Pear-Shape

Appeared from Thursday, April 14, 1949 thru Monday, July 4, 1949

Pear-Shape Tone was also known as P.S. Tone and was a racketeer and killer. Pear-Shape had blond hair, glasses, smoked cigars and his shape was the shape of a pear, with a large round stomach and rear. Pear-Shape was president of the “Reduce-U by Mail Institute” which offered a correspondence course in weight reduction. It was a lucrative racket and Pear-Shape used it to steal jewelry from his wealthier clients. Pear-Shape’s gang consisted of a secretary, Nellie, a helicopter pilot named Pedro Zelene and two henchmen, one of whom was named Hed Hedges.

Tracy was after Pear-Shape for the murder of wealthy Mary Waldo, whose jewels he had also stolen. Tracy’s ally on the case was a boxer dog named Mugg, who hated Pear-Shape. Pear-Shape, Hed Hedges and other gang members used tear gas bombs to try to incapacitate Mugg, who was guarding a house in the country where the jewels were hidden. Mugg attacked them, despite the gas, and did enough damage for Tracy and Sam to arrest Hed Hedges and the other man. Pear-Shape escaped. Tracy found the jewels and brought them to Mary Waldo’s niece, Miss Waldo, to verify that they were the stolen jewels.

Pear-Shape hid out in his “Reduce-U” office with his secretary, Nellie. Sam, disguised as a woman, went to Pear-Shape’s office to look around. Pear-Shape wasn’t fooled by Sam’s disguise and he knocked Sam out with his gun. Then he and Nellie rolled Sam up in some wire mesh. Tracy and Mugg suddenly appeared at the office door and Mugg charged at Pear-Shape. Pear-Shape pushed Nellie out of the way and managed to run down the fire escape and get away. He reached his car, jumped in and slammed the door, but Mugg jumped to his car roof. Pear-Shape drove around trying to shake Mugg from the roof without success. Then he drove through the park and used low-hanging tree branches to knock Mugg off.

Pear-Shape then hid out at Jim Pistol’s Rest Sanitarium and was placed on a strict diet and grueling exercise program. After a few days of sweat and pain, Pear-Shape telephoned Pedro Zelene to come and get him away from Jim Pistol. Pedro Zelene, who was trying to break free of the gang, reluctantly picked up Pear-Shape from the Sanitarium roof using his helicopter – just as Tracy arrived to arrest Pear-Shape.
Anxious to be rid of Pear-Shape once and for all, Pedro dropped him off at night, inside a lion compound at the County Outdoor Zoo. At first, Pear-Shape thought he was in a park. He left the helicopter but as it started to rise, Pear-Shape saw the lions and realized where he was. He leaped up, grabbed one of the helicopter wheels, and hung there as the helicopter gained altitude. High above the lion compound, Pear-Shape’s grip slipped and he fell. Tracy later found Pear-Shape’s battered body in a tree and rescued him after the zoo workers chased the lions that had gathered underneath. Tracy arrested Pear-Shape and sent him to a hospital.

Reprinted with permission from the author Victor E. Wichert “The Dick Tracy Encyclopedia Oct. 4, 1931 – Dec. 25 1977″

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