Eric Godtland & Dian Hanson - True Crime Detective Magazines

[dem bones]

Eric Godtland & Dian Hanson - True Crime Detective Magazines (Taschem, 2013)

Eric Godtland - Detective Magazines: The Perfect Orchid
Eric Godtland - Smoking!
Dian Hanson - Sorry, I'm Tied Up Right Now
Eric Godtland - 1924-1929: The Grand Immortality Play
Eric Godtland - 1930-1939: The Golden Age Of Crime
Eric Godtland - 1940-1949: Sex Rears Its Head
Eric Godtland - 1950-1959: She played Me For A Sucker!
Eric Godtland - 1960-1969: The Skid Into Sleaze
Marc Gerald - I Was A True Detective Editor
George Hagenauer - The Artists Who Made Crime Pay
George Hagenauer - The Writers Who Brought Death To Life
American True Crime Publishing Companies
Biographies/ Acknowledgements

Blurb:
In 1924, at the height of the Jazz Age, when Prohibition was turning ordinary citizens into criminals and ordinary criminals into celebrities, America’s true crime detective magazines were born. During the Great Depression they covered colorful outlaws like Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger. When liquor was once more legal, and the Depression over, the "detectives" turned to sexy bad girls in tight sweaters, slit skirts, and stiletto heels to make sales.

True Crime Detective Magazines follows the evolution and devolution of this distinctly American genre from 1924 to 1969. Hundreds of covers and interior images from dozens of magazine titles tell the story, not just of the “detectives,” but also of America’s attitudes towards sex, sin, crime and punishment over five decades.

Not really my genre, but nonetheless, a very welcome addition to the bookshelf that died of shame. Closest comparisons coming to mind are a crime equivalent of Peter Haining's gorgeous The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines or a coffee table Paperback Fanatic with Justin on one of his frenzied sleaze crusades. 450+ cover reprints ensure there is much to appeal to fans of lurid bad girl art, (very bosomy) women in peril, and badly posed cover photos. Bondage freaks are also catered for. Along the way we also encounter the odd specimen feature Showing Up California's Nudist Peep-Shows, The Fight Against Marijuana ... The 'Sex' Cigarette, and John S. Thorp's brave expose of Boston's "tawdry dance halls", Gin, Jazz, Jack, Janes!, but this book is really about the artwork and photography.

Its been difficult to obtain decent sample scans because True Crime Detective Magazines is too big for my scanner to cope with but these randomly selected beauties should provide a rough idea of the treats within.

Bloody kisses, Chrissie!

[pulphack]

Good grief, these look wonderful. And of great academic interest, too (ahem). So how long did you actually have the book before you could prise it from Chrissie's grasp?

[dem bones]

Dec 29, 2014 16:43:51 GMT pulphack said:

Good grief, these look wonderful. And of great academic interest, too (ahem). So how long did you actually have the book before you could prise it from Chrissie's grasp?

This one was a Christmas present from the celestial one herself, so, thankfully, no repeat of the lamentable Sleazy Reader episode.

Ah yes, the all-important academic interest (most unlike me not to have mentioned any). The historical essays, charting the ever-changing focus of the Detective magazine are informative and entertaining as you'd hope (they are available in English, French and German translations). I'm also very grateful for the pen-portraits of writers and artists who contributed to these publications. Pretty certain I recognise a few names from the Horror pulps, but much further investigation required.

In same spirit of academia, an example of the form from Britain in the mid-seventies.

photo: Bill Carter, Crimes & Punishment #25, circa 1973-1975

As I'm sure many of you will be aware, C&P was a weekly part-work published by Phoebus and edited by Angus Hall of DevilDay (aka Madhouse) and Scars of Dracula fame.

[ripper]

Back in the early 1970s there was a stall in our local outdoor market that would sell all sorts of imported American comics and comic magazines, but they also sold some of these true-crime and true-confessions text magazines. I was a bit young for them but nearly all seemed to feature a girl-in-distress type cover and often the girl was rather underdressed. I remember on one occasion picking one up out of curiosity and flicking through it. Each story was accompanied by at least one b+w posed photograph, again of a girl being menaced or tied up. The stall-owner said those were only for sale to adults and directed my attention to the pile of Warrens and Skywalds.