Jimmie Dale
Encyclopedia
Jimmie Dale is a fictional character created by Frank L. Packard
in 1914. He was a wealthy playboy by day, but at night put on a costume and became The Gray Seal, who enters businesses or homes and cracks safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, gray paper "seal" behind to mark his conquest, but never taking anything. He was just doing it for "the sheer deviltry of it" at first, but when a woman catches him she blackmails him to war on certain crime organizations.
Dale's adventures first appeared in People's Magazine and then were collected into novels: The Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1917), The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1919), Jimmie Dale and the Phantom Clue (1922), Jimmie Dale and the Blue Envelope Murder (1930), and Jimmie Dale and the Missing Hour (1935), with the serializations generally appearing the year before the novel version was published. In 2007, the first two books featuring Jimmie Dale/The Gray Seal were re-released as an e-book entitled Return of The Gray Seal. He also appeared in a movie serial, Jimmie Dale Alias the Gray Seal, in 1917.http://www.serialsquadron.com/reference/bydate/index.htm
Jimmie Dale/The Gray Seal is often credited with popularizing and evolving that would greatly influence later pulp and comic book heroes. The foppish playboy by-day-crimefighter-by-night routine had a precursor in The Scarlet Pimpernel
, but it was Jimmie Dale that brought the idea into a contemporary setting and added the idea of a costume and mask for his secret identity, serving as a possible influence for characters like Zorro
and The Shadow
. He also established the concept of a hero's secret hideout or lair, The Sanctuary, a precersor of the Batcave
or the Fortress of Solitude
.
(This entry incorporates some material from Jess Nevins Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes)
Frank L. Packard
Frank Lucius Packard was a Canadian novelist. He was born in Montreal, Quebec and as a young man went to work as a civil engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway...
in 1914. He was a wealthy playboy by day, but at night put on a costume and became The Gray Seal, who enters businesses or homes and cracks safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, gray paper "seal" behind to mark his conquest, but never taking anything. He was just doing it for "the sheer deviltry of it" at first, but when a woman catches him she blackmails him to war on certain crime organizations.
Dale's adventures first appeared in People's Magazine and then were collected into novels: The Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1917), The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1919), Jimmie Dale and the Phantom Clue (1922), Jimmie Dale and the Blue Envelope Murder (1930), and Jimmie Dale and the Missing Hour (1935), with the serializations generally appearing the year before the novel version was published. In 2007, the first two books featuring Jimmie Dale/The Gray Seal were re-released as an e-book entitled Return of The Gray Seal. He also appeared in a movie serial, Jimmie Dale Alias the Gray Seal, in 1917.http://www.serialsquadron.com/reference/bydate/index.htm
Jimmie Dale/The Gray Seal is often credited with popularizing and evolving that would greatly influence later pulp and comic book heroes. The foppish playboy by-day-crimefighter-by-night routine had a precursor in The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
, but it was Jimmie Dale that brought the idea into a contemporary setting and added the idea of a costume and mask for his secret identity, serving as a possible influence for characters like Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
and The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
. He also established the concept of a hero's secret hideout or lair, The Sanctuary, a precersor of the Batcave
Batcave
The Batcave is the secret headquarters of fictional DC Comics superhero Batman, the alternate identity of playboy Bruce Wayne, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor.-Publication history:...
or the Fortress of Solitude
Fortress of Solitude
The Fortress of Solitude is the occasional headquarters of Superman in DC Comics. Its predecessor, Superman's "Secret Citadel", first appeared in Superman #17, where it was said to be built into a mountain on the outskirts of Metropolis...
.
(This entry incorporates some material from Jess Nevins Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes)