, then adapted by the author into an equally successful film, with the same lead actor James Kenney. It seemed to have had it's day, but in 1959 Walker revisited it as a novel and it was published as this now very rare paperback original.

Bantam P/B 1949

Convoy Publications P/B 1950

Secker & Warburg H/B 1959

Great book published in 1939, and equally great movie made in 1948. It never received a really good movie tie-in publication in the UK, but luckily US Bantam produced a timely paperback version with an stereotyped painted cover that unfortunately doesn't really capture the mood of the book or film. Good to have a contemporary edition though

Secker & Warburg H/B 1959

Quite late, but authentic JD novel unusually set in Harlem but still mainstream fare. Was made into a highly regarded movie by underground film maker Shirley Clarke which has become legendary as it is rarely shown due to the copy-write being owned by documentary film maker Frederick Wiseman who helped produce it, and only allows showings under strict conditions.

W H Allen H/B 1966

Secker & Warburg H/B 1959

Dell Publishing P/B 1968

A very late addition to the cannon which ironically has become the quintessential gang story, partly due to the Walter Hill movie, but stands on its own terms as a bleak nocturnal odyssey through the blighted streets of New York. US first editions are almost impossible to find, and this UK edition is ultra rare

Dell Publishing P/B 1968

Secker & Warburg H/B 1959

Dell Publishing P/B 1968

Very late example of the genre but necessary to include because of its iconic status, partly due to the Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film. A literary sensation when it came out due to being written by an 18 year old girl. Although to some extent a pastiche, it works surprisingly well.

First editions are prohibitively expensive, and this first paperback edition is the best option for a contemporary publication, but it was very popular and first printings, such as this one, are hard to find.

Endgame

Heinemann 1962

Calder & Boyars 1966

A juvenile delinquent dystopian satire that takes the social implications to the outer limits - 'the Juvies' transformed, but still recognisable.

Calder & Boyars 1966

Another work that takes the genre to the abyss of despair in its last days; the New York neighbourhood littered with the detritus of a collapsed order that always seemed destined to end this way.

Redemption was sometimes flirted with, but never really part of the 'Juvie' playbook