Pole Positions: Stripper Detectives!

Velda Bellinghausen
Created by Ron Miller

I believe the operative word here is hubba-hubba.

This clipping from the The New York Graphic, dated February 2, 1951, pretty much says it all:

CHORUS GIRL TURNS SHAMUS

"To the disappointment of her many admirers, Miss Velda Bellinghausen, one of the better-known of the leggy chorines of Slotnik's Famous Follies, has turned in her g-string. What does the retiring ecdysiast plan to do with her time? Why, become a private detective, what else! The Bellinghausen Superior Detective Agency hung up its shingle today at 827 1/2 Morris St., ready for business, but we suspect that the beauteous Miss Bellinghausen will have most of her clients peeking through her keyhole."

Velda's dad was a New York cop, the "straightest cop the city ever had," and when he was killed, Velda felt she just had to do something. Turning P.I., her first big break was cracking the Sline case, which resulted in some real notoriety. Unfortunately, Hollywood never called, although she did sign a deal to and ended up with an honest-to-goodness detective pulp named after her. Though it lasted for only two lousy issues, and, as Velda puts it, "All I got out of it was 75 bucks and a lot of strange mail."

I'll bet. Sorry, guys, but it looks like Velda's saving herself for her best pal, Chester "Chip" Finney, ace reporter for The New York Graphic. She's hoping he'll come around some day...

Velda's the creation of illustrator supreme Ron Miller, a man who claims to have far too much free time on his hands. It certainly seems like it, at this point, because although there's a Velda book in the can, it hasn't been published yet, even though there's already a full-tilt boogie web site online AS WE SPEAK! If you're at all a fan of the genre, check out My Scrapbook by Velda Bellinghausen -- it's a true wonder to behold. It's obvious Ron knows a thing or two about the P.I. racket -- and Velda's not hard on the eyes, either.

Like Dean Davis' site for King Bennett, this is a finely-rendered labour of love, a fitting tribute to the P.I. genre of the past. Maybe Velda and King should date.

In fact, when I first heard about Velda, I made the crack that "It sorta makes you wish these guys would actually cough up the real deal, instead of just teasing us so well."

Well, I guess you should be careful what you wish for. Ron called my bluff, and submitted a story to this site. We accepted it, and the result can be found in our Summer 2002 issue. And damn if we didn't go and accept another one. and another. and another. And now he's writing novels and comics and everything. It's a Velda world after all!

THIS IS HOLLYWOOD CALLING!

"In February 2007, Ron Miller announced that Velda would finally be hitting the big screen. The first draft of the feature script has been completed. Like Ron says, "How great is that?""

For more about Velda in the movies, check out Velda the Movie, the official web site.

THE EVIDENCE

• "If I never get beaten up again, it'll be none too soon! But at least I taught a couple of goons a lesson about what happens to boys who kick nice girls in the ribs."
  .
• "I resent being tied up naked in basements."
  (Velda draws the line, in "The Early Bird.")

UNDER OATH

• "Velda is the kind of detective I like."
  (Richard Prather)
  
  
• "Ron Miller is unfairly talented."
  (Sir Arthur C Clarke)

SHORT STORIES

• "Velda's First Case" (Summer 2002, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
• "The Thirteen Feathers" (Summer 2003, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
• "Velda, Girl Detective Meets the Strangler" (Holiday 2003, Thrilling Detective Web Site; also Velda Girl Detective: True Crime Comics #2; a "Better Little Book")
• "No Vacation For Murder" (Summer 2004, Thrilling Detective Web Site)

COLLECTIONS

• Thirteen Steps to Velda (2005)..Buy this book

NOVELS

• Velda (2003)..Buy this book

COMICS

• VELDA GIRL DETECTIVE
  (2004-07, Black Cat Comics)
  16-36 pages, black and white
  Written and drawn by Raoul Molnar
  Ordering info:Available from My Scrapbook: The Official Velda Bellinghausen Web Site.

• "Homicide Hotel"; "Butter Safe Than Sorry" (#1, January 2005)
  
  
• "My First Case"; "Velda Meets the Strangler" (prose story); "The Early Bird," "Velda Versus The Red Menace." (#2, January 2005)
  
  
• "Velda Goes on a Treasure Hunt" (#3; also Free Comic Book Day, 2005, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
  
  
• "Velda Joins the Circus" (#4, March 2006)
  
  
• "Velda, Girl Detective" (#5, March 2006)
  
  
• "Velda vs the DA," "When My Chips Come In," "The Phantom of the Follies" "The Case of the Purloined Pegleg (#6, February 2007)

FILMS

• VELDA (in development)
  Feature-length film
  Based on characters created by Ron Miller

RELATED LINKS

• My Scrapbook: The Official Velda Bellinghausen Web Site
  A yummy site. You can even download The Official Velda Girl Detective Paper Doll Kit, The Official Velda Girl Detective Wall Calendar, the Velda comics and other goodies. Yowsah!!!
  .
• Black Cat Studios
  More about Ron Miller and his work than you can shake a stick at.
  
  
• Velda the Movie
  The official film web site.

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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