Rob Smalley

Letters From Bama by Rob Smalley

James Bama

Our correspondence continued for nearly 2 years and in that time I received 7 letters from Jim Bama. I was a young 13. My only Doc Savage friend liked to call me Bob, so at that time I went by both Bob and Rob.

For the benefit of all, I have compiled a record of these letters with a scan of each original letter accompanied by transcribed text. Also, I have included some personal comments throughout.

Letter 1

Postmarked Sept. 9, 1972  Dear Bob,  Thanks for your flattering letter. Pardon the delay, but Bantam had to forward it to me in Wyoming.  Bantam decided about 8-10 years ago to revive the old Doc Savage pulps in paperback form & chose me, as I am an athlete & hero worshiper. We tried to update him & make it more of a science-fiction adventure hero type. Walter Baumhofer did the old covers (most of them, anyway). There has been a Doc Savage T.V. show pending for years, but it has never been launched. Gave him kooky hairdo & ripped shirt so he would look unlike any other hero. The 1930's covers were geared to look like a 1930 hero (as in movies & ads).  I quit because had been an illustrator for 22 yrs. Wanted to paint for myself & do what I want with no time limit or direction before I got too old. Moved to Wyoming 4 years ago & continued to do covers at nite for 3 of them. Research was getting difficult. Also, got into a big gallery in N.Y. & am doing mostly western subjects. No longer have time for 2 careers. Am 46 now & must paint for myself (12 hr. a day, 7 days a week). Doc #67 was my last job & it hurt to quit. I remember the original covers when I was just about your age. It wasn't easy. Now spend more time on the paintings & they are higher quality. Believe 181 is correct.  I did a good job on the series because I believed in it. So try & understand.  Sincerely,  Jim Bama

BAMA    "The Freckled Shark" was Bama's last cover. Whether intended or not, it is obvious that Bama's reluctance and sadness at quiting the series shows up on Doc's face.

NOT-BAMA    "Quest Of The Spider" was the first of the not-Bama covers. The artist that shook my world was Fred Pheiffer.

Letter 2

Dated Oct. 2, 1972  Dear Bob,  Pete Caras is one of my best friends & I saw his cover for The Avenger #1. It was quite good & an obvious attempt by the publisher to imitate the Doc Savage format. I quit illustration July 1971 completely, so do no more commercial art work at all. Glad you appreciate my quitting. Just painted a 74 yr. old reservation Indian whose father was Medicine Crow, a famous Crow chief around 1900 & that is a lot more fun & rewarding & real.  Sincerely,  Jim Bama

 
 You can tell from this next letter that I had asked more questions, especially about his origins.

Letter 3

Postmarked Nov. 15, 1972  Dear Bob,  Yes, I always wanted to be an artist, since I was 6 yrs. old. Always drew. Have quit illustration, as of July 1971, and now paint for myself. Mostly westerns & sell them in a gallery in New York. Doc Savage #67 was my last job. Would write Bantam Books for the other books. They must have them in stock.  Sorry, but I don't have any pictures of myself. My name is Russian, my father came here in about 1910.  I read the manuscripts & decided what to do for the covers. The art director okayed them.  Take Care,  Jim Bama

 
It is interesting to note that he actually read the manuscripts, and made up his own mind on what to do for the covers. We'll see more on this later.

For some reason there was a jump of over a year before our correspondence picks up again. I'm fairly certain the reason why our correspondence was revived was because of the release of the hardback edition of Farmer's bio on Doc. The copyright in the book just reads 1973. I ordered my copy from B. Dalton and as I recall I recieved it in late fall. I must have written the next letter shortly afterward. As you can tell, I must have been getting close to completing my set to-date. I must have sounded like a desperate kid.

Letter 4

Dated Jan. 21, 1974  Dear Rob,  First, thanks for your Xmas Card. It arrived too late for me to send you one.  I think I did about 400 paperback covers over a 10 yr. period. But quit July 1971 & they are all reruns or old covers. Don't know where you would get the old Doc Savages, except from Bantam Books.  No, I don't read the new Docs, though Bantam sends me their books. Read 62 & that is plenty for me. Haven't read Farmer's book, but have heard of it. Would pay you, if you could get me one. Live way out in the country & we don't have a book store in town.  Had my first show in N.Y. in May & did great. Bantam told me about the Doc movie. It seems it has been pending for years.  Take Care Rob,  Sincerely,  Jim Bama

 
Now what 15 year old kid could resist an invitation like that. I hastily ordered a 2nd copy of Farmer's bio, and shipped it off to Wapiti, Wyoming.

Letter 5

Dated Feb 1, 1974  Dear Rob,  Thanks for ordering the book. Am enclosing a check for $7.00. Please let me know if there are any additional charges for shipping.  Thanks,  Jim Bama

I have always felt honored to have been the one to have furnished James Bama with the Doc bio. Amazingly, I recently came across the postage receipt from that shipment. I just wish I had saved that check. It would be worth much more than $7.00 to me now.

In the next letter I asked if he remembered receiving any letters from my cross-country Doc buddy, Gary Stevenson. Gary was the one that turned me on to Doc in 7th grade. At the end of the school year his family moved to Chicago. I hadn't heard from Gary in over 27 years, then he saw this website on June 23, 1999. He called me at home and we were reunited! Miracles do happen!!

Letter 6

Dated Mar. 23, 1974  Dear Rob,  Thanks for the book. It arrived in good shape. Have skimmed it & look forward to reading it. Couldn't find myself mentioned, just Bantam Books.  Am doing western art only. Am with several galleries out west & one in N.Y. & am going to participate in 7 group shows this year. Work all the time & love it.  Do remember Gary Stevenson. Glad you love all the Docs except one. I have all my covers & started saving the new ones by Pfeiffer, but got discouraged, as the character seems to have gone out of them. Doc looks plastic, not real.   Thanks again Rob,  Jim Bama

 
Now how about that! Even Bama was bummed-out at Pfeiffer's stuff!

About this time I wrote to Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, CA., which is less than an hour drive from where I lived at the time, to inquire on the status of the Doc movie. Of course, as all kids do, I asked for any free stuff they could unload on me. To my extreme joy, on April 12, 1974 (the date on the postmark lable) I received a large, thickly packed, clean white envelope with the red, white & blue Doc logo in the upper left-hand corner. It was a movie press-kit!!! Accompanying it was a rectangular brown package that contained several hot-pink, "Have No Fear, Doc Savage Is Here" bumper-stickers! They all slipped away, but I was recently able to re-acquire one. I remember sending one to my friend Gary. However, I had forgotten about it, but from the next letter, It is obvious that I also sent one to Bama. Jeez!.. the book and the bumper-sticker! It also looks like I tried to get WB to send him a press kit. I'm sure that was the case, but I really don't remember. I was a nice kid trying to be helpful to one of my heros.
 
Letter 7

Dated May 7, 1974  Hi Bob,  Thanks for the bumper sticker & sending away to Warners. although I quit doing the covers almost 3 yrs. ago, I do have a warm spot in my heart for Doc Savage.  Nobody writes anymore on a regular basis. Just isolated letters. Unfortunately, I've thrown out all my old letters, as there were hundreds. So have no record. Guess you're on your own, Bob. Bantam is a big operation & don't think Doc Savage means that much. The editors never even read the stories, I did.  Am painting for several western shows in Oklahoma City & Stamford & Post, Texas now. Also am going to have prints (limited editions) made of some of my western paintings & will keep you imformed.  Take care & good luck  Jim Bama

I undoubtedly asked if he had kept names of Doc fans that had written him. Like many, I was isolated in my fandom. Even back then I was trying to reach out to meet other fans.

In early '74 I was getting frustrated with Bantam's slow and eratic publication rate. After "The Black Spot" in April, "The Crimson Serpent" didn't come out until October, aargh!

It must have been a pretty hard blow to me when Bama wrote that Doc really didn't mean much to Bantam. I was 15, and waking up to the sad realities of adolescent life. Just over the horizon was another sad reality. The Doc movie would be released in the Summer of '75 and that would hurt too.

That was the end of my correspondence with Jim Bama. I look back on it now and am somewhat surprised that as a teenager, I continued it for nearly 2 years. I was a small, shy kid who wasn't good at math or sports. He was a 46 year old famous artist. But, our love for Doc made us brothers. Now, his life was moving away from Doc Savage, and soon mine would too.