Pulp Fiction, 1950 · page 43 of 132
15 Story Detective, April 1950 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis: "Corpse's Comeback" This is a page of story prose from a hardboiled crime pulp magazine. The narrative follows a character named Spencer who, fleeing trouble and contemplating surrender, arrives at the Seaside Apartment Hotel seeking someone named Rincon. After learning Rincon doesn't wish to be disturbed, Spencer decides to wait until morning. The scene concludes with a hotel clerk's attention shifting to an arriving young woman named Miss Davis, inquiring about mail and mentioning an evening class. The page includes a whiskey advertisement at the bottom featuring entertainer George H. Monroe endorsing Calvert Reserve.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Corpse’s Comeback 43 There was too much light on Broad- way. Spencer stayed on the next street, followed it up to Eleventh. He was feeling doubt again, wondering if either one of the Rincons was the one he wanted, wonder- ing what he could do if he found his man. Somewhere inside his brain he continued to hear the sirens, pinchers of sound that told him he was hemmed in. For a second it got him, for a terrible moment it was too much. He summed it up. He took Bogan’s charges and his in- ability to prove his innocence. Then he added a probable murder and slugging a eop and running away. He took Mexico and he wanted Mexico terribly, and he would never make it there. He didn’t want to run any longer ; he wanted to face the nearest policeman and immediately give himself up. He continued to walk. Now he was turning up Eleventh, erossing Broadway, seeing the tall, mod- ern building on the next corner, seeing the huge neon sign on its roof that read: SEASIDE APARTMENT HOTEL. It looked expensive. Through the down- stairs windows, as he walked toward it, he could see the wide expanse of a dining room. Even at this late hour it was partially filled. Waiters hurried between white-covered tables. Laughter showed on faces. A beautiful woman seated next to the window, turned her head and looked at him. He moved away. The stairs. The glass doors. The cock- tail lounge opposite the dining room. The desk at the rear of the carpeted lobby. He approached the desk, not knowing what to say. The clerk was short and dapper with a fixed smile that swept Spencer's appearance and _ obviously found it satisfactory. ““May I help you, sir?” he asked. “Mr. Rincon. Is he in?” “He’s been in since this afternoon. But he left word that he doesn’t wish to be disturbed.” Spencer looked at the clock behind the desk, Midnight. He had been running for a little more than an hour, Now he needed time to think. He said, “‘Well, never mind. J’ll catch him in the morning.” “Do you wish to leave a message?” The clerk looked to one side as the ele- vator door opened. “It’s not necessary,” Spencer said. 7 CLERK was moving away. The smile he wore now was not fixed. He was wearing it for the tall and shapely girl with coppery hair that was approach- ing the desk. Her smoky green éyes | touched Spencer and moved away, and Spencer heard her say, “Any mail for me, Harry?” 7 “Nothing today, Miss Davis. How was the class this evening?” The girl’s low laugh was’ rueful. “The harder I work, the less I seein to learn. NEW YORK, N. Y.— George “nee wa, sn, eS = —— H. Monroe, New York singer and entertainer, advises men of moderation: “Switch to Calvert Reserve—as I have, Calvert really is lighter, mild- er, finer. It always makes your occasional highball taste better.’ Monroe Doctrine: “Switch to* Calvert!” \ E CALVERT RESERVE BLENDED WHISKEY—86.8 PROOF—65% GRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS. CALVERT DISTILLERS CORP., N. Y.Gj EOPMICGLOOOKSsEO