Category: Secrets

The Wonderful Artists of All-Story: Part 1

This post on the artists of All-Story magazine is similar to one I did long ago, a post on the top authors of Adventure magazine. I used popularity as a metric, reasoning that if the readers liked an author, the editors would have them make repeat appearances. All-Story Magazine In January 1905, Frank Munsey, creator… Continue reading The Wonderful Artists of All-Story: Part 1

Dime Detective’s first issue: Success in reverse gear

Dime Detective, launched to compete with Black Mask, was the most popular of Popular Publication’s detective pulps. It featured stories by Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardener, Max Brand, John D. MacDonald and Cornell Woolrich. This editorial, in the first issue, is a mix of rah-rah cheerleading for the magazine’s contents and an anecdote about putting… Continue reading Dime Detective’s first issue: Success in reverse gear

Art and Direction: The life of Charles Willard Fairchild

Charles Willard Fairchild was born on 18 November 1886 in Marinette, Wisconsin. His parents were Charles Marsh Fairchild and Sarah Jane “Jennie” Cook of Toledo, Ohio. Charles Marsh Fairchild was a versatile businessman, running a drug store, a newspaper and a steel company, in that order. Charles Willard grew up in Wisconsin and Toledo, Ohio.… Continue reading Art and Direction: The life of Charles Willard Fairchild

Model Employee wanted: Six dollars a day for standing still

Another article about an illustrator’s model; this time it’s actor Neil Hamilton, probably best remembered for his role as Commissioner Gordon in the 1960s TV series Batman starring Adam West. The Days When I “Posed” Recollections of Leyendecker, Brown, Underwood and other Famous Artists – And $6 a Day. By Neil Hamilton THERE was one… Continue reading Model Employee wanted: Six dollars a day for standing still

Model Artists and Beautiful Bombshells

I found a couple of articles dealing with artists and their models; models are lesser known than illustrators, though they’re quite recognizable. An earlier article about one pulp model can be found here. A note about the illustrations in the article below. Each illustration is posed by one of the models whose photos are given.… Continue reading Model Artists and Beautiful Bombshells

Hidden Sex: The Origin of B. M. Bower

This article by and about B. M. Bower, author of Chip of the Flying U and many other novels and stories, appeared in the December 10, 1928 issue of Western Cattle Markets and News. My Own Tally SheetBy B. M. Bower Note—B. M. Bower, author of “Chip of the Flying U,” which was written in… Continue reading Hidden Sex: The Origin of B. M. Bower

Exhibition of the work of Modest Stein in 1956

Prolific pulp cover artist Modest Stein (mentioned in my earlier post on prolific pulp artists) painted professionally well into his 80s. This article, a rare profile of him, mentions his pulp work as well. OF CONSIDERABLE interest to art lovers, or for that matter to anyone who likes to marvel at human accomplishment is the… Continue reading Exhibition of the work of Modest Stein in 1956

Right To Reprint Or Not? That Is The Question

The question of whether to reprint old stories or not was always a thorny one for pulp publishers. While many know about the so called “reprint menace” of the 1930s and 1940s when publishers like Harry Donenfeld and Martin Goodman pushed out pulps full of reprints without identifying them as such, few know of an… Continue reading Right To Reprint Or Not? That Is The Question

John Alan Maxwell, Illustrator of Romance

A few days ago, I was reading the first issue of Sea Stories and happened to glance through some of the covers of that magazine. The December 1925 issue, unattributed in the FictionMags Index, caught my eye. Ah! A signature on the bottom left of that cover. I squinted at it and tried to see… Continue reading John Alan Maxwell, Illustrator of Romance