Nurse Romance Stories: Young Love 51 - "The Will to Love"

In this November 1953 nurse romance story, an attempted suicide is brought into the hospital. From his ramblings the attending nurse deduces that he'd been ditched by his girl and subsequently not felt life was worth living. At first to help him, but then also because she has fallen in love with him, she pretends to be his girl. She finds the girl, and gets her to come into the hospital to help, but he's just not that sort of person. She really is no longer interested in him since he gave their money to a friend in need. I'll let you read the rest to find out how it ends!

I found this a heart-warming tale of innocence and true love. I thought it was interesting how the protagonist described nursing - having to be cold and impersonal to maintain sufficient detachment in order to do the job.

Nurses as Supporting Characters: Young Brides 17 - "Act of Faith"

The interesting cover of this issue of Young Brides points to a different story that I'll hopefully get time to scan one day. Here we'll take a look at a medical romance story in the issue that features a doctor, with a nurse only playing a minor supporting role. Douglas Wilson is a newly qualified young doctor and husband, who fails to save his wife when she succumbs to peritonitis from a burst appendix. He blames himself for her death, quits the medical profession, and joins a traveling carnival as a mechanic (I'm sure I've read a few Simon/Kirby stories in which roustabouts and circuses feature!). After a while a young woman, Diane, falls for him, but Doug restrains himself from getting involved, even though he's attracted to her. His hand is forced when she becomes the victim of a violent ex-employee of the carnival, and Doug has to come out of the medicine cabinet and use his skills to save her life. That's the turning point, and he is able to move past his grief at the loss of his first wife, marry Diane, and resume his work as a doctor.

The story is narrated by Doug, so it is in the minority as far as romance comics are concerned, in which the 'confessions' usually come from the woman. The image of nurses portrayed in this story is that of the Doctor's Handmaiden. She serves the doctor by following his orders and performing support duties such as taking calls. She's professional in her appearance and conduct, and in this story she's not in love with the doctor!

Nurses At War: Young Romance 78 - "Army Nurse"

It took me some time to get this book. These Simon and Kirby post code issues are fairly tough to find. The cover is directly related to the nurse romance story that I am interested in here, set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. The art is by Argentinian artist Jo Albistur (signed).

In "Army Nurse", the nurses all love Doctor Roy, but the Doc only has eyes for one of them, and that's Joyce. He's been preparing to pop the question, and does so after a hard day's work. Joyce is over the moon to be engaged to her dream boat.

For some reason Roy keeps quiet about why he seems to always be giving Ruth Duryea assignments to work with him. Sure, he gives some plausible explanations - she's new and needs the training - but it doesn't quite all add up. Suddenly Joyce is snapped out of her jealous fog by the news that Roy's aircraft has gone down, and he's hurt. Joyce immediately volunteers to be the nurse to travel to the crash site. On the way the flak from the North Koreans almost makes her wish she'd stayed back at the camp, but she gets there to find Ruth tending to her intended. This is a bit much for her to take, and she removes her engagement ring from her finger and slips it into Roy's pocket, her dream perhaps over. Setting aside her jealousy, Joyce does the needful. Back at the M.A.S.H. Roy is operated on. However, afterward Ruth flies in and is assigned to the care of the wounded. It is then that Joyce discovers something that changes the whole picture.

Ruth has no romantic inclinations towards Roy. She's already married to the injured sergeant, secretly, because it's against regulations. Doctor Roy Nelson knew and has been covering for them. Joyce realizes what a chump she's been and fumbles in Roy's pocket to get her ring back. He's already ahead of her though, having found the ring there himself. He sees that his position, surrounded by a flock of marriageable, lovely nurses makes life difficult for Joyce, and so he prescribes the only reasonable cure - a wedding.

I like this artwork by Jo Albistur. I think I have another example of his work somewhere. He's mentioned on the Simon & Kirby Museum blog. It reminds me somewhat of Al Williamson's work. The image of nurses presented by this piece include the usual - aspiring for romantic involvement with a doctor, bitchy rivalry, they're all pretty in their nicely starched white uniforms and caps. These are nurses at war so there's bravery and willingness for self-sacrifice. Nice switch to the blue uniform for going out into the battlefield. Ruth Duryea is a redhead for the cover but blond in the story. Panel 7 on page 5 looks like it was intentionally drawn to match the cover, and is a little out of Albistur's natural style as a result (the cover looks Kirby or Simon/Kirby to me).

A Twist in the Tale - Thank Goodness it Went Out of Fashion?

The issues of Young Love leading up to the death of Prize and the taking over of the title by DC are a strange lot. There are, however, some pleasant surprises here and there, like "The Twisters Led Me To Temptation". The cover to Prize's Young Love V.6 #2 (Aug/Sept 1962) attempts to convince the reader that there's a connection between doing the twist and some form of debased lifestyle, but as the story begins there's no hint of this revelation. The art in these issues from what was actually Prize's reboot of the title after a 4 year absence (I have a few in my collection) is a little different - the Simon and Kirby influence seems gone - but it kind of grows on you, with a little contemplation. Anyway this particular story starts with Kathy, a very bored teenager, looking for a "charge" out of life and not finding it in parties, fast cars, or fast guys. Incidentally, I don't think the claim at the top of the first page of the story, that Elvis started the twist, is accurate.

 Taking her parents' advice, Kathy gets a job, then another, and another - they're all boring too, and so are the dull parties she continues to attend, having nothing better to do. And it's there that she runs into Jim Parker, the guy who will change her life. He's a drummer in a band and has a nice pink car. Jim takes Kathy to his workplace, the Three Pines, a bar with a dance floor and an eclectic clientele that "ranged from beatniks to mink-clad dowagers". It's when Jim's band starts up that the resident Chubby Checker wannabe, Porky, a somewhat robustly proportioned individual, takes to the floor to get everybody started on the twist. Kathy joins in and is an instant hit, all eyes diverted from Porky to her. Porky and his partner reckon they might be onto something if they can get Kathy on board. Jim drives Kathy home and gives her a passionate goodnight kiss. Is this the love Kathy needed to liven up her life?

Kathy becomes a regular at the Three Pines and inevitably Porky asks her to work for him and Lucky, because she'll bring in the teenage crowd (the twist was apparently the first modern dance popular with both teenagers and adults). Lucky is a little hesitant about employing Kathy, until Porky explains that the kids will provide a smoke screen for their illegal gambling activities in the back of the joint. Jim has his suspicions that Porky and Lucky are using Kathy, and tries to dissuade her from taking the job, but she's an independent young woman and makes up her own mind to go ahead - why not get paid for what she likes to do? But Porky has a big gambling occasion lined up, and he's using a twist event led by Kathy as a cover. Even Kathy starts to get nervous.

Inevitably the place gets busted and Kathy ends up arrested and on the front page of the newspaper. But the judge is a reasonable guy and gives her a talking to instead of sending her down, plus he wants her to teach his wife and daughters how to do the twist! Kathy just made some bad choices about where she hung out and with whom, and that's the little lesson she finishes with as she signs off with her message to the readers.

So the story has some elements that lend an air of familiarity to the tale, but also some subculture and moment-in-history-specific details that give it a unique blend. Oh the early 1960s - what wouldn't I give to be able to go back and twist again!

The Mysterious Matt Baker

Just why is it, when Matt Baker is acknowledged as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest romance comic artist, that we know so little about him? My answer to that question is that he was African American, possibly the first African American to work in comics. He lived and worked in a segregated America, whose comics portrayed a bleached society in denial of its own diversity. Matt Baker clearly did his job well, but passed away before he could receive the public recognition that his work deserved and is given, as far as is possible, nowadays. Baker's work is rare, sought after, and expensive. Why expensive? Looking at the cover of Teen-Age Romances 37 (above) it's not hard to see why. He's every bit a Norman Rockwell, but more dynamic.He understands so well how people move, and his figures are full of expression, not static or starched. He's especially good at drawing beautiful women, and while he is most widely known for Phantom Lady, his romance art is arguably his most accomplished.

A Google search doesn't bring up much background on Baker. There used to be a website with some biographical material, but it no longer exists. He's the subject of some online encyclopaedia entries:

http://www.americanartarchives.com/baker,matt.htm

http://lambiek.net/artists/b/baker_matt.htm

http://www.toonopedia.com/phanlady.htm

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/01/27/scotts-classic-comics-corner-matt-baker-covers/

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Matt_Baker_%28artist%29

http://raggedclothcafe.com/2008/01/27/matt-baker-by-joanna-van-ritbergen-guest-contributor/

http://comicbookcatacombs.blogspot.com/2007/11/creator-profile-matt-baker.html

http://terrororstralis.com/sheena/comics/FH-comics.htm

But basically its going to be difficult to ever know much about the man who left us such an impressive portfolio of wonderful art.

Anyone for tennis?

The story from Teen-Age Romances 37 (pictured at top of entry), entitled "Thrill-seekers' Weekend", is one of a number of Baker classics from St. John comics featured in John Benson's invaluable compilation Romance Without Tears (2003. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books). 11 Baker-illustrated stories, written by Dana Dutch, are contained therein, along with some gorgeous Baker covers. It is still obtainable new and used through Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Romance-Without-Tears-John-Benson/dp/156097558X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260075184&sr=8-1

as is Benson's companion volume, Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics (2007. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books) which delves into the background of the St. John Publishing company, and contains a three page interview with Matt Baker's half brother, Fred Robinson:

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Romances-Secrets-Temp-Benson/dp/1560977914/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Thanks to Dark Horse, we're also able to enjoy It Rhymes With Lust (2007. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books), Baker's ground-breaking 128 page St. John digest size masterpiece, that has claims to be the first graphic novel:

http://www.amazon.com/Rhymes-Lust-Arnold-Drake/dp/1593077289/ref=pd_sim_b_2

and which carries a short, one-page bio of Baker on the last page.

Baker's work suffers or benefits depending on who his inker is. Undoubtedly his St. John work gets some of the best, if not the best treatment, while I've seen Atlas obscure Baker's pencils almost beyond recognition. To finish, here's a Quality Comics, middle-of-the-road piece of Baker. Nice cover, and a short, six-page story (the entire comic can be downloaded from Golden Age Comics Dowloads). "Was He Ashamed Of Me?" echoes the theme of my previous post - again the uncertainty of whether love is possible between people who come from different socio-economic strata:

 

Post-script: not by Matt Baker, but this cover of Young Brides 27 refers back to my comment at the end of the previous post. It's another tortured individual who deems herself unfit to interact with the wealthy: