Science Fiction & Fantasy at Special Collections

"Kellogg's Pep, the build up wheat cereal,
invites you to rocket into the future with...

T-O-M  C-O-R-B-E-T-T . . .
S -P -A -C- E    C -A- D -E- T...."

Rockwell, Carey. Danger in deep space / by Carey Rockwell; Willy Ley, technical advisor. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1953. 209 p.: ill.; 20 cm. Jones Hall Rare Books (Science Fiction). In process: CCH9631HT

Sing along with the Space Cadet March from the television show.

Tom Corbett was based on a character in Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novel Space Cadet, published in 1948. A merchandizing phenomenon, Tom Corbett appeared in every available media of the 1950's except movies. Grosset and Dunlap published eight hardback books from 1952 to 1956, Dell & Prize Comics published fourteen comics from 1952 to 1955, a daily and Sunday newspaper strip ran from September 1951 to September 1953, and a radio drama ran for six months in 1952. There were also games, toys, records, and more. The most remembered aspect of the Tom Corbett tidal wave, however, is the television series, which ran from October 1950 to 1956. It is possibly the only series to have been broadcast live on all four major networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont.

When Grossett and Dunlap began publishing the Tom Corbett books, it was already an established publisher of juvenile series with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Rick Brant, and others (it is an interesting coincidence that Frankie Thomas, Jr., who played Tom Corbett in the television series, also played Ted Nickerson in the Nancy Drew movies. The character’s name was changed from “Ned” in the books to “Ted” in the movies because the hard "t" sound was easier for movie audiences to distinguish). The Corbett books were a direct tie-in with the television series, and their plots often overlapped. In Danger in Deep Space (the second book in the series), for example, the problem of converting an asteroid into a rocket was influenced by a Heinlein story, Misfit, the radio series and the book shared the same Danger in Deep Space title, and both used the same "asteroid to rocket" plot. 

Cary Rockwell, the author of record, was a “house name” for any number of writers who may have been assigned to the project. It is unknown today which authors actually wrote the books. The technical advisor, Willy Ley, however, was a real person, a rocket expert who tried to ensure that the radio series, television series, and books remained faithful to astronomical reality. He published many articles about space in his own right in journals as well as popular magazines, and a series he wrote for Collier’s was later collected into a book. 

The series also spawned its own slang:

• Plug your jets! -- Shut up!
• He's as unstable as a heavy isotope -- He's nuts
• Blast me for a martian mouse! -- Boy, am I a dope!
• You've been drinking jet juice -- You're off the beam
• Blow up some meteor dust -- Paint the town red