Lord Percy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord Percy (Percy Stuart) was the main character in several booklet novel series .

Lord Percy of the Excentric Club

At the Mignon-Verlag in Dresden came in late 1913 under the title Lord Percy from the Excentric Club. The hero and daring adventurer in 197 mysterious tasks out a new dime novel series. The publisher had rashly limited the adventure series to 197 episodes without suspecting the success this series would trigger.

The focus is on an English lord who wants to become a member of the prestigious Excentric Club in London . To do this, he has to solve 197 tasks (one for each member) that the club gives him.

When Great Britain opposed Germany in World War I in 1914 , an English aristocrat was no longer popular. So Percy Stuart became an American millionaire because the United States was neutral at the beginning of the war. As the USA supported Great Britain more and more, the German military authorities forbade the publication of the series in 1916. Percy Stuart had only solved 131 problems at this point.

The new Excentric Club

In 1920, after the end of the war, Mignon continued his series under the title “The New Excentric Club”, supplemented with the subtitle “Exciting sports stories”, as the buzzword “ sport ” was on everyone's lips. A total of 131 titles were reissued. Once again it was an overwhelming success, so that from now on a new adventure appeared twice a week. Apparently the publisher was surprised by the success. For volumes 132 to 166, novels from the series Detective John Spurlock , published around the same time as Lord Percy from the Excentric Club , were simply rewritten and brought out in a different order and with a new title. It was not until volume 167 that new novels actually appeared.

When the magical limit No. 197 was reached, a trick was used: Percy fails at the last task and is ready to solve another 197 tasks. The last task would have been No. 394. When this was achieved, a new twist was invented: Percy Stuart is accepted into the club. He's excited to be president of the club too. Therefore, he is ready to solve another 197 exploits. However, the series had run out in 1927 with episode no. 534. In the last episode, "In the Shaft of the Silver Mine" , Percy Stuart saves the club president's daughter and becomes his son-in-law and successor.

The new Excentric Club (day)

In 1950 the Augsburger Tag-Verlag tried to bring the series to the kiosks again as a reprint. After only one volume, the series was already discontinued.

Adaptation

From March 12, 1969 to January 19, 1972, the TV series Percy Stuart was first broadcast. The series is based on the template rather loosely.

swell

  • Heinz J. Galle: Folk books and book novels. Forays into popular entertainment literature for over 100 years . DvR, Lüneburg 2005–2006.
  • Norbert Hethke, Peter Skodzik: General German novel price catalog . Hethke, 2007.