The domino mask originated in 17th-century Venice as part of Carnival celebrations. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the domino dominated masquerade balls in Europe.
But these days, the domino mask is primarily known for being sported by crimefighters like Zorro, the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, the Phantom, the Spirit — and the Domino Lady.
“Phantom ladies were less frequent than male avengers,” noted popular culture writer Ron Goulart. “Among the few practicing in an essentially masculine field was the Domino Lady.”
The Domino Lady debuted in pulp magazine stories in early 1936, about the same time as the Green Hornet and the Phantom, in fact. She appeared in six stories in Saucy Romantic Adventures and Mystery Adventure Magazine in 1936, beginning with The Domino Lady Collects.“In it, we encounter our heroine Ellen Patrick while she is in the middle of stealing a gem owned by a ruthless tycoon who looks to exert his will on the community at large,” noted blogger Rip Jagger. “We learn that Ellen is seemingly motivated by the murder of her father Owen Patrick, who was a crusading politician looking to end the corruption and graft which held sway in the city.”
“Socialite Ellen Patrick … wears a black crepe dress (later a white evening gown) and a domino mask in avenging the murder of her district attorney father,” recalled Michael R. Brown. “She is armed with a .45 automatic and a syringe of knockout drug. Being something of a Robin Hood, she takes from her victims, and gives it to charity, leaving a card saying ‘Compliments of the Domino Lady.’”
“Ellen Patrick is the ultimate crime fighter, molded after the Shadow,” observed Bernard A. Drew. “As the Domino Lady, Lars Anderson’s heroine from Saucy Romantic Adventures has confronted society blackmailers, horse-race fixers and even the dreaded Black Legion.”
“At times, Ellen unhesitatingly accepted nigh impossible undertakings simply for the sake of friendship and the love of adventure. At other times she was coldly involved in dangerous schemes merely to embarrass the authorities whom she blamed for her father’s death. But always, her anonymous donations to worthy charity covered the biggest portion of any recompense obtained through her forays against the wealthy. Of late, Ellen had become increasingly well-known and feared as The Domino Lady!”
She could be quite self-satisfied. “A moment later, throwing the white silken cape about her kissable, bare shoulders, Ellen took a final glance into the tall mirror. She felt perfectly satisfied. All plans were perfected; her appearance was almost too perfect to be real; the success of her perilous venture rested squarely upon her own fearlessness and daring, and the element of chance.“With a little smile of confidence curving her cupid’s bow crimson lips, she went out and locked the door of her suite behind her.”
“Sadly, females were rarely headliners for series,” Brown noted. “For masked/costumed pulp heroes, the Domino Lady’s pretty much it. And maybe the fact that the Domino Lady came out of the ‘spicy’ pulps is part of that. Many of the more traditional pulp publishers seem to put restrictions on how females could be used in the hero pulps.”
Now in the public domain, the Domino Lady has been revived by publishers such as Bold Venture Press and Moonstone Books.
As a pioneering masked vigilante, the Domino Lady probably attracts more attention now than she did then, in fact.
But she wasn’t quite unprecedented, even then. Johnston McCulley, the creator of Zorro, wrote a serialized newspaper adventure featuring The Masked Woman, a/k/a the crimefighting Madam Madcap, in 1920.
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