Toby Townly Story In DICK TRACY Pt.1

Toby Townly was a girl character in DICK TRACY who was inspired by Toby Wing. The story was reprinted in POPULAR COMICS, which is available on the internet at the Comic Book Plus site.

The problem of getting at the gangsters in their seemingly impregnable hideout is solved by

 the use of carbon monoxide gas* , which can be seen as a throwback to the gas warfare of the first World War.

This episode introduces Toby Townly.

*This story appeared in the papers in May 1935, only months before the death of Thelma Todd. The claim that Thelma Todd did not know about the dangers of carbon monoxide gas seems doubtful because it was something that had been in the news.

Toby Wing, Toby Townly, and Dick Tracy:

http://bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2013/06/toby-wing-in-dick-tracy.html 

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Doris Dazey

On October 4, 1935, actress Doris Dazey died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a Santa Monica garage only a few miles from Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café. Her death was ruled a suicide, but there was no note, and there was some doubt about it.

Doris Dazey was in the news again when her husband was arrested in December of 1939.

He was accused of murder, but nothing ever came of it. The death of Doris Dazey was still considered a suicide.

The case had some similarities both to the death of Thelma Todd and that of a fictional character in Raymond Chandler's book LADY IN THE LAKE, leading to discussions by Chandler fans about the possibility that these cases might have been sources of inspiration for that novel. The fact that another woman had recently died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the same area and that it had been covered in the news* tends to weaken the story that Thelma Todd didn't know anything about carbon monoxide: moreover, Patrick Jenning, who apparently favors the accident theory, has written about the Dazey case but never seems to have considered that aspect.

Patrick Jenning's BAY CITY DOCTOR says that Dr. Dazey provided Mabel Normand with dope, but the story that Mabel Normand was on dope is also controversial, and has also been labeled a "myth" at

themabelnormand.com/articles/myth-2-drug-use/ .

So there is some opposition to the story about Mabel Normand being on dope, just as there is some opposition to the one about Thelma Todd, but Patrick Jenning believes one and not the other.


* There had been a lot of carbon monoxide fatalities in the news. This was pointed out when the claim was made that Thelma Todd didn't know anything about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. This particular one took place only a few miles from where Thelma Todd lived.

Doris Dazey:
http://shamustown.com/truecrime.html

http://derangedlacrimes.com/?tag=doris-dazey

http://www1.freewebs.com/looking-for-mabel/dazey.htm

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19391204&id=6QktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HNgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5707,1738629


Raymond Chandler:
http://home.comcast.net/~mossrobert/

http://www.radiatingwings.com/


THE LADY IN THE LAKE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_in_the_Lake




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