Historic Treasure of the Week - February 3, 1991
By David M. Buchanan
Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - February 3, 1991
By David M. Buchanan
Vigo County Historical Society
Nothing ‘high brow,’ but entertaining
Homework is done, nothing on the radio, chores are finished, all alone, and nothing to do.
Those in our era can be entertained by a vast array of electronic hardware, but prior to the mid-1950s that couldn’t be done. The answer to the dilemma was to pick up a good book, or a pulp magazine.
Pulp magazines weren’t "highbrow" literature, but there were entertaining.
A number of those magazines, all meeting different tastes, are
featured at the museum. Four of them are the focus of this article. All were published in
1948.
"New Detective" was published bimonthly, violence and murder were apparently
just as popular then as now. "Rangeland Romances" came out monthly; "Masked
Rider Western" every other month; and "Big Baseball Stories" only hit the
newsstand each quarter.
Only the magazine of baseball stories offered five complete novels and no other features. The other magazines were similar in their formats with two or three novels, several short stories, and "Special Features." Special features included recipes, letters to the editor, clothing tips and travel hints.
The book of romance stories and the detective stories were published by the same Chicago-based firm. The other books were published in New York.
The ads in the magazines were just as interesting as the stories.
"Masked Riders Western" has a great ad on its inside cover. For only $3.98 one could order a KEM Heater. All you had to do was screw it onto your cold water tap, plug it into a wall socket, and you could have instant hot water as soon as you turned on the tap. You got "hot water--from lukewarm to real hot right when you want it."
It even had a 6-foot extension cord for the convenience of getting electricity directly to your sink. (Personally, I thought this ad would have been perfect in the detective magazine. It would have given scores of writers a great way of killing someone.) And, not to worry, it has a "money back guarantee."
"Baseball Stories" carried an ad that was at least honest, though skill fully written so that you might not notice. It’s an ad for "L’ORMONE, The Estrogenic Hormone Bust Cream." The ad made absolutely no claim as to what it was supposed to do. In fact, it says, "We make no claims, promises, or representations of any kind whatever for this cream. We want YOU to be the sole judge of what the L’Ormone can do FOR YOU."
It must have been fun getting those letters. Some may have thanked the company for smoother skin, some for large busts, or perhaps hair removal and better tan lines.
One of the features in "Rangeland Romances" was a column devoted to letters from readers. All were asking for pen pals. Writers varied from servicemen to a girl from France. The youngest writer was a 13-year-old girl from Victorville. The strangest was signed by "Helen Pendleton" of Michigan. She said she was 17 years only. She wrote: "Daddy still takes me ‘cross his knees and gives me an old-fashioned spanking with the hairbrush!" She then asked to get letters form any other girl who gets spanked.
One of the features in "New Detective" purposed to be from a prisoner. No name was given, only the number 15646. The writer was lamenting about the lack of justice. He had been ordered to spend five years in prison just because he had been trying to follow his budget.
Making $15 per week, his budget was: whiskey and beer, $8.80; wife’s beer, $1.65; meat, fish and groceries on credit; rent, stalled the landlord; midweek whiskey, $1.50; life insurance (on wife) 50 cents; cigars and movies, 80 cents; coal, borrow from the neighbors; poker club, 50 cents; hot tip on horse races, 50 cents; gambling losses, $2.40; transportation, bummed a ride; total: $16.65.
Because his budget put him into a $1.65 debt each week he decided to cut out his wife’s beer. "She socked me; I knocked her down. And just for that, the judge gave me five years. There ain’t no justice!"
These magazines were not created to last. They were printed on cheap wood-pulp paper which has turned yellow and brittle. But at the museum, they’ll last a little longer than originally thought, and will be a good indication of one of the pleasures of the beginnings of the electronic age.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.