Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 170 - Lynton Wright Brent

Acquired Tastes XLIII

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 170

Lynton Wright Brent

In the course of researching a pair of gay novels published by Brentwood/Anchor Publications, I fell down a rabbit hole and ended up learning a great deal about their author.

Lynton Wright Brent was an American film actor and a writer. He appeared in over 240 films between 1930 and 1950.

Born in Chicago in 1897, Brent was the son of William Lynton Brent, founder and developer of the Los Angeles suburb known as Brentwood. That last bit becomes important a bit later.

Lynton Wright Brent, circa 1930's 

As an actor, he's primarily remembered for his prolific work with Columbia Pictures in the Three Stooges short subjects series and a dozen cheap westerns starring the likes of Roy Rogers, Buster Crabbe, Hoot Gibson, and Tex Ritter. He bounced from studio to studio, notably appearing in 1933's King Kong, 1934's Three Little Pigskins with Lucille Ball and The Three Stooges, and 1938's Mr. Wong Detective with Boris Karloff. He actually received third billing in the classic 1938 exploitation film, It's All In Your Mind, later re-released as Fools Of Desire.

 

Fools Of Desire

1938

Brent was also the author of a number of pulp fiction novels, a few with sexual themes, though he also seemed to specialize in westerns and crime novels. He initially used a pseudonym and was quite prolific, working with a number of publishers including: Gold Star, Nite Time, Carousel, Anchor, and Powell.

After Brent's movie career came to an end, he returned to writing. According to Taxonomy Domine, it's believed that he had "a portfolio of straight Westerns [which] failed to find a publisher. Several of these seem to have been published by Brentwood [Publishing] - I assume that Brent couldn’t find a publishing house, so he founded one!"

In order to find a niche market, sex scenes were added. The success of these led Brent to write a number of adult novels with sexual themes - and he appeared quite comfortable writing about gay men and lesbians. In fact, his most well-known work is 1964's lesbian-themed Lesbian Gang. Also, his two gay male novels, 1965's Sir Gay and The Gay Bunch, are quite sought after by collectors due to their cover illustrations. 

However, by 1968, he was only writing straight Western short stories and detective/crime novels.

Brent never married and died at the age of 83 in Los Angeles in 1981.

 Lynton Wright Brent

August 2, 1897 – July 2, 1981

Lynton Wright Brent

Bibliography

*Titles by Scott O’Neill

Gittin’ in the Movies – Moderncraft, 1936

The Bird Cage – Dorrance & Company, 1945

 

A New Look at the Lesbian – Nite-Time, 1963*

Campus Call Girl – Gold Star, 1964*

Flaming Lust – Brentwood, 1964

Lavender Love Rumble – Brentwood, 1964

Lesbian Gang – Carousel, 1964

Sex and the Jet Set – Gold Star, 1964 *
Sex and the Starlets – Gold Star, 1964*

The Sex Demon of Jangal – Brentwood, 1964

The Desert is a Woman – Brentwood, 1965

The Gay Bunch - Anchor, 1965

Lust Gallops into the Desert – Brentwood, 1965

The Passion Tree – Brentwood, 1965

Passionate Peril at Fort Tomahawk – Brentwood, 1965

Sex and the Alcoholic – Gold Star, 1965*
Sex and the Divorcee – Gold Star, 1965*
Sex and the Hospital – Hemisphere, 1965*

Sex in the Service – Gold Star, 1965*
Silent Sex Trail – Brentwood, 1965
Sir Gay – Brentwood/Anchor, 1965 

Squaw Trail – Brentwood/Anchor, 1965

Violent Love Stalks The Plains – Brentwood, 1965

Blood in the Street – Powell, 1968 (w/ Richard Fusilier)

Outlaw Village – Powell, 1968

Apache Killers – Powell, 1969
Apache Massacre – Powell, 1969
Apache Tomahawk – Powell, 1969

Death of a Detective – Powell, 1969

Detective on the Prowl – Powell, 1969 

Hollywood Crime and Scandal – Powell, 1969 

One Man’s Crime – Powell, 1969

The Sundown Kid – Powell, 1969

Warpaint in the Desert – Powell, 1969

Daughter of Bonnie & Clyde – Producer Books, 1971 

(the novelization of a Norman Hudis screenplay) 

 
Note: Peggy O’Neill Scott Fields also wrote under the pseudonym Scott O’Neill. So, I've eliminated two titles which have been credited to her and her husband Lynwood.

Below you'll find a selection of Brent's books. I did my best to track down his 'Adult Only' offerings, but I decided not to include them all. 

The Bird Cage: A Theatrical Novel Of Early Tombstone 

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

 Published by Dorrance & Company

 Philadelphia, PA

1945

His first work of fiction published. A novel about Tombstone and the thrilling story of a theatrical troupe that came by stagecoach to open its historic Bird Cage Theater in 1881. His first book is actually a 'how to' about finding work as an actor in the motion picture industry published in 1936.

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A New Look at the Lesbian 

Author: Scott O'Neill

Nite-Time Books

1963

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Campus Call Girl

Author: Scott O'Neill

Gold Star Books

IL7-35

Derby, CT

1964

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Sex and the Starlets

 Author: Scott O'Neill

Gold Star Books

 IL7-50

Derby, CT

1964

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Sex and the Jet Set

Author: Scott O'Neill

 Gold Star

 IL7-55 

Derby, CT

1964

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The Sex Demon of Jangal
Author: Lynton Wright Brent
Brentwood Publishing Co.

Hollywood, CA

 1964

Described as an "erotic horror novel."

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Lesbian Gang

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

 Carousel/Frima Publications

North Hollywood, CA

1964

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The Gay Bunch

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

Anchor Publications

WL-102

  1965

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The Desert is a Woman

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

Brentwood Publishing

Hollywood, CA

1965

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Lust Gallops Into The Desert
Author: Lynton Wright

Brentwood Publishing

Hollywood, CA

FB 1021

1965

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Passionate Peril At Fort Tomahawk

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

 Brentwood Publishing 

FB 1020

Hollywood, CA

1965

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Sex And The Divorcee
Author: Scott O'Neill 
 Gold Star Books

IL7-61

Derby, CT

1965

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Sex & The Hospital
Author: Lynton Wright Brent
 Hemisphere Publishing

FB 1018

1965

Lots of intriguing things about this title. The inside of the book says: "first in a new series Sex And The Hospital. a fictionalized documentary based on fact." Then it goes on to talk about the author - Scott O'Neill. It's even copyrighted by Scott O'Neill, yet the front cover shows authorship by Lynton Wright Brent. Initially I thought that either someone else wrote this book or Lynton Wright Brent was going to use a pseudonym, but the publisher got the cover wrong. The latter happened more frequently in this sort of genre than one would like to believe. I have since then discovered that Scott O'Neill is, indeed, a pseudonym used by Brent.

The other interesting tidbit - while the illustration in the bottom right shows the typical nurse/patient scenario, in the upper left we have what appears to be a male orderly and a male patient. Almost enough for me to want to purchase a copy - I found one on Amazon for $21.

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Silent Sex Trail

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

Published by Brentwood Publishing

Hollywood, CA

1965

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Sir Gay

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

Brentwood Publishing Co.

Hollywood, CA

BL-101 

 1965

Soon to be available as a PDF or ebook download at Hommi Publishing.

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Violent Love Stalks The Plains
Author: Lynton Wright Brent
Brentwood Publishing

Hollywood, CA

1965

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Apache Massacre

Author: Lynton Wright Brent

Powell Publications

Reseda, California

PP 134

1968

Brent did a whole series of these short story collections for Powell, as well as a crime/mystery series.

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Thanks to: 

LibraryThing, Wikipedia, AbeBooks, and Taxonomy Domine 

for all the information and graphics.

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And that's all for now.

Next week: more titillating, tantalizing vintage gay pulp titles.

Until then...

Thanks for reading!

New Look - Rita Orr