Earle K. Bergey expanding paperback book industry along with skilled pulp artists like Rudolph Belarski, whose work is often confused with Bergey's. While continuing to paint pulp covers until his death, Bergey sold illustrations to at least four (4) leading paperback publishing houses, including Popular Library and Pocket Books. His art graced the covers of dozens of novels and helped to sell millions of volumes. His paperback cover illustrations were as diverse as his work for the pulps. In addition to his work on Anita Loos' famous "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", Bergey painted cover art for well-known authors from Émile Zola to the Western
Anita Loos her work; he was, in the words of his wife, "a man who enjoyed ill health." It was the opinion of New York's leading psychiatrist, Smith Ely Jelliffe, that she was to blame and that in order for Emerson to "get better" she would have to give up her career. She resolved to retire after her next book, "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes", a sequel to "Blondes" she had promised "Harper's Bazaar". On the further advice of the psychiatrist, the couple had planned another European vacation. At the last minute, Emerson feigned being unwell and insisted Loos continue alone. Arriving in