Tailspin Tommy flew into movie theaters throughout the 1930s. He was portrayed by Maurice Murphy in the 12-episode 1934 movie serial Tailspin Tommy. Another 12-chapter serial, Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery (1935), starred Clark Williams in the title role. John Trent portrayed Tommy in a series of hour-long features, including Mystery Plane, Stunt Pilot, Sky Patrol and Danger Flight. All were released in 1939. Comic books and reprints Stephen Slesinger Inc. published a series of 30 Tailspin Tommy Adventures in eight-page booklet form as a promotion with Big Thrill Chewing Gum. In 1936, C.J.H. Publications put out two issues of Tailspin Tommy Adventure Magazine. The magazines published adaptations of comic strip stories. Publication apparently ceased because the rights to the character had not been properly secured. After taking over the syndication, United Features published two Tailspin Tommy comic books, one in 1940 and one in 1946. Tailspin Tommy also saw reprints in Dell Comics' The Funnies and Popular Comics. In 1934, Tailspin Tommy was among the strips reprinted in the first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, published by Max Gaines at Eastern Color Printing. That same year, Slesinger began publishing a series of Tailspin Tommy books in its Big Little Book line. Except where noted, beginning with Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky these adaptations of the comic strip were ghostwritten by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Hal Forrest: Tailspin Tommy in The Famous Pay-Roll Mystery, 1933 Tailspin Tommy - The Dirigible Flight to the North Pole, 1934 Tailspin Tommy - Hunting for Pirate Gold, 1935 Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky, 1936 Tailspin Tommy and the Hooded Flyer, 1937 Tailspin Tommy and the Sky Bandits, 1938 Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery (starring Noah Beery), 1938 (based on the screenplay of the serial) Tailspin Tommy and the Lost Transport, 1940 Tailspin Tommy, The Weasel, and His Skywayman, 1941 Others: Tailspin Tommy, a Big Little paperback (no subtitle), 1935 Tailspin Tommy in Flying Aces, from Dell Publishing, 1938 A novel by Mark Stevens, Tailspin Tommy: The Mystery of the Midnight Patrol, was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1936 References External links Gallery Comic book cover gallery Collect Air: Tailspin Tommy Holloway Pages American comic strips 1928 comics debuts 1942 comics endings Aviation comics Fictional aviators Fictional American people American comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1928 American comics adapted into films