Passport to Hell – James Warner Bellah on 1935 China (“somewhere south of Shanghai”)

I’m hoping someone out there might have access to an archive of old Liberty Magazines – perhaps online (none of my libraries have the online archive) or a stack in a garage somewhere. We’re looking for January 1935 because who could resist this tale…

James Warner Bellah was better known for his westerns – the Virginian series, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rio Grande etc – but in 1935 he took a little excursion “somewhere south of Shanghai” for his series Passport to Hell. I don’t think Warner Bellah had any direct experience of China – though later in WW2 he did serve in the Far East. Passport to Hell ran over several issues of Liberty from January 1935 (starting in the 12th January issues) and running through to late February in (I think) seven episodes, all with illustrations by Harry T. Fisk and decorations by Carl Pfeufer.

Anyone got copies?

The first episode in the January 12th 1935 issue of Liberty

James Warner Bellah advertising Lord Calvert whiskey