Crossover of the Week

March 6, 1910-August 27, 1911

PROFESSOR PEASLEE PLAYS PARIS

            In 1910, a group of men led by Count Ferenczy and Professor Peaslee uncover a meteor in the Tunguska region of Siberia. Peaslee claims that because of Ferenczy’s failure in 1795, they must struggle with men with remarkable skills, and says that this meteor must not create another Holmes or Nemo. The following year, Peaslee requests the criminal Flambeau’s aid in deceiving the criminal organization known as the Habits Noirs. Inspector Romaine visits the Louvre, from which the Mona Lisa has been stolen, and reflects that Chief Aristide Valentin has committed suicide. The best and brightest of the police, including Broquet, Guichard, and Maigret, are attempting to deal with the massive crime-wave in Paris. Romaine meets with a man in an iron mask and his female aide, Joséphine. Peaslee asks a young girl named Nardi, recommended to him by Flambeau, to steal a stone. Peaslee compares that stone, the Tear of Azathoth, to the Heart of the Ocean, the Pink Panther, and the Maltese Falcon. Baron Cesare Stromboli, an agent of the Black Coats, tries unsuccessfully to purchase the Mona Lisa from the man who stole it. The current leader of the Habits Noirs, the Iron King, is furious when he learns of the thief’s refusal. Exploring Paris’s sewers, Nardi is caught by a group of men, one of whom remarks “Rats are getting bigger it seems. Regular Sumatra down here.” The Colonel, previously believed dead, reclaims the mantle of leader from the Iron King.

            Short story by Pete Rawlik in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 9: La Vie en Noir, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2012; reprinted in French in Les Compagnons de l’Ombre (Tome 12), Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2013. Count Ferenczy is from H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, while Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee is from Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time.” The Tunguska meteor strike was a real event that occurred in 1908, and has been linked to many curious events in the CU. The 1795 reference is to the Wold Newton meteor strike. According to Philip José Farmer, Sherlock Holmes is a member of the Wold Newton Family. In The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, Farmer claimed that Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo was actually Holmes’ foe Professor James Moriarty. Later research has established that Moriarty was indeed one of at least three men who used the name Nemo, though he was not the same person as Prince Dakkar, who used that alias in Verne’s novels. The Nemo referred to by Peaslee is likely Moriarty, who was identified as a member of the Wold Newton Family in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Flambeau and Aristide Valentin are from G.K. Chesterton’s stories about crime-solving priest Father Brown. Les Habits Noirs, aka the Black Coats, are featured in novels by Paul Féval, as is their leader, Colonel Bozzo-Corona. Inspector Romaine is from the film Charlie Chan in City in Darkness, while Nardi is from Charlie Chan in Paris. Rawlik’s story reveals that Nardi is Flambeau’s niece. Paulin Broquet is the policeman nemesis of the gypsy crime lord Zigomar in pulp novels by Léon Sazie. Commissaire Jules Maigret is featured in mystery novels by Georges Simenon. Chief Xavier Guichard was a real person who also appeared in the Maigret books. The Iron King is from Les Martin’s novel Young Indiana Jones and the Gypsy Revenge; he is a descendant of the title character of Alexandre Dumas’ The Man in the Iron Mask. Joséphine Balsamo is Arsène Lupin’s greatest foe. Azathoth, “the blind idiot god,” is one of the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Heart of the Ocean diamond is from the film Titanic. The Pink Panther gem is featured in the film of the same name. The statue known as the Maltese Falcon is from the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Baron Cesare Stromboli is a gentleman thief appearing in stories by Jose Moselli. In the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire,” Holmes mentions “the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.” The tale of the giant rat is perhaps the most pastiched of the many unchronicled Holmes cases alluded to in the Canon.

Crossover of the Week

May 1934
THE NYCTALOPE’S NEW YORK ADVENTURE
            Leo Saint-Clair (aka the Nyctalope) meets a man named Henry Arnaud while traveling to New York City aboard a commercial airship. They are joined by Ivor Llewellyn, head of Superba-Llewellyn Pictures in California, who wants to make a movie based on Saint-Clair’s exploits, in which he would co-star with the studio’s own Lotus Blossom. Llewellyn also says that the Americans used to see the silent serials based on both Saint-Clair and Judex’s adventures, and that he wouldn’t put it past Schnellenhammer of Perfecto-Zizzbaum, F.X. Weinberg of Metropolis Pictures, or Jacques Butcher of Magna to attempt to sign the hero to a contract as well. Leo is traveling to New York at the invitation of Dr. Orestes Preson, Curator of Fossil Mammals at the Bradley Institute of Paleontology and Natural History. The other reason for his journey is that some time ago, his friend Judge Coméliau was the victim of a murder attempt by a crime lord who calls himself Zigomar after the self-styled “King of Thieves” from twenty years ago, who escaped death at the hands of the policeman Broquet many times. Saint-Clair has received a tip that the new Zigomar has relocated to New York. After they land, Leo accompanies Arnaud in a cab driven by Moe Shrevnitz to the Churchill Hotel. Arnaud offers Leo the services of his friend Lamont Cranston. The manager of the Hotel argues with a man who identifies himself as Sebastian Tombs. Nero Wolfe asks Archie Goodwin if he’s ever told him about Monsieur Anatole, a French chef who works for a wealthy Englishman named Thomas Travers and his wife. Archie adds that Mrs. Travers publishes a magazine called Milady’s Boudoir. Wolfe remarks that Anatole is said to surpass Fritz Brenner in the culinary arts. Inspector Cramer calls Wolfe and says that Detective Sgt. Purley Stebbins is escorting a Frenchman (meaning Leo) to Wolfe’s brownstone. Wolfe tells Archie to call Colonel Dubois of the Deuxième Bureau in Paris, as well as Saul Panzer. Prosper Lepicq is mentioned in Wolfe and Dubois’ conversation. Stebbins arrives with Saint-Clair in tow, and then returns to his taxi, a new yellow Checker from the Sunshine Cab Company. Among the items in Wolfe’s office is a framed portrait of Sherlock Holmes above Archie’s desk. After breakfast at the Churchill, Leo was escorted to the Panther-Pilsner brewery by criminals named Harry the Horse, Little Isadore, and Spanish John, who work for a man called “the Big Fellow.” Commissioner Wainwright Barth took Leo to see Cramer. Cramer himself arrives at the brownstone, with District Attorney William Skinner and his assistant, Anthony Quinn, in tow. Skinner says that Leo’s friend Alexandre Prillant is worried about him. He also divulges the fact that the previous Big Fellow was William Valcross, who was remanded into the custody of Inspector Fernack several years ago, and then died in the electric chair.
            Short story by Stuart Shiffman in The Nyctalope Steps In, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Black Coat Press, 2011; reprinted in French in La Nuit du Nyctalope, Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, eds., Rivière Blanche, 2012. The Nyctalope and his friend Alexandre Prillant are from French pulp novels by Jean de La Hire. Henry Arnaud is one of the Shadow’s many aliases. Lamont Cranston is a millionaire whom Allard frequently impersonates. Moe “Shrevvy” Shrevnitz and Deputy Commissioner Wainwright Barth are also from the Shadow novels. Ivor “Ikey” Llewellyn and his studio Superba-Llewellyn Pictures are from P.G. Wodehouse’s novels The Luck of the Bodkins; Frozen Assets; Pearls, Girls, and Monty Bodkin; and Bachelors Anonymous. Lotus “Lottie” Blossom is also from The Luck of the Bodkins. Jacob Z. Schnellenhammer and the Perfecto-Zizzbaum Motion Picture Corporation are from Wodehouse’s Mr. Mulliner stories. Tom Travers and his wife Dahlia are the uncle and aunt respectively of Wodehouse’s most famous character, Bertie Wooster. Monsieur Anatole is their personal chef, while Milady’s Boudoir is a magazine published by Dahlia. Judex is the title character of Louis Feuillade’s film serial. F.X. Weinberg’s Metropolis Pictures appears in Denis Green and Anthony Boucher's radio series The Casebook of Gregory Hood, as well as Boucher's novels The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars and Rocket to the Morgue, the Fergus O’Breen novels and stories, and his short story “Mystery for Christmas.” The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars features O’Breen’s sister in a prominent role, while Rocket to the Morgue features nun Sister Ursula and police detective Terry Marshall, who first appeared in Boucher’s Nine Times Nine. Lt. Herman Finch from The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars also appears in Boucher’s first Nick Noble story, “Screwball Division,” while the last Noble story, “The Girl Who Married a Monster,” refers to Fergus O’Breen’s detective agency. Jacques Butcher and Magna Studios are from the Ellery Queen novel The Four of Hearts. Dr. Orestes Preson is from Frances and Richard Lockridge’s Mr. and Mrs. North mystery Dead as a Dinosaur. Judge Ernest Coméliau appeared in several non-series novels written by Georges Simenon under pseudonyms before becoming a recurring character in the Maigret books. The original Zigomar was a gypsy crime lord and foe of policeman Paulin Broquet in stories by Léon Sazie. Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, Fritz Brenner, Inspector Cramer, Sgt. Stebbins, Saul Panzer, and D.A. Skinner are from the novels by Rex Stout. The Churchill Hotel appears in both the Nero Wolfe novels and Stout’s Tecumseh Fox series. Sebastian Tombs is an alias used by Simon Templar, aka the Saint. William Valcross (the original Big Fellow) and Inspector Fernack are from Leslie Charteris’ The Saint in New York. Prosper Lepicq is featured in books by Pierre Véry. Colonel Dubois appears in novels by Pierre Nord. The Sunshine Cab Company is from the TV series Taxi. William S. Baring-Gould identified Sherlock Holmes as Nero Wolfe’s father. The Panther-Pilsner brewery is from the Three Stooges short Three Little Beers. Harry the Horse, Little Isadore, and Spanish John are from the stories of Damon Runyon. Anthony Quinn will later become the vigilante known as the Black Bat, whose adventures appeared in the pulp Black Book Detective.