Pulp Fiction, 1938 · page 137 of 148
10 Short Novels Magazine — page 137: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a **story page with an illustration** from a pulp magazine. The page number is 135, titled "The Dressing-Room Champ." The prose discusses a boxer named Fletch Brandell and his success in the ring, mentioning opponents like the Bat Nelsons and Joe Grimms. The text explains medical concepts about the solar plexus and nerve damage from punches. It describes Fletch's tactics for protecting himself during fights and notes that a boxing commission has decided Packy Gahagan must defeat Fletch Brandell to enter a lightweight tournament. The illustration shows a boxer in fighting stance inside a boxing ring, depicted in black and white line art typical of pulp-era sports fiction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
writers. His canvas-kissing record was dug out of the files, and the human- interest scribes went to work. The sports statisticians listed the par- allels of Fletch Brandell, men like Bom- barder Wells, a boxing marvel whose sensitive nervous make-up had deprived him of great ring success. They cited the opposites, the Bat Nelsons and Joe Grimms, who could stand inhuman pun- ishment because they lacked imagination and had nerve reflexes below par. The neurologists were called on for an explanation of the solar plexus, the large ganglia or collection of nerve cells located below the break of the ribs. Ar- ticles were written on the physiological reaction of a blow to these nerve fibers. Seis The Dressing-Room Champ * * * 135 Beeause of its connection with a sym- pathetic chain of ganglia that ran through the system, the solar plexus, when paralyzed by a punch, could cause temporary paralysis in other parts of the body, the arms or legs. Fighters were interviewed, and the lay world learned that cagy boxers fiddled in the first round to warm up, so that inereased body heat would lessen the chance of a blow numbing a nerve center. Through all the publicity and fanfare, Fletch continued to chalk up kayoes, always entering the ring protected by battle heat, and leaving after he’d put. the opposition on ice. And the smirking McCafferty continued to collect. Then the boxing fathers gave Fletch a chance to laugh. The commission was drawing up the list for the lightweight eliminations, and it decreed that Packy Gahagan would have to beat Fletch Bran- dell to get in the tournament, (EO)