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Bertie Comes Through
- GenresYoung Adult
Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
About the author
Henry Gregor Felsen
78 books14 followersFelsen was born and attended school in Brooklyn, N.Y.C. He taught part-time at Drake University (1964-1969), and in 1977 left Iowa to spend his remaining years traveling.
After struggling financially during the Depression, Felsen sold nine books and hundreds of stories in his first eighteen months of full-time freelance writing in the early 1940s. After war service with the Marine Corps, during which he edited the corps magazine Leatherneck and also wrote magazine articles while stationed in the Pacific, he returned to Iowa where he lived for most of his life.
Felsen was a prolific author. He wrote more than 60 books and hundreds of articles and short stories. Felsen's most popular writings were his car series books. The series (Hot Rod, Street Rod, Rag Top, Crash Club) was especially popular with teenage males, and sold more than eight million copies. Hot Rod (1950) was the most popular title and remained on the best-seller list for 27 years. Even though his books were about young men, fast cars, and girlfriends, Felsen used many of them to moralistically explore the evils of drug abuse, sexism, and racism. He claimed that "I was years ahead of my time to approach and explore these topics in literature aimed at the young reader. "The car series also appealed to young readers because it realistically paralleled the car culture of the 1950s and the craze of "hot rodding." The realism in his writing was also evident in the unhappy endings and heroes who were often rebels. Felsen's books reflected the morals, values, and prejudices of the time.
He is also credited with one screenplay, the 1968 film Fever Heat, based on his novel of the same name which had been published under the pen name of Angus Vicker.
Felsen was married twice and had two children and two stepchildren. In 1977 he left West Des Moines to move to Vermont and later lived in Michigan. Felsen spent much of the last two decades of his life traveling. He lived in Grandville, Michigan, and died of a heart ailment in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1995.
After struggling financially during the Depression, Felsen sold nine books and hundreds of stories in his first eighteen months of full-time freelance writing in the early 1940s. After war service with the Marine Corps, during which he edited the corps magazine Leatherneck and also wrote magazine articles while stationed in the Pacific, he returned to Iowa where he lived for most of his life.
Felsen was a prolific author. He wrote more than 60 books and hundreds of articles and short stories. Felsen's most popular writings were his car series books. The series (Hot Rod, Street Rod, Rag Top, Crash Club) was especially popular with teenage males, and sold more than eight million copies. Hot Rod (1950) was the most popular title and remained on the best-seller list for 27 years. Even though his books were about young men, fast cars, and girlfriends, Felsen used many of them to moralistically explore the evils of drug abuse, sexism, and racism. He claimed that "I was years ahead of my time to approach and explore these topics in literature aimed at the young reader. "The car series also appealed to young readers because it realistically paralleled the car culture of the 1950s and the craze of "hot rodding." The realism in his writing was also evident in the unhappy endings and heroes who were often rebels. Felsen's books reflected the morals, values, and prejudices of the time.
He is also credited with one screenplay, the 1968 film Fever Heat, based on his novel of the same name which had been published under the pen name of Angus Vicker.
Felsen was married twice and had two children and two stepchildren. In 1977 he left West Des Moines to move to Vermont and later lived in Michigan. Felsen spent much of the last two decades of his life traveling. He lived in Grandville, Michigan, and died of a heart ailment in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 29, 2017
A bit of "young people's" literature -the 'YA' label did not yet exist- which seems to have fallen out of general readership, a quick Google search for Henry Gregor Felsen won't yield much. As far as I can tell he seems to have written a lot of books for boys in their mid-teens, wherein hot rods serve as the primary love interest while girls filter in and out of the background.
Bertie Comes Through is a bit of a deviation from Felsen's usual formula, however. (Given the aforementioned dearth on Felseniana, I'll have to do more plot synopsis than I'd like.) The titular character, Bertram "Bertie" Poddle, is a hapless but undeterred youth who is met with failure at nearly every avenue of athletic and academic endeavor. Chubby, ruddy and awkward, he pines for the alternate reality in which he is the effortless, chiseled hero and is given to Mitty-esque daydreaming. A heart-to-heart with his gruff but understanding father, however, reveals to Bertie that "...the real test of a man is whether he can fight just as hard alone, without any cheers, because his feeling for school is stronger than his personal ambitions." Thus Bertie starts shuffling from team to team to serve his school, but all the while keeping a squinting eye in his quest on the school letter (a blue "H" for the preposterously named "Heeble High School"). Meanwhile his adversary, the raven-haired (almost everyone even slightly antagonistic in this book has black hair), Mencken-lite school reporter Wilbur Frost mercilessly skewers Bertie's every floundering physical attempt whilst also courting Bertie's main flame, Marcia Dale. His friends Ted Dale (Marcia's brother) and Wiggens Higgenbottom (...), both athletes of no uncertain prowess, back Bertie up in all his a-sportive mishap, though modern readers are more likely to interpret the behavior of Ted, Wiggens, Marcia, and Hyacinth O'Houlihan (more on her later) as somewhat condescending. Maybe we're too defensive.
[I suppose a separate note should be made for Hyacinth, as she is so classically and hilariously racially characterized -at least I think so. After Bertie disposes of a mouse which scares Hyacinth, she replies "You saved me. Now you can take me to the movies, I need to hear some shooting to calm my nerves." Just before this, her mother proudly remarks that it was only yesterday "she was throwing rocks at policemen." Was a predilection for violence always ascribed to the Irish at this time?]
The passages on Bertie's daydreams are something to admire. One such scenario has the delegates of the United Nations's and the President's train break down in Heebletown, forcing them to go watch the high school football game (naturally). "...Asking to be excused for a moment, [Bertie] would step over to where a student named Wilbur Frost stared at them with ill-concealed envy and hatred. A single blow would fell Frost while the astonished diplomats commented favorably on the fistic power of their choice. Later it would be discovered that Wilbur Frost had attempted to sell the secret of the atom bomb to Parlow Prep."
The book is, in sum, really something to behold for a novel originally meant for 14 year-olds; I don't really read YA lit -not enough to make a sweeping indictment- but what little I have has always seemed escapist and out-of-touch. There is something extremely comforting in Felsen's nascent explorations of depression, defeat, even body dysmorphia, etc., and all this in boys . In 1947. As Frederick Exley says in A Fan's Notes, another American classic of losing, failure is just as integral to the American experience as success. I read this due to its mention in Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story, D.T. Max's biography of David Foster Wallace. It makes sense that the adolescent Wallace read and reread Bertie Comes Through; its themes of perseverance, of the quiet "unsexy" (a favorite word of Wallace's) work which we all must undertake in order to be good people, would influence his final work. Read it, if you can find it.
Bertie Comes Through is a bit of a deviation from Felsen's usual formula, however. (Given the aforementioned dearth on Felseniana, I'll have to do more plot synopsis than I'd like.) The titular character, Bertram "Bertie" Poddle, is a hapless but undeterred youth who is met with failure at nearly every avenue of athletic and academic endeavor. Chubby, ruddy and awkward, he pines for the alternate reality in which he is the effortless, chiseled hero and is given to Mitty-esque daydreaming. A heart-to-heart with his gruff but understanding father, however, reveals to Bertie that "...the real test of a man is whether he can fight just as hard alone, without any cheers, because his feeling for school is stronger than his personal ambitions." Thus Bertie starts shuffling from team to team to serve his school, but all the while keeping a squinting eye in his quest on the school letter (a blue "H" for the preposterously named "Heeble High School"). Meanwhile his adversary, the raven-haired (almost everyone even slightly antagonistic in this book has black hair), Mencken-lite school reporter Wilbur Frost mercilessly skewers Bertie's every floundering physical attempt whilst also courting Bertie's main flame, Marcia Dale. His friends Ted Dale (Marcia's brother) and Wiggens Higgenbottom (...), both athletes of no uncertain prowess, back Bertie up in all his a-sportive mishap, though modern readers are more likely to interpret the behavior of Ted, Wiggens, Marcia, and Hyacinth O'Houlihan (more on her later) as somewhat condescending. Maybe we're too defensive.
[I suppose a separate note should be made for Hyacinth, as she is so classically and hilariously racially characterized -at least I think so. After Bertie disposes of a mouse which scares Hyacinth, she replies "You saved me. Now you can take me to the movies, I need to hear some shooting to calm my nerves." Just before this, her mother proudly remarks that it was only yesterday "she was throwing rocks at policemen." Was a predilection for violence always ascribed to the Irish at this time?]
The passages on Bertie's daydreams are something to admire. One such scenario has the delegates of the United Nations's and the President's train break down in Heebletown, forcing them to go watch the high school football game (naturally). "...Asking to be excused for a moment, [Bertie] would step over to where a student named Wilbur Frost stared at them with ill-concealed envy and hatred. A single blow would fell Frost while the astonished diplomats commented favorably on the fistic power of their choice. Later it would be discovered that Wilbur Frost had attempted to sell the secret of the atom bomb to Parlow Prep."
The book is, in sum, really something to behold for a novel originally meant for 14 year-olds; I don't really read YA lit -not enough to make a sweeping indictment- but what little I have has always seemed escapist and out-of-touch. There is something extremely comforting in Felsen's nascent explorations of depression, defeat, even body dysmorphia, etc., and all this in boys . In 1947. As Frederick Exley says in A Fan's Notes, another American classic of losing, failure is just as integral to the American experience as success. I read this due to its mention in Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story, D.T. Max's biography of David Foster Wallace. It makes sense that the adolescent Wallace read and reread Bertie Comes Through; its themes of perseverance, of the quiet "unsexy" (a favorite word of Wallace's) work which we all must undertake in order to be good people, would influence his final work. Read it, if you can find it.
August 6, 2014
I really liked this. Everyone can find a place if they are willing to try as hard as Bertie.
March 7, 2023
Bertie Poddle is a student at Heeble High School and is the epitome of the athlete wannabe with no real hope of success. He is overweight, slow and has an aversion to strenuous physical exertion. He is also very shy and fumbling in the presence of girls. There are two that he interacts with the most. Marcia is a cheerleader and Hyacinth is a skinny girl, but rather muscular. She is capable of causing pain in even the toughest of boys when shaking their hands. Hyacinth is also more than willing to engage in a fight with anyone that displeases her, independent of gender.
Bertie tries out for every sport at Heeble High but is a failure at every one. He gets creamed at football, knocked around at boxing, can barely run 100 yards without collapsing and cannot even carry the big drum for the marching band without stumbling. Yet, he never gives up and at the end of the school year his degree of effort is rewarded.
This is a young adult story about perseverance and trying out all options before accepting your athletic fate. It is a good story with some unusual humor. Furthermore, at a time when girls rarely appeared in sports fiction books, the females in this story are strong personalities that help the weaker boys when they need the appropriate encouragement. Very rare for 1947.
Bertie tries out for every sport at Heeble High but is a failure at every one. He gets creamed at football, knocked around at boxing, can barely run 100 yards without collapsing and cannot even carry the big drum for the marching band without stumbling. Yet, he never gives up and at the end of the school year his degree of effort is rewarded.
This is a young adult story about perseverance and trying out all options before accepting your athletic fate. It is a good story with some unusual humor. Furthermore, at a time when girls rarely appeared in sports fiction books, the females in this story are strong personalities that help the weaker boys when they need the appropriate encouragement. Very rare for 1947.
September 30, 2024
This is an unexpectedly fun book. Bertie feels like he can't quite find his niche. That doesn't stop him from trying even if some of the other kids make fun of his efforts. What happens at the end is extremely satisfying, and makes me long to find other books by the same author.
Note - this is an older story, so not everything about this story is how the story would be written today. Bertie's weight issues are a big part of the story, and the attitudes toward this definitely reflect the times. That said, it's still a satisfying book, and one which can be enjoyed once you put this in the perspective of the time it represents.
Note - this is an older story, so not everything about this story is how the story would be written today. Bertie's weight issues are a big part of the story, and the attitudes toward this definitely reflect the times. That said, it's still a satisfying book, and one which can be enjoyed once you put this in the perspective of the time it represents.
November 13, 2023
Great book for Middle Schoolers. I read it when I was in Sixth Grade. I found a copy of it online a couple of years ago and bought it for myself. My sons both loved this book, too. Bertie Poddle is the eternal loser. He keeps trying, but he just can't make it on any school team. He dreams of winning a letter, but it seems his dream is never to become reality. Bertie's perseverance in adversity, refusal to quit in the face of adversity, and his devotion to be of help to the team (even if it means being a live tackle dummy) are an inspiration to all .
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews