Kill, Puppets, Kill!

Abraham Merritt was the king of the Fantasy writers in the 1920s. He didn’t even do the job full time. He worked on a newspaper and wrote for fun. Which partly explains why his seventh novel wasn’t a Lovecraftian monster story, a lost world tale or a full-blown Fantasy novel like his previous trade. Merritt could do what he liked. And for his seventh novel in 1932 he wrote what is in my opinion, the first modern Horror novel. It was called Burn, Witch, Burn! and it appeared in Argosy in October 22-November 26, 1932 as a serial. The first hard cover version followed in 1933. The story has Dr. Lowell dealing with underworld types as well as a woman with a shop filled with dolls. These poppets are under her magical control and they kill!

Better still, it was picked up by Hollywood and made into The Devil-Doll in 1936. The script was done by two Horror veterans, Todd Browning and Guy Endore (along with Garrett Ford and Erich von Stroheim). It starred Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O’Sullivan. Sadly, the film version is not particularly Merrittesque. They pair the hero with the villains for some very corny scenes in the laboratory where the dolls are made. Some of the special effects still work (which is surprising) with a miniature woman climbing the bed sheets and stabbing a victim.

What makes this book so special is Merritt tells a tale of modern life with Horrors lying in wait out there. (He may have been inspired by Dracula for this aspect.) This type of book  would become the bread and butter of the Stephen King crowd in the 1970s and 1980s. Merritt’s book, along with its sequel, Creep, Shadow, were released as a paperback in 1996 where it blended in quite nicely with all the other embossed cover Horror titles. And well, it should. Despite obvious older elements, the book is perfectly readable today.

The image of the killer doll or puppet has been popular since Merritt’s tale. The Horror comics of the Golden Age are filled with evil marionettes, killer ventriloquist dummies and murderous dolls. Let’s have a look at these and see how many crib their details from Merritt and which come up with their own mannikins of madness. (I have not included Voodoo dolls, since they do not attack but kill through sympathetic magic.)

As with all older comics, finding the credits for the writers is usually a pointless task. We have indicated authorship where it is known. This is not the case with the first one. Our title comes from this comic and its killer puppets. It was written by Frank Belknap Long, the Pulp magazine writer, who created the format of Horror Comics in 1948 with the first two issues of Adventures Into the Unknown.

“Kill, Puppets, Kill!” (Adventures Into the Unknown #2, December 1948-January 1949)  Turgot the Puppet-master is killed in the 16th Century but his ghost, and the spirits of his puppets travel to modern times. Ralph and Gloria must face off against the terrible ghosts. Good thing Ralphie has a flame-thrower!

“Superboy Meets the Mummer!” (Adventure Comics #148, January 1950) was written by Don C. Cameron. Superboy gets some bad press when he fails to stop the Mummer and his set of red-suited puppets. Sup turns the tables when he gains control of the puppets dressed up to look like Superboy. These puppets seem more like robots. For more on Superman and Robots, go here.

“The Phantom Puppet” (The Beyond #1, November 1950) has Peter Lucas winning an audience with his amazing puppets. Unfortunately his star puppet begins to act on its own. This is because it has been haunted by the spirit of Jack the Ripper. Rather than let the puppet kill him with a poison knife and then go on a murder spree, Lucas sets them both on fire.

“Puppet Peril” (Weird Adventures #2, July-August 1951) begins with Alec and Majorie going to a circus to see a puppet performer. The act is amazing and Alec signs them up, a weird hunchback and a witch named Satana. Their television shows are a success. The witch hypnotizes Marjorie through the TV. She goes to an old house in the woods, where the witch will turn her into a new doll to replace the one she broke by accident. Alec shows up and takes a sword to the villains.

“The Puppet Pulls the Strings” (Eerie #4, December 1951-January 1952) has a successful ventriloquist, Dorian Grant, believing his dummy is alive. When Mr. Vale offers to buy the dummy, the dummy murders him. Grant walks into traffic to kill himself.

“The Dummy of Death!” (House of Mystery #3, April-May 1952) has Lang, a poor ventriloquist, jealous of the Great Wendell and his dummy. Lang murders Wendell and takes his dummy. Lang’s career immediately improves but the dummy keeps accusing him of the killing, until it all comes out on stage.

“The Vampire Puppet” (Witchcraft #2, May-June 1952) has Gravon a hugely successful ventriloquist in Bithnia with his puppet, Koko. His assistants murder him and uses Koko for their own fortune. Gravon swears on his death-bed he will return. The puppet begins feeding on the different accomplices, drinking their blood. Only when a stake is driven through its heart does it stop.

“The Devil Puppet” (Worlds of Fear #5, July 1952) starts with “Papa” Pierre Gutro, puppet-master, out of work and having issues with his landlady. From the wood of a hanging tree at the prison, Papa carves Jojo the Puppet. Jojo is a hit but he is also a demon who kills and causes pain. He is destroyed when the hanging tree is burned.

“The Death Dolls” (Nightmare #2, Fall 1952) begins by asking what lies behind the green door at police headquarters. We learn that Bill had his body stolen by a crook, Frosty Nelson. Bill’s soul is placed in a dummy. Frosty dies when the doll strangles him to death. The cops who know what happened can’t bring themselves to destroy the doll, so they lock it up behind the green door…

“The Devilish Dolls of Death” (The Hand of Fate #14, November 1952) has Wade Farnam in Vienna where he finds a woman who sells dolls that look exactly like real people including Carole Noval. Wade sneaks into the shop and discovers Otto Teufel actually shrinks people into dolls and must save Carole. The puppets get loose and Teufel suffers the same fate as Dr. Moreau, killed by his own creations. Carole is returned to her regular size but dies. This one seems to me the closest to A. Merritt’s ideas, though perhaps from the movie version not the original.

“Peter and the Puppet!” (Marvel Tales #110, December 1952) has ventriloquist Peter Philips owning a living puppet. Oscar prefers that no one ever knows he is alive because he’d end up in a freak show. Enter the lovely Mary. Oscar and Peter both fall for her. Peter destroys Oscar before going to Mary. She knows what he has done because she is also a living puppet, who strangles Peter to death.

“The Death Dolls” (Red Hawk #11, 1953) I included this one because that opening panel looks like it was based on Robert A. Graef’s cover from Argosy. The story doesn’t actually include living dolls. A shaman-puppeteer uses his puppets to accuse Red Hawk and Young Buffalo of murder. Later the shaman dies on the end of a rope like a puppet when Red Hawk gets his revenge.

“The Hand of Fate Mysteries #17” (Hand of Fate #16, February 1953) has a devil puppet assembled before it kills its owner.

“The Puppets of Death” (Mysterious Adventures #12, February 1953) begins with David Carlyle killing Walter Fox for possession of his popular puppet show. David also has Walter’s daughter, Ellen, who suffers as David fails to make the puppets work like Walter did. Eventually he poisons Ellen because she gets too nosy. The puppets take revenge driving Carlyle to suicide, which doesn’t actually happen. The cops find him the next morning and get a confession for both murders.

“Death of a Puppet” (Journey Into Mystery #7, April 1953) has Grimes, the theater owner mad because his contracted players, a puppet show, is doing poorly. He tries to force strange old Krueger to liven up the act, smashing one of his puppets. Later we learn Krueger makes his puppets by injecting people with a secret serum. Grimes gets a jab and becomes the “fat stupid one”, the new star of a hit show.

“The Vengeance of Oswald Foop!” (Adventures Into the Unknown #46, August 1953) starts with a ventriloquist being found strangled, by small hands. His dummy is sold and purchased by Sam Catlett, another performer in search of a better act. He calls the dummy Oswald Foop and the new show is a hit. Foop kills Sam’s assistant, Jensen, while Sam’s girl, Clair, gets suspicious. Foop comes to kill her, not by strangling but with fire. When Sam comes to rescue her, Foop tries to strangle him. Clair ends the puppet by throwing cleaning fluid on it, which catches fire. This evil puppet may have been part of the inspiration for Hollywood’s Chucky.

“Strung Along!” (Vault of Horror #33, October-November 1953) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. The puppet-master Anthony Zargano is dying and remembering. He recalls making his puppets like Koko and meeting the beautiful Nora, how they married. But things went badly when Tony’s heart is poor and he must retire. Settled down in a new house, Nora gets bored and tells Tony the truth. She hates him. She leaves but comes back. In the morning they find Tony dead from his heart issues. Nora is also dead, strangled by puppets. This is a subtle and low-key tale, unusual for the Golden Age.

“They Strangle By Night” (Baffling Mysteries #19, January 1954) has Hans Bosserman, maker of fine dolls, wanting to marry the beautiful Gretchen but her father refuses because Hans and his dolls are creepy. The dollmaker uses magic to animate his creations, which kill Gretchen’s father. Later Gretchen learns that every full moon the dolls will rise up and feast on the living. They kill her and Hans in the end.

“String’Em Up!” (Mysterious Adventures #18, February 1954) has puppet-master Fritz Kurtz marry the beautiful Frieda but she cheats on him. Fritz sends his dolls for revenge. Frieda and her beau, Hans, are found the next morning hanging on ropes. The killer dolls have made puppets of them.

“The Puppet Show” (Adventures Into the Unknown #59, September-October 1954) starts with Joe Hathaway murdering the Great Umbrini, puppet-master. Umbrini has knocked himself out by accident. Joe strangles him then throws his body in the fireplace, making it look like an accident. After this, Joe sees the puppets moving on their own. Umbrini rises from the dead as a ghoul and sets the puppets on his killer. The story ends with Joe tied up in a burning building and Umbrini and his puppets walking away to do more evil. This one has black paneling meant to simulate the look of television.

Conclusion

This post looked specifically at puppets or dolls that attack or kill humans. There were many other kinds of puppet stories in other comics, especially the superhero titles at DC. These tales have aliens or magicians turning people into puppets, men falling in love with beautiful dolls, Geppettos creating living puppets (Pinocchio is an obvious ancestor) ventriloquists believing their dummies are alive and other related ideas, other softer than the outright killer puppet. As with most things I like a good monster, so the killer puppet gets my vote every time.

After the Comics’ Code, things quieten down a lot and the rabid, blood-thirsty poppet takes a two decade-long nap. Thank goodness, the killer puppet returned in films. 1957 gave us Attack of the Puppet People. The 1970s offered Anthony Hopkins as a demented ventriloquist in 1978’s Magic. DC’s Horror titles of the 1970s brought the killer puppet back in a few stories (along with a couple in Warren’s black & white magazines). But, hey, that’s another post!