2022 03 07 19 01

A collection of really eye-popping articles and stories from 1950s and 60s Men’s pulp magazines

Ah, they don’t write stories like they used to.

I once read an article. It’s maybe six years ago that said that SJW types were scouring old used bookstores for “sexist” and “racist” books. Buying them up in huge lots and burning them, and generally trashing them outright.

I don’t know if it was true or not.

I certainly hope not.

What I do know is that my brother told me that when he visits the used books stores, he simply cannot find science fiction anthologies or collections of short stories anywhere. He said that he visited perhaps fifteen stores in the Colorado region and none could be had.

It would be a shame to see my boyhood erased simply becuase some bight-eyed utopian wanted to make the world better though tyranny.

Sigh.

But that’s the United States today. The internet is a corporate-technologist controlled dictatorship-based white-board. Things pop up, and then are erased as new narratives take hold, develop, conduct their purposes and then die.

Then new narratives materialize.

Now, it’s Ukraine. It was Coronavirus. Before that it was China. Before that was 5G radiation, before that was…

I need a beer.

By the way. You do know that beer goes great with steaks, meats, potatoes, and all sort of fine delicious and tasty foods. How about a fine, fine pot roast, eh?

2022 03 15 11 53
Pot roast. Needs some thick gravy and some fine icy cold beer.

It’s an old clichéd joke to say you read adult magazines for the articles. However, if you’re talking about men’s mags from the 1950s and 60s, there might actually be some truth in your statement.

Magazines like Playboy, Adam, Jem, and Rogue often featured genuinely well-written articles and short fiction.

Getting published in a men’s magazine wasn’t the shameful smudge on an author’s reputation as it is today – in fact, it was a common stepping stone for soon-to-be-famous authors.

Like Ray Bradbury.

2022 03 15 14 58
2022 03 15 14 58

But it isn’t just the stories that deserve respect – it’s the artwork that complimented them. Often sleazy and purposefully outrageous, the illustrations were designed to entice you to read the story in a not-so-subtle way.

Here in this article, we are going to present some most excellent examples. Grab some snacks, pour a large bowl with potato chips, get some nice dip, and start reading.

2022 03 15 15 01
Chips and dip.

Oh, and don’t forget a tall frosty glass of beer. Or, if you are like MM, a fine bottle of wine , and share with your beloved pet.

2022 03 15 15 03
2022 03 15 15 03

Have fun.

Be with your kitties.

I mean, more like this…

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Not shown is a book, magazine, and a beloved pet next to you.

Let’s begin our fun adventure…

They were two drunken lovers having an affair in her bed while her husband was away. But, was he away? Wasn’t that he – respected adviser to the President – they now overheard plotting to kill the man in the White House?

6335207469 fbd8c7ab54 b
6335207469 fbd8c7ab54 b

Lured by his smoldering eyes and magnetic personality, adoring women flocked to Rasputin. Peasant girls, prostitutes, princesses – they came, they saw, and they were conquered!

6335965054 16831a9e5b b
6335965054 16831a9e5b b

We got home about midnight. Shelia, the sitter, lay fast asleep on the couch. Maria woke her. Then I drove her home… an hour later, she’d been raped and strangled – and I was suspect number one!

6335207571 92a32a307f b
6335207571 92a32a307f b

Getting Avis pregnant, and other sinful shenanigans, proved that the passionate pastor simply didn’t practice what he preached…. it finally took the electric chair to deliver him from all evil.

6335207551 aa2d59503b b
6335207551 aa2d59503b b

As the whistling whip snaked across her back, the young woman writhed in pleasure. For this was the joy that she’d paid to feel and relish.

6335209837 0163dcd64b b
6335209837 0163dcd64b b

I could hear Ted’s screams, but I couldn’t get to him, the bull sea lions were surrounding me and the angry sea was at my back…

6335209925 f95c194b10 o
6335209925 f95c194b10 o

With a 2,000-horse-soldier combat team, the mad Russian set out to take all Asia for a harem. And he would have made it if he hadn’t touched the man millions call God.

6335210025 e6e955795a o
6335210025 e6e955795a o

The Sewer rats are the only ones you’ll share your secret with.

6335957032 89b11a4932 b
6335957032 89b11a4932 b

The couple’s honeymoon yacht turned into a craft of horrors when it was boarded by a lust-crazed psychopath who butchered anyone who dared invade his private inlet.

6335199403 d988020d40 b 1
6335199403 d988020d40 b 1

Big blondes in dime-store dresses, tender teenagers with eager smiles, they converge in front of fancy bars and good hotels in all the big towns bordering the hill country.

6335199515 cb7b935f43 b
6335199515 cb7b935f43 b

According to one automotive expert, these prestige-heavy imported hot rods are often badly made, unsafe, cash-eating tin cans perfectly designed for carrying you to the morgue.

6335957270 225bfa37ab b
6335957270 225bfa37ab b

A wanton, lush-bodied kitten of a blonde, she gave Mike Webster the sweetest, most loving hideout any murderer-on-the-run ever had.

6335957294 1d813a2ec3 b
6335957294 1d813a2ec3 b

Housemaids, heiresses, coeds and countesses – this brawling blackmailer sampled them all on a 75-year love binge so bawdy his memoirs still can’t be printed…

6335957438 5d13e53e01 b
6335957438 5d13e53e01 b

In life, she was a nymphomaniac with a very high taste in jewels and men. In death, she was Mike Shayne’s fourty-first murder case.

6335207369 2e0e0e3049 b
6335207369 2e0e0e3049 b

Laos was in flames, and in that bloody, steaming jungle hid a broken and dying pilot guarding a cargo the Reds would give their birthright to get…

6335964954 5c94d528e7 b
6335964954 5c94d528e7 b

In the waning days of world war two, Germany was in a state of utter collapse and chaos.

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6335956456 353537a693 b

Angel terror across Dixie… Girl Rage Rampage!

6335956536 e505f2d888 b
6335956536 e505f2d888 b

In the grim violence of the Mate Grosso, two lusting men and two equally desire lashed females were stripped of all defenses before the furious onslaught of body-snatching banditoes…

6335956614 02143014e1 b
6335956614 02143014e1 b

…!

6335198935 316a37e27a b
6335198935 316a37e27a b

Jack Murphy primed her talents and showed her to the right people, all the while sating his desires on the sensuous blonde’s promise of passionate reward.

6335956662 cd3fe1e112 b
6335956662 cd3fe1e112 b

Roaring out of the back alleys of Los Angles on their souped-up hogs, four piston-fast “leather jacket looters” and their “desire debs” hatched a plot for the greatest armored truck robbery ever attempted.

6335199055 26b67f15bf b
6335199055 26b67f15bf b

…she didn’t even have time to…

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6335956856 f575574372 b

A tough yank enforcer, two revenge-hungry nymphs vs. a crazed murder genius.

6335956980 df5ecf10ae b
6335956980 df5ecf10ae b

An Englishman who produced a .30 caliber carbine compact enough to fit in a cigarette pack…

6335199367 6e835443b8 b
6335199367 6e835443b8 b

Everyone in the third-floor room tried to laugh off what was happening to the girl on the bed – everyone but her boyfriend and the doctor, who found more in her stomach than just milk and cookies.

6335955266 e51bce0736 b
6335955266 e51bce0736 b

…he turned an island into a cross between Fort Knox and the sexiest Siegfried line ever built.

6335197545 e52c0cff20 b
6335197545 e52c0cff20 b

Those oriental Nazi dancing girls were all they were supposed to be… and more.

6335197885 b99fcf9651 b
6335197885 b99fcf9651 b

A murderer at the age of eleven, Ben Hogan led a life of crime and depravity that had no equal outside of Hell.

6335197901 eaa1d6c5f9 b
6335197901 eaa1d6c5f9 b

Blood was dripping from his slavering fangs…

6335956096 2128a66132 o
6335956096 2128a66132 o

With a bleching sound, the torrent gushed into the street. For tipplers it was a perfect way to die. For others it was an unheard of death.

6335956130 bacd9eccde b
6335956130 bacd9eccde b

…his wrist and ankles manacled to a steel bed.

6335198497 9824848f7e b
6335198497 9824848f7e b

Women, whiskey and dope made the Japanese town of Chitose “the wickedest city in the far east”.

6335198617 b9df26565e b
6335198617 b9df26565e b

They pumped two bullets into Al Cooke and left him for dead, but he wasn’t ready for the grave yet… not until he could get the laust laugh.

6335198639 e706f39136 b
6335198639 e706f39136 b

he was determined to even an old score. But the grim climax with the giant tusker was unexpected.

6335198699 339bccc8e1 b
6335198699 339bccc8e1 b

The trappers poured into camp hunting for their week of women…

6335956348 5ef0192172 b
6335956348 5ef0192172 b

Murderous females who were armed to the teeth tricked Fred hardin into stopping his car for them. Then, by threatening to slit the throat of his wife on a moment’s notice, forced him to accompany them on a journey through Hell.

6335198729 a1cbac7992 b
6335198729 a1cbac7992 b

To save his mate from a fate worse than death, the incredibly swift cat invaded a camp swarming with professional hunters, ready to kill or be killed if necessary…

2022 03 07 19 15
2022 03 07 19 15

Brother Briggs’s 3,300,00 members game kept his desert empire polygamy  happy until the day the disciples caught on to the reason behind the leaders 9-1 ratio.

6335967544 01eed0626b o
6335967544 01eed0626b o

The Reds were bleeding the West of vital defense secrets. And even after a seven-year manhunt, counterintelligence had only one clue – a case of nylon undies.

2022 03 07 19 21
2022 03 07 19 21

“Being a Lady of the Night in jolly old London is never easy – but when somebody wants to carve you up, it’s sheer murder”

Adam v10 n10 Oct 1966 13
Adam v10 n10 Oct 1966 13

“He writhed in agony as they tore at his wife’s clothing… Dan’s car was the only weapon which could avenge their heinous crime.”

Adam v04 n04 Apr 1960 18
Adam v04 n04 Apr 1960 18

“Trapped by the mafia’s maniacal sadist, Garry had only one chance to save himself and the woman he loved”….And by the looks of things, Garry had damn well better hurry up!

Adam v5 no2 1961 0037
Adam v5 no2 1961 0037

“Reilly was doomed to a life without women – unless he could force the leprechaun to lift its double-whammy”

Possibly my favorite of all time.

Black Magic v03 n04 Jan 1967 AAA 022
Black Magic v03 n04 Jan 1967 AAA 022

One moment of frenzied passion could destroy his only chance for a perfect future.

Adam v5 no2 1961 0015
Adam v5 no2 1961 0015

“The telephone had killed his wife – and the telephone offered the perfect revenge”

Adam v5 no2 1961 0019
Adam v5 no2 1961 0019

Until he saw with his own eyes, the refused to believe a United Nations report -40,000 girls to be kidnapped this year in Europe and Africa and marched across the Sarah for sale to wealthy Arabian harem owners!

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042

In an age of charm and delicacy, Madame Laramie was a demon incarnate.

Adam v04 n04 Apr 1960 12
Adam v04 n04 Apr 1960 12

The gallows beckoned and even Rand’s woman couldn’t save him from the gambler’s double-cross.

Adam v03 n11 Nov 1959 39
Adam v03 n11 Nov 1959 39

One minute you’re there, the next… poof! you’re ashes. Never a dull moment for drinkers.

Adam v10 n10 Oct 1966 54
Adam v10 n10 Oct 1966 54

Threatened with ultimate degradation, Mira became a slave to the strangest of passions.

Adam v5 no2 1961 0003
Adam v5 no2 1961 0003

The farewell party was so wild, he almost missed the journey…

Adam v10no8 Aug1966 0061
Adam v10no8 Aug1966 0061

Parker knew he must kill his wife’s lover… but he had one growing problem…

2022 03 07 19 24
2022 03 07 19 24

“Was Marie Antoinette a victim of character assassination, or did she diddle?”

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2022 03 07 19 39

“It was no ordinary shipboard romance.  Her bull of a husband was along for the ride.  Yet Allen knew he had to have her”

2022 03 07 19 3e8
2022 03 07 19 3e8

“Telsa had to save the mission from destruction because of Heroq’s passion to remain a Homo sapien”

As this illustration from 1968 demonstrates, artists were free to stylize their work by the late sixties, rather than stick to the somewhat homogeneous look of the mid-century illustrations.

2022 03 07 19 38
2022 03 07 19 38

“With five sex-starved wives to satisfy, a man can have a myriad of problems”

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2022 03 07 19d 38

“Dollar for dollar, corpse for corpse, Holmes might have become America’s most successful lady killer – if one pretty doll hadn’t talked out of turn and exposed the most shocking mass murder in history”

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2022 03 07 19 37

“There are so many physiological differences between men and women that it is hard to believe they belong in the same species, says this noted psychologist”

2022 03 07 19 4s9
2022 03 07 19 4s9

The hang-up on the telephone saved him from getting hung up on the couch.

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2022 03 07 19 49

“The night was cold – and so was his wife. All of which led to Pete Landon’s tantalizing adventure.”

2022 03 07 19 51
2022 03 07 19 51

“Telling others what a big make out artist you are could very well help you become one”

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2022 03 07 1s9 50

All the hush-hush planning for the Allied invasion of Europe almost went out the window of a beautiful Hungarian’s bedroom.

2022 03 07 19 50
2022 03 07 19 50

“Iona screamed as Peggy stripped for the two men…. only one desperate gamble could stop the crazed convicts”

2022 03 07 19 dww53
2022 03 07 19 dww53

With a quick slap of the hand, Joe sent the shake-down artist to the floor.

2022 03 07 19 d53
2022 03 07 19 d53

He was a hostage of the Orient’s most notorious fighting brigade – a band of torture-trained females currently terrorizing the border region of Vietnam.

2022 03 07 19 53
2022 03 07 19 53

“If sexy strategist Suzanne had been a general, the South might have won the Civil War”

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2022 03 07 19e 56

Broom and Board; a Witches tale.

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2022 03 07 19 56

“Hollywood’s a bad influence”… with the sordid Harvey Weinstein stories in the news of late, a very appropriate title. We’ll end here. Until next time.

2022 03 07 19 58
2022 03 07 19 58

Fun huh?

Yes. It was.

Back in the day, these magazines were everywhere. Young guys like myself would take our shoe-shine box and earn a few quarters spit-shing shoes and then use the money for candy and other treats. I used to happily get those comic books that were on this wire revolving display.

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Comic book heaven.

This was at the local corner drugstore.

I would ride my bike there, and just leave it outside. There was no crime. And even if someone stole it, the community would easily track down who stole it and bring it back. I’d park my banana-seat, long handlebars, Schwinn bicycle outside and go in. The mesh screen door would slam behind me with this little tiny brass bell ringing as I entered.

At that store was a selection of scant housewares, household good, woman’s cosmetics, and a pharmacy in the back. They always had this counter at the side where you could get a simple hamburger platter, eggs and toast, a milkshake or some other delicious treat. Though, as a boy who only had coins, I would get a soda out of the machine outside.

coke machineJ4
coke machine

These small town businesses have largely disappeared in America. The small towns are deserted. Big mega-retailers like Wal-Mart and other enormous “box stores” pretty much devistated the smaller communities. Which is a real shame.

A real shame.

a lunch counter in a five and dime store
A lunch counter in a five and dime store.

Oh, I’ll bet that you are all wonderign what these strange businesses might look like. Well, they came in many different sizes and shapes. Some were just standard brick storefronts, while others were standalone oeprations.

Here’s a very “modern” small-town drugstore.

2022 03 15 15 22
Small town drugstore.

And what’s more, there were many, many other establishments in the small towns throughout the United States.

Here’s The Krystal. It’s a “fast food” hamburger “joint” that popped up and existed before McDonald’s acted like “The Borg” and assimulated all of them.

2022 03 15 15 24
The Krystal.

And there were all sorts of establishments to eat.

Most people, having two hour lunches, would eat and then go home and take a nap before returning back to work. In those days, long lunches with naps were the norm.

Here’s a typical restaurant at lunch time.

2022 03 15 15 27
The Varsity.

My father had a routine that he would have a lunch at the tavern across from the mill where he worked, and on Thursdays, he would mosey over to the Barber Shop for a haircut and trip afterwards.

Those were the days.

When I entered the work force, they were busy removing benefits left and right, eventually asking us to dash for a 15 minute drive through burger, and return back to a “Lunch Meeting”. This continued though the 1990s. Eventually they eliminated technnical and engineering / manufacturing work completely.

It wasn’t profitable, they said.

Conclusion

We have to understand what we lost before we can understand what we need to change.

The United States today is in turmoil. This is at every level. But if you want to simplify everything, it’s really easy. Greed and the search for profits over all has bankrupted the nation. It hollowed it out, and destroyed the population and society in the process.

It will change.

But right now, most people have no idea what they lost, so how are they supposed to regain any true and real freedoms?

I’ll tell you what…

Real freedom is going into a Men’s-only Barber Shop, picking up a “Girlie Magazine” while a baseball game plays in the backgound. You light up a cigarette, and inhale it deeply.

Is it sexist? Yes.

Is it racist? I don’t know.

Is it unhealthy? Probably.

But so what? It’s no ones business except yours alone.

Freedom is absolute.

You either have it or you do not.

Bye Bye America. You were a dream; and ideal that was never truly possible.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

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Ohio Guy

Those were the days alright! I think about them quite a bit. Perhaps, when the dust settles, and the Lord’s willing, we’ll see them again. Even if it’s just a glimpse before crossing over.

Ohio Guy

I agree, in that it creates a healthy jogging environment for proper and better thoughts to manifest.

DSKlausler

Hilarious shit!

We have been conditioned so thoroughly!

Wifey says to me: “Well, just stop thinking that way!” Sure, no problemo!

Ohio Guy

I get it too. My wife sometimes tells me, “You’re so negative.” That’s when I catch myself (mentally) and start paying closer attention to my reality.

Or she’ll say, “You’re spending too much time on that computer and it’s making you crazy.” Yep, she loves me!

Last edited 2 years ago by Ohio Guy
paraic

Raunchy and fun!

KMan

These pulp magazines and books were scarce even 40 years ago, well before PC took hold. Because many were printed on low-quality paper such as newsprint, I think they were viewed as disposable and simply thrown away. Also, that kind of paper is acidic and does not keep well unless great care is taken in storage.

A number of science-fiction, horror, and mystery anthologies appeared under Alfred Hitchcock’s name, some of which also appeared in the mystery magazine bearing his name. Those anthologies have been just as scarce. As a kid, I read a number of them from the local library and found the original short stories a number of Twilight Zone episodes were based on, as well as the novella that became the Hitchcock movie The Birds.

This stuff never seemed to pop up in used bookstores, most of which are just as scarce now themselves. But if you wanted romance novels or Stephen King’s dreck, well, those stores had loads of that.

Memory Loss

Love your slices of Americana. And I don’t really know why, so that low key bugs me somewhat.

After you leave this lifetime, what you leave behind will be one of the rare collections and testimonies to life in the mid and later 20th century on Earth. Life is pretty fleeting and so precious.

If only modern day America understood what the past really means.

Yall come back soon ok! Lol.

Lee Smith

Thanks MM, that was a hoot to read.
I went back through local papers from 1970 a few years ago (basically, at their 50th anniversary). It was a culture shock for sure. I’d recommend anyone to do the exercise. I was surprised with what I saw.