Norman A. Daniels
Norman A. Daniels, born Norman A. Danberg in 1905 in Brooklyn, Connecticut, was a prolific writer known primarily for his contributions to the pulp fiction genre during its golden age. He utilized numerous pseudonyms, crafting a wide array of detective stories that captivated readers with their sensational and plot-driven narratives. Working alongside his wife, Dorothy Daniels, who later became a successful writer in her own right, he created memorable characters such as The Black Bat and John Fury, the Skipper. His writing was so popular that many of his stories were pirated and translated for South American publications. Daniels's background, influenced by his father's experiences as a detective, helped inspire many of his crime tales. His work not only thrived in American pulp magazines but also resonated internationally, shaping the landscape of detective fiction during the 20th century. Daniels passed away in 1995, leaving a lasting legacy in the world of literature.
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Norman A. Daniels
Writer
- Born: June 3, 1905
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, Connecticut
- Died: July 19, 1995
- Place of death: Camarillo, California
Biography
Norman A. Daniels was the most frequently used pseudonym of Norman A. Danberg, who was born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, in 1905. Under a host of pseudonyms, Daniels became a most prolific writer, whose signature became synonymous with the word “successful.” Working closely with his wife, known professionally as Dorothy Daniels, he churned out story after story. Dorothy acted as his secretary and editor, which allowed Daniels to spend his time creating characters and plotting his tales. Later on, Dorothy became a successful writer on her own.
Daniels sold his first story to a pulp magazine in 1931, the beginning of the golden age of pulp magazines. These magazines favored fiction that was sensationalistic, fast-paced, plot- oriented, and reader-involving. The magazines took their names from the rough textured pulp paper on which they were printed in order to keep their prices low. Despite the cheapness of the magazines, Daniels made a good living because he managed to sell most of his stories and frequently published several stories in different magazines in the same month. For that reason, Daniels used about ten different pen names so he would not overexpose himself to his public.
Daniels excelled at writing and creating detectives and detective stories. In fact, he was so good and so popular that several of his stories were pirated, translated, and appeared in South American pulps. Some accounts state that Daniels’s father had once been a detective while Daniels was growing up, and his father’s accounts of his adventures and cases stimulated Daniels’s tales of crime and criminals.
Under various pen names, Daniels created the characters of The Candid Camera Kid, The Masked Detective, and the Crimson Mask, just to name a few. One of Daniels’s most famous creations, written under the house pseudonym G. Wayman Jones, was a crime fighter called The Black Bat. The character was contemporaneous with the character of Batman, who was appearing in D.C. Comics at roughly the same time. Daniels also created the character of John Fury, the Skipper; twenty Skipper tales appeared in Doc Savage magazine between November, 1937, and December, 1943. John Fury chased evildoers all over the seven seas, using the same kind of high tech equipment favored by Doc Savage, one of the most popular and archetypical pulp magazine heros of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Daniels later wrote a few of the Doc Savage tales himself, using the house pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.
Daniels died in 1995 at the age of ninety, leaving behind a rich legacy of stories and books.