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Editions & Movie Tie-Ins
The Golden Years [1912-1969] ... Teen Rebels
Films
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Fredric Wertham was a German American psychiatrist, who wrote a scholarly tome in 1954 called Seduction of the Innocent. He presented his belief that mass media and comic-book violence was creating a surge in juvenile delinquency. His writing and testimony for the U.S. Congress contributed to the creation of the Comics Code, which censored that industry. His beliefs have been challenged over the years, but the concern did lead to a surge in movie tie-in paperbacks that focused on teenage angst leading to delinquency.
One earlier precursor would be
The Road to Ruin (1928), a
small paperback 48-page booklet likely sold in theaters that proclaimed
inside the front cover to be "The vibrant story of a delinquent
girl". The film outlined future film plots of minor delinquent
behaviors leading to sex, drugs, addiction, prostitution, and
prison. The film was a top box office success that year with a
gross of $2,500,000. This undated booklet with film stills by
Cliff Broughton Productions in Hollywood is available in two covers, one
without film credits perhaps to give promotion to the 1934 remake.
Avon, a predominant paperback publisher took the lead in this genre and
gave us titles that are highly collected today. The first title The Amboy Dukes was filmed as City Across the River (1949) and cast
a light on teenage gangs that became central to many Hollywood
screenplays. Another title was the debut of an acting giant, Jack
Nicholson in the novelization for Cry
Baby Killer in 1958. Other Avon titles of merit include
Hot Rod Gang (1957), Cry
Tough, High School
Confidential, Juvenile
Jungle, and Young and Wild
all in 1958. Avon also published a plethora of fiction paperbacks
with Teen Rebels that never became movie tie-ins.
The film title for Rebel Without a Cause (1955) was borrowed from the 1944 non-fiction book by psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner titled Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath. The similarity ends there, and author Irving Schulman took his early screenplay concepts and wrote the film novelization called Children of the Dark in 1956. This film heightened the success of young James Dean and Irving Schulman. The second to last film for James Dean will live on through the ages. Schulman had earlier success with The Amboy Dukes being filmed and later with Cry Tough, also he wrote the novelization for West Side Story.
The musical film West
Side Story (1961) presented a Romeo and Juliet theme with
song lyrics and street choreography along with the gang rumbles between
the Sharks and the Jets. Ten Academy Awards reflected the artistry
of this film. Unfortunately, there are few movie tie-ins for this
one.
Other notable entries would include The Blackboard Jungle (1955), 400 Blows (1959), The
Young Savages (1960 novel A
Matter of Conviction), Key
Witness (1960), and Wild in
the Streets (1968).
