Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love 0

[Crimebuster]

My main collecting focus for the last few years has been romance comics, especially Bronze and Silver Age romance, in part because I love the soap opera elements. So I am drawn to continuing, ongoing soap opera features in romance comics, such as "Reach for Happiness" or "3 Girls, Their Lives, Their Loves." 

Recently I picked up my first issues of some of the Charlton nurse dramas from the early 60's. There was a fad at the time for medical dramas on TV, like Dr. Kildare, that seems ot have spurred all the comic publishers to come out with their own ongoing titles featuring nurses. Marvel had Linda Carter, Student Nurse, Dell had Linda Lark, Student Nurse - later just a nurse, I guess after graduation -  and DC had Mary Robin, RN in the pages of Young Love. 

Charlton, as was their style, went overboard with three titles: Sue and Sally Smith, Flying Nurses, Nurse Betsy Crane, and Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love. 

Now, I haven't been able to find a ton about them, but what I have seen written online backs up my first thought - Charlton jumping on a trend, making up their own knockoff characters to capitlize, etc.

So I was really surprised when I ran across this the other day in an ebay auction, which of course I bought immediately:

 

As you can see, this is a paperback novel about Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love!

It's also dated 1961, a year before she debuted in the comics, but the original hardcover - which as you can see boasted the tremendous title Nurse Lady - apparently was published in 1953 based on the copyright info inside the book. 

Now, I only have a couple issues so far of Cynthia Doyle, but there's no mention in the comic that it's an adaptation, or any mention of the creator, Adelaide Humphries in the issues I have. I do knot yet have her first appearance, though, which would seem like the most likely place to mention it. 

From what I have gleaned, Humphries spent decades writing novels about nurses, though there don't seem to be recurring characters that I can see from the book titles. Still, like Nurse Lady, many of the titles are extremely vague. 

So I have a couple questions, the big ones being:

 

1) How did this come about? Was this a licensing deal, or did Charlton rip it off without paying the rights?

 

2) Are Nurse Betsy Crane and Flying Nurses also based on pre-existing properties? Possibly other novels by Humphries? 

 

Did Humphries know someone at Charlton maybe?

 

If anyone knows any of this stuff, I'd be very interested in hearing it!

Paging @Dr. Love, @electricprune @greggy @Get Marwood & I and... I think I missed some romance/Charlton people but that's all I could think of off the top of my head. 

[Get Marwood & I]

Nice post Crimebuster. About time I restored Cynthia to avatar status.

I don't know the answer to your questions but I have seen that book a crop up a few times in my eBay searches and it made me smile. I have her first appearance so will dig it out later to see if there are any references. I don't recall there being, and all online sources flag her creator as unknown, but we'll see.

Dr Love will probably be your best bet for an answer....

[OtherEric]

One detail I can mention: Monarch books was Charlton's book arm.  So, same company.

A search on ABEbooks doesn't turn up the 1953 book.  It does look like Adelaide wrote a bunch of nurse themed books, though...

[Get Marwood & I]

11 hours ago, Crimebuster said:

Charlton, as was their style, went overboard with three titles: Sue and Sally Smith, Flying Nurses, Nurse Betsy Crane, and Cynthia Doyle, Nurse in Love. 

Also, don't forget Emergency Doctor,  Registered Nurse, Three Nurses, Tom Brent and Young Doctors, Crimebuster - they really went for it 

10 hours ago, OtherEric said:

One detail I can mention: Monarch books was Charlton's book arm.  So, same company.

A search on ABEbooks doesn't turn up the 1953 book.  It does look like Adelaide wrote a bunch of nurse themed books, though...

Good spot Eric. That link increases the chances of the one being cribbed from the other.

Some great covers and titles on those books - a few more here in this artists appreciation site:

http://lynn-munroe-books.com/list66/TOM_MILLER-CHECKLIST1.htm

 

[electricprune]

Hi CB,

I believe I’ve seen that book on eBay, but never really put two and two together. I have never collected, chased, or even read Charlton Romance books. I’ve only owned a small amount of them. Sorry I can’t be of any help here.

Interesting info you’ve presented though!

[Dr. Love]

Hey Scott!

I see you've got your question handled.  My short answer was going to be that Santangelo would steal it, if he didn't already own it. 

It's been three years - how are you doing with the 49 Charltons on your list?  I wouldn't mind seeing the ones you've got up for display on a countdown - maybe in your old Charlton romance thread since it's back on Silver page 1?  Show electricprune what he's been missing, hmmm?  and speaking of which, EP you're done with the silver/bronze DC run yeh?  love to see what you consider your Romita faves.  I think we can all agree that there would be no Spidey movies if there was no Romita Spidey, and there would be no Romita Spidey if there was no...Romita romance! 

Hats off to you and electricprune for pursuing romance, Charlton in your case and DC in both your cases.  The road less travelled, eh? 

[Crimebuster]

On 1/31/2021 at 4:04 PM, Dr. Love said:

Hey Scott!

I see you've got your question handled.  My short answer was going to be that Santangelo would steal it, if he didn't already own it. 

It's been three years - how are you doing with the 49 Charltons on your list?  I wouldn't mind seeing the ones you've got up for display on a countdown - maybe in your old Charlton romance thread since it's back on Silver page 1?  Show electricprune what he's been missing, hmmm?  and speaking of which, EP you're done with the silver/bronze DC run yeh?  love to see what you consider your Romita faves.  I think we can all agree that there would be no Spidey movies if there was no Romita Spidey, and there would be no Romita Spidey if there was no...Romita romance! 

Hats off to you and electricprune for pursuing romance, Charlton in your case and DC in both your cases.  The road less travelled, eh? 

 

Howdy!

The short version is that I decided I needed to break it into two sections and concentrate on the Bronze Age books first. The more I looked at Silver Age Charltons, the more I realized I had missed a ton of stuff on my initial list, so I decided to put that on the back burner while I focused on Bronze Age stuff.

I've managed to track down almost all of the Bronze Age Charltons on my list, plus I've found a few more I really like that weren't initially on my list. I do have a few SA Charltons that I really like, but I'm still learning. There seems to me to be four basic eras in SA Charlton Romance - pre-code, which I guess technically isn't SA, but anyway; post-code up through around 1960, which has a ton of great Colletta covers; the era from around 1961-1964 or so when the cover design was total garbage and every cover was ruined by typewriter text and terrible ads on the front; and then the era around 1965-1968 when they started loosening up just before the Bronze Age. 

Up through 1960 is probably my favorite. I don't have much regard for the early 60's stuff. The pre-BA stuff is hit or miss but there are some cool ones there!

Here's my initial list of 26 Bronze Age Charltons that jumped out to me. As you can see, I am missing one of them still. I've probably identified another two dozen that should have been on my list, almost all of which I have at this point, but this one still eludes me. I also have not been too picky about grade, as I decided I'd rather get them first and worry about upgrading if I ever can. But given how hard it is to find these in grade, I didn't want to put the cart before the horse.

There's one copy of this on ebay (listed twice under two id's by the same person, not sure how they get away with that exactly) but I don't buy from that seller due to pricing, despite the fact that they have a lot of good romance books. 

 

Bronze Age Charlton Top 26

1. Just Married 104

2. Secret Romance 30

3. Just Married 102

4. Haunted Love 5

5. Haunted Love 6

6. Secret Romance 1

7. Career Girl Romances 71

8. Love Diary 64

9. Summer Love 48

10. Haunted Love 7

11. Just Married 86

12. I Love You 95

13. Haunted Love 11

14. Time for Love 40

15. Teen Age Love 63

16. I Love You 126

17. My Only Love 6

18. For Lovers Only 73

19. Just Married 101

20. For Lovers Only 67

21. Love Diary 87

22. Secret Romance 33

23. Love and Romance 21

23. Romantic Story 103

24. Romantic Story 128

26. Love and Romance 18

Edited February 13, 2021 by Crimebuster