View source for Spotlight on Lee Falk - The WWII Years

[[Image:LF-Draft-Card-1940.jpg‎ |thumb|240px|Draft Card 1940]]
This article looks at the WW2 years and which period may contain possible ghosted Mandrake and The Phantom stories.
==The WWII Years==
===Chief of Radio of the Foreign-Language Division===
====Office of Facts and Figures====
In October 1941, Archibald MacLeish was appointed director of the OFF<ref group="footnotes">OFF: Office of Facts and Figures</ref>, an independent government information agency. To head the FLD<ref group="footnotes">FLD: Foreign Language Division</ref> within the OFF MacLeish chose Alan M. Cranston <ref group="footnotes">Lee Falk's friend and collaborator of [[Spotlight on Lee Falk - Other writings|"The Big Story"]]</ref>. 

Cranston wanted Lee Falk<ref group="footnotes">In the newspaper strip of [[Lothar the Champ|June 30, 1942]] there is an interesting real-time connection. Mandrake is talking about a new job, some sort of espionage, in Washington!</ref> to serve as associate chief and handling radio<ref group="footnotes">Lee Falk had some experience with radio from his work for Westheimer & Co., St. Louis agency, in the years 1932 to 1934</ref> issues. In Cranston's letter<ref>Lees Lorraine M., "Yugoslav-Americans and National Security During World War II", ''( University of Illinois Press)'', 2007, p 42</ref> inducing Falk to take the job, he explained that Falk would: ''compose radio scripts for use in foreign-language broadcast designed to provide information about the war, to boost morale, and to sell the war to the German, Italian, and other groups in this country''. 

Early<ref group="footnotes">January or February</ref> 1942 Lee Falk started his work in Washington. He established<ref name="BC-420309">"OFF Foreign Language Division Forms Radio Section for Program Exchanges", Broadcasting, 9 March 1942, p 12</ref> a close collaboration with OFF Radio Division, attending their weekly radio conferences with committees of agencies, stations and networks. He also established<ref name="BC-420309">"OFF Foreign Language Division Forms Radio Section for Program Exchanges", Broadcasting, 9 March 1942, p 12</ref> collaboration with the Broadcasters Victory Council, setting up an exchange-of-program-ideas service. A new program ''"Uncle Sam Speaks"'' was scheduled for WOV in New York in Italian, later to be reproduced in German. 

During<ref group="footnotes">Lee Falk in the panel, Parlor E. May 13, 1942</ref> the NAB<ref group="footnotes">NAB: The National Association of Broadcasters</ref> Convention in Cleveland Lee Falk explained how enemy interests were attemting to capitalize on foreign tongue programs The broadcasters set<ref name="BC-420518">"Foreign Language Stations Approve Self-Control Plan", Broadcasting, 18 May 1942, p 14</ref> up a temporary committee to set up a organization of self regulation, where all personnel should be clared through this committee. 

His headquarter was<ref name="BC-420608">"Foreign Tonge Group Formed to Control Wartime Operation", Broadcasting, 8 June 1942, p 16</ref> set up in Washington and Arthur Simon was elected as the first chairman of FLBWC<ref group="footnotes">FLBWC: Foreign Language Broadcasters Wartime Control</ref> in June 1942, and a voluntary code for the 210 stationes was adopted. During their first meeting Lee Falk agreed to act as liaison between the committee and the various Governmental agencies identified with or interested in foreign language broadcasting, included the Office of Cencorship, Federal Bureau of Investigation, intelligence branche of the Army and Navy, and OFF.

====Office of War Information====
[[Image:OWI-org-chart.jpg|thumb|OWI: Chart of Organization]]
On June 13 1942 OWI<ref group="footnotes">OWI: Office of War Information</ref> was established as a federal agency, to conduct the government's wartime information and propaganda programs. It came into being by integrating several agencies — including the OFF, with the FLD as part<ref>"OWI Starts Direction of Federal News", Broadcasting ''(Washington)'', 20 July 1942, p 14</ref> of the Buerau of Special Operations, headed by Philip Hamblet.

From the viewpoint of the war effort employes were found to be undesirable and had lost their positions. FLBWC had asked Lee Falk if his office could help them finding out whetever a person or persons had a ''clean mind''. As a precaution against re-hiring these ''undesirable'' employes Arthur Simon sent out a letter<ref>"Simon Urges Care in Station Hiring", Broadcasting ''(Washington)'', 27 July 1942, p 10</ref> to all foreign-language stationes urging them to contact Lee Falk before hiring new personell.  

A questionnairie<ref name="BC421102">"Foreign-Language Control Outlined by Federal Officials", Broadcasting ''(Washington)'', 2 November 1942, p 18</ref> from October 1942 showed that about 7% of the broadcast time was given to public service programs, almost all prepared by OWI. Like for Labor Day 1942 where Lee Falk recorded<ref>"OWI Disc Series in Many Tongues", Broadcasting ''(Washington)'', 31 August 1942, p 20</ref> four transcriptions in Spanish, Polish, Italian and German. The 15-minute transcriptions, ''Free Labor Will Win'', included speeches by many educational civic and labor leaders. In addition OWI recommended that the stations also arranged to have local labor leaders to follow the transcription to round out a half-hour program. 

Late October 1942 the Goverment and industry plans<ref name="BC421102">"Foreign-Language Control Outlined by Federal Officials", Broadcasting ''(Washington)'', 2 November 1942, p 18</ref> for regulating foreign-language radio plans were explained at a FLRWCC<ref group="footnotes">FLRWCC: Foreign Language Radio Wartime Control Committee</ref> meeting in Washington. The FLRWCC was to be the liaison between official and individual broadcasters. A three-way system of Governmental direction was reviewed: 
*Office of Censorship will monitor programs and advise broadcasters of violations of the voluntary censorship code
*FCC will establish a new investigation unit to prepare reports on the background of employes of foreign-language stations
*OWI will intensify its creative programming activities
There was some kind of confusion about responsibility for the investigation of personnel. Theese investigations was carried out voluntarlily by the FLRWCC. Neighter FCC<ref group="footnotes">FCC: Foreign Commerce Committee</ref> or the Office of Censorship had  accepted the responsibility. But when FBI also refused to accepted this responsibility chairman Fly told that FCC would do the investigation themself with a new staff of 25 investigators. 

Charles Olson described<ref name="TC1991">Clark Tom, "Charles Olson: the allegory of a poet's life", W. W. Norton (NY), 1991, p 77-83</ref> the FLD quartered in the Library of Congress Annex as a big, open office that was crowded, noisy, an bustling with activity as a city room of a large urban newspaper. He described his immediate superior, Lee Falk, as a witty, fast-talking Brodway writer-producer. Olson worked writing press releases and radio speeches on the draft and price controls, war bonds and gas rations. 

By 1943 Congress made a varity of accusations against the OWI, as a political tool, and began its investigation. A more specific accusation involving the work of the Radio Section of the FLD and its head, Lee Falk. The inquiry, chaired by Edward E. Cox, claimed that in addition to the initiated moral- and unit-building foreign-language programs they also removed from the air broadcasters who were considered pro-fascist. The Cox Committee claimed that radio stationes were pressed to ''dismiss personnel by holding the treat of license suspension over their heads'', attendent ''to force upon radiostations a pro-Russian or an arbitrary OWI slant'', and that Falk used the division to ''secure publicity for himself and employment for his friends''. The inquiry started in August (1943) and by the end of the month Lee Falk had quietly quit<ref>Walker Danton, "Unfinished Business", Daily News (New York), 27 August 1943, p 42</ref> his job at OWI.
===Private in the United States Army ===
In 1944 Fort Devens was a reception center for all New England men. Fort Devens trained nurses, chaplains, cooks and bakers as well as the troops of the 1st, 32nd and 45th Infantry Divisions and the Fourth Women’s Army Corps. In addition, a Prisoner of War Camp for German and Italian soldiers opened at Fort Devens in February 1944. 

Lee Falk was<ref>United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946</ref> enlisted with no branch assignment at Fort Devens ''(Massachusetts)'' on Mars 7, 1944. A week later he was presented<ref>"Groton", Fitchburg Sentinel ''(Fitchburg, Massachusetts)'', 15 April 1944, P 5</ref> at a Groton Rotary club meeting as an army private stationed at Fort Devens. Little is known about Lee Falk's service during WW2, but a service normaly started<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7wwo7w/how_long_was_the_average_basic_training_for_a/ reddit - AskHistorians]</ref> like this: 

  After finishing the process of medical and psychological checks, classification testing, and initial military occupational specialty assignment at the reception center, the men found out where they were headed. They were divided into groups and led by an officer. For travel, an allotment of money was given, and the men set out all across the country to their assignments; one of the infantry replacement training centers (IRTCs) like Camp Wolters or Camp Wheeler; the infantry and field artillery replacement training center at Camp Roberts; the tank destroyer training and replacement center at Camp Hood; the armored force training and replacement center at Fort Knox. Once the men arrived at their new camp, they were quarantined for 72 hours and received a ''"short arm"'' (venereal disease) inspection.

In 1944 the average basic and individual training period was 17 weeks, followed by 11 weeks with small unit training and 11 weeks with combined arms training. Lee Falk himself said<ref name="FAR-1943">Heimer Melvin Leighton, "Famous Artists & Writers", King Features Syndicate (NY), 1949, p Lee Falk</ref> that he promptly was shipped from one end of the country to another. This sounds like a service at various infantry replacement training centers, which were located throughout the southern and southeastern United States. 

Lee Falk also said<ref name="FAR-1943">Heimer Melvin Leighton, "Famous Artists & Writers", King Features Syndicate (NY), 1949, p Lee Falk</ref> that he 12 times was on the verge of going overseas, and 12 times the orders were cancelled and he was sent to some other post. Adding a 40 weeks training period and about 22 leave days to the enlistment date this had to be after mid February 1945. 

It is not known when Lee Falk was discharged but there is a small note<ref>"ARMY DISCHARGES - Drew Pearson lights into the Army for its censorship on political discharges", ''Weekly Information Bulletin'', no 31, 2 March 1946, p 19</ref> in the "Weekly Information Bulletun" about Drew Pearson<ref group="footnotes">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Pearson_(journalist) WikiPedia: Drew Pearson]</ref> from March 1946: 
  ''which, he says, accounts for the strict silence maintained regarding the separation of movie star Lucille Ball’s husband<ref group="footnotes">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz WikiPedia: Desi Arnaz]</ref>, and of Lee Falk, author of "Mandrake, the Magician," who got out as a hardship case.'' 
Arnaz was discharged as a staff sergeant on September 30, 1945. If this note is about Lee Falk as private in the army he could have been discharged about this time.

==Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom==
===1942-1943===
Regarding the way of writing the scripts for Mandrake and the Phantom [[Phil Davis]] said<ref name="PD-48">Dale Bert (1948), Meet Phil Davis, ''[[The Open Road for Boys - February 1948|The OPEN ROAD for Boy's, February 1948]]'', 34-36. Copy: [[Interview - Meet Phil Davis by Dale Bert]]</ref> in 1948 that Lee Falk did mail two or three months' supply at a time. In 1967, Lee Falk said<ref name="PM-67">Murphy Patricia, "The Toast of Paris, France: Mandrake’s Master, Mr. Lee Falk", Detroit Free Press ''(Detroit), 4 June 1967, p 44-46</ref> he created a few weeks of script for both Mandrake and The Phantom at a time, spending eight to ten hours a week on this. 

In Washington Lee Falk was<ref name="PM-67">Murphy Patricia, "The Toast of Paris, France: Mandrake’s Master, Mr. Lee Falk", Detroit Free Press ''(Detroit), 4 June 1967, p 44-46</ref> one of several ''dollar-a-year'' men, and his income was from his newspaper strips. Even if Lee Falk probably worked long days in Washington he could, and had to continuing writing his script for Mandrake and The Phantom. Several scripts in this period are about the war theme and intelligence, inspired by his work at OFF/OWI. Some of the stories also refering to Washington like the Mandrake story "The Rumor Factory" and the Phantom story "Bent Beak Broder"<ref group="footnotes">The character ''The sheriff of Fairfax'' is probably refering to Fairfax County ''(or the Fairfax at Embassy Row)'' in Washington D.C.. Interesting this is the story were the name Mr. Walker first is used</ref>.
====Timeline 1942-1943: Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom Stories====
{| class="wikitable"
! 
! colspan ="24" | 1942 
! colspan ="24" | 1943 
|-
| 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
|-
| MD 
| colspan="13" | <small>[[Lothar the Champ]]</small> 
| colspan="4" | <small>[[The Rumor Factory]]</small>
| colspan="14" | <small>[[Baron Kord]]</small>
| colspan="12" | <small>[[The Witch of Kaloon]]</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>[[The Earthshaker]]</small>
|-
| MS 
| colspan="9" | <small>[[The Flame Pearls Pt.8: The Hungry Isles|The Hungry Isles]]</small>
| colspan="13" | <small>[[Pacifica]]</small>
| colspan="8" | <small>[[Mystery of the Girls with Red Hair]]</small>
| colspan="16" | <small>[[Cloud City]]</small>
| colspan="4" | <small>[[Gloria Golden]]</small>
|-
| PD 
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
| colspan="25" | <small>The Inexorables</small>
| colspan="8" | <small>Bent Beak Broder</small>
| colspan="4" | <small>The Phantom's Engagement</small>
| colspan="11" | <small>High Seas Highjacker</small>
|-
| PS
| colspan="4" | <small> </small>
| colspan="15" | <small>The Impostor</small>
| colspan="12" | <small>Castle in the Clouds</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>The Ismani Cannibals</small>
| colspan="12" | <small>Hamid the Terrible</small>
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffcc" | Lee Falk
| colspan="40" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>Chief of Radio of the Foreign-Language Division OFF/OWI</small>
| colspan="8" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>''writing''</small>
|-
|}

By the end of August 1943 Lee Falk had quit his job in Washington and back in New York he wrote the [[Spotlight on Lee Falk - Other writings - Passionate Congressman|Passionate Congressman]], inspired by his experiences in Washington's political environment. 

He also worked<ref name="PM-67">Murphy Patricia, "The Toast of Paris, France: Mandrake’s Master, Mr. Lee Falk", Detroit Free Press ''(Detroit), 4 June 1967, p 44-46</ref> feverishly plotting and writing an army-term-lenght supply of Mandrake and The Phantom. It seems that this task was difficult to complete and Lee Falk found that he needed help from a ghost writer. In an interview [[Alfred Bester]] confirmed<ref>Lillian III, Guy. 2007. What's it All About, Alfie? An interview with Alfred Bester. Challenger 25, Winter 2007</ref> that he had worked on both The Phantom and Mandrake during WWII with an anecdote:
 ''I had one funny experience during that time that I was writing comics. I also ghosted Mandrake and The Phantom for Lee Falk. Lee and I got together and he was telling me how one of the Sunday pages from Mandrake sold at auction in Paris for three hundred dollars. I told him, when we moved into our brownstone at 68th Street, the old Stephen Vincent Benét house we managed to get, I papered one entire wall of my workshop with the silver prints from Green Lantern. And he said, "My God, they're worth a fortune today, do you still have them?" I said "No, when we moved out I just left'em behind; I just put'em up with carpet tacks." I had no idea then that there would be this tremendous nostalgia vogue for the old comics. Had I but known ..''
In this anecdote Bester mentioned that he had moved out of the Stephen Vincent Benét house, where he had a wall of silver prints of Green Lantern. Stephen Vincent Benét died on March 13, 1943 and according to GCD Bester’s first Green Lantern story was in the shops fall 1943. This anecdote then could not have taken place before fall 1943, and about this time Lee Falk ''feverishly plotting and writing an army-term-lenght supply of Mandrake and The Phantom''.

===1944-1945===
The reason for ''writing an army-term-lenght supply of Mandrake and The Phantom'' was that at the barracks a soldier had almost no personal space, only a bunk, a foot locker, and maybe a shelf for a few photographs. A typical daily schedule in the army started 06:30 with first call and back to barracks at 17:45, then followed supper at 18:45 and lights out and taps at 22:00. To write the scripts for Mandrake and The Phantom Lee Falk needed about eight to ten hours a week. As a soldier the week days gave little time for writing. On Sundays it could be possible, but most likely, he did not have a typewriter he could use. 

A soldier did earn days of leave ''(about 2 1/2 days a month)'' and most likely Lee Falk had longer leaves after the various training periods. About 9 days in the end of August 1944, a week in mid November 1944 and a week early February 1945. During his longer leaves it is possible that he managed to write supplies with scripts to Phil Davis and Wilson McCoy. 

The demobilization of the armed forces began with the defeat of Germany in May 1945 and continued through 1946. It is unknown if Lee Falk was released from the army late 1945, or shortly after May. His name is mentioned with some of the plays at [[Spotlight on Lee Falk - The Theatre Years|the Cambridge Summer Theatre]] in Juni/July, but not all of them. In July he also met his future wife, [[Constance Falk|Constance Moorehead]], who acted at the theatre. 

====Timeline 1944-1945: Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom Stories====
{| class="wikitable"
! 
! colspan ="24" | 1944 
! colspan ="24" | 1945 
|-
| 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
|-
| MD 
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
| colspan="9" | <small>[[The Dome]]</small> 
| colspan="8" | <small>[[Doctor Congo]]</small>
| colspan="4" | <small>[[The Mirror People]]</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[The Ice Lady]]</small>
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Old Ones]]</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[The Mysterious Prince]]</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>[[The Sleeping Beauty]]</small>
|-
| MS 
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[The Garden of Wuzzu]]</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[The Circus Adventure]]</small>
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Santa Claus Pirates]]</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[Fountain of Youth]]</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[Kingdom of the Wind]]</small>
| colspan="9" | <small>[[The Atalan Deep]]</small>
| colspan="3" | <small>[[The Twins of Karana]]</small>
|-
| PD 
| colspan="4" | <small> </small>
| colspan="5" | <small>Diana</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>The Crooner</small>
| colspan="14" | <small>The Maharajah's Daughter</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>The Blue Gang</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>Lago the Lake God</small>
| colspan="5" | <small>The Wild Girl</small>
| colspan="3" | <small>The Mermaids of Melo Straits</small>
|-
| PS
| colspan="12" | <small>Hamid the Terrible</small>
| colspan="13" | <small>The Childhood of the Phantom</small>
| colspan="11" | <small>The Golden Princess</small>
| colspan="10" | <small>The Strange Fisherman</small>
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffcc" | Lee Falk
| colspan="4" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>''writing''</small>
| colspan="30" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>Fort Devens and other Army Training Camps</small>
| colspan="14" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>??</small>
|-
|}
A characteristic in Lee Falk's script is that a new story often started at the same scene where the previous story ended and with a reference to the last story in the beginning. Another characteristic that can be found in Lee Falk's stories is that he often used small elements from his own life in the stories. Such as the use of names for characters and stories. 

Small changes in the stories when the scene changes indicate that there may be a time difference in the writing process of a script. Sometimes a character turn up with a new name, or a character disappears suddenly and without explanation.
=====Mandrake dailies=====
The Mandrake dailies in 1943 alle have these characteristic between the stories and the story and ''real life'' references:
*"The Dome": The first strip refering to the previous story. The Dome's hide-out, ''Willow Island'', the real place just 60 miles north of Manhattan?
*"Doctor Congo": Inspired by the character "Congo Witch Doctor" from the play "The Emperor Jones" staged at the Cambridge Summer Theatre on 1943. 
*"The Mirror People": The beginning refering to the party and the witch-doctor in the previous story. 
While the dailies from 1944: "The Ice Lady", "The Old Ones", The Mysterious Prince" and "The Sleeping Beauty" seem to have been written independently of each other. They all have a new scene in the beginning that does not follow the end of the previous story. 
=====Mandrake Sundays=====
There is no connection between the end of "Gloria Golden" and the beginning of "The Garden of Wuzzu". The last story has a character named ''Jorga'', a name used first time in the "Land of the Fakirs" ''(ms 1935)''. The first strip of "The Circus Adventure" refering to the previous story. 

Then the scene changes between "The Circus Adventure" and "The Santa Claus Pirates", without connection between the stories. In "The Santa Claus Pirates" Princess [[Narda]] suddenly appears for the first time in the Sunday strips and  boards the S.S. Raven on a scientific cruise, together with Mandrake and Lothar. In contrast to the story of the ''flame pearls'', this expedition does not seem to have a specific purpose. In the following story "Fountain of Youth" they go ashore in the Florida Everglades. 

Then in the "Kingdom of the Wind" Mandrake meets his old friend from ''the flaming pearls'' cruice and the "Pacifica" story. He boards the ship - now named Argus ''(previous [[Argos]])'', and his old friend is named Blaine ''(previous [[Colonel Barton|Barton]])''. Forgotten is the scientific cruise onboard S.S. Raven. In the following stories, "The Atalan Deep" and "The Twins of Karana", they still are on board the S.S. Argus.

=====Phantom dailies=====
The Phantom came to visit Diana in the U.S.A. in the "Bent Beak Broder" ''(pd 1943)'' story, just to discover that Diana and Byron had developed a close relationship. The uncertainty of who Diana would choose ends in the story "Diana", where Byron now is ''back in uniform'', leaving for an overseas assignment. (Almost like Lee Falk himself.) "The Crooner" also takes place near Diana's home and the Phantom goes to Nimpore ''(near Bengali, the home country of the Phantom)'' in "The Maharajah's Daughter". During the story, Diana and her mother also go to Nimpore. 

In the story "The Maharajah's Daughter" there are three things in particular that stand out. First, this is the story where Hero, the Phantom's faithful horse, appears. Second, Diana receives a telegram where her address is ''Spring Road, Westchester N.Y.''. A reference to Lee Falk's real life. Finally, there is a panel ''(strip of September, 1, 1944)'' with a newspaper article dated ''Nov. 3''. 

The date ''Nov. 3'' is interesting. Naturally, the artist drew this panel and the one who did the lettering inked the date, but the date must have been written in the script for the story. Later scripts by Lee Falk show that a week's script starts with week number, date from and to, then narration and dialogues for each panel, for each strip that week. So if he wrote ''Nov. 3'' in a panel one should expect this strip to be printed on November 3. But this leads to another question. In 1944, both 1 September and 3 November were on a Friday and there are exactly 9 weeks between them. Reading the stories before this one, there is nothing to indicate that there are 9 weeks missing somewhere. A more logical explanation is that this strip was actually written on November 3, 1943. When Lee Falk was writing ''an army-term-lenght supply of Mandrake and The Phantom''. 

In the "The Blue Gang" Diana's mother returning to USA. In this story a character is named ''Fatso'', a name later used in "The Wrestling Tourney" ''(pd 1954)''. "The story also referering to ''Oolan'' from "The Inexorables" ''(pd 1942)'' and "Hamid the Terrible" ''(ps 1943)''. 

It's a change of scene from a romantic boat trip to the scull cave when "Lago the Lake God" starting. The story features Hero, the Phantom's new horse. In "The Wild Girl" the name ''Tabby'' used as name for the lion and later for a lion in "The White Monkey" ''(pd 1950)''. 

Again there is a change of scene from a romantic panel in the jungle to a ship bound for the United States starting the story "The Mermaids of Melo Straits".  The name for a character, ''Queenie'', is used later for Mrs. Tidley's cat in the Mandrake story "[[Felina]]" ''(md 1946)''.

=====Phantom Sundays=====
In the story "Castle in the Clouds" we are introduced to the famed geologists and sisters, Greta and Lana Marshall. The Marshall sisters accompany the Phantom in the next two stories: "The Ismani Cannibals" and "Hamid the Terrible". The Ismani tribe is mentioned in the daily story "The Phantom's Engagement" ''(pd 1943)''. The engagement story also have a reference to Fairfax county, on the outskirts of the Washington, DC ''(did Lee Falk live in Fairfax when he worked at OWI?)''. The "Hamid the Terrible" story has a reference to ''Oolan'', which is used in "The Inexorables" ''(pd 1942)'' and  "The Blue Gang" ''pd 1945)''. This story also has a character named Soldan, a reference to [[Spotlight on Lee Falk - The High School Years|Soldan High School]] - the school Lee Falk attended when he lived in St. Louis. The last strip of the Hamid story also sum up the stories the Marshall sisters figured in, and they reflects on what the Pantom might have been like as a child. And thus introduces the next story. The sisters returned in two daily stories: "The Strange Fisherman" ''(pd 1945)'' and "The Marshall Sisters" ''(pd 1947)''. 

The next story stands out and appears as a commissioned work with the introduction: ''At the request of many readers we now present "The Childhood of the Phantom"''. ''(An adapted novel by Dale Robetson based on this story was released in 1946.)'' An almost identical story also appears in 1959, but with some variations. Among other things, the surnames of the Phantom's uncle and aunt have been changed. Both stories explain that his aunt was his mother's sister. In 1944 the were named Jasper and Lucy Walker ''(oddly enough they have the surname Gray in the strip of September 3 !)'', and the young Phantom became known as "Kip Walker". This explanation of the surname Walker contrasts with the explanation in "Bent Beak Broder" ''(pd 1943)'' which many times explains this as: ''"Mr. Walker" -- for The Ghost Who Walks''. 

The same story is also retold in Lee Falk's first [[Spotlight on Lee Falk - Other writings|Phantom novel]] in 1972. If one compare some names in these three different stories with the same plot, two things emerge:
{| {{table}} 
!Story !!Uncle !!Aunt !!Town !! High School!! School bully !!University
|-
| 1944 || Jasper Walker || Lucy || Centerville || Clark Academy for boys || ''Big'' Ben || the State University
|-
| 1959 || Mr. Nelson || Sophie || Watertown || - || Pete || Harrison College
|-
| 1972 || Ephraim Carruthers || Bessie || Clarksville || Clark Academy || Jackson || Harrison U
|-
|}
The young Phantom attended Harrison College/University in 1959 and 1972. [[Harrison University|Harrison]] is Lee Falk's second first name (he was named after his godfather, Rabbi Dr. Leon Harrison), and Harrison U. is used several times in the Mandrake the Magician strips. The use of ''Clark Academy'' in both 1944 and 1972 is interesting.    

As mentioned, the last strip of the "Hamid the Terrible" story introduces "The Childhood of the Phantom". But the childhood story does not introduce the story that follows. "The Golden Princess" also has no references to the childhood story. The Hamid story ends when the Marshall sisters leaving Bengali. "The Golden Princess" starts with Diana arriving in Bengali to visit the Phantom. And in "The Strange Fisherman" the Marshall sisters also Bengali to visit the Phantom. The Fisherman story is the first Sunday story to include the Phantom's horse, Hero. 

====All stories====
To summarize the stories, the stories that do not have a natural smooth transition between the end and the beginning of the next story can be visualized like this:
{| class="wikitable"
! 
! colspan ="24" | 1944 
! colspan ="24" | 1945 
|-
| 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
| colspan="2" |Jan || colspan="2" |Feb || colspan="2" |Mar || colspan="2" |Apr || colspan="2" |May || colspan="2" |Jun || colspan="2" |Jul || colspan="2" |Aug || colspan="2" |Sep || colspan="2" |Oct || colspan="2" |Nov || colspan="2" |Dec 
|-
| MD 
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
| colspan="9" | <small>[[The Dome]]</small> 
| colspan="8" | <small>[[Doctor Congo]]</small>
| colspan="3" | <small>[[The Mirror People]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Ice Lady]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="5" | <small>[[The Old Ones]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Mysterious Prince]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="5" | <small>[[The Sleeping Beauty]]</small>
|-
| MS 
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
| colspan="7" | <small>[[The Garden of Wuzzu]]</small>
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Circus Adventure]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="6" | <small>[[The Santa Claus Pirates]]</small>
| colspan="6" | <small>[[Fountain of Youth]]</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="7" | <small>[[Kingdom of the Wind]]</small>
| colspan="9" | <small>[[The Atalan Deep]]</small>
| colspan="3" | <small>[[The Twins of Karana]]</small>
|-
| PD 
| colspan="4" | <small> </small>
| colspan="5" | <small>Diana</small>
| colspan="7" | <small>The Crooner</small>
| colspan="13" | <small>The Maharajah's Daughter</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="4" | <small>The Blue Gang</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="5" | <small>Lago the Lake God</small>
| colspan="4" | <small>The Wild Girl</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="3" | <small>The Mermaids of Melo Straits</small>
|-
| PS
| colspan="12" | <small>Hamid the Terrible</small>
| colspan="12" | <small>The Childhood of the Phantom</small>
| style="background-color:#fc0303" | &nbsp;
| colspan="11" | <small>The Golden Princess</small>
| colspan="10" | <small>The Strange Fisherman</small>
| colspan="2" | <small> </small>
|-
| style="background-color:#ffffcc" | Lee Falk
| colspan="4" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>''writing''</small>
| colspan="30" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>Fort Devens and other Army Training Camps</small>
| colspan="14" style="background-color:#ffffcc"| <small>??</small>
|-
|}
These breaks between the stories do not necessarily mean that a ghost writer has appeared and written the following story. But they can give an indication. 

In line with the summary and this information, these stories stand out and should be studied further:
*Mandrake dailies: "The Ice Lady", "The Old Ones", "The Mysterious Prince"
*Mandrake Sundays: "The Santa Claus Pirates", "Fountain of Youth"
*The Phantom dailies: "The Blue Gang", "Lago the Lake God", "The Wild Girl"
*The Phantom Sundays: "The Childhood of the Phantom", "The Golden Princess"
According to<ref>https://www.tonydepaul.net/the-sunday-phantom/#comments</ref> Anthony G Tollin Lee Falk told him that one Phantom story and two Mandrake stories were ghost-written by [[Alfred Bester]]. 

=====The Phantom and Mandrake Sunday=====
The story "The Childhood of the Phantom" has long been pointed to as a story probably written by a ghost writer. The late [[Ed Rhoades]] told when Lee Falk once was asked about this story, he said something like: ''I had nothing to do with it, I was in the army then.'' 

A stylometric text analysis of the [[Spotlight on stylometric text analysis - The Avon Novels|Avon Novels]] using the 'stylo' package in RStudio shows that it is possible to use stylometry to identify the author of a book. Using the 'stylo' package for the 1966 "[[Spotlight on stylometric text analysis - King Comics stories|King Comics stories]]" does not give a clear answer when it comes to giving a clue to the author of the various stories. This may naturally be due to the fact that stylometric analyzes work best on longer texts, like novels.

A similar analysis with the focus on the story [[Spotlight on stylometric text analysis - Who wrote The Childhood of the Phantom|"The Childhood of the Phantom"]] suggest that Lee Falk is the author of the story. It shows that this story is stylistically within the other Sunday stories Lee Falk wrote. This analysis contains the Phantom Sundays #2 through #14, the Mandrake Sundays #12, #13 and "23 through #28. None of these stories stand out significantly, suggesting a ghostwriter for some of them.

=====The Phantom and Mandrake dailies=====
Looking back at the pronunciation in the winter of 1943-44 that Lee Falk was ''feverishly plotting and writing an army-term-lenght supply of Mandrake and The Phantom''. How long is ''an army-term-lenght supply''? If this is about a year and a half, this brings us to June 1945. So, early 1944, Lee Falk needed one story with the Phantom and two with the Mandrake to finish with his ''army-term-lenght supply''. 

The daily stories that could fit into such an angle are: 
*Mandrake: "The Ice Lady" - "The Old Ones" - "The Mysterious Prince"
*The Phantom: "The Blue Gang" - "Lago the Lake God" - "The Wild Girl"

What is unusual is that in the stories "The Ice Lady" and "The Mysterious Prince" is that the villains die at the end of the stories. The ''Ice Lady'' slips and falls from a great height, while Steigler gets killed by his robot. 


{{stub}}

==Note==
<references group="footnotes" />
==Sources==
<references/>

[[Category: Spotlight on|Falk - The WWII Years, Lee]]